Are you up for the October EcoChallenge?

If you ever have wanted to make environmentally sustainable improvements to your life or work but were unsure of where to start, now's your chance to begin. You can explore avenues to start, whether it's adjusting the thermostat, taking a five-minute shower or installing a pollinator garden. Join one of the four Mayo Clinic teams to take on a sustainability challenge and join thousands of other participants in a nationwide challenge to prove that collective action at home and at work add up to real change during the October EcoChallenge, Oct. 3–24.

The EcoChallenge aligns with Mayo Clinic's value of Stewardship "to sustain and reinvest in our mission and extended communities by wisely managing our human, natural and material resources." As a participant, Mayo Clinic is not advising you to take specific actions, but rather is providing ideas about how to reduce your environmental impact.

The idea is simple: EcoChallengers choose their challenges, set their goals and then take action for three weeks. You can choose from challenges in the areas of waste, food, health, transportation, energy, community, nature, water simplicity or create your own. The support system created by participating with thousands of other EcoChallengers, along with friendly competition and earning points for success, help turn actions into habits. The ultimate goal is that EcoChallengers discover that taking action to reduce their impact and improve their communities is simpler than they thought and sustainable in the long term.

For example, in April, 174 Mayo Clinic staff members participated in the Drawdown EcoChallenge and collected 16,404 points. Activities included traveling 1,745 miles by bus, saving 920 gallons of water, 61 miles traveled by car pool, consuming 341 meatless or vegan meals, traveling 60 miles by bicycle, replacing 42 lightbulbs and much more. Now is the time to work together to surpass that total.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE
To participate in the October EcoChallenge:
1. Register using your Mayo Clinic email address. When registering, create a unique password that is not your Mayo Clinic password. If you participated in a previous EcoChallenge, use the login you originally created. https://2018.ecochallenge.org/users/join
2. Join one of the four Mayo Clinic teams (search for "Mayo" on the Teams page): "Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota," "Mayo Clinic in Florida," "Mayo Clinic in Arizona," and "Mayo Clinic Health System"
3. Choose at least one challenge in the areas of waste, food, health, transportation, energy, community, nature, or water simplicity, or create your own. Choose one challenge or a few. It's up to you. Don't forget to get points for what you've already done by clicking on "I already did this."
4. Take action and track your impact. Your dashboard makes it easy to track your progress, share your stories, connect with teammates and discover new ways to take action.
5. Earn points, and share your story. You'll earn points for logging your actions each day of the challenge. Your points help you win competitions with other teams and demonstrate Mayo's collective impact.
6. See Mayo's collective impact add up. Many actions add up to real change. See how thousands of people acting together can positively affect the community and planet. Develop a new habit, and see the impact of sustaining it beyond the challenge.

Invite colleagues to join one of the Mayo Clinic teams. Have fun challenging each other to change habits that benefit the planet and demonstrate that small actions add up to real change.
https://2018.ecochallenge.org/users/join