David Biewer

Alliance Blue Team

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
680 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

30

pounds

waste composted
UP TO

124

plastic bottles

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

83

plastic straws

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

1,650

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

210

minutes

spent learning

David's actions

Action Track: Community

Participate in an Earth Day Event or Celebration

Ecochallenge is great to think more about personal choices, but sometimes it's fun to get together with others for new ideas.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Community

Post on Alliance Greenhouse about the Ecochallenge

Tell others what you like about the Ecochallenge, what you've learned, and more.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land + Forests

30 for 30 in Nature

Studies have shown that when we spend consistent time in nature, our health improves, our creativity increases, and our connection to the planet gets stronger. Each day of the Ecochallenge, I will spend 30 minutes outside (in a large or small patch of nature), then share my observations, reflections, and learnings on the feed.

COMPLETED 30
DAILY ACTIONS

Freshwater + Oceans

Smart Seafood Choices

We need to support healthy seafood populations. I will spend 90 minutes learning about sustainable seafood choices, commit to making better seafood choices for a healthier ocean, and share what I learned on the feed.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Freshwater + Oceans

Say No to Plastic Straws

An estimated 71% of seabirds and 30% of turtles have been found with plastics in their stomachs. When marine wildlife ingest plastic, they have a 50% mortality rate. By asking for no straw when placing a drink order, I will keep 6 plastic straw(s) of out of the ocean each day.

COMPLETED 30
DAILY ACTIONS

Biodiversity + Wildlife

Save the Bees

Bees are vital to ecosystems. To help save the bees, I will learn which local flowers provide nectar and plant them in my backyard or in a pot on my balcony.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Freshwater + Oceans

Use a Reusable Water Bottle

It's estimated over a billion water bottles are thrown away each year. Even if they were recycled, that still uses energy and resources from the earth. I will use a reusable bottle and stop purchasing bottled water, saving 6 disposable plastic bottle(s) a day.

COMPLETED 30
DAILY ACTIONS

Land + Forests

Compost Food Waste

Food in the landfill is one of the main sources of greenhouse gasses. I will avoid sending up to .69 lbs (.31 kg) of food waste to the landfill per day by composting my food.

COMPLETED 30
DAILY ACTIONS

Freshwater + Oceans

Reduce Pollutants in Cleaning

Understanding cleaning product ingredients and their effect on water and biodiversity is helpful to our consumer choices. I will spend 30 minutes learning about how cleaning products affect our water and try making my own cleaning products to reduce pollutants.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Freshwater + Oceans

Dishwasher Efficiency

Hand washing dishes can use more energy and hot water than a dishwasher. To save water, I will use a dishwasher and scrape, rather than rinse, dishes before loading them into the dishwasher.

COMPLETED 30
DAILY ACTIONS

Participant Feed

REFLECTION QUESTION
Land + Forests

What have you noticed about how it feels to spend consistent time outside?
David Biewer 4/05/2024 7:34 AM
As someone who works at a computer it is certainly night and day from my past professions. I have always been outside working on the farm or other various jobs. I equate being outside as a direct impact to good health. The more i work in doors the harder it is to stay healthy. The trade off is my time out doors now is spent mostly in reflection and doing projects that i find more enjoyable absent of the stress of trying to get mother nature to allow you to grow crops so you can pay the bills.

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- Pierre Bourgeade 4/27/2024 7:46 PM
  Yes, being outside gives new perspective!
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Land + Forests

New to composting? Be sure to check out the action resource links to learn tips and more about it. As you transition from throwing food away to composting, what do you notice about how much you are tossing? How will you use your compost once it is ready?
David Biewer 4/05/2024 7:31 AM
We have commercial greenhouse that produce organic vegetables. Any waste we produce is critical to the health of the soil and the efficiency/health of the plants. We compost our food waste but also hay spoilage, grass clippings, leaves, crop debris, etc... We use our own compost to pot our seedlings which gives them a better start, closes loops on the farm, and keeps peat moss from being harvested and transported all over the world.

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- Pierre Bourgeade 4/12/2024 9:53 PM
  This is great, this is the way to go...it is virtuous cycle.
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Freshwater + Oceans

How can your region/household prepare for changing water situations in order to become more resilient?
David Biewer 4/05/2024 7:29 AM
We started doing rainwater catchment and can store and collect around 660 gallons of water. We use this for watering the garden or filling up the kids pool. I calculated that if i was to catchment all 6 downspouts on my house with the square footage (2D) that catches water every 1 inch rain event about 2,242 gallons hits my roof. As it takes varying long periods of time for water to seep into the ground water aquifers this rain is better used by replacing ground water use. Currently i can only catch about 1/6 of the total water that falls during a rain event but plan to add this to my Greeenhouses, shops, and more of my house. I might even be able to water my commercial vegetable operation with just rain water. I believe if area practiced even small amounts of rain water catchment to replace ground water use our Fresh water reserves would be more resilient.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Freshwater + Oceans

What did you learn about the amount of plastic we consume and what actions will you take to reduce your use of plastic?
David Biewer 4/05/2024 7:23 AM
As a farmer I have studied the effects of microplastics in soil but did some more research on plastic globally. First just observing things around my home made me realize most of everything in my house had some sort of plastic element and almost all of my grocery items involved some sort of plastics. I learned about the floating trash island in the pacific, the astronomical number of times water bottles could circle the globe, micro plastics in the ocean. From a quick google search it provided some basic profound statistics.

In the US, the production of plastic water bottles requires 17.6 million barrels of oil each year.

Transporting bottled water to market produces carbon dioxide emissions and air pollution.

Only one in six water bottles is recycled, while the rest end up in landfills or as trash.

Plastic bottles can break down into tiny particles called microplastics that can contaminate food water and pose a risk to human health.

Plastic can leach toxic chemicals into the drink, including heavy metals, hormone-disruptors, and PFAS, which are dangerous to human and environmental health.

Disposable water bottle waste can wash into the ocean, killing 1.1 million marine creatures each year.
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Freshwater + Oceans

What single-use items (e.g. straws, coffee cups, vegetable bags, plastic bags) do you regularly use? What could be substituted instead?
David Biewer 4/01/2024 1:31 PM
I do not use any single use items. We purchase reusable straws, cups, bags, and food storage containers as we find it cheaper in the long run and reduces waste. Plus I always never run out of straws! For this exercise I researched on how to reduce the items i purchase that come in single use packaging like grocery items or toiletries in order to find ways to reduce packaging consumed by my family. This lead us to find bamboo toothbrushes and straw made toothpicks that come in bio plastics and recycled cardboard boxes.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Freshwater + Oceans

What did you learn about ingredients in our cleaning products and how they impact water and biodiversity? Did you try making your own cleaning products? If so, how did it go?
David Biewer 4/01/2024 1:27 PM
We have always made a lot of our own cleaning products like laundry detergent or general cleaners. To be honest its just how we were taught and I find simple things like vinegar, baking soda, and simple soaps often work better than modern day cleaners. We save money, time, and it offers a simpler way to manage cleaning supplies. About 5 products make up the bulk of all of our cleaning supplies and can be used for several functions. These are readily available, safe for the environment, and inexpensive. For this exercise i learned more about commonly used commercial products and there impact on the economy and environment.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Freshwater + Oceans

Many states and countries have advisories on eating fish. Find out what is advised for your region. Do you think your diet choices fall within these guidelines? What steps do you need to take to make sure that they do?
David Biewer 4/01/2024 1:23 PM
Arkansas is not a coastal state but I was able to research the Arkansas Fish Advisory. I found that while AR is full of natural lakes and rivers, 20 of these are on the advisory list for possible high levels of mercury. On the upside the AGFC and ADEQ has numerous programs to monitor and prevent contamination of our fresh water sources. On top of that AR has a huge fishery and farmed fish aquaculture industry. So instead of purchasing fish transported from all over the world we invested more of our food budget to locally farmed/caught fish. Our family also raises our own catfish pond as well as fishing local rivers that constitutes a larger part of our diet.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Biodiversity + Wildlife

What did you plant for bees in your area? Please consider uploading a photo!
David Biewer 4/01/2024 1:14 PM
I sowed 3.5 acres of Crimson Red, Ladino White, and Red clover.

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