Earth Month Ecochallenge 2023: Sustainable Development Goals

April 1 - April 30, 2023

Carolynn Green

Heartland Community College

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
896 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

20

square feet

community beautification
UP TO

30

pieces of litter

picked up
UP TO

1,090

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

20

lightbulbs

replaced
UP TO

1,090

minutes

not spent in front of a screen
UP TO

350

minutes

being mindful
UP TO

1.0

community event

hosted or attended

Carolynn's actions

Basic Needs & Security

Know Your Produce

SDG 2

I will become a savvy produce shopper when buying organic and non-organic items.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health & Equity

Spend Time Outside

SDG 3

I will replace 20 minute(s) per day typically spent inside (computer time, watching television, etc.) with quality time outside exercising, enjoying the sunrise/sunset, gardening, journaling, or practicing gratitude for nature.

COMPLETED 23
DAILY ACTIONS

Education & Livelihood

Work-Life Balance

SDG 8

During the workday, I will schedule time for daily breaks during work days to practice work-life balance.

COMPLETED 27
DAILY ACTIONS

Health & Equity

Practice Mindfulness

SDG 3

I will spend 10 minutes each day practicing mindfulness.

COMPLETED 25
DAILY ACTIONS

Economy & Communities

Choose LED Bulbs

SDG 7

I will replace 12 incandescent light bulb(s) with Energy Star-certified LED bulbs, saving up to $14 per fixture per year.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Economy & Communities

Buy local food products and produce

By buying locally from farmers markets or locally owned grocery stores you can give back to the community and know where you produce is from and how it was grown.

COMPLETED 23
DAILY ACTIONS

Health & Equity

Swim for an hour

Physical health is just as important as mental and emotional health. By exercising for one hour every few days your physical health, and mental health, will benefit.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Climate & Ecosystems

Support Local Pollinators

SDG 15

At least 30% of crops and 90% of flowering plants rely on pollinators to produce fruit. I will plant pollinator-friendly plants in my area to support local pollinators.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Education & Livelihood

Host or Join a Cleanup Event

SDG 11, 17

Within my community at home or work, I will organize or attend a local cleanup event.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Education & Livelihood

Share Your Eco Habits

SDG 11

Through my Earth Month Ecochallenge feed, I will share with others an environmentally friendly habit I have cultivated.

COMPLETED 10
DAILY ACTIONS

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?

Carolynn Green 4/25/2023 12:32 PM
I finally got my mother to agree to no more gas lighters. Instead I and she will be using electric lighters that are rechargeable. Therefore, we won't be wasting plastic and gas on lighters, as well as money. All you have to do is make a one time purchase of about ten to fifteen dollars (depending on size, differences of lighters, and if you buy extra extension cords, etc) and then find an outlet. No more buying lighters at a store.

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- Janet Beach Davis 4/28/2023 6:44 PM
  Think of all the plastic saved! Excellent work!
  
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Carolynn Green 4/20/2023 12:07 PM
One of the things I love to do is drinking tea. A few years ago I bought a raspberry bush so that I can make raspberry leaf tea and didn't have to buy it in the store, reducing the little paper bags, the cardboard box, etc. This year is my first year collecting the leaves since the first two to three years (and sometimes more) of a raspberry bush's life doesn't bring the greatest crop for any part of it--leaves and fruit. If all goes well, I will buy more plants to make more different kinds of tea so I don't have to buy tea in the store and can just dry and make my own loose leaf tea. (Which is also the best way to have tea.)

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Carolynn Green 4/19/2023 9:45 PM
One of the things you learn as an artist is to mix your own paints and colors. However, nowadays, you can just buy any shade on the planet. It defeats the purpose of learning how to mix and it doesn't seem to really make a masterpiece, in my opinion. As an avid painter (hobbyist, not as a career) I only buy the primary colors, black, white, and at one point green, mostly because I couldn't get the shade I wanted no matter how hard and however long I tried, so it seemed better to just not waste my paints. Point is, I only buy what I really need, never excessively--I don't get all the shades on the planet when I can just make mine unique and mix my own colors.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Education & Livelihood

How does working with others to clean up your community make you feel?
Carolynn Green 4/18/2023 9:41 PM
It makes me feel like I did something important. It makes me feel accomplished. It also tells me that a lot of people care for the Earth and I am not the only one. Seeing the litter around the community made me more determined than ever to recycle, to reduce my waste, and to share with others (like my family) how to reduce waste.

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- Janet Beach Davis 4/19/2023 9:27 PM
  Sometimes it feels like we are working all alone, but when you look around...it's a lot of people making small changes that really count.
  
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Carolynn Green 4/18/2023 9:36 PM
There are these reusable fabric softeners that I found in the store (I can't remember which) a while ago. They can be washed and they don't offer scent, but they do soften your clothes and remove fuzzballs and more. I use them every single time I wash my clothes so that I reduce/eliminate the use of single use ones. Sometimes, I do have to use single use ones to get a stench out of my clothes or make it smell better but I always reuse those until there is no scent anymore, and usually that's at least a dozen times of reusing.

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- Janet Beach Davis 4/19/2023 9:28 PM
  I use wool balls in my dryer. They seem to work great!
  
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Carolynn Green 4/17/2023 7:19 AM
One of the things that I am going to do, eventually... when I get money... is buy a reusable notebook. For those who don't know about these guys, they are notebooks made with special material, and depending on which you get, it has about thirty pages. But you scan this little QR code with your phone and scan in the pages to download the pages into your computer, or just phone or tablet. Then you spray it with water, JUST WATER, and wipe it away. Boom, it's almost like brand new. The only issue is that they are expensive. The minimum they get to in price is about $30. They can get as high as $50. They are worth it though because you don't buy notebooks for each new class you have and you don't waste paper, and eventually you do save yourself some money because you won't be buying tons of notebooks or paper.

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- Janet Beach Davis 4/19/2023 9:31 PM
  Rocketbook! I love mine!
  
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Carolynn Green 4/16/2023 2:00 PM
One of the eco habits that I have kept up since I was thirteen is, when I have an overabundance of books I usually give them to my sisters or I take them to the public library. It's a good way to give away books to those who would need or want them instead of just letting them clutter up my space. I hear about people just throwing away books or burning them for kindling, and that's just wasteful, and for an avid reader and lover of books, it makes me sad. You will never catch me doing that.

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- Janet Beach Davis 4/19/2023 9:34 PM
  There's a free library shelf on the second floor, just above our classroom. Feel free to drop books there as well.
  
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Carolynn Green 4/12/2023 6:47 PM
My mother taught me to use a sink full of water and then change it when it gets too gross. Sometimes I see her do it like three times. I find it wasteful, and disgusting that dishes are rinsed in the same water of greasy yucky-ness. Me? I like just filling the wash cloth with warm water, dropping a few drops of dish soap in it, and then scrubbing. Sometimes I do have to rinse a dish with warm water or soak it, but only when I have to.

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Carolynn Green 4/12/2023 6:45 PM
I use most of my clothes till I cannot use them at all. I sew them up and even keep them when I accidentally get bleach on them. It reduces the clothes I buy and helps me learn how to sew as well as reduce waste. My wallet also thanks me for it.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Education & Livelihood

How do you create new sustainability-related habits or change bad habits?
Carolynn Green 4/08/2023 4:51 PM
I start off by learning. For instance, when I was thirteen I learned how harmful plastic was in my science class so I asked my mom to buy me a metal water bottle--and I still have it. My first step is always learning, "This is harmful. This is bad. I need to change this." And then I stop cold turkey.

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