Laina Jaffe

St. Louis Goes Green!

"I aim to reduce my food and electricity footprint first, before working on other categories."

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
675 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

78

gallons of water

have been saved
UP TO

55

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

5.0

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

5.0

plastic bottles

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

0.8

pounds

food waste prevented
UP TO

118

pounds of CO2

have been saved

Laina's actions

Fresh Water

Use a Reusable Water Bottle

I will use a reusable bottle and stop purchasing bottled water, saving 2 disposable plastic bottle(s) a day.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Fresh Water

Conserve Toilet Water

I will save up to 12 gallons (45 L) of water a day by flushing only when necessary.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Climate

Stay on the Ground

Instead of traveling by plane, I will find an alternative way to accomplish the goals of an upcoming trip (i.e. telepresence, vacation locally).

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

I will spend at least 20 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Weekly Meal Planning

I will reduce food waste and save money by prepping for 1 meal(s) each day, only buying the ingredients I need.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Reduce Animal Products

I will enjoy 2 meatless meal(s) and/or 1 vegan meal(s) each day of the challenge.

COMPLETED 22
DAILY ACTIONS

Action Track: Building Resilience

Connect Local, Support Local

We encourage teammates to connect to other local green organizations (including each other) and practice supporting local businesses at least once a week. Re-share a post, order curbside, make a donation to your favorite non-profit, or find a local business to make a purchase from! Let’s keep making St. Louis a greener, healthier, and more sustainable place to live, work, and learn! Have other or more specific actions to add to the Connect Local, Support Local Building Resilience Challenge please email Fbrandt@mobot.org.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

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?

Laina Jaffe 4/27/2020 9:42 AM

I surpassed my goal of several days a week without meat. I eat a vegan meal more often but not every day yet. I now want to set a goal of meat once or twice a week and one to two vegan meals a day by this September. It will be tough during quarantine because I am at my parents’ house so I don’t always choose what I eat for dinner.

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- Laina Jaffe 4/27/2020 9:42 AM
  
  Edit: Let’s hope we’re not in quarantine in September!
  
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Laina Jaffe 4/27/2020 6:36 AM

My dad decided to try not mowing the lawn. I’m home with my parents for quarantine so I get to see so much more nature than I do at my apartment! The animals in the backyard have gotten so chubby eating all the plants that thrive when the lawn hasn’t been mown. Cute little chubby rabbits and birds are so much fun to watch!

Unfortunately I am not allowed to grow plants straight in the dirt at my apartment but I can grow them in pots after quarantine. I don’t love flowerpots because they break easily so I might just stick to houseplants.

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Laina Jaffe 4/20/2020 11:32 AM

A cheat sheet for eating less meat and dairy and getting the nutrients you need:
Plant-based iron:
Hemp protein (put it in cereal or oatmeal)
Radishes
Black beans
Fortified cereal

Plant milk;
Check the nutrition label for calcium—don’t assume!

Lower-impact dairy:
Anything other than cheese. Cheese is as bad as meat. Plant-based is better, but if you eat dairy, anything is better than cheese.

Healthy fat, besides avocados (who can afford those during quarantine lol):
Peanut butter
Olive oil
Full-fat milk or yogurt, not plant-based but better for the Earth than meat or cheese and healthier than eggs.
Pecans, walnuts, and hazelnuts are better than almonds. Almonds use a lot of water.

Eggs are delicious and low-impact despite being an animal food. Don’t overdo it because they’re high in saturated fats, but they have a lot of vitamins too.

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Laina Jaffe 4/19/2020 8:58 AM

I feel so accomplished! I cooked myself a really good Sunday brunch that was vegan-inspired but not vegan (eggs, but no meat or dairy), low in sugar, and delicious and pretty healthy. Coffee with oat milk, salad with tahini dressing, oatmeal with hemp powder, eggs cooked in olive oil instead of butter, and an orange. Talk about a feast!

Learning to cook good food has been a dream of mine.

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- Laina Jaffe 4/19/2020 9:36 AM
  
  It was!
  
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Laina Jaffe 4/18/2020 5:06 PM

I went four days in one week without meat.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Climate Stay on the Ground

What was your process like for restructuring your trip? How can you avoid more air travel in the future?

Laina Jaffe 4/13/2020 11:57 AM

Chances are I won’t be traveling anyway, so I planned to avoid car travel in my hometown by walking outside for 400 miles total from April to July in 2020. I can avoid air travel by enjoying what my hometown has to offer, by walking, biking, or carpooling with several people.

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Laina Jaffe 4/11/2020 6:36 AM

I just started the challenge. I am beginning with reducing animal products and adding on another challenge a couple more times this month. I already have tried to reduce animal products and succeeded eventually. I used to eat one meatless meal a day and zero vegan meals—now I usually eat two meatless meals a day and a few vegan meals a week. I plan to work up to several days a week without meat and a vegan meal every day by this summer.

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