PCC Ecopanthers

It has been quite a year for us with air travel, as we are facing increasing health issues in our families. Alas, we do not live close enough to drive within a day (which has its own carbon footprint), so are grateful for the opportunity to fly. Yet, we are worried about our carbon footprints. So, we do multiple actions to try to compensate,...

It has been fascinating to have a daily focused action with nature journaling and some deeper dives into one-time actions. While I am often attentive to nature, the nature journaling exercise has helped me be more present and intentional in noticing daily changes. One thing that I noticed that seemed rather new in my yard was a vast increase...

I genuinely cannot believe that we have already completed a month of this EcoChallenge! At first this started as a class activity for me, but as the month went on I can proudly say staying consistent in planning weekly meals and taking the time to meditate for five minutes or more allowed me to save a significant amount of money this month that...

One way I have been wanting to incorporate reduce/reuse into my everyday cycle is by purchasing some reusable shopping bags. Although a lot of stores have already stopped using plastic, I think we could go a step further ourselves and get a few reusable bags instead of using paper bags/carboard boxes provided from the store. This way we are not...

My chemistry class requires 2 weekly lab packets, usually about 10 pages. I used this as a perfect opportunity to switch to double sided-printing and save paper. However, I noticed a lot of my classmates still print one-sided, maybe I can take a minute at the start of class or send out a mass email explaining how much paper we can save and...

Personally, my walk outside made me appreciate all the small and exciting things that we were naturally gifted. Like the gift of fresh clean air, little critters that make you stop, point, and giggle, the colorful leaves that make you pause in awe, or small successes like stepping on a really crunchy leaf. It made me realize how beautiful our...

I did think I was addicted to sugar before this challenge. I feel like I am able to control the amount of sugar I indulge in now. The most challenging part of reducing redefined sugar was the food and I overcame it by treating the food like how I treat sugar drinks, just typically avoiding them as often as I can

Exercising daily has made me think more about the possibilities of what I can do in my career and has made me more confident in participating in the sports I love to play. I love bench press because I improved my 1 rep max of 225 pounds to 6 reps in less then 30 days.

I haven't checked in with this challenge daily but I have been participating in my goals. Exercising everyday is something I haven't done since high school but it is becoming easier. As for reducing redefined sugar it hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be considering I love processed sweets.

Planting trees is an amazing way of starting your connection with nature. Sometimes you don't have the time to tend to a garden, so planting a tree is an amazing alternative for many. It's quick, simple, and rewarding!