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ShaSha Kingston's avatar

ShaSha Kingston

Tufts University

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 616 TOTAL

participant impact

  • UP TO
    6.0
    disposable cups
    not sent to the landfill
  • UP TO
    3.0
    locally sourced meals
    consumed
  • UP TO
    145
    minutes
    spent learning
  • UP TO
    59
    plastic bottles
    not sent to the landfill
  • UP TO
    59
    plastic containers
    not sent to the landfill
  • UP TO
    14
    plastic straws
    not sent to the landfill
  • UP TO
    10
    pounds
    waste composted
  • UP TO
    131
    pounds of CO2
    have been saved
  • UP TO
    5.3
    pounds of paper
    have been saved

ShaSha's actions

Waste

Use a Reusable Water Bottle

I will keep 3 disposable plastic bottle(s) from entering the waste stream by using a reusable water bottle.

COMPLETED 17
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Host A Watch Party

I will host a watch party to screen a documentary about an issue that matters to me.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Support Native Communities

I will use the resource links provided below and spend 30 minutes learning about the native populations that lived in my area prior to colonization, and what I can do to support those that still exist.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Energy

Learn About Renewable Energy

I will spend 30 minutes learning more about renewable energy alternatives (i.e. solar, wind, biomass) in my region.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Energy

Use an Energy Meter

I will use an energy meter to monitor my energy use and identify opportunities to save power.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Energy

Online Energy Audit

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

Energy

Switch to Cold Water

I will switch to washing my clothes in cold water, saving up to 133 lbs of CO2 a month and 1,600 lbs of CO2 over the course of the next year.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health

Support Pollution Reduction

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning about water and air quality issues in my area, how they are impacting human and environmental health, and how I can help.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health

Learn More about Food Apartheid

What can lack of access to nutritious food affect a community? How can having access to nutritious food help a community become more resilient?

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health

Learn About Local Environmental Justice Concerns

I will spend 30 minutes researching environmental justice and environmental racism concerns in my region, who is affected by them, and local initiatives to address these concerns.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Visit A Local Farm

I will visit a nearby farm to pick my own fruits and veggies.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Building Resilience

Support Businesses Owned by People of Color

Racial inequity is both a sustainability and justice problem. I will support businesses owned by people of color in my community whenever I shop.

COMPLETED 4
DAILY ACTIONS

Action Track: Building Resilience

Support Local Pollinators

At least 30% of crops and 90% of flowering plants rely on pollinators to produce fruit. I will spend 30 minutes researching which plants support local native pollinators and plant some in my yard or local community garden.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Building Resilience

Watch a Documentary about Food Sovereignty

I will watch 1 documentary(ies) about food sovereignty: the right of local peoples to control their own food systems including markets, ecological resources, food cultures and production methods.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Building Resilience

Buy From a Farmers Market

I will purchase produce and meat from a local farmers market or food co-op.

COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION

Waste

Learn About & Practice Sustainable Fashion

I will learn about sustainable fashion and begin trying to practice it in my own life.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Waste

Personal Waste Audit

I will collect all of my unrecyclable, non-compostable trash to raise my awareness of how much I send to the landfill.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Waste

Carry my Trash

I will carry all of my unrecyclable, non-compostable trash with me to raise my awareness of how much I send to the landfill.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Waste

Choose Two-Sided Printing

I will save up to .21 lbs (.09 kg) of paper per day by switching from one-sided printing to two-sided when I have to print documents.

COMPLETED 2
DAILY ACTIONS

Waste

Go Paperless

I will reduce the amount of paper mail that I receive by 0.11lbs (0.05kg) a day or 3.3lbs (1.6kg) a month by opting into paperless billing, ending unwanted subscriptions and opting out of junk mail.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Waste

Compost Food Waste

I will avoid sending up to .69 lbs (.31 kg) of food waste to the landfill each day by composting my food or learning how to.

COMPLETED 10
DAILY ACTIONS

Waste

Reduce Single-Use Disposables

Cheap, single-use items and disposable packaging end up blowing around as litter more often in poor and POC-majority neighborhoods. I will find out how I can limit single-use items and do my best to limit the waste I generate.

COMPLETED 14
DAILY ACTIONS

Waste

Use Reusable Bags

If at all possible, I will not accept any disposable bags when making purchases.

COMPLETED 15
DAILY ACTIONS

Waste

Use a Reusable Mug

I will avoid sending 1 disposable cup(s) to the landfill each day by using a reusable mug.

COMPLETED 5
DAILY ACTIONS

Waste

Skip the Straw

Plastic bags and small plastic pieces like straws are most likely to get swept into our waterways. I will keep 1 plastic straw(s) out of the landfill and ocean each day by refusing straws or using my own glass/metal straw.

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?

  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Food Visit A Local Farm
    How do our current food growing and manufacturing processes affect our future and the future of Earth?

    ShaSha Kingston's avatar
    ShaSha Kingston 5/01/2021 2:13 PM
    Our food growing and manufacturing processes affect our future greatly. If we deplete soil fertility and continue to erode our Earth, we'll keep having to move to new land and destroy more and more habitat for our crops. However, if we start implementing low-hydraulic/low-carbon farming systems, this could not only help with saving our land and habitats, but also have the capacity to produce more food and address world hunger issues.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Action Track: Building Resilience Support Local Pollinators
    Why is it important to take care of pollinators?

    ShaSha Kingston's avatar
    ShaSha Kingston 5/01/2021 2:10 PM
    It's important to take care of pollinators since our crop demand is high and pollinators are essential in the environment as keystone species. Crops provide food for everyone since plants are at the base of the food web, and successful pollination is what is going to help sustain crop yield for years to come.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Action Track: Building Resilience Support Businesses Owned by People of Color
    A recent Keen Independent Research Foundation study found that Minority Businesses Enterprises (MBEs) are more likely to have difficulties in receiving loans or city contracts. In what ways can you work to address systemic racism like that demonstrated in this study?

    ShaSha Kingston's avatar
    ShaSha Kingston 4/30/2021 2:26 PM
    On an individual level, I can encourage my friends and community members to shop at minority-run businesses to support these people financially. However, in order to cause systemic change and combat issues like racism this needs to be conducted at a policy level, including writing to legislatures, showing up at protests, and advocating as a group to address these larger issues.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Waste Learn About & Practice Sustainable Fashion
    How can you express your personality, creativity, and values in ways that don't require fast fashion or buying more clothes and accessories?

    ShaSha Kingston's avatar
    ShaSha Kingston 4/30/2021 2:22 PM
    Up-cycling and participating in clothing swaps are two things I'd like to do more of. When I was a kid I loved remaking clothes into something new, such as cutting shirts and making accessories out of old socks. Recently I've been embroidering clothes I've gotten bored of to re-excite myself into wearing them and I think that this is a creative option! Also, we just hosted a clothing swap and it was super fun! This way, everything is free and a lot of people benefit by finding new treasures while also clearing out their closets.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Community Support Native Communities
    Indigenous speaker and activist Winona LaDuke says that, "most indigenous ceremonies, if you look to their essence, are about the restoration of balance — they are a reaffirmation of our relationship to creation. That is our intent: to restore, and then to retain balance and honor our part in creation." Why is balance important to sustainability?

    ShaSha Kingston's avatar
    ShaSha Kingston 4/30/2021 2:16 PM
    balance is fundamental to sustainability. I view sustainability as obtaining what is needed/desired, but also giving back and not over-taking, so that future generations can also access the same resources. Making sure that the balance between taking and leaving is essential to sustain communities and the environment, since if something is off-balance, the entire system is thrown off. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Waste Go Paperless
    Reducing your paper mail can reduce mental clutter as well as physical waste -- by reducing what is coming in, you can reduce what is going into the recycling bin too. How does it make you feel? What is the next step you will take to reduce your waste?

    ShaSha Kingston's avatar
    ShaSha Kingston 4/25/2021 5:42 PM
    Reducing waste is definitely the first goal to make in order to help reduce emissions and show support for marginalized communities affected by waste on an individual level. The next step I'll take to get there is to buy less in general. Living in a world of consumerism it's easy to have an impulse to buy, however I want to make sure to reuse what I have before I have to buy anything new, and if I do need to purchase something be conscious of where I get it from and support brands that are combatting climate change and are focused on sustainability. 

  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Waste Use a Reusable Water Bottle
    While water bottles are needed for health and safety in certain places, we can do more to reduce the unnecessary use of them. What are the barriers to you using reusable bottles and tap water instead of bottled water? How could you make this a permanent habit?

    ShaSha Kingston's avatar
    ShaSha Kingston 4/18/2021 12:08 PM
    I always carry my water bottle with me wherever I go. I think some tips and tricks could be to get one you really love or decorate it so you're excited to take it places, buy a lightweight one so it doesn't feel like extra weight if you want to go somewhere, and keep it in a bag or on you all the time so you only have to go fill it up once and a while and you'll always be thinking about it.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Waste Use Reusable Bags
    What do you do if you find yourself in the situation of needing a bag for items but don't have a reusable one with you or aren't allowed to use the one you brought? Carry things out in your hands? In a cart? Accept a disposable one? If you find yourself in this position often, what system could you put in place to try to create a successful habit of not using plastic bags?

    ShaSha Kingston's avatar
    ShaSha Kingston 4/18/2021 12:05 PM
    While on campus I try to plan out where I'll be eating that day ahead of time since I usually schedule meals with friends. This way I can be aware I'm going to the dining halls and make sure to bring a reusable bag with me. Other times when I may not be in my room or near my things when I decide to go out for dinner, I ask my friends who I'm with if they have an extra one I can borrow and they typically do. One habit I could start doing is just keeping a reusable bag folded up in my backpack so I'll always be prepared.  
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Waste Skip the Straw
    How could you incorporate other "R's" -- reduce, reuse, refuse, repair, repurpose, etc. -- into your lifestyle?

    ShaSha Kingston's avatar
    ShaSha Kingston 4/18/2021 12:02 PM
    I think repurposing is really neat and easy to incorporate into my lifestyle. I love arts and crafts and I have a habit of not throwing things away and instead making things out of it. This may not be great from a minimalist standpoint, however it does keep items out of the landfill and makes it so I don't have to keep buying new things. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Health Support Pollution Reduction
    What environmental factors affect human health in your region, and how do they affect it?

    ShaSha Kingston's avatar
    ShaSha Kingston 4/18/2021 12:00 PM
    Back in Boise, Idaho, the main environmental factors that affect human health are fires since they release an abundance of smoke, as well as people in the city burning wood for heat. In the summer, air quality is poor due to smoke from California and Idaho fires, and in the winter, air quality is poor due to the pollution from people's houses doubled with the yearly inversion.