Drawdown Ecochallenge 2024

Daniel Babeu

"Through conscious choices and continuous learning, I strive to protect and preserve our planet for future generations."

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
525 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

15

lightbulbs

replaced
UP TO

1.0

carbon footprint

calculated
UP TO

22

plastic containers

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

3.3

pounds of paper

have been saved
UP TO

965

minutes

spent exercising
UP TO

76

more servings

of fruits and vegetables
UP TO

2.0

conversations

with people
UP TO

2.0

advocacy actions

completed
UP TO

3.0

women, BIPOC, and immigrant-owned businesses

supported
UP TO

1,330

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

255

minutes

spent learning

Daniel's actions

Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

Cook With Seaweed

Seaweed Farming

I will use seaweed in a new recipe.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings

Online Energy Audit

Multiple Solutions

I will complete an online energy audit of my home, office, or dorm room and identify my next steps for saving energy.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Find a Local Climate-Friendly Supermarket

Refrigerant Management

I will explore the interactive map in the links below to find a supermarket that does not use HFC refrigerants near my home.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Cook With Sustainable Seafood

Improved Fisheries

Using the Seafood Watch guide, I will feature a sustainable seafood ingredient in a new recipe.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Choose Recycled Paper

Recycled Paper

I will plan ahead to use paper products only made from post-consumer recycled paper for my home or office.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings

Upgrade My Windows

Insulation

I will upgrade the windows or weatherstripping in my home or office to reduce air leaks and save on energy costs.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

More Fruits And Veggies

I will eat a heart healthy diet by adding 3 cups of fruits and vegetables each day to achieve at least 4 cups per day.

COMPLETED 26
DAILY ACTIONS

Industry

Green My Job

Industry

Using Drawdown's Job Function Action Guide, I will learn about climate actions I can take at work.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity

Calculate My Household Carbon Footprint

I will calculate the carbon emissions associated with my household and consider how different lifestyle choices could reduce our carbon footprint and our impact on the environment.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

Visit the Coast

Macroalgae Protection and Restoration

I will visit a coastal or ocean site to experience the ecosystem and look for the presence of macroalgae/seaweed.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Plastics Audit

Reduced Plastics

I will complete a plastics audit to see where plastics show up in my life and determine how I can reduce the use of single-use plastics.

COMPLETED 21
DAILY ACTIONS

Electricity

Choose LED Bulbs

LED Lighting

I will replace 18 incandescent lightbulbs with Energy Star-certified LED bulbs, saving up to $14 per fixture per year.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

Smart Seafood Choices

Ocean Farming

I will visit seafoodwatch.org and download the app to commit to making better seafood choices for a healthier ocean.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Go Paperless

Recycled Paper

I will reduce the amount of paper mail that I receive by 0.11lbs (0.05kg) a day or 3.3lbs (1.6kg) a month by opting into paperless billing, ending unwanted subscriptions, and opting out of junk mail.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity

Solar Water Consultation

Solar Hot Water

I will contact a local installer/distributor to see if a solar water heater makes sense for my house.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings

Plan to Insulate

Insulation

I will spend 60 minutes finding out how to make my home more energy efficient through better insulation and weatherization.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health and Education

Watch Drawdown's Climate Solutions 101 Series

Family Planning and Education

I will watch Drawdown’s Climate Solutions 101 and share what I learned with others.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health and Education

Support Businesses Owned by Women, POC, or Immigrants

Sustainable Intensification for Smallholders

I will spend 60 minutes researching and shopping from 3 businesses owned by women, people of color, or immigrants.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Composting

Composting, Reduced Food Waste

I will start a compost or worm bin where I live.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Go for a Daily Walk

Walkable Cities

I will take a walk for 30 minutes each day and take note of the infrastructure that makes walking more or less enjoyable, accessible, and possible.

COMPLETED 26
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Talk With a Local Grocer

Improved Fisheries

I will ask my local seafood market or grocery store if their seafood is sustainable and share the Seafood Watch resources so they can stock sustainable options.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Tend A Garden

Conservation Agriculture

I will tend to a garden, or prepare for one, each day using sustainable gardening practices.

COMPLETED 26
DAILY ACTIONS

Industry

Reduce Single-Use Disposables

Bioplastics; Reduced Plastics

I will avoid buying and using 1 single-use plastics and instead replace them with durable options.

COMPLETED 19
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

Reduced Food Waste

I will spend at least 60 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Mulch the Base of Trees and Plants

Farm Irrigation Efficiency

I will prevent water runoff and increase absorbency by mulching the base of trees and plants in my yard.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Participant Feed

Daniel Babeu 6/27/2024 5:29 AM
I am finally starting to see some results from my garden work. Before working for DEP, I did not really have the time to dedicate to a garden, and would give up on it by mid-July (if the plants made it that far!) Now, I can easily spend 30-60 minutes each day after work doing just gardening. I may have bit off more than I can chew this go round, and I have at least 17 tomato plants that have survived from being started as seeds. I can't wait to see what some of them look like since I ordered some Great White Beefsteak Tomato seeds from the Alliance of Native Seedkeepers this year. They are growing much slower than the regular tomatoes, but hopefully they will be worth the wait. I will also probably not want to see or eat another cucumber for at least a year after this season. They are growing like weeds for me. There may be a basket or two of both on my floor from me trying to get rid of them soon!

Read More
- Tonia Wu 6/30/2024 5:18 AM
  That's awesome! Last year we had only had 3 tomato plants, and we still had more tomatoes than we could eat. Growing is half the battle - there is so much work and creativity involved in harvesting, processing and meal prep to use and preserve all that abundance, which I think is sometimes underappreciated.
  
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- Lydia Roe 6/27/2024 7:56 AM
  Wow! Your garden sounds incredible. One of my long-term goals is to eat more local produce, which would be even more powerful if I was able to nurture food myself. I currently tend an indoor garden of 100+ ornamental tropical plants, but I'm very inexperienced with produce.
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

What did you learn from your local grocer and what did you share with them?
Daniel Babeu 6/18/2024 5:49 AM
What I learned from the two grocers I spoke with was that they do not have any say at their level where their product is coming from. They can put in an order for shellfish or salmon, but depending on the deal their chains buyer can get, the product can come from almost anywhere and that it is more of a dollars and cents approach to filling their orders than an environmental one. Without a large percentage of the store level grocers (and consumers) expressing concern about where and how their product is sourced, it seems that it will be the bottom line that determines where items are coming from rather than environmental impact.

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- Gabryella Pulsinelli 6/18/2024 7:20 AM
  I see the bottom line always triumphs the environmental impact unless a company has made a commitment to sourcing their products.
  
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Daniel Babeu 6/18/2024 5:31 AM
This weekend we spent our Saturday mulching the garden beds and around the tree bases in our front and back yards. I always thought the reason that we did it was to make everything look nicer, but after starting this challenge and researching the reason behind it I have a better understanding of why we should do this and how it is beneficial. I also learned that I need to spend more time in the gym because 10 bags of mulch are heavy.

Read More
Daniel Babeu 6/13/2024 7:46 AM
Tending to a garden has given me something to do everyday after work. It started slowly, but now I am starting to see some results. I may have been a little overzealous, though. I am going to have way more tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, and squash than two people can eat. Now I need to find something to do with them so they don't go to waste.

Read More
- Gabryella Pulsinelli 6/13/2024 7:54 AM
  My mom would make tomato sauce and freeze it! It stays really well for a long time. Another thing you could do is maybe trade with neighbors who have other produce.
  
  Same thing happen to my mom the first time she did a garden, I was very happy since I loved making sauce.
  
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Daniel Babeu 6/12/2024 8:06 AM
Learning about the differences between the different types of dating there are was eye opening.

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- Louisa Lubiak 6/12/2024 5:06 PM
  I often "rescue" canned or bottled goods that are at or just past their "best by" date. I think other shoppers shun these items because they're afraid the contents will self-destruct at midnight on the "expiration" date! {:-D
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Electricity

After you determined your carbon footprint, did you see what different choices you can make in order to reduce it?
Daniel Babeu 6/05/2024 6:05 AM
I was completely unaware of how much of a carbon footprint out household leaves on a monthly basis. It was slightly higher than the monthly average of 4.000 tons of CO2e. Definitely eye opening. There are areas where slight changes can make a big difference, especially in regards to vehicle use for work. If my wife and I change both of our teleworking days to the same days and commute together to work for the other threes, we can cut our vehicle usage for commuting literally in half. We can also add some meatless meals to our meal schedule and make significant changes in that area as well.

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- Louisa Lubiak 6/05/2024 5:37 PM
  You're really digging into the Ecochallenge - Isn't it amazing what the actions we select make us think about?
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Electricity

Changing lightbulbs is an excellent first step toward energy efficiency! What's next for you?
Daniel Babeu 6/05/2024 5:33 AM
I started by purchasing and changing out the regular light bulbs in our house for a total of 15 LED bulbs. There are 6 smaller bulbs for ceiling fans and 4 fluorescent bulbs that I need to replace (they were not available at the store I purchased the other bulbs in). I also have a large amount of exterior holiday lights that are a mix of the old style and LED bulbs, and plan to go through them and use just the LED bulbs this year for outdoor decorations. All of our exterior lighting for the house was already converted to LED when we had the house resided last year.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Industry

Good job on choosing recycled paper! How can you take your action a step further?
Daniel Babeu 6/04/2024 6:43 AM
I can encourage people I know (friends and co-workers) to choose recycled paper for use at home and work. I can also speak to who does the purchasing of office supplies to see if choosing to order recycled paper is feasible and cost effective.

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