The rules for this challenge were to make a meal using produce that was grown local.  Since it’s getting colder outside, I didn’t have a lot of options when buying local produce.  Normally, I would have gone to a farmer’s market, but many of them had closed for the season.  So I had to figure out a way to buy local.  When I went home for the weekend (upstate New York), I tried to think of other places that I could buy local.  The town over has an indoor farmer’s market starting in December, but that was too far away.  Then it hit me.  Adam’s.

Adam’s is a set of four grocery stores in my area that started out as a farmstand in the 1900s.  It is known for selling not only a large variety of fresh produce, but it also has a good selection of local produce too! I decided to check it out to see what they had.  And I was pleasantly surprised.

The first thing I found was a bag of locally grown potatoes for only 4 dollars.  What a steal!  But that couldn’t be the only thing I made.  So I kept looking.  All around the store were similar signs sporting local produce, some even saying where it was grown.  I finally decided on $2.50 of fresh basil from Pleasant Valley, NY and a $2.25 butternut squash that was grown on a farm in Catskill, NY, both close to me.

I decided to do a roasted vegetable medley of sorts.  I chopped up the butternut squash (which was surprisingly difficult! I definitely worked out my arm a good deal by the end) and tossed it in some olive oil and seasoned it with salt and pepper.   I sliced the potatoes into round disks and mixed it with chopped up fresh basil and some olive oil, also seasoning it with salt and pepper.  After popping both of them into the oven for a good 45 minutes, I eventually took them  out

And honestly, it turned out pretty good! It was my first time ever cooking butternut squash so I was nervous that I would mess it up, but what I soon realized is that’s a pretty difficult thing to do.

Buying local is so much easier than I thought it was, and cheap too! Having it at my local grocery store definitely makes it more accessible.  I love farmers markets but I always thought that buying local meant that you were paying a noticeable amount more for food than if you bought it normally.  And being on a college budget makes it hard to pay a lot for food.  But through buying these I realized that that’s not always the case and that eating local can be affordable.  I’m interested to see how the prices differ on Long Island and whether or not grocery stores such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s also sell a selection of local produce.

Why not use the lighting given off by the sun instead of using electricity? During the day, opening up the shades and taking a step outside is much more sustainable than using electricity to light up a room. Natural light is not only comforting and healthy, but it is also clearly environmentally friendly.

While I was home for the Thanksgiving Break, I settled back into my room and have the best lighting in the house. During the day, I didn’t use the electricity in my room but instead opened up the shades and if I needed more light, I went outside with my friends and sat outside bundled up.

On my last day for the challenge, I sat in my dorm room doing homework content with the natural light which beamed through the window next to me and my roommates bed.

This is my suitemate Luciana who I convinced to do her homework in my dorm room with me using the natural light from my window.

The fishing industry is wreaking havoc on the underwater community.  Giant shrimp trawlers are tearing up the ocean floor.  Sea turtles are being caught in fish nets, an event known as “bycatch.” Fish populations are being depleted at such a rapid rate that entire communities are being affected. So how do you know if the seafood you’re eating came from such environmentally degrading practices? One way is to look at its certification.

This challenge involved finding a fish product that is a “Certified Sustainable Fish” via the Marine Stewardship Council.  Items that come with this label have been (under strict standards), aquired from fisheries that employ sustainable practices.  From the MSC website:

“These fisheries ensure that fish are caught at levels that allow fish populations and the ecosystems on which they depend to remain healthy and productive for the future.”

Any certified product will contain this on their packaging:

So I went on a hunt at my local grocery store back home.  But unfortunately I wasn’t able to find it! I looked through their selection of frozen fish and was able to find two products that either employed sustainable practices or had a different sort of certification.  I even asked the employees in the fresh fish section if there were any fish with the label, and nada! Honestly, I was surprised.  I had done some searching around on the msc website and had a bunch of brands that I would look for (more info below), pictures of the label, but nothing.  I think the problem is that my grocery store is a lot smaller than the ones on Long Island.  It didn’t have a large frozen section.  The only frozen fish I was able to find was near the fresh fish and it was somewhat limited.

This was one of the options I ended up finding, Shrimp Burgers by Pacific Sustainable Seafood.  They employ sustainable practices (their website goes into extensive detail over it)

I also found clam strips which I purchased for 6.99.  They don’t contain the msc certification label but instead, they contain another one. The _____

When looking on the MSC website, they have a product finder which, while it doesn’t tell you where to buy these products, it does tell you which products are msc certified.  And a lot came up! I limited it to the most common types of fish that I’ve eaten in my life, but you can adjust the settings if you want.  They come in all sorts of options, too, but a lot of them are frozen.  Probably because they are more easy to keep track of.

Here’s the link.

I’m definitely going to try to find some of these products in store within the weeks to come.  There are so many of them, can’t be that hard, right?

This challenge is encouraging a change in the use of daily products which are filled with chemicals and parabens which are harmful to not just the environment, but our own skin! This is so that natural products can run down the sink instead of the usual harsh chemicals which are found in the usual daily care products.

For my face routine, I removed makeup off my face by using coconut oil. This is a great makeup remover which I have been recommended before and it worked perfectly. I bought this coconut oil from Trader Joe’s.

Then, I rinsed my skin off with some water. I then took tea tree oil i also bought from Trader Joe’s and combined it with some coconut oil since tea tree oil is a drying oil and I applied it as a night time moisturizer for my face.

I read online that people have used coconut oil as part of an “oil pulling” beauty routine for teeth. I found this interesting so I tested it out. I found no results after one time, but I am going to try it for a few days.

For deodorant, I tried to just put baking soda on my under arms which would be a better alternative to using deodorant. It was a messy process, but it was effective still.

After this change of my daily routine, I actually adopted the usage of oils for my skin to moisturize it instead of using creams filled with chemicals which didn’t actually help my skin.

I also just ordered two oil products from Amazon to use for my face as a night time moisturizer because the results were great!

Switching to energy-efficient light bulbs is one of the best ways to save energy and money in your home, while reducing your carbon footprint. The reason energy efficient light bulbs are more sustainable than incandescent bulbs is that traditional light bulbs give of 90% of their energy as heat, wasting energy and money.  On average, the CO2 footprint of a classic light bulb is 182 g per 8,000 hours, while an energy efficient light bulb is at 34 g per 8,000 hours. If every US household switches 3 classic light bulbs to energy efficient ones, the pollution savings would be the equivalent of taking three and a half million cars off of the road.

For this challenge I had to find 3 classic light bulbs in my house and replace them with energy efficient ones. I was happy to find that most of the light bulbs in my house were energy efficient, however there were a few in my basement that were still classic light bulbs. There were various bulbs to choose from for different reasons. I chose the CFL bulbs due to the fact that they were cheaper, however the LED bulbs seemed to be of higher quality and were able to last longer.* 3 of these bulbs cost $8.98 from Lowes. These bulbs are really affordable so there shouldn’t be any excuses for why anyone shouldn’t replace all of their bulbs with energy efficient ones. It takes less than a minute to change them out and the environmental and economic benefits are worth it!

*Expired light bulbs should NOT be thrown away in the trash! Bring them to electronic stores or recycling centered when they retire.

For this weeks challenge, I had to pick friends that weren’t going to get angry if I asked them not to eat meat. Easily enough, my roommate and my suite mate were down for the challenge. I also asked my cousin who commutes from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut to cut meat out for an entire day.

Person #1:

For my suite mate Luciana, she eats yogurt for breakfast everyday. Usually oikos yogurt. For lunch that day, we went to Roth cafe.

Lunch:

For this meal, Luciana got noodles with tofu, cooked vegetables, hot sauce, and broccoli.

Dinner:

For dinner i helped Luciana change up her meal by getting a slice of pizza along with tofu stir fry topped with veggies such as cauliflower. She felt more satisfied with this meal since she got more to eat.

Luciana is a huge meat eater so doing this was a little bit out of her comfort zone. Afterwards, she was satisfied with the meal anyways. She realized the consequences of eating meat and she felt as though she needed to reduce the amount of meat she eats everyday.

Person #2:

For my roommate Sarah, she usually just has a cup of coffee and a banana for breakfast. She was with me and Luciana at the Roth cafe for lunch and dinner that day.

Lunch:

For this meal, Sarah had rice with veggie stir fry, hot sauce, and cooked vegetables. She said that adding hot sauce made it more tasty, and after wards she was satisfied with the meal.

Dinner:

For dinner, she didn’t want to eat the same type of meal and wanted to switch it up. It was a little hard to have something that wasn’t the noodle option, so she grabbed a slice of pizza and some fruit.

Sarah didn’t have a problem going meatless, she just had a hard time finding variety while doing so. She enjoyed each meal but felt like it would hard to pull off everyday because of the satisfaction of the food. But, she was happy that she could make a difference.

Person #3:

My cousin Jennifer has a big event coming up soon for a school fashion show and has actually wanted to cut meat out for modeling reasons. She felt as though meat makes her bloated and is not always the healthiest options for meals. So for her, this challenge was helpful motivation.

Breakfast:

For this meal, Jennifer had oatmeal with craisins and almonds. The other with craisins and a banana. She felt full after this and was satisfied.

Lunch:

For this meal, she had mashed potatoes with some cooked vegetables. She gave it some flavor by adding salt and pepper.

Dinner:

For dinner, she had mashed potatoes and mashed sweet potatoes, and rice and beans.

For all three of my friends that i chose, they were actually happy that i picked them for this challenge, especially my cousin who needed a boost of motivation for her fashion show event coming up next weekend.

Do you how many harmful chemicals are found in your typical bottle of soap? In addition to a whole slew of ingredients you can’t pronounce, soaps (especially antibacterial soaps) can contain toxic chemicals.  These soaps, which we use multiple times a day, contain things such as parabens, which are  suspected to be estrogen mimickers and can cause skin irritation.  This causes the body to think that there is an abnormally high level of the hormone which in turn can affect muscle mass and fat deposits.  They also more commonly contain sulfates and fragrances. Sulfates, which are responsible for all the bubbles you see when you wash your hands/body/hair, strip the skin of their natural oils and also act as a skin irritant for people with sensitive skin.  I don’t know about you, but I love all the different scents that soaps have.  But it’s that scent that companies put in there that can be the most harmful. When “Fragrance” is listed on a product’s ingredient list, it could be anything.  Companies aren’t required to list what makes up their fragrance, so most of the time they’re comprised of various synthetic chemicals and cancer causing agents (ie phthalates)

So how can you avoid all of this? Natural soap!

This challenge involved making your own soap using simple ingredients. I followed the recipe on the ecochallenge page which called for:

• 250g of glycerin base (I used 1lb of shea butter natural soap base)
• Strong, warm, green tea (I used 3 bags of ginger peach green tea)
• Essential oils if desired ( I didn’t have mine with me, but I was planning on using the orange essential oil I have at home)

The shea butter cost $9.95, the tea costs $2.50 for a box at walmart, and the essential oil if desired costs $5.99 which keeps everything under the budget for a total of $18.44.

I started out by cutting the soap into chunks.

After I did that, I took three bags of the ginger peach tea and made them into a strong tea.  While that was steeping, I took to melting the glycerin chunks in a double boiler.  It melted pretty quickly!  I didn’t have to pots that were the same size (its tough being a college student), so I improvised and it worked out fine.

I combined part of the mug of tea (I didn’t want it to be too watery) and the melted shea butter glycerin once they were about the same temperature and poured them into a muffin tin.

After they were poured into the muffin tins I put them in the freezer for thirty minutes to let them set.  My paranoia made me go check on them every couple minutes and they were actually hardening! I took them out after a while and set them on the counter for the rest of the night.  In the morning, I woke up and popped them out of the tin.

And it worked! I had soap!  Slightly squishy soap, but still soap nonetheless. And it was SO easy to make.  The only thing I might tweak next time is that I’ll definitely add more tea and less water.  The ginger peach scent wasn’t really, there, I could only really smell the shea butter.

Doing this project/challenge inspired me to look into soap making.  It’s honestly a lot of fun and super easy to do.  Plus, it can make great gifts! And there’s so many different ingredients you can incorporate.  For anybody who wants to try this, I highly recommend adding essential oils.

Here’s one website I stumbled upon that looks like a lot of fun:

http://www.modernsoapmaking.com/

Currently, tuna is one of the most endangered fish stock in the entire world. The population of tuna and other large predators of the ocean such as swordfish or codfish have diminished by 90%. Populations of tuna specifically have deceased by about 60% over the last half century. This is due to the increased amounts of industrial fishing, also known as commercial fishing, This practice of catching a large amount of fish to be produced and sold for profit has disrupted marine ecosystems tremendously. The methods used are often invasive and has caused an imbalance of species. These methods include using large nets, trawls, trolling, and trapping. Many larger marine animals often accidentally get caught in these nets and are injured and sometimes even killed. These animals are known as bycatch, and can include sea turtles, birds, and other marine animals. Studies show that for every kilo of prawns, up to 9kg of other marine animals are thrown overboard dead or dying during the commercial fishing process. It is possible that if fishing quotas are set by governments for fishing companies, these negative impacts would decrease.

Although tuna is a stable fish in the American diet, it is at risk for extinction. This is due to the fact that there is very little variety of the type of seafood found in American diets. It is estimated that about 16 pounds of seafood are consumed per person per year in america, and about 95 percent of that comes from only 10 species. Out of those 10 species, salmon, shrimp, and tuna account for more than 60% of our seafood consumption. (Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eve-turow/sustainable-issues-of-serving-tuna_b_8771222.html)

This challenge was to find an alternative fish to tuna that is more sustainable. However, I decided to take this challenge in a different direction. I decided that instead of choosing a more sustainable fish alternative, I would try to make a tuna recipe that is vegan.  Various studies have shown that a plant based diet is more sustainable than diet filled with animal products. This is due to the fact that the process of raising an animal requires more land, crops, water, energy, and overall use of resources to produce. Similarly, the process of commercial fishing can have negative impacts on ocean environments, including bycatch and an increased carbon footprint. A study conducted in the UK which surveyed meat eaters, pescatarians, vegetarians, and vegans concluded that a vegan diet is the most sustainable in that it was found to have the least amount of greenhouse gas emissions. (Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4372775/)

I chose to alter the exact purpose of this challenge because studies that a vegan alternative is always the most sustainable option. I also am a vegan myself and I believe that it is important to demonstrate that almost every food item can be made vegan and still taste good. There are vegan alternatives for everything today. If you just walk into your local Stop and Shop you will be able to find a variety of vegan mock meats, as well as vegan dairy alternatives to products such as milk, ice cream, cheese, yogurt, etc. Although most people are unwilling to transform their diet to being strictly vegan (or even vegetarian) I believe that it is important to know that there are alternatives out there, and even just replacing one meal per week with a vegan alternative can make a difference.

I was happy to find that there actually was a vegan recipe for tuna! I didn’t have to look to hard to find one but I knew if I needed to I could surely make one on my own. This recipe that I found utilized chickpeas as the main ingredient to replace the tuna. I think that this is a great staple plant-based product since canned chickpeas are usually cheap, able to last long, and are generally something most people already have in the house. The other ingredients listed in the recipe I found were also items that most people usually already have in their refrigerator- mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, as well as carrots (not in the recipe  but I added it in).

Here is a link to the original recipe: http://sweetpotatosoul.com/2015/06/vegan-chickpea-tuna-salad-video.html

This recipe took about 5-10 minutes to make and came out amazing! I did adjust it slightly using what I preferred and what I had in the house. Basically all you needed to do was blend chickpeas in a food processor (or mash with a fork), chop up the veggies, and add in the mayo, vinegar, mustard, and whatever spices or flavoring you prefer. Although I don’t eat tuna anymore since I’m vegan, it tasted extremely similar to the tuna that I used to eat. I asked my family members to try it and they remarked that it didn’t taste exactly like tuna, but that it was a great alternative and they would definitely eat it as a meal. The recipe is really versatile and can be adjusted based on your preference. Depending on what flavors you add can determine how tuna-like or fishy it tastes. The point of recipe’s like these are not just to replace the original product by any means, however it is beneficial to know alternatives so that we can steadily cut down our animal product consumption in the long run.

Water is a crucial component to life on earth. In developed countries, it is an extremely common part of many daily activities that we often take for granted. Has your anyone ever told you to shut the faucet off when you brush your teeth? If this type of mindset were applied to every time we use water, we would be able to reduce our overall water consumption easily. Water is something we often take for granted, however with the right daily practices we can learn to appreciate it more.

The US residential average of daily water used per capita is 300 litres. Drinking water travels up to 715 kilometers to Los Angeles from the Oroville Dam. Just the creation of new dams alone is not enough to solve the water shortages occurring in California. The only way we can conserve water is to have a different mindset about it. There needs to be a complete revolution in our consumption patterns of water.

Using the calculator on the App, I consume about 320 litres of water everyday due to normal activities. This does not include things like laundry, washing my car, and other activities that I really don’t do every single day. This is above the US National Average, and with laundry included it adds up to about 400 litres per day.

This challenge, once completed, was not as difficult as I thought it would be. I ended up reducing my water consumption to around 132 litres effortlessly. This is an estimation however I was able to significantly reduce the amount of water I consume without much of a hassle. The only difficult aspect to this project is some things I had little to no control over, like flushing and drinking water. However, I never realized how much water I was really wasting on a day to day basis before completing this challenge. I did not reach the 80 litres based on the calculator, however I did reduce my consumption by about a half.

There were several things that I did to reduce my water consumption that took very little effort. Most of them included simply turning off the faucet when not using water! Activities like brushing teeth, washing hands, and washing your face can be made much more sustainable by just turning the faucet off when you’re not directly using the water.

I tend to like to take really long showers and unfortunately with this challenge I couldn’t do so. I think that to many people a long hot shower is something that we all feel entitled to, however it truly is a luxury. It’s important to find alternatives to relaxing other than a shower that wastes a lot of water.

Cooking in my kitchen was an area that I really didn’t think of in terms of water consumption. I never realized how much water is wasted by cooking, drinking, and washing dishes. This was another area where just turning off the faucet when you’re not using it saves a lot of water. Filling up a pot with water and using that to wash off dishes was a little annoying, but it saved SO much water. I also used a pot filled with water to scrub fruit and vegetables instead of running it under the faucet. Whenever I needed to cook something that required water, I actually measured out how much water I need. (This is probably something I should have been doing in the first place but I’m really so lazy.)

I don’t think it’s very difficult to make small changes to save water. I do think that the majority of water just don’t realize how much water they are wasting in the first place. People mostly think of saving water in terms of showering quickly and turning the faucet off when you brush your teeth, however water can find its way into many of our daily activities without us recognizing it. I think that a lot of water can be saved by switching to more sustainable household appliances (like toilets). It’s also important to inform other people living in your household to make these small changes with you. My mom thought I was crazy for rinsing off dishes in a pot of water but when I told her about how much water I was saving she couldn’t believe it. Simply being mindful of water during your daily activities can make a big difference.

The challenge for this week is to only eat meat once. This challenge is to raise awareness for the negative impacts that choosing meat products has instead of choosing plant based agricultural products.

For me, I try to not eat meat for every meal. I feel as though I am helping the environment in a small way and I also feel as though it is better for my health and well being to not have a diet based so heavily on meats. Over the past year, I have incorporated tofu into my diet.

I don’t eat breakfast, the only thing i have in the morning is a cup of coffee. So, for my lunch and dinner meals i applied this challenge.

I live on campus and have an unlimited meal plan so I eat almost all of my meals at dining halls, especially the one near my dorm in Roth quad.

Monday

Lunch:

This is a meal i ate at Roth cafe. I find that for most of my meatless meals I would have to eat at the section thats chinese food based. They usually have a rice/noodle option, a chicken stir fry type option, a tofu stir fry alternative, and an extra vegetable section. For this meal I got noodles and vegetables. For most of my meals, I put hot sauce ontop of it and I also put soy sauce on this one to add flavor to it. My other friends got meals with meat in it, but I had no problem eating this one. It tasted good and I was satisfied, even without meat.

Dinner:

For this meal, me and my suite mate went to Roth cafe and did not feel like eating noodles again, so we decided to go to the miscellaneous section. There was meat available which my suite mate decided to eat, but I just got cooked vegetables and mashed potatoes with gravy. The vegetables tasted very bland. I had to add hot sauce as usual, and a lot of salt and pepper. I was pretty hungry after this meal because I barely ate the vegetables. It was an okay meal.

Tuesday

Lunch:

For this, i got vegetable tofu stir fry and rice. I threw some hot sauce and scallion for flavor. The meal was pretty good.

Dinner:

For dinner, I went to the same chinese food station. I got noodles and vegetables and threw soy sauce on top. This meal was filling and I felt satisfied after eating it.

Wednesday

Lunch:

I was tired of eating rice so I skipped it for this meal. I was happy there was tofu in this meal because I like how it tastes and even in the dining hall it tastes good. I was satisfied with this meal but I was a little bit hungry afterward.

Dinner:

For dinner me and my suite mate went to west dining. I got tofu, rice and cooked vegetables, quinoa with cucumber and tomato, topped with hot sauce and sour cream. This meal was kind of boring and I feel like it had no variety. I didn’t end up finishing it but atleast hot sauce saved the taste of most of it.

Thursday

Lunch:

For this meal, i got tofu stir fry and vegetables. This meal was not filling so afterwards I ate an apple and a banana with peanut butter. At this point, I’m getting a little tired of eating really similar things everyday.

Dinner:

This meal was actually enjoyable. I got mixed vegetables and jasmine rice and scallion with hot sauce as well. I felt satisfied after this meal because it was actually tasty.

Friday

Lunch:

I went to Chile’s with my friends for this meal. Since i was allowed to eat meat for one meal this week, I decided to get a salad with fried chicken on top. I enjoyed this meal and all my friends got meat heavy meals.

Dinner:

This night I had an invitational event with my accapella group and unfortunately did not have time to eat dinner. Instead, I had an apple and a handful of trail mix before performing. Afterwards when I got back home, I ate a banana and peanut butter.

Saturday

Lunch:

For this meal, there weren’t many options at the dining hall because on weekends they don’t have as much as a variety compared to weekdays. I decided to make myself this salad. It tasted okay because I put balsamic vinegar and oil.

Dinner:

For this meal, i got tofu lo mein with cooked vegetables. I threw on a sauce with scallions. I also grabbed a slice of pizza. I was satisfied after this meal. I didn’t feel upset that my friend got chicken lo mein because the tofu tasted really good.

Sunday

Lunch:

I only had half an avocado and a cup of coffee. I also had some of the nut mix that I have in my dorm.

Dinner:

I went to Union Dining Hall for dinner. I got rice with beans and carrots, chick peas and eggplant, and I threw oil and veggies for some variety. This meal was filling and I was satisfied with it.

This challenge was probably my hardest one so far. Besides remembering to take a picture of each meal, it was hard to turn down half the meals I would normally get. It was a little bit difficult to have varying meals because most of the other options were meat based. Most times, I get a turkey and provolone whole wheat wrap. I had to change my usual lunch option which was a challenge considering I love eating it and it’s one of the few things that I find appetizing at the dining halls. It was interesting to have to find different foods that I would not normally go to because I would just automatically go to a meat based meal.  This will help me to switch to eating more tofu and cutting my normal intake of meat in my day to day meals.