Judith Edwards

Murraysmith

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
102 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

4.0

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

40

minutes

spent learning

Judith's actions

Food

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

I will spend at least 10 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Oceans

Smart Seafood Choices

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

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Fresh Water

Dishwasher Efficiency

I will scrape, rather than rinse, dishes before loading into the dishwasher and only run the dishwasher when it’s full.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Wildlife

Support Pollinators

At least 30% of crops and 90% of flowering plants rely on pollinators, including monarch butterflies, to produce fruit. I will spend 5 minutes researching which plants support local native pollinators and plant some in my yard.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Watch a Documentary about Food Sovereignty

I will watch 1 documentary(ies) about food sovereignty: the right of local peoples to control their own food systems including markets, ecological resources, food cultures and production methods.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Reduce Animal Products

I will enjoy 3 meatless meal(s) and/or 1 vegan meal(s) each day of the challenge.

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?

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?

Judith Edwards 4/08/2020 10:28 AM

Having learned that the USDA does not require food manufacturers to specify "use by," "sell by," and "best by" dates, and that these term are not associated with safety or when food items actually "go bad" helps me take food safety and quality into my own hands. I can use my own common sense (and sense of smell and taste) to determine whether food is still good to eat, rather than base my decision on an arbitrary date determined by food producers (whose goals are to sell as much product as they can). According to Project Draw Down, "the food we waste is responsible for roughly 8 percent of global emissions." Starting to question our assumptions about food, and educating ourselves on the realities of our food system, can be a small step towards changing this.

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Judith Edwards 4/07/2020 5:00 PM

One of my challenges today was to spend some time researching pollinator plants. I ended up spending the time listening to a great episode on OSU Extension's "Pollination" podcast about how ODOT is partnering with landscape architects to integrate pollinator plants into medians and transportation infrastructure around the state of Oregon. You may have seen those spikes of colorful lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) popping up in medians over the past few years. Today I learned that's the work of ODOT's pollinator task force.

Oh, and here's my own little front yard attempt at creating some pollinator habitat. I've got my own lupine, doing well in its second year, as well as some wildflower seedlings that have sprouted up nicely over the past few weeks. Looking forward to all the buzzing that should follow later this year.

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