Stefanie Nadine Bertuch

Understanding cleaning product ingredients and their effect on water and biodiversity is helpful to our consumer choices. I will spend 120 minutes learning about how cleaning products affect our water and try making my own cleaning products to reduce pollutants.

A healthy world needs both our daily actions and support from larger systems. I will spend 60 minutes learning about how I can use my investments and savings to advance environmental sustainability.

Carbon emissions can show up in many surprising ways in our life. I will calculate the carbon emissions associated with my household and consider how lifestyle changes could reduce the carbon footprint and impacts on the environment.

The waste we create daily can go unnoticed. I will track the waste I create in a day and post a photo log on the feed to see how much I create and where I can make different choices to reduce my waste going forward.

Trees provide food and habitat for local wildlife species, shade our streets and homes, and help keep our air and water clean by capturing pollutants. Buying products that help protect forests makes a difference. I will only purchase wood, furniture, and paper products from ecologically certified sources such as Forest Stewardship Council.

There is an old spreading orchard on the edge of our village. During the winter and spring storms, the trees suffered a lot and some branches broke off. Together with friends and the children, we took care of the trees and trimmed them back a bit. We used the branches to make a pile for insects and small animals. Hopefully the trees will produce fruit for us, the animals and continue to do good for the carbon footprint and the small animals and insects will benefit from the woodpile.

I'm going to get a wind vane blade for my lawn mower. That way I can chop the clippings so finely that they just stay on the lawn. This improves the soil without having to use lawn fertiliser. It also takes the strain off my back as I don't always have to carry and empty the heavy grass clippings baskets. I'm doing something good for the environment as well as myself.

The impacts of our waste are far reaching. I will create zero waste for an entire day and share my reflections and learnings on the feed.

I will volunteer 16 hours in my community.

Learning in a social setting can inspire connection and change. I will work with a friend or colleague to plan and host a lunch and learn at work, school, in my neighborhood or other location to learn more about an environmental topic important to me. After the lunch and learn, I will share more about it on the feed.

We need to support healthy seafood populations. I will spend 60 minutes learning about sustainable seafood choices, commit to making better seafood choices for a healthier ocean, and share what I learned on the feed.

I will organize or participate in a trash pickup at a local river, beach, or natural body of water.

When we explore natural spaces around us, our connections with them change. I will spend 60 minutes exploring a new area around my neighborhood, office, or campus (e.g., park, water body, nearby trail, community garden, green space, etc.).

At times it may not feel like it's up to us to keep our community clean and healthy, but we all have a role to play. Each day I am outside, I will pick up any litter I see.

The use of social media causes CO² emissions that are hardly taken into account. That's why I only use it when it's really necessary. According to a Co² calculator, the CO² emissions per minute are as follows: TikTok causes the most emissions with 2.63 grams of carbon dioxide per minute used, followed by Reddit (2.45 grams of CO2) and Pinterest (1.3 grams of CO2). In contrast, the use of YouTube only causes 0.46 grams of CO2 per minute, but since YouTube usually contains longer videos, the cumulative emissions could be higher overall. This does not take into account the hard drives in the servers that have to be operated to store the generated data. For me, this means that there is huge potential for saving CO². I'd rather spend the time I save outside in the fresh air with my family!

We let 50 square metres of our garden grow wild, with nettles, blackberry bushes and wild flowers, so that animals, bees, insects, butterflies and reptiles can find a home in it

Each of us has a water footprint, directly linked to our daily activities as well as the water required in the production of things we use each day. Understanding our water use is important for a healthy planet. I will calculate my water footprint and look for a few ways I can reduce consumption or waste, then share what I learned on the feed.

I will research and plant a garden filled with native fruits, vegetables, and flowers to nurture local wildlife and ecosystems. I will find nearby nurseries that offer plants native to my area.

I will continue to contribute to Emerson's environmental sustainability goals beyond April by learning more about the Global Green Teams Network, joining a team near me, or maybe even creating a new team.

I will sign up to the Sustainability Aficionados distribution list to receive global news on sustainability at Emerson, including world news and Greening OF, BY, and WITH news.

I will take at least one photograph that is connected with this year's theme of Nature Conservation & Biodiversity (for example an urban park, bee hives, birds and other animals...) and I will post it on LinkedIn with the hashtags #EarthMonthEcochallenge #EarthMonthAtEmerson.

On Wed 24th April, I will attend the Earth Month Ecochallenge Webinar on Conservation to learn about what individuals, companies and other organizations can do to promote biodiversity and nature protection.

Regenerative agriculture focuses on farming and ranching in a way that supports life and restores the soil. I will spend minutes learning about regenerative agriculture and find out if any nearby farms practice regenerative agriculture.

The world is full of unique species. I will spend 20 minutes each day learning what the native plants and wildlife are in my region.

Plastic bags can be mistaken for food by many wild animals and can end up in habitats that harm wildlife. I will not accept any disposable bags when making purchases, including produce bags.