Skip to main content

Modal Title

Modal Description

Welcome to Earth Month Ecochallenge 2025: Conservation!

Watch the short video below to learn the basics.
You'll be an Earth Month Ecochallenge 2025: Conservation expert in no time!

Ecochallenge.org
Earth Month Ecochallenge 2025: Conservation
April 1 - April 30, 2025
Emma Blackford's avatar

Emma Blackford

NCMNS-Green Team

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 112 TOTAL

participant impact

  • UP TO
    1.0
    carbon footprint
    calculated
  • UP TO
    1.0
    water footprint
    calculated
  • UP TO
    20
    minutes
    spent learning

Emma's actions

Land, Water, and Air

Understand My Water Footprint

Each of us has a water footprint, directly linked to our daily activities as well as the water required in the production of things we use each day. Understanding our water use is important for a healthy planet. I will calculate my water footprint and look for a few ways I can reduce consumption or waste, then share what I learned on the feed.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land, Water, and Air

Reduce Food Waste

Wasting food also wastes water, energy, and resources. I will keep a daily log of food I throw away during the Ecochallenge, either because it went bad before I ate it, I put too much on my plate, or it was scraps from food preparation, and commit to reducing my food waste throughout the challenge.

COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION

Wildlife

Learn the 7 Principles of Leave No Trace

Leave No Trace means enjoying nature responsibly by minimizing our impact and leaving the environment as we found it, or better. I will spend 20 minutes learning about the seven core principles to minimize my impact while enjoying the outdoors.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land, Water, and Air

Plastic Free Lunches

Avoid Single Use Plastics when you prepare your lunch. Post a picture of your SUP free lunch on your Feed to the team.

COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION

Community and Connection

Connect with nature

The goal is to share how we connect with nature and our environment by posting pictures of our favorite spot. This will allow team member to learn about NC's parks and Natural resources

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Empowering the Next Generation

Learn About Indigenous Conservation Practices

Indigenous communities have stewarded ecosystems for generations through deep-rooted knowledge and connection to nature. I will spend 20 minutes exploring Indigenous conservation methods and reflecting on their role in fostering balance and equity with nature.

COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION

Land, Water, and Air

Calculate My Carbon Impact

Knowing our carbon footprint is the first step to reducing it. I will calculate my carbon impact and identify lifestyle changes that could reduce the carbon footprint and impacts on the environment. I will share my commitments to lowering my impact on the feed.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Participant Feed

Reflection, encouragement, and relationship building are all important aspects of getting a new habit to stick.
Share thoughts, encourage others, and reinforce positive new habits on the Feed.

To get started, share “your why.” Why did you join the challenge and choose the actions you did?

  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Land, Water, and Air
    What surprised you most about your water footprint, and how did it influence your perspective on water use? What changes can you make to reduce your water consumption, and how will these impact your daily routine?
    Emma Blackford's avatar
    Emma Blackford 4/08/2025 6:16 AM
    Based on the water calculator, our biggest water usage in our home is our "virtual" usage - the water that it takes to manufacture new products, or to produce meat. Increasing the number of vegetarian meals we eat would be a big jump into decreasing water usage. It also just emphasized the importance of purchasing items used when possible, as that was the second biggest contributor to our virtual water consumption - the purchasing of new products. Both eating vegetarian and purchasing used items are things we already do, but it's interesting to see that they have water saving benefits in addition to the reasons I already participated in those actions!
    Read More
  • Emma Blackford's avatar
    Emma Blackford 4/08/2025 6:08 AM
    Plastic free lunch - dinner leftovers, banana, reusable spork, reusable lunchbox.

    Read More
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Land, Water, and Air
    An average American throws out about 240 lbs of food per year. The average family of four spends $1,500 a year on food that they throw out. Where would you rather use this money? What patterns did you notice in the food you threw away, and how can you address them?
    Emma Blackford's avatar
    Emma Blackford 4/08/2025 6:06 AM
    Our biggest issue with food waste in recent years is that because we try not to cool our house too much (trying to reduce use of our A/C) it means that any produce that you typically store on the counter goes bad WAY faster than we're used to. So we've been trying to only purchase produce when we have a plan to eat it before it goes bad and are storing more things in the fridge than we've done in the past to prolong longevity of food.

    $1500 would go a long way - towards basic bills, purchasing higher quality food (more local/organic/etc), etc.
    Read More
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Land, Water, and Air
    Where in your life do you emit the most carbon? What change are you willing to make in your daily life to reduce this output?
    Emma Blackford's avatar
    Emma Blackford 4/08/2025 6:03 AM
    Carbon calculator indicated the following as areas needing improvement:
    - A/C usage (I found this one interesting because it asked about number of hours running vs. what temperature it's set at - we leave our house hotter than most folks we know, but in the NC summer heat, that doesn't mean much in terms of how much the A/C runs!)
    - switching to environmentally-produced electricity (need to check with Duke Energy - do they do that? Do they give you that option to choose where your energy is coming from if you don't have solar panels on your home yourself?)
    - improving insulation in our 1950s house (need to ask my husband if we know when it was last replaced/improved and look into cost estimates if it's been awhile)
    - avoid long distance flying (this one is tough - we don't do this THAT much but given that my family is 3000 miles away and my husband's is 2000 miles away, we pretty much have to fly when we're going to see family unless we take several weeks off to facilitate driving. Need to think more on this one)
    - eat more vegetarian meals (I already lean this direction rather than eating meat, so I'm definitely in on this! My husband and I tried to plan meals so we were eating primarily vegetarian earlier this year and had a lot of fun brainstorming new recipe ideas. Good reminder to dive back into this again)
    - reduce plastics use (always more ways to improve here, but do a fairly good job already)
    Read More