Ecochallenge.org

The People's Ecochallenge 2025

October 1 - October 31, 2025

Olivia A.

Multnomah County Library

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
486 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

3.0

conversations

with people
UP TO

165

minutes

spent learning

Olivia's actions

Share My Why

Take the People's Ecochallenge Feedback Survey

I will take a short survey about my experience to help the Ecochallenge team improve future events, earn a chance to win a prize, and earn 15 points!

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Share My Why

I will share my Ecochallenge story and why I'm taking action for the planet — and earn 15 points!

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Take the Pre-Survey

Take the Pre-Event Survey

I’ll take a short pre-survey to share what motivated me to join — and earn 15 points! (If I already took the survey by email, I’ll just mark this action complete to get my points.)

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Water

Mulch the Base of Trees and Plants

I will prevent water runoff and increase absorbency by mulching the base of plants and trees at my home or work.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Energy

Complete an Online Energy Audit

I will complete an online energy audit of my home, office, or dorm room and identify my next steps for saving energy.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Waste

Visit a Local Recycling Center, Landfill, or Transfer Station

Seeing where waste goes can change how we think about what we throw away. I will visit a local facility to learn more about the waste stream in my community and share what I learn with others and in the feed.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Research Restorative Justice

I will spend 5 minutes learning about restorative justice and conflict resolution opportunities in my own community or state.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Simplicity

Track My Purchases and Spending Habits

I will spend 2 minutes each day maintaining a record of all my purchases and learning about my spending habits.

COMPLETED 9
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Talk To My Friends and Colleagues

I will research the social or environmental issues in my community that matter to me and tell 1 friends and/or colleagues each day about what I learn. I will also share what I learn on the Ecochallenge feed.

COMPLETED 3
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Learn About Constructive Communication

I will spend 5 minutes learning about constructive communication.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health

Support Pollution Reduction in My Area

I will spend at least 5 minutes learning about water and air quality issues in my area, how they are impacting human and environmental health, and how I can help.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health

Learn About Local Environmental Justice Concerns

Environmental issues often impact marginalized communities the most. I will spend 5 minutes researching environmental justice concerns in my region, who is affected by them, and local initiatives to address these concerns.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Learn How Voter Suppression Affects My Community

I will spend at least 5 minutes finding out what local laws, policies, and practices keep people from voting in my community.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Energy

Turn Off Lights and Electronics

I will keep lights, electronics, and appliances turned off when not using them.

COMPLETED 17
DAILY ACTIONS

Participant Feed

REFLECTION QUESTION
Community

How can Restorative Justice help foster the well-being of both people and planet?
Olivia A. 10/31/2025 4:17 AM
Restorative justice can help foster the well-being of people because it prioritizes the needs of everyone involved in a crime in a healthy way. Victims, offenders, and community encounter each other and try to repair. Victims experience care for their needs, vindication, safety, and regaining control over their lives. Offenders experience forgiveness. The community is able to support and integrate the others and it is supportive for them as well. Then transformation through healing can take place. In a penal system, the punishment is important and does not help the offender understand the consequences of the crime or subsequently help the victim with healing.
When healthy healing happens, we have more capacity to take care of our planet and can understand the importance of this. When vulnerability and openness is fostered, we can be more mindful.

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Olivia A. 10/23/2025 10:37 AM
I want to share this study with you about environmental racism in Germany, it also has an informative and understandable overview of environmental racism as a general history. https://www.boell.de/sites/default/files/2021-12/E-Paper_The_Elephant_in_the_Room.pdf

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Health

Who is most affected by environmental degradation or environmental irresponsibility in your community? How are they affected? What actions can you take to support those affected by these issues?
Olivia A. 10/23/2025 10:35 AM
Environmental degradation most commonly affects BIPoC people, people with a migration background, and people with low income in Germany. They are often affected by heat waves and pollution because, due to systemic racism, they are often forced to live in areas with more environmental and health risks. Sinti*zze and Rom*nja people are often at risk in Germany. For instance, there have been cases where they are offered land as "reparation" that was in fact a former landfill full of pollutants.
Although there are cases of one person's racism such as not renting your apartment to BIPoC people, it's often systemic also and based on historic policies. There are policies like the National Action Plan Against Racism and the German Sustainable Development Strategy, but what can I do? I would say, don't be racist. There are some anti-racist and human rights groups in my city that are open for new members. I can also inform people about environmental racism and injustice, and take part in the current demonstrations against this.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Community

How can you, your loved ones, the community, and environment all benefit from constructive communication?
Olivia A. 10/13/2025 11:52 AM
We can all benefit from constructive communication because deep listening helps people to be relieved from suffering and heal from harmful experiences, and constructive communication helps to avoid misunderstandings and make sure everyone feels valued while being clear and concise.
Problem oriented: focus on problems and not people, so say that this topic is not on the agenda instead of saying you're off topic
Congruent: be honest
Descriptive: describe the problem and don't evaluate such as saying something screwed up. describe what went wrong without saying good or bad.
validating: find points of agreement to help others feel heard.
specific about what happened versus global
conjunctive: let others speak and don't have long pauses and topic switches
own your mistakes
listen!
say I feel ... when ...

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Health

What environmental factors affect human health in your region, and how do they affect it?
Olivia A. 10/08/2025 11:17 AM
Water quality is not really a problem where I live as we have strict regulations regarding pollutants. But you may have pipes in your house that are still made of lead. In Munich, however, despite regulations and high quality water, lead or chemical contamination (pesticides, PFAS/PFOA) is a risk due to old infrastructure and agricultural and production practices. So it's recommended to use a filter, and regardless of the city, pay attention to whether your pipes are made of lead and switch them out in this case. Lead poisoning is a serious problem.
Air quality is good here, but Germany ranks just 25th in the world and there are still deaths and physical and mental health problems caused by air pollution as well as soil acidification. Reasons for this are industry, road traffic, agriculture,... A speed limit on motorways would help to combat this problem. The good news is air quality has improved over the years and also more renewable energy would be a great way to continue this trend, but the government seems to be moving away from this.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Community

What are the ways in which voters are prohibited from or discouraged from voting in your region and/or state? What could be done to get rid of these barriers?
Olivia A. 10/05/2025 4:23 AM
I live in Germany and didn't find a lot of information about voter suppression here. I don't think it is a big topic here and it's likely not as present. The requirement for voting is a German citizenship and it's recommended to bring a passport and ID, which I can imagine could be difficult for some people but it is required to have an ID as an adult here anyway. Voting can be difficult if you have a disability but you have the right to request an accessible polling station.
I am originally from the US, however, and there is a lot of voter suppression going on there. On social media, it is easy to find misinformation and be discouraged from voting, especially due to posts targeting specific groups. It would be important for companies to pass fact-checking laws. In California, voter suppression including for voters from abroad is comparatively low.
In my opinion, the provision of the Voting Rights Act struck down in Holder v. Shelby County must be reestablished to prevent voter suppression due to policies. Voter suppression includes: policies requiring proof of citizenship and other registration restrictions as well as voter ID laws, arbitrary requirements and criminalization of the ballot box, felony disenfranchisement, voter purges, and redistricting and gerrymandering. Voter fraud in the sense of saying you are someone else and voting under there name is very rare, only about 3%, whereas double voting or absentee ballots are bigger problems. I understand that it is important to prevent fraud but suppression and discrimination are not the solution.

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- Frank Tallman 10/05/2025 7:21 AM
  
  Foodie 🍱
  Olivia, I would say that what your seeing and/or experiencing is the same in most places across the world.
  
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Olivia A. 10/05/2025 3:04 AM
Today I learned about environmental problems in my city. I learned that my city is getting warmer, with increased heat waves. In 2018 the longest heat wave took place over 17 days. The historic district and the industrial west part of the city have the most problems. This is damaging for the health of people living here. There's a heat action plan with preventative and acute measures for heat waves in our city. What would be important: more green spaces and heat-reflecting surfaces. We badly need these.

Read More
- Kerry Keck 10/05/2025 9:42 AM
  Olivia, this is also a problem here in my city and there is clearly a social justice component. I have seen the results of data demonstrating the lack, or even total absence, of tree cover and/or green spaces in lower income neighborhoods and those with the highest demographic toward people of color.
  
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Olivia A. 10/03/2025 9:43 AM
Today's EcoChallenge updates:

Missed out on the first two days due to travel and illness. Now I'm back and hoping for a great EcoChallenge.

Unplugged some appliances but unfortunately couldn't unplug everything that belongs to my family.

Created a table to learn about spending habits.

Learned about an environmental problem in my city. There's a small lake near where I live which apparently has been closed off because many fish are dying due to a poisonous substance in the lake, and we aren't sure where it's coming from.

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