Helen GHelen
"Earth is a beautiful place. It sustains human life. Our existence depends on it.... so we should care for the earth just as earth nurtures and cares for us."
POINTS TOTAL
- 0 TODAY
- 0 THIS WEEK
- 1,260 TOTAL
participant impact
-
UP TO53organic mealsconsumed
-
UP TO57whole food mealsconsumed
-
UP TO10poundsfood waste prevented
-
UP TO92meatless or vegan mealsconsumed
-
UP TO60zero-waste mealsconsumed
-
UP TO21pounds of CO2have been saved
-
UP TO1,026gallons of waterhave been saved
-
UP TO1.0documentarywatched
-
UP TO108minutesspent learning
Helen's actions
Waste
Tour a Waste Management Facility
I will spend at least 10 minutes touring (virtually or in person) a local dump/transfer station, material recovery facility, and/or landfill to learn about our local waste and waste recovery streams.
Share My Why
Share My Why
I will share my Ecochallenge story and why I'm taking action for the planet.
Food
Whole Foods Diet
Processed foods can be less nutritious for our bodies and take more energy and water to produce, which can create more waste, pollution, and offer less benefit to our health. I will enjoy 2 meals per day free of processed foods.
Food
Zero-Waste Cooking
Food waste hurts our planet and our communities. I will cook 2 meals with zero waste each day.
Health
Learn About War & Conflict Impacts on People + Planet
I will spend 5 minutes learning how conflict between people impacts people + planet.
Food
Learn More about Food Apartheid
I will spend 1 about food apartheid and find out how I can advocate for healthy and fresh food in my region.
Food
Watch a Documentary about Food Sovereignty
I will watch 1 documentaries about food sovereignty: the right of local peoples to control their own food systems including markets, ecological resources, food cultures and production methods.
Food
Choose Organic Ingredients
Organic farming practices are healthier and safer for our planet, animals, and people. I will enjoy 1 meals cooked with organic ingredients per day.
Food
Reduce Animal Products
I will enjoy 1 meatless meals and/or 2 vegan meals each day this week.
Water
Install a Low-Flow Showerhead
I will save up to 8 gallons (32 L) of water a day by installing a low-flow shower-head.
Water
Fix Leaky Faucets
I will fix faucets or report leaky faucets to facilities that have been wasting up to 3 gallons (11 L) of water per faucet every day.
Water
5-Minute Showers
I will save up to 6 gallons (23 L) of water each day by taking 5-minute showers.
Water
Eco-Friendly Gardening
I will plant native species, landscape with water-efficient plants, and use eco-friendly fertilizers.
Water
Calculate My Water Footprint
I will calculate my Water Footprint to learn about my tap water use and "virtual water" use.
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?
-
Helen GHelen 10/30/2024 10:57 PMHow Is Food Genetically Altered?
The science behind GM food is called food biotechnology—the use of modern genetics to improve plants, animals, and microorganisms for food production. Of course, the concept of tinkering with living things is almost as old as agriculture itself. The first farmer who bred his best bull with the best cow in his herd to improve the stock, instead of allowing the animals to breed randomly, was
implementing biotechnology in a rudimentary sense. The first baker who used yeast enzymes to make bread rise was likewise using a living thing to produce an improved product. The one feature common to these traditional techniques was the use of natural processes to bring about changes in foods.Modern biotechnology likewise employs living organisms to make or modify products. But unlike traditional methods, modern biotechnology allows for modifying the genetic material of organisms directly and precisely. It enables the transfer of genes between completely unrelated organisms, allowing for combinations unlikely to occur by conventional means. Breeders can now take qualities from other organisms and put them into the genome of a plant—for instance, frost tolerance from fish, disease resistance from viruses, and insect resistance from soil bacteria.
Suppose that a farmer does not want his potatoes or apples to turn brown when they are cut or bruised. Researchers come to the rescue by removing the gene that is responsible for this browning and replacing it with an altered version that blocks browning. Or let us assume that a beet grower would like to plant earlier in order to reap a better harvest. Ordinarily he couldn’t because the beets would freeze in the cold weather. Biotechnology comes into play when genes from fish that easily survive in cold water are transplanted into the beets. The result is a GM beet that can withstand temperatures as low as 20°F. [-6.5°C], more than twice as cold as the lowest temperature beets can typically withstand.
Such traits that are the result of single-gene transfers, however, have limited effectiveness. To alter more complex traits,
such as growth rate or drought resistance, is quite another matter. Modern science is still unable to manipulate whole groups of genes. After all, many of these genes have not even been discovered yet. -
Helen GHelen 10/30/2024 10:56 PMGenetically Modified Food—Is It Safe for You?
Depending on where you live, you may have had some genetically modified (GM) food in your breakfast, lunch, or dinner today. It might have been in the form of potatoes with a built-in insect repellent or tomatoes that stay firm longer after being picked. In any case, the GM food or ingredient may not have been labeled, and your palate could hardly distinguish it from the natural one.Even as you read these lines, such GM crops as soybeans, maize, rapeseed, and potatoes are growing in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Mexico, and the United States. According to one report, “by 1998, 25 percent of corn, 38 percent of soybeans, and 45 percent of cotton grown in the United States were genetically altered, either to make the crops resistant to weedkillers or to produce their own pesticides.” By the end of 1999, an estimated 100 million acres [40 million ha] were covered with GM crops in commercial cultivation worldwide, though not all of these are food crops.Is genetically altered food safe for you? Do the scientific techniques used to produce GM crops pose any threat to the environment? In Europe the debate over GM foods is heating up. Said a protester from England: “My only objection to genetically modified foods is that they’re unsafe, unwanted and unnecessary.”
-
Helen GHelen 10/30/2024 10:53 PMHormones and Antibiotics
Since the 1950’s, small doses of antibiotics have been added to the feed of poultry, pigs, and cattle in some places. The purpose is to lower the risk of disease, especially where animals
are kept together in close quarters. In some lands hormones are also added to animal feed to speed up animal growth. Hormones and antibiotics are said to protect animals against infection and to make intensive farming more profitable, with benefit to the consumer in the form of lower prices.So far so good. But does meat from animals that are fed these additives carry any risk to the consumer? A report by the Economic and Social Committee of the European Communities concluded that there is a chance that bacteria will survive the antibiotics and be passed on to the consumer. “Some of these bacteria, such as Salmonella and Campylobacter, may be a direct cause of severe human diseases via the food chain,” the report found. Furthermore, what if the food chain contains not only bacteria but also residues of antibiotics? Fears have been raised that as a result, germs causing diseases in humans could gradually develop a resistance to antibiotics.
-
Helen GHelen 10/30/2024 10:46 PM“A good diet is the most basic human need. . . . Without sufficient food, we would die.”—Food and Nutrition-
Miroslav Považai 10/30/2024 10:55 PMYes, you´re absolutely right. We have to think about our excessive consumption of food.. :-)
-
-
Helen GHelen 10/30/2024 10:13 PMWhere Has All the Water Gone?
Cherrapunji, India, is one of the wettest places on earth. During the monsoon season, 350 inches [9,000 mm] of rain drench its hills, which lie at the foot of the Himalaya Mountains. Incredible as it may seem, however, Cherrapunji also suffers from water shortage.
Since there is little vegetation left to hold the water, it rushes away almost as quickly as it falls from the sky. Two months after the monsoon rains have gone, water becomes scarce. Robin Clarke, in his book Water: The International Crisis, years ago described Cherrapunji as “the wettest desert on earth.”-
Jeanne Poirier 10/31/2024 8:00 PMDitto to what Kerry says - and I wonder if where I live now we are not in a similar situation. Restoring biodiversity, planting and stopping the consumer/comfort destruction would go such a long way! Thank you for sharing this post! -
Kerry Keck 10/31/2024 6:23 AMCherrapunji sounds like it is in dire need of help to harvest and retain water. Many of our countries will need to seriously invest in infrastructure around water. I hope we can take the necessary steps.
-
-
Helen GHelen 10/23/2024 9:42 AMMany experts are confident that humans can protect the earth and live in harmony with nature. Some researchers argue that for human efforts to succeed, changes must be made in a number of areas and at the same time. Such changes would include:
- Improving how land, forests, wetlands, and oceans are managed.
- Adopting different agricultural practices and energy sources.
- Switching to a food system that supports a primarily plant-based diet that includes a moderate intake of meat and fish and reduces overall consumption and waste.
-
Olena Sytar 10/31/2024 5:39 PMSo true: changes starting with us and how with interact with nature, other people and world.
- Improving how land, forests, wetlands, and oceans are managed.
-
Helen GHelen 10/23/2024 9:25 AMI Recall Childhood LessonsI looked down at the sink. It was now free of dishes and the water had drained off. But there, staring me in the face, was a mass of dense suds that refused to disappear. I recalled a lesson that I had learned in earliest childhood: Do not waste. But how can a person avoid losing a residue of soapsuds? I thought of two things that had helped me in the past:
(1) Do not guess; measure. I should have scorned the snipped-off top that permitted me to squirt the detergent into the sink. Measuring it out always results in savings.
(2) Reuse detergent water. In South America, for example, laundering proceeds from loads of less-soiled clothes to dirtier ones, each time reusing the suds. Finally the same soapy water is used to scrub the floor.
Does that sound extreme to you? It is vital in countries where the price of soap and detergents is nearly out of reach.
Food is something else that many people waste. My grandmother used to sing a little rhyme that went this way: “Do not throw upon the floor the crumbs you would not eat; for many a little boy or girl would think them quite a treat.”
One of my first household chores was to scrape the bowl clean of all batter when baking was going on. Nothing was to remain in the bowl. I now appreciate that I was learning an attitude that helped our family. This can help you too.
-
Helen GHelen 10/23/2024 9:20 AMEven if integrated pest management were practiced by all farmers worldwide starting today, the pesticide problem would be far from over. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimates that there are more than 100,000 tons of leftover pesticides stored in developing countries. “A significant part of the stocks,” notes Our Planet, a magazine published by the United Nations Environment Programme, “are left-overs of pesticides obtained under aid agreements.” These supplies include large amounts of DDT and other pesticides that are now regarded as hazardous waste. If this pesticide heritage is not removed, comments Our Planet, “disasters can be expected.” -
Helen GHelen 10/17/2024 9:44 AMIt is wise to treat water perhaps with chloride of lime, or, if that is not available, tincture of iodine. In the absence of these substances, it can be sterilized by boiling for at least ten minutes. Remember, though, that water can be contaminated after boiling as well as before. So the sterilized water should be kept in a clean and protected place until it is used.-
Helen GHelen 10/17/2024 10:02 PMThank you Lenora! i prefer to store at least drinking water in steel container, be it at home or carrying water bottles to work or out side. The best would be an earthen pot. -
Lenora Andrews 10/17/2024 12:24 PMHelen, this is some good information. Thank you for sharing. In what type of container do you recommend storing the water you sterilize? Thank you!
-
-
Helen GHelen 10/17/2024 9:44 AMIt is wise to treat water perhaps with chloride of lime, or, if that is not available, tincture of iodine. In the absence of these substances, it can be sterilized by boiling for at least ten minutes. Remember, though, that water can be contaminated after boiling as well as before. So the sterilized water should be kept in a clean and protected place until it is used.