Rachel Kirby

When traveling, I will seek souvenirs that support local communities and do not cause harm to the environment or wildlife.

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.

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.

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.

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.