Kieran Wade
"I want to learn more about the environmental impact of my actions and make choices that prioritize the health and sustainability of the planet."
POINTS TOTAL
- 85 TODAY
- 280 THIS WEEK
- 1,423 TOTAL
participant impact
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UP TO1.0Carbon FootprintCalculated
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UP TO1.0energy auditconducted
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UP TO55single-use bagsnot sent to the landfill
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UP TO1.0waste auditconducted
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UP TO1.0water footprintcalculated
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UP TO27advocacy actionscompleted
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UP TO60minutesspent outdoors
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UP TO905minutesspent learning
Kieran's actions
Biodiversity + Wildlife
Invest in Nature
A healthy world needs both our daily actions and support from larger systems. I will spend 30 minutes learning about how I can use my investments and savings to advance environmental sustainability.
Land + Forests
Personal Waste Audit
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.
Biodiversity + Wildlife
Beauty and Personal Products
Beauty and personal products can create a lot of waste. I will spend 30 minutes learning about the beauty and body products I use to see if they are refillable or recyclable. If not, I will reach out to the manufacturer to advocate for those options.
Freshwater + Oceans
Raise Awareness for the Conservation of Freshwater and Oceans
I will spend 60 minutes learning more about the importance of freshwater + ocean conservation, and how I can reduce my water use. I will share what I learn with people in person, on social media, and on the feed.
Climate + Air
Online Energy Audit
Energy use and waste is often invisible. I will complete an online energy audit of my home, office, or dorm room and identify my next steps for saving energy.
Land + Forests
Explore My Area
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.).
Land + Forests
Choose Eco-Friendly Wood and Paper
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.
Land + Forests
Zero Waste Day
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.
Action Track: Community
Borrow Before I Buy
Why buy something I will only use once or a few times if someone nearby has it for me to borrow, and why not share something I have that someone may only need a few times a year? To reduce my consumption and waste, I will create or support the sharing economy with friends, family, colleagues or neighbors.
Biodiversity + Wildlife
Plastic in Clothing and Water
Synthetic clothing can contain plastic and shed harmful microplastics into our water. I will use a microplastics catcher in my laundry, or install a microplastics filter for my washing machine.
Freshwater + Oceans
Understand My Water Footprint
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.
Climate + Air
Calculate My Carbon Impact
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.
Freshwater + Oceans
Smart Seafood Choices
We need to support healthy seafood populations. I will spend 30 minutes learning about sustainable seafood choices, commit to making better seafood choices for a healthier ocean, and share what I learned on the feed.
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 60 minutes learning about how cleaning products affect our water and try making my own cleaning products to reduce pollutants.
Land + Forests
Regenerative Agriculture and Me
Regenerative agriculture focuses on farming and ranching in a way that supports life and restores the soil. I will spend 30 minutes learning about regenerative agriculture and find out if any nearby farms practice regenerative agriculture.
Biodiversity + Wildlife
Use Reusable Bags
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.
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.
Land + Forests
Forest-Friendly Foods
I will look for sustainable palm oil products with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSP) label. I will replace or remove the palm oil, coffee, and cocoa products in my current diet that are known to contribute to deforestation and opt for ones that help sustain healthy communities and forests.
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.
Freshwater + Oceans
Go Plastic-Free
Millions of tons of plastic is produced each year worldwide. Each day, I will conduct a plastics audit of what I buy and use throughout the challenge (kitchen, bathroom, personal care products, etc.), to see how single-use plastic shows up in my life. I will find plastic-free alternatives to these products and advocate for alternatives to single-use packaging at local grocery stores, product manufacturers, at work, or on campus.
Climate + Air
Declutter My Home Without the Landfill
Each day, I will learn about responsible ways to dispose of items and de-clutter, clean, donate, repurpose or recycle unneeded items in my home to make sure that what I get rid of doesn't go into the landfill.
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?
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REFLECTION QUESTIONBiodiversity + Wildlife Invest in NatureWhat did you learn about how investing can support the environment and create a more sustainable world?
Kieran Wade 4/26/2024 1:56 PMI need more than 30 minutes researching this so I'm going to study up on this further in the future, but ethical investing is on the rise, so more and more investment management companies offer ethical and socially responsible investing. For my next step, I'll be looking into my own financials to see what options are available for me. -
REFLECTION QUESTIONBiodiversity + Wildlife Save the BeesWhat did you plant for bees in your area? Please consider uploading a photo!
Kieran Wade 4/26/2024 1:38 PMThe seeds I planted are slowly growing. Going to keep them watered and safe!!
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REFLECTION QUESTIONLand + Forests Personal Waste AuditWhat are the results of your waste audit and what did you learn? How can you reduce your waste going forward?
Kieran Wade 4/26/2024 7:01 AMMy audit day was a low waste day, but I've been paying attention the rest of this month as well. I'm struggling with just how much of everything comes to us in plastic. Plastic is my worst enemy right now. Working on finding alternatives...though there have been a few articles this month of bioplastic research, so I hope these businesses make the right choice soon!! -
Kieran Wade 4/26/2024 6:59 AMMy personal waste audit from yesterday.
Finished the strawberries in the morning. My recycling bin claims that the clamshell container is recyclable, so both it and my water can go in the recycling bag.
I don't buy drinks in plastic bottles or containers anymore, even our milk comes in cartons, but my seltzer waters continue to be my weakness. Though I recycle the cans (even when I go on vacation somewhere where they don't, I've been known to stash them in my trunk and bring them back to recycle), I'd like to one day reduce the amount we drink. But there are other things on the priority list first -- food waste and plastic!
Another water, and I was super disappointed to find out that my favorite tea comes in two-layer packaging that is not recyclable. The looseleaf version comes on plastic...so I'll have to hunt around to find one that comes in a tin or a jar instead.
Paper tea bags went to the garden.
This was a low waste day for me, as we had leftovers stashed in reusable containers. -
REFLECTION QUESTIONBiodiversity + Wildlife Beauty and Personal ProductsWhat new insights did you gain about the skincare products you use? Did you reach out to advocate for refillable or recyclable packaging?
Kieran Wade 4/26/2024 6:50 AMThink Dirty! What an app. I downloaded it two days ago and have been scanning everything. You scan a healthcare product and it lists the inactive ingredients by category -- Clean, Half N' Half, Dirty, and N/R. By clicking into each of these categories, you can see the ingredients in question. By clicking on each ingredient, you see its name, alternative names, how it's used, and what its health impacts are. Instead of just telling you that a product has "dirty" ingredients in it, it shows you why and how they are dirty, allowing you to do follow up research on your own.
Now excuse me while I mourn the fact that I won't be buying any more of my favorite lotion once this bottle runs out. -
Kieran Wade 4/25/2024 8:55 AMI feel the weight of this commitment even as I type it, since I know it's going to be very difficult, but... I think I want to challenge myself next time I go grocery shopping. I will leave home with a list of items I need, ensuring that there will be no cheating (ie deciding I don't "need" to buy an ingredient I'm struggling with). My goal? Do not buy anything plastic.
This will be rough. Companies rely on plastic for packaging and shipping so heavily that my options are going to be severely limited. But I want to try this to see just how far backwards I'll have to bend as a consumer to avoid an ingredient that companies are dragging their feet in finding alternatives for. Wish me luck!
(There is no farmer's market near me that is open when I'm not at work.) -
Kieran Wade 4/25/2024 8:09 AMI've been thinking about my "Zero Waste Day" commitment task all month. Each day I get a deeper understanding on just how hard it is to do. I'm giving up -- it has just become a goal to work towards a step at a time rather than something I can do every day but choose not to instead.
And multiple times every day I find myself repeating that "I miss my composting bin" -- I can't wait to set it up again after I move!-
Ashli Bush 4/25/2024 8:10 AMSound like the old but true "progress, not perfection!". Keep going!!!
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Kieran Wade 4/24/2024 4:38 PMAnother great article during Earth month. A new bioplastic that call leech phosphates from water where there is too much due to pollution (this causes algae growth), and which composts easily and can be used as fertilizer! Sign me up, please!
https://phys.org/news/2024-04-eggshell-bioplastic-pellet-sustainable-alternative.html -
Kieran Wade 4/23/2024 1:57 PMThis is despicable. All the more reason to move away from using plastic all together. Apparently, plastic bags that were turned in for recycling just get shipped off overseas to pollute other countries. This is immoral.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/plastic-bags-walmart-us-recycling-bins-tracked-controversial/story?id=109491232 -
REFLECTION QUESTIONFreshwater + Oceans Raise Awareness for the Conservation of Freshwater and OceansWhat did you learn about freshwater and oceans you did not already know? In sharing this information with people in your life, which conversation was impactful to you?
Kieran Wade 4/23/2024 1:07 PMI watched a few cleanup initiative videos, such as the Interceptor, and got to see them at work. Though seeing the amount of trash that flows down a river when it rains was disheartening, the effectiveness of the Interceptor was so uplifting! What they need is more community acceptance, for more people to know about these initiatives and believe that they will work. This is why spreading the word is important.