I found a nearby park that I didn't know existed while walking around my neighborhood picking up litter! Later in the month, I took my partner to the Portland Japanese Gardens, and just today Mt. Tabor Park. The benefits included being away from screens, seeing birds and squirrels and dogs and many plants, smelling the air away from cars, having a chance for deeper conversation, feeling apart of the world and my local community, and remembering why we should care for the planet!

My sibling let me borrow their garden hoe/rake, which reminded me I don't need to run and grab my own. I like that my town has several tool libraries as well! The benefits to something like that mean we cut severely down on waste, and get to work together as a community

The most surprising item was floss! The kind I get doesn't have a hard plastic shell, but I didn't consider that the floss itself could be made from that. I've since found a replacement that's made from corn PLA. I wrote down a ton of what I noticed during my audit, and I'm feeling inspired to find replacements for as many things as possible! Toothpaste and face wash not in plastic tubes seem like the lowest hanging fruit for now. For what I can't replace (like our cats' food bags), I plan to reach out to those companies to encourage them considering alternatives.

I try my best to eat ethically in a variety of ways (100% plant based, organic, from a co-op, low waste, etc.), but I've learned that I can always do more and keep actively assessing the way we do things. I'm going to suggest that our co-op making filtering the web inventory to only local items, so that this kind of work is easier. And I will continue my research beyond the EcoChallenge, to try and make more positive choices (like eating local foods, looking for forest friendly certification, asking companies to move away from palm oil, and more).

I ended up picking up litter on at least 3 occasions during my walks, and logged the pieces as I went along. It's not the most positive perspective to have, but picking up litter is bittersweet. Sweet because it feels good to give back to others, clean up our shared spaces, and keep trash away from water sources and animals. Bitter because it can be disheartening when others don't seem to care and our society is pretty firmly entrenched in disposable products. I think that going forward, I will try to replicate this challenge for 1 month a year

We’ll pay attention to drought announcements, and when things get tough, reduce our water usage (such as with showering - get wet, stop water to soap up, rinse off quickly). We’ll look into a rain barrel or grey water system to water our plants in the summer when the rain decreases. We’ll continue with the practice of using a basin to wash fruits/veggies and for any handwashing of dishes (inevitable for more delicate items). We’ll keep up the good habits we have and incrementally build on those the more we learn. I think we could also spend some time researching things pertinent to our local area vs. in general, and could continue volunteering periodically to help clean up waterways.

We have some things to do to improve in my household. This is all a bit disheartening with how fast and how much water goes. The linked Mental Floss article = :O. I don't know if that helps spur people into action as much as add to despair..In any case, things we could do at my house:

• Time our showers and see if there's room for improvement there
• Use a basin for washing fruits/veggies vs. running the tap, and same with hand-washed dishes
• Look into a grey-water system or a rain barrel. Another idea was putting a bucket in the shower to put toward watering the plants
• Put our vegetable steamer on top of rice, potatoes or pasta boiling to steam the veggies

There was so much that I didn't know that I'd probably run out of characters typing it all out! What's apparent is how connected everything on earth is. One fact I saw is that every second breath we take is provided by the ocean, since it produces 1/2 the oxygen on earth. We must respect the natural world around us and do what we can to protect the environment!

I'm home a ton because I work remotely, so I conducted the energy audit here. I made a list of things we consistently keep plugged in (e.g. stove, microwave, water heater, etc.) as well as a list of appliances we regularly and seasonally use. I learned that a ton of electricity stands to "phantom waste" even when off, so I will unplug things fully more regularly. I also learned that stopping the air flow between windows and doors can help tremendously