Sarah Palmer

FGCU Eagles

"My mission is to focus on leaving a positive impact on the environment surrounding me through my daily actions."

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
229 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

7.0

conversations

with people
UP TO

68

gallons of water

have been saved
UP TO

55

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

200

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

150

minutes

not spent in front of a screen
UP TO

4.0

plastic bottles

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

1.4

pounds

food waste prevented
UP TO

2.8

pounds of CO2

have been saved

Sarah's actions

Action Track: Earth Day Together!

Earth Day Action: Share Eco Tips

Through social media or on the Earth Day Ecochallenge feed, I will share my favorite environmentally friendly habit with my friends, even if it’s not an Earth Day action.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Fresh Water

Use a Reusable Water Bottle

I will use a reusable bottle and stop purchasing bottled water, saving 5 disposable plastic bottle(s) a day.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Forests

Explore My Area

I will explore at least one new hiking trail or nature walk in my area while following CDC guidelines for social distancing.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Building Resilience

Spend Time Outside

I will replace 60 minute(s) each day typically spent inside (computer time, watching television, etc.) with quality time outside that follows CDC guidelines for preventing disease spread.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Action Track: Building Resilience

Connect While Social Distancing

I will connect with at least 3 person/people a day through phone call or video chat to support mine and other’s mental and emotional health during this challenging time.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

I will spend at least 30 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 3 meal(s) each day, only buying the ingredients I need.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Wildlife

Research a Wild Animal

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning about a wild animal I find interesting, including their life cycle, habitat, ecosystem functions, and interactions with humans (if any!).

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Wildlife

Use Reusable Bags

Plastic bags can be mistaken for food by many wild animals. If at all possible, I will not accept any disposable bags when making purchases, including produce bags.

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?

Sarah Palmer 4/28/2020 11:33 AM

I have never really been huge on making drastic changes to my lifestyle in order to become more eco friendly because I figured that my one act would just be lost in other peoples millions of non eco friendly acts. Through this class I have learned that your individual acts are important and do have a larger effect. To assume that you are not making a difference through your individual actions is ignorant so I have started to change my way of thinking and my actions. I now implement eco friendly actions into my everyday life such as using reusable bags at stores, reusable water bottles, meal prepping, limiting food waste, using paper straws/no straws at restaurants, etc. My opinion on individual actions has changed and now I fully believe in the idea to "think globally, act locally."

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Action Track: Earth Day Together! Earth Day Action: Share Eco Tips

What environmentally friendly habit have you most recently implemented? How do you ensure that you are successful in creating or changing a habit?

Sarah Palmer 4/28/2020 11:21 AM

Most recently I have implemented becoming aware of my surrounding environment and using less fuel for transportation. Due to quarantine I have some extra time which I have focused towards spending outside. I have recently moved into a new neighborhood and have found a lot of hiking trails near my house. I have been exploring a new hiking trail each day that I have free time. I also have not been driving as much as I normally would due to quarantine so my fuel usage has decreased drastically.

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Sarah Palmer 4/28/2020 11:17 AM

So far I have completed an abundance of challenges. I am incorporating these challenges into my everyday life style rather than seeing these challenges as a one time positive action to complete. Thanks to this website, I have been more open to finding different ways to become more ecofriendly and I have started to do more research on different topics listed throughout the website. I plan to continue to increase my positive impact on the environment.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Forests Explore My Area

How can spending more time outdoors enhance your sense of place?

Sarah Palmer 4/16/2020 3:29 PM

Spending time outdoors can allow you to become in tune with your surroundings. You will begin to notice new surroundings, such as new hiking trails, animals, plants, etc. This will allow you to be distracted from the craziness/stress of everyday life and become absorbed in your surroundings. Spending more time outdoors will allow you to greatly improve your mental, emotional, and physical health.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Action Track: Building Resilience Connect While Social Distancing

How does connecting with others help your own mental and emotional health? How can it help support others?

Sarah Palmer 4/16/2020 3:27 PM

Connecting with others, especially right now, can greatly improve the mental and emotional health of both you and the other person. While being quarantined, it can be especially rough on those who normally use interaction with others as a distraction from their reality. As they sit alone, they may start thinking about everything that they have been avoiding and put themselves in a bad mental health position. By giving them a quick phone call you can disrupt these thoughts and push a more positive mood onto that person. This will not only brighten your day but also help support that person out of the negative position that they could have been in in that moment.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

How does knowing the difference between use by, sell by, and best by dates empower you to make better decisions?

Sarah Palmer 4/16/2020 3:20 PM

Knowing the difference allows you to make educated decisions when purchasing at a store as well as making the decision of throwing something out or not because it is expired. The sell by date should be looked at before purchasing that item. Items with a closer sell by date should be bought first rather than later dates because this allows for the store to not have to throw away as much food due to a lack of sales. The best buy date should also be looked at when purchasing and after purchasing. If you plan on waiting a couple weeks to eat that item then I would get one with a later best by date, ensuring that you don't waste the food and that it will go to someone who will eat it before the best by date. By making educated decision we can reduce our food waste, creating a more sustainable future.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Weekly Meal Planning

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. Does this surprise you? Where would you rather use this money?

Sarah Palmer 4/07/2020 12:19 PM

These statistics don't surprise me. Growing up in a larger family my mother always bought lots of food and sometimes food that we did not like just because it was easy to make. This led to a majority of the food that was bought to be thrown out and wasted. To prevent this, parents could bring their children to the store/consult with them first to buy meals that they enjoy, buy less of the entree and more sides (such as the perfect amount of chicken to feed a family but additional sides incase others are still hungry), eating leftovers, and meal prepping for the week. Rather than spending a majority of money on wasted food, I would rather put this money towards buying meals for later weeks, etc.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Wildlife Use Reusable Bags

What do you do if you find yourself in the situation of needing a bag for items but don't have a reusable one with you? Carry things out in your hands? In a cart? Accept a disposable one? If you find yourself in this position often, what system could you put in place to try to create a successful habit of not using plastic bags?

Sarah Palmer 4/07/2020 12:15 PM

I have made a habit of bringing reusable bags with me to grocery stores. This being said, I also happen to forget my bags at home, in the car, etc. In this case I normally spend a couple extra dollars to buy a new reusable bag from the store that I am at (such as Publix). I do this because I am always in need of reusable bags so I don't mind spending the money. By using this method I can then have extra bags to leave all around so that I will always have a bag that is easily accessible such as in my kitchen, room, car, etc. Some other economically friendly alternatives would be to place the items in your purse/backpack if you brought one, carry the items out by hand/cart, etc.

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