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October 1 - October 31, 2025

UTK Facilities Services Feed

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  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Food
    How can you use Ecochallenge.org's programs to help mobilize your community to take action toward a sustainable future?

    Frank Tallman's avatar
    Frank Tallman 10/29/2025 3:53 AM
    • Foodie 🍱
    Ecochallenge provides many resources to engage and motivate a community. Take a moment to review tips or participate in a webinar. If you’re spreading the word in your community, be sure to make use of our free media kit that provides Social sharing tips, as well as downloadable graphics, posters, and other assets to bolster your efforts!
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Nature
    What ballot measure are you interested in following through this election cycle and why?

    Frank Tallman's avatar
    Frank Tallman 10/29/2025 3:48 AM
    • Foodie 🍱
    Local Option Sales Tax Referendum.
    Proponents of this option say it's the best way to ensure minority representation on the council. District-only elections generally produce candidates who are focused on neighborhood issues. Opponents of this system say council members won't have an incentive to care about the districts they don't represent.



  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Food
    If you were to only eat what is in season locally from now on, what would be the most difficult food item for you to give up? Why?

    Frank Tallman's avatar
    Frank Tallman 10/29/2025 3:39 AM
    • Foodie 🍱
    Cheese; because of the versatility and Cheese can be used in so many dishes, like lasagna, pizza, and burgers, making it a constant staple in my diet.

    • Michelle Kotsagrelos's avatar
      Michelle Kotsagrelos 10/29/2025 6:42 AM
      Cheese (and bread) for me!

    • Mary Hanks's avatar
      Mary Hanks 10/29/2025 2:07 PM
      • Pet Parent 🐾
      I love cheese! When I decided I needed to cut back on sugar a few years ago and chose to skip most desserts, I found that a small serving of cheese (less than half an ounce) made a fine substitute. I don't have to have an elaborate selection like you'd find in a restaurant.

  • Frank Tallman's avatar
    Frank Tallman 10/29/2025 3:22 AM
    • Foodie 🍱
    That collective action starts when we take just one positive, measurable action. Those actions become habits when you can see, touch and feel the positive impacts of your behavior. That first moment of action becomes a movement when you connect with others, celebrate your achievements, and create a culture of change. As the dots are connected, and individual behaviors become collective action, we create the world we want, together.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Health
    What single-use items (e.g. straws, coffee cups, vegetable bags, plastic bags) do you regularly use? What could be substituted instead?

    Frank Tallman's avatar
    Frank Tallman 10/29/2025 3:16 AM
    • Foodie 🍱
    Alternatives to plastic bags include reusable bags made of cotton, canvas, or jute; biodegradable and compostable bags; and single-use paper bags. For food storage, options like beeswax wraps, reusable silicone bags, or glass and stainless steel containers are excellent alternatives.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Water
    Fixing leaky faucets is one of the tasks that we can easily put off until later. Good job on completing this action! How will you use the momentum from completing this action to increase your water efficiency in other ways?

    Frank Tallman's avatar
    Frank Tallman 10/29/2025 3:13 AM
    • Foodie 🍱
    Rather than focusing solely on the outcome (saving water), a more powerful approach is to focus on becoming the type of person who is water-efficient. With each action, you are reinforcing this new self-perception.
    Tell yourself, "I am the type of person who is mindful of my water use."
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Water
    Trace the water that flows down the drain from your house to the largest body of water nearby. What is the route it takes?

    Frank Tallman's avatar
    Frank Tallman 10/29/2025 3:11 AM
    • Foodie 🍱
    Water from a drain flows through your home's pipes to a larger sewer line beneath the street, which carries it to a local wastewater treatment plant where it is cleaned. After treatment, the reclaimed water is released into a nearby river, which flows into the largest local body of water, likely the French Broad River. The French Broad River connects to the Tennessee River on to the Mississippi River on to the Gulf of Mexico,
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Nature
    What is one way you can reduce your impact on nature the next time you spend time outdoors, and how might that action help preserve the environment for others?

    Frank Tallman's avatar
    Frank Tallman 10/29/2025 3:06 AM
    • Foodie 🍱
    One way to reduce your impact on nature outdoors is to stay on marked trails, which prevents erosion and protects plant life. This helps preserve the environment for others by maintaining the health and integrity of the ecosystem, ensuring that trails remain stable and that delicate vegetation is not damaged for future visitors.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Waste
    What did you learn from your visit, and how did it change the way you see your household waste? Post a pic from your visit in the feed!

    Frank Tallman's avatar
    Frank Tallman 10/29/2025 2:47 AM
    • Foodie 🍱
    So, what did I learn from my visit to the recycling center? In this day of ensuring that we have profits and keeping costs low, we need to remember that we have the responsibility to be sustainable consumers and to encourage our local governments to increase the focus on recycling even though it may not be the cheapest option. We can help by ensuring we only recycle what can be recycled in our communities, since the recycling can be sorted by hand and any “contamination” by ineligible materials can cause a load of recycling to be rejected, and by making responsible choices when we buy products. These choices can be choosing easily recyclable material or by supporting companies that are using recycled material in their products. Even though something can be recycled, does not mean it can be recycled in your area or have a market that it can be sold to. Our best bet as consumers to focus on Reduce, Reuse, and Refuse, but when the time comes to get rid of the material, make sure we recycle smartly.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Waste
    What did you fix and how did it go? Share a few pics if you can!

    Frank Tallman's avatar
    Frank Tallman 10/28/2025 6:04 AM
    • Foodie 🍱
    Replaced my Dads toilet valve inside the tank this past weekend. It would run occasionally run ( fill with water ) and was wasting water.
    I purchased a replacement a Toilet Water Repair Kit.

    Replacing was not that bad; I first turn off the water supply and flush the toilet to empty the tank. Then, disconnect the water supply line and remove the old fill valve and flush valve by unscrewing the nuts from under the tank. After installing the new fill and flush valves, reattach the water supply line and turn the water on to check for leaks.