Dawn McKenzie

NCW Green Team

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
575 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

60

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

120

pieces of litter

picked up
UP TO

72

plastic containers

not sent to the landfill

Dawn's actions

Family

Swap the Snacks

I will swap out 5 prepackaged snacks a day for fresh fruits or veggies.

COMPLETED 12
DAILY ACTIONS

Personal Care

Brusha Brusha Brusha

I will replace my plastic toothbrush with a bamboo toothbrush.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Lifestyle

Travel Toiletries

If traveling, I will reuse my old travel tubes to refill with my soaps or only bring bar soaps with me in a TSA approved reusable quart sized bag.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Takeout Pro

I will use my own containers when ordering takeout.

COMPLETED 12
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Keep My Community Clean

I will pick up 10 piece(s) of litter each day.

COMPLETED 12
DAILY ACTIONS

Personal Care

Pearly Whites

I will purchase toothpaste in an aluminum tube or in a glass jar or make my own!

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Pets

Pet Waste

I will spend 60 minutes learning how to compost pet waste at home or research pet waste composting services available in my area.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Lifestyle

Complete a Waste Audit

I will conduct a waste audit - including recyclables and compost - to understand how much waste I create and where I can reduce the most.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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?

Dawn McKenzie 7/15/2019 8:41 PM

I love my silicone stashers. I keep a couple in my bag to carry leftovers home. The silicone is great for storage, and for reheating, or even freezing if I want to save something for awhile. So much better than one use carryout containers!

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Dawn McKenzie 7/14/2019 8:25 PM

I'm starting my waste audit tomorrow. This should be interesting, and I'm excited to see if I can eliminate more things going to the landfill.

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Dawn McKenzie 7/08/2019 1:09 PM

I had been looking for tooth powder already made up in a glass container. Haven't found any locally, possibly because I'm looking the wrong places. I finally broke down and just bought the ingredients from the health food store, and made my own. It is going to take some getting used to, but I look forward to not being stuck with disposing of toothpaste tubes. I'll probably be commenting on it later in the month.

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- Rachel Courtney 7/08/2019 6:02 PM
  
  Can't wait to hear how it goes
  
  Read More
Dawn McKenzie 7/06/2019 5:55 PM

It was a good day. I accomplished my daily goals and bought a glass growler so I can bring home beer from the brewery without all the extra packaging. I don't buy that much beer, but it just seems like a better way to go. I also carried my stainless water bottle and my silicone 'to go' bags when I went out for lunch. I've been keeping up reading the "Green Life" essays that come to my e-mail and I am getting to be friends with some of the growers at the farmers markets who I didn't know before (I've always known my regular suppliers)

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Community Keep My Community Clean

How does the act of picking up litter connect you more to your community?

Dawn McKenzie 7/05/2019 8:30 AM

I live close to a highway leading into town. Picking up the litter along the stretch of highway close to my house makes a better impression on visitors to our area, and there are a lot of visitors to our area!

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Dawn McKenzie 7/05/2019 8:20 AM

I skipped my challenges over the 4th of July since I didn't leave our property. I did read several long articles on eliminating/reducing use of plastic on the Sierra Club and other environmental sites. We did have a lot of salads, home smoked meat, and home made desserts and for a change, not a lot of chips and prepackaged snacks, so even though I didn't earn points, I regarded the holiday as a success.

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Dawn McKenzie 7/03/2019 2:51 PM

It's going well. When researching about pet waste, I did find that the corn based kitty litter I use is excellent for composting. I just have to keep it separate from the compost I use in the garden.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Pets Pet Waste

By composting your pet waste, you are turning waste into nutrients to feed the soil. In what other ways can you turn waste into a resource in your life?

Dawn McKenzie 7/03/2019 2:32 PM

I spent a long time on-line researching this. It is not really practical for me to do it since I live on an orchard and it's hard to think of a place to use the compost that would not be feeding plants that feed us. I did learn a lot about the reasons NOT to use pet waste in compost for plants providing food for people. It is quite the process even to break it down for use on ornamental plants. This area doesn't have a place to compost pet waste. I'm not sure what the businesses that clean up after pets and take the waste away do with it. I may have to call and find out.

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Dawn McKenzie 7/02/2019 12:58 PM

This is going really well. Unfortunately, I have found that I do not have to travel very far to pick up 10 pieces of trash, and have picked up over 50 in the last two days. So sad!

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Family Swap the Snacks

How does swapping out prepackaged snacks for fresh fruit or veggies benefit your family?

Dawn McKenzie 7/01/2019 2:22 PM

Buying bulk vegetables and keeping them handy is definitely more healthy than having crackers and chips around, for me and the grandkids! Luckily, it's a great time for fruits and veggies and we can go out in the garden and orchard and pick a lot of things. Treats like broccoli and other veggies that are later are easy to find at the store and none of the employees seem to mind that I don't use their plastic bags.

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