- Wednesday, 3 August 2011.
- I recently received an email inviting me to join the Northwest Earth Institute’s Annual EcoChallenge. I hadn’t heard of it before, so I looked it up:
- “The EcoChallenge is a Northwest Earth Institute event that demonstrates the collective impact of many people making sustainable changes in their everyday lives.” – From the challenge’s website: http://www.ecochallenge.org/
Specifically, the public is invited to sign up for a personal eco-challenge to be completed during 2 weeks in October, from October 1st to the 15th. They have categories from water conservation to trash reduction with lists of possible challenges in each. Additionally, if you feel so inclined, you may also create your own challenge. The idea is to shift your perception away from “business as usual” so that you might make changes in your life that last longer than the challenge.- I was somewhat stumped in coming up with a challenge. As a long time self-proclaimed environmentalist, many of the proposed challenges I saw on the challenge’s site were things I’ve already wrestled with.
- Then it hit me.
- Up until August 2010 (for 25 years) I didn’t own a car. I used buses, walked, biked, or bummed rides and I was thin. Since getting a car in order to commute to college, I put on a lot of weight. Why? Well, a lot of my transportation problems now had a quick, easy, and exercise-free solution.
- Am I really benefitting from my car now that college is over? Can I get around using it so often? I’ll be putting it to the test in October when I will choose only human-powered transportation for 2 full weeks. I may decide that my family doesn’t need two cars after all. If you’d like to follow this adventure, I will be writing about it for the duration of the challenge.
- Please think about signing up for your own eco-challenge this October.
Event Announcement: Northwest Earth Institute’s Annual EcoChallenge
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