Coalition of North American Zoos and Aquariums

Plastic Free Ecochallenge 2022

July 1 - July 31, 2022

Dakota Farris

Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
185 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

7.0

advocacy actions

completed
UP TO

8.0

plastic containers

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

7.0

conversations

with people
UP TO

90

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

37

pieces of litter

picked up

Dakota's actions

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

Family

Discover Together

I will spend 60 minutes educating my family on the basics of living a reduced/no-plastic lifestyle.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Personal Care

Sustainable Suds

I will replace my soaps, shampoos, conditioners, and lotions with a sustainable, unpackaged, or refillable option.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Personal Care

Brush with Bamboo

I will replace my plastic toothbrush with a bamboo toothbrush.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Personal Care

That Was a Close Shave

I will replace my disposable razors with steel razors.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Personal Care

Practice Sustainable Fashion

I will spend 60 minutes learning about the costs of fast fashion and begin trying to practice sustainable fashion in my own life.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Dig into Bioplastics

I will spend at least 60 minutes researching the impacts of bioplastics and how to properly dispose of them in my city, and I will share this information with 5 friends, family, and/or colleagues.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Give Some Green Gratitude

I will give a shout-out on social media to a local company, coworker, friend or family member for their plastic free or green efforts.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Minimize Packaging

I will purchase food items with the least amount of packaging.

COMPLETED 4
DAILY ACTIONS

Lifestyle

Buy Only What I Need

I will not buy anything except items required for health and safety.

COMPLETED 4
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Keep My Community Clean

I will pick up 5 piece(s) of litter each day.

COMPLETED 4
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Become a Recycling Pro

Contamination prevents what is recyclable from being recycled. I will spend 60 minutes researching which materials are accepted by local haulers or drop stations in my community and recycle only those items.

COMPLETED 4
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Say No to Styrofoam

Throughout its life cycle, polystyrene (styrofoam) can harm people, communities, and the planet. I will refuse styrofoam whenever I can, making sure to kindly let people know why I'm asking for alternative packaging.

COMPLETED 4
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Estimate My Plastic Consumption

I will visit the rePurpose website, complete the 3-minute plastic consumption calculator, and explore how I can reBalance my annual plastic footprint.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Personal Care

Eco Deodorant

I will switch to a plastic-free deodorant — whether purchased or DIY'd.

COMPLETED
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?

REFLECTION QUESTION
Community

What did you find out about your plastic consumption by using the calculator? What did or didn't surprise you?
Dakota Farris 7/04/2022 1:11 PM
Single use plastic is next to impossible to avoid, especially for more affordable products. I consider myself a fairly green person, and I do what I can to avoid single use plastics in my day to day life. According to rePurpose, I use 25% less single use plastic than the average American. That being said, they estimate that I use more than 60 kg of plastic per year. This is a humbling number, and it has reminded me that, regardless of how green I think I am, there is always room for improvement.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Community

How does the act of picking up litter connect you more to your community?
Dakota Farris 7/04/2022 12:53 PM
I think most people desire to be in a clean environment, including people that litter. I think they unfortunately consider public space as not their environment. Whether this issue stems from a poor life philosophy or ignorance to the issues it causes is not always clear. What is clear is that helping to clean up our environments is an important step to helping the planet. A great tool that we can use to have an even larger impact when cleaning up litter is by using the Litterati app. This app allows you to tag the material you picked up and the location you picked it up in. This allows organizations like OKC Beautiful to use the data we are helping collect to push the need for sustainable products and education to local officials and companies.

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Dakota Farris 7/04/2022 12:37 PM
Deodorant is am important part of maintaining good personal hygiene and confidence when out in public. This is especially true when you work at a place like a zoo. Keeping your toiletry cabinet stocked up with deodorant usually means single use plastic, and a lot of it. There are quite a green practices companies that provide plastic free deodorants, and recently I have been seeing some of the brand name companies begin to offer these products. One of note is Dove. Dove has begun to offer deodorant in a reusable aluminum case. Once you use the first supply of deodorant, you simply purchase a refill cartridge for your case. I love seeing name brands offer products like these. The general public is usually unaware of green companies and they are not going to do the research that is usually necessary to find them; however, when large retail stores are stocking sustainably packaged brand name products I believe there is more exposure to the general public.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Personal Care

Do some research on the toxic side affects of aluminum deodorant. After reading the side effects, can you think of instances where you may have experienced the side effects from this form of deodorant?
Dakota Farris 7/04/2022 12:20 PM
Aluminum deodorant is a bit of a misnomer. To my knowledge, the large majority of deodorants do not contain aluminum. The culprit here is antiperspirant. Aluminum is used in antiperspirants to block your pores and prevent you from sweating. Sweating is natural and we should not be trying to prevent it. Body odor can be fought without trying to prevent sweating by clogging your pores. Avoiding antiperspirants can also help you avoid staining your clothes.

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