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Lydia Roe's avatar

Lydia Roe

SAGE EcoLogicals

"To support our collective future via sustainable action"

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 1,023 TOTAL

participant impact

  • UP TO
    40
    meatless or vegan meals
    consumed
  • UP TO
    18
    plastic containers
    not sent to the landfill
  • UP TO
    2.0
    donations
    made
  • UP TO
    200
    minutes
    spent outdoors
  • UP TO
    285
    minutes
    spent learning

Lydia's actions

Buildings

Fix Leaky Faucets

Low-Flow Fixtures

I will fix faucets or report leaky faucets to facilities that have been wasting up to 9 gallons (34 L) of water a day or 270 (1,020 L) gallons of water a month per faucet.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Share Your Story

Find out what’s happening in your neighborhood

While global and national actions get a lot of attention, it’s often at the local community level where individuals can have the greatest input and where change is most tangible. But every community is unique and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. I will spend 20 minutes finding out how my neighborhood, town or city is helping the environment and building local resilience.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity

Choose Renewable Energy or Purchase Renewable Energy Credits

Onshore Wind Turbines, Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaics

I will sign up for my utility company's clean/renewable energy option. If my utility does not offer one, I will purchase Renewable Energy Credits to match my usage.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Research Cement Alternatives

Alternative Cement

I will spend at least 30 minutes researching cement alternatives that reduce the carbon footprint of concrete.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health and Education

Fund Family Planning

Family Planning and Education

I will donate to supply a community with reproductive health supplies.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Plant Trees

Temperate Forest Restoration

I will plant 1 trees in my community, public parks, or backyard.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Support a Community Garden

Multiple Solutions

I will support a community garden by volunteering, donating, or advocating for a new or existing one.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Forest-Friendly Foods 1

Tropical Forest Restoration

I will spend at least 30 minutes researching the impact of my diet to see how it contributes to deforestation.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings

Online Energy Audit

Multiple Solutions

I will complete an online energy audit of my home, office, or dorm room and identify my next steps for saving energy.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Improve a Bus Stop

Public Transit

I will improve a bus stop in my neighborhood by posting the stop schedule, adding seating or shelter, adding art or flowers, picking up litter, or implementing some other small improvement.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Research Peatlands

Peatland Protection and Rewetting

I will spend 30 minutes researching the environmental benefits of peatlands and what is being done around the world to conserve and restore them.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Buildings

Learn about the Legacy of Redlining

Multiple Solutions

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning about the legacy of redlining and how city planning and environmental justice issues are interconnected.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

Learn about Biochar

Biochar Production

I will spend 30 minutes learning about biochar and how it can help sequester carbon.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health and Education

Support Businesses Owned by Women, POC, or Immigrants

Sustainable Intensification for Smallholders

I will spend 30 minutes researching and shopping from 3 businesses owned by women, people of color, or immigrants.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Research and Consider Switching to a Hybrid or Electric Vehicle

Electric Cars, Hybrid Cars

I will spend at least 45 minutes researching and weighing my options to see if a hybrid or electric vehicle makes sense for my lifestyle.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Tend A Garden

Conservation Agriculture

I will tend to a garden, or prepare for one, each day using sustainable gardening practices.

COMPLETED 6
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Composting

Composting, Reduced Food Waste

I will start a compost or worm bin where I live.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Learn about Local Indigenous Practices

Indigenous Peoples' Forest Tenure

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning how local indigenous tribes are caring for the land by participating in a training, workshop, or presentation.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Reduce Animal Products

Plant-Rich Diets

I will enjoy 1 meatless or vegan meals each day of the challenge.

COMPLETED 27
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Support Indigenous Peoples' Land Management

Indigenous Peoples' Forest Tenure

I will donate to Native American Rights Fund, which protects tribal natural resources and environmental rights and promotes Native American Human Rights.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Recycle Everything I Can

Recycling; Recycled Metals; Recycled Plastics

Contamination prevents what is recyclable from being recycled. I will research and recycle all materials that are accepted by local haulers or drop stations in my community, including electronics and metals.

COMPLETED 2
DAILY ACTIONS

Industry

Reduce Single-Use Disposables

Bioplastics; Reduced Plastics

I will avoid buying and using 2 single-use plastics and instead replace them with durable options.

COMPLETED 11
DAILY ACTIONS

Industry

Practice the 5 Rs

Recycling

I will practice the "5 Rs" — refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle — to reduce my waste more than I can with just recycling alone.

COMPLETED 20
DAILY ACTIONS

Electricity

Support Microgeneration in Low Income Countries

Small Hydropower, Micro Wind Turbines, Microgrids

I will make a donation to a nonprofit that installs microgeneration in low income countries.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity

Support Companies Leading in Green Energy

Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaics, Distributed Solar Photovoltaics

I will use my spending power to reward companies leading in creating or purchasing green energy and incentivize others to invest more in green energy.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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?


  • Lydia Roe's avatar
    Lydia Roe 6/30/2024 9:48 AM
    I can’t believe it’s the final day already! I’m proud of how many check ins and actions I completed! This challenge is a great way to push myself towards more sustainable habits. I love the added bonus of teammates and how it adds support! Seeing our collective actions add up to so many meatless meals, miles traveled without a car, minutes spent learning, etc. Great work team! I hope yall are proud of yourselves too!!
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Food, Agriculture, and Land Use Learn about Local Indigenous Practices
    What did you learn about indigenous peoples' land management that you can apply in your own life?

    Lydia Roe's avatar
    Lydia Roe 6/27/2024 6:24 AM
    Many indigenous tribes (based on my research sources) highlight the interconnected relationships of nature. My personal perspective aligns with this principle. However, American science focuses on strict niches and sterile environments. I am still unlearning this narrow view. One of the articles I read highlighted the Indigenous knowledge of the connection between beluga whales and beavers, which surprised the Western scientist since the two don't share a single ecosystem. The connection was based on how the beavers affected the fresh-water flow of fish which then become food for the salt-water whales.
    (I also LOVE Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimerer, and I plan to read or listen to the audiobook for her first book, Gathering Moss, too. The author is an Indigenous knowledge keeper and a college-educated ecologist.)

    • Lydia Roe's avatar
      Lydia Roe 6/27/2024 8:45 AM
      Samantha, I definitely agree. De-colonizing my own brain is and has been a long process, and I know I'm far from done with the process. I like your mindset of food for healing towards the planet because that's the most basic, necessary part of our lives and our most direct connection to the soil, plants, and outdoors.

    • Samantha Niven's avatar
      Samantha Niven 6/27/2024 6:53 AM
      Incredible book recommendations! This is definitely inspiring me to reread Braiding Sweetgrass. Unlearning colonial mindsets can be really challenging and it can seem like an overwhelming task sometimes, but in addition to continuing to read like you have been, I find food can be a good starting place; the American relationship with food is truly so heinous and damaging, and finding recipes that are rooted int Indigenous culture (whether that's North/South American Indigenous, South Asian Indigenous, SWANA region Indigenous, etc.) can be a very grounding and healing way to challenge our understanding of the Earth and all that she provides.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Transportation Research and Consider Switching to a Hybrid or Electric Vehicle
    Reducing (or eliminating) exhaust emissions and improving public health are two benefits of green vehicles. What other motivators inspire you to consider switching to a more fuel-efficient vehicle?

    Lydia Roe's avatar
    Lydia Roe 6/25/2024 8:58 AM
    One of the main drivers (get it?) of why I want a more efficient vehicle is my distaste for the petroleum industry. Since the '80s, scientists have known the climate was changing and that human-made emissions were a driving force. The oil companies took the tobacco industry's doubt campaign (purposely confusing consumers and casting doubt on the causation between cigarettes and lung cancer) and adapted it to climate change. Since then, they have created distractions (individual's carbon footprint) and disinformation (platforming the few scientists who don't subscribe to the scientific consensus) in order to extract more short-term-minded profits. I want as few of my dollar votes as possible going back to these massive corporations. Some resources on this topic are How to Talk to a Science Denier by Lee McIntyre (book, online at Envi Resource Library) and the Ologies Podcast's episode on Agnotology (Ignorance) with Robert Proctor.
    (PS I also have strong feelings on our federal government's foreign meddling in the name of oil access, but that's a rant for a different day.)
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Electricity Support Microgeneration in Low Income Countries
    How can micro energy solutions reduce inequities? Why is this important to you?

    Lydia Roe's avatar
    Lydia Roe 6/24/2024 1:22 PM
    Micro energy solutions reduce inequities because they support access to electricity and/or more stable energy sources. One of the most universal/globe measures of development is access to electricity which marks how important this infrastructure is, especially for rural or less wealthy communities that are otherwise disconnected from existing grids.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Buildings Learn about the Legacy of Redlining
    How does city planning and design relate to equity and climate change?

    Lydia Roe's avatar
    Lydia Roe 6/24/2024 10:31 AM
    Because discrimination was legal for centuries, our infrastructure was built around the pillars of racism and other forms of prejudice. Red-lining was considered a legitimate practice, even as it actively harmed people. In reckoning with environmental justice, our job is to focus on equity to rectify these harms as much as possible while understanding that no action today can undo that history of harm. Presently, formerly red-lined neighborhoods are hotter due to higher percentage of asphalt and fewer street trees than their more affluent neighborhoods in the same city. As climate crises escalate, we're seeing hotter days which will disproportionately harm marginalized folks and people of color again.

  • Lydia Roe's avatar
    Lydia Roe 6/10/2024 1:03 PM
    This challenge coincided perfectly with my recent move and canvasing by community solar. Last year when I heard of community solar, I was so excited by the system and how it made renewables so much more accessible for renters and those who don't qualify for rooftop solar. After I moved to NJ this year, I'm happy I finally get to participate in a program that connects renewable energy to a wider base of consumers!

  • Lydia Roe's avatar
    Lydia Roe 5/30/2024 5:20 AM
    I'm so excited to start the challenge in just a few days. I love reading the Drawdown book and recognizing the individual action items in this challenge. Hopefully we can keep inspiring more healthy choices as our decisions ripple out to those close to us!

  • Lydia Roe's avatar
    Lydia Roe 5/21/2024 6:52 AM
    I'm looking forward to starting June's Drawdown challenge! I know it will take effort and creativity, and I'm excited to learn more about specific and practical solutions. I actually started reading through the Drawdown book this month too.