Matt Golden
POINTS TOTAL
- 0 TODAY
- 0 THIS WEEK
- 420 TOTAL
participant impact
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UP TO670minutesbeing mindful
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UP TO1.0community eventhosted or attended
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UP TO1.0organic mealconsumed
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UP TO16milestraveled by foot
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UP TO3.3pounds of paperhave been saved
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UP TO780minutesspent exercising
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UP TO1.0documentarywatched
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UP TO700minutesspent outdoors
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UP TO166pounds of CO2have been saved
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UP TO12plastic containersnot sent to the landfill
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UP TO16milesnot traveled by car
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UP TO155minutesspent learning
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UP TO10peoplehelped
Matt's actions
Food
Try a New Way to Prep
I will try a new method of food preparation, such as canning, pickling, or baking bread.
Food
Watch a Documentary about Food Sovereignty
I will watch 2 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.
Food
Choose Organic Ingredients
I will enjoy 1 meal(s) cooked with organic ingredients each day.
Simplicity
Meditate
I will meditate or create a moment of silence for 15 minute(s) each day to reflect on things important to me.
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.
Energy
Power Down the Computer
I will power down my computer and monitor when not using it for more than 2 hours, saving up to (1.1) lbs of CO2 each day that I do this.
Nature
Go for a Daily Walk
I will take a 10-minute walk outside each day.
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.
Waste
Learn About & Practice Sustainable Fashion
I will learn about sustainable fashion and begin trying to practice it in my own life.
Nature
Explore My Area
I will explore at least one new hiking trail or nature walk in my area.
Nature
Enjoy the Sunrise/Sunset
I will enjoy the sunrise and/or sunset each day.
Simplicity
Go For A Daily Walk Outside
I will take a walk outside for 15 minutes each day.
Transportation
Car Share
I will sign up for a car-sharing service or organize car sharing with my neighbors or classmates to cut down on the number of vehicles on the road.
Transportation
Walk Instead
I will walk 1 mile(s) each day instead of driving and avoid sending up to (___) lbs of CO2 into Earth's atmosphere.
Health
Happiness
I will write down three things every day that I am grateful for, or send one email every day thanking or praising someone.
Health
Support Pollution Reduction
I will spend at least 15 minutes learning about water and air quality issues in my area, how they are impacting human and environmental health, and how I can help.
Action Track: Justice for the Whole Community
LEARN ABOUT TRANS, FEMME, AND NONBINARY EXPERIENCES
I will spend 30 minutes learning about the experiences of trans, femme, and/or nonbinary people.
Action Track: Justice for the Whole Community
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.
Action Track: Justice for the Whole Community
Host A Watch Party
I will host a watch party to screen a documentary about an issue that matters to me.
Community
SIGN UP TO VOTE
I will make sure I’m registered to vote. While I’m at it, I’ll sign up to help others register too!
Community
Help Others
I will offer to help 2 person(s) who are in need each day.
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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Matt Golden 9/22/2020 5:58 AMMoving onto the third week of the eco-challenge, I wanted to move away from challenges that put me outside and focus on educating myself about environmental challenges and making myself a better person to those around me. For this week, I selected helping others and reduce single use disposables for my daily actions. Helping Others I found to be quite easy once you wrap your mind around the concept of trying to find a friend in need. While some of my helping includes driving my friends downhill or giving them advice, I do have one example that I'm more proud of. One of my friends was having a rough evening and needed someone to talk to. It was after 3 am and I was really exhausted, but I knew that she could really use my advice, so I decided to stay up and talk it out. We wound up having a great conversation that I never would've initiated if my intention was not to help her through her dilemma, So having this challenge in mind really helped me get the most out of the moment, and do all I could to make sure she was feeling ok. Reducing single use disposables has been a fun one for me, as there's so many items I use in my daily routine that only gets used once before going into the garbage. While it's easy to avoid obvious items like packaging, doing this challenge has made me think of all the little things we use with no disdain for the environment. In fact, starting up this challenge inspired me to get a recyclable toothbrush and composter for my room at college. Also this challenge has also demonstrated to me the inefficiencies of recycling, as much of what we hope to be recycled never makes it. Finally, my one time action for the week was learn about trans, femme and nonbinary experiences. For me, I knew it was a topic I needed to inform myself better on, as its something I can't relate to the experience. I watched this one documentary on youtube that discussed the non-binary spectrum and what it means to not identify as either gender. Watching the documentary, I was put in my feels for a moment, when it brought up this one young kid who ended their life after being bullied for wearing a dress to a school field trip. I think it is such a tragedy when our children have to suffer from the ignorance of generations past. So I'm glad I took the time this week to educate myself more on this topic, and hope to one day break the generational curse permanently on gender & sexuality for my children's generation.-
Molly Paine 9/28/2020 4:34 PMHey Matt! I really enjoyed reading your journal response this week. I thought the challenges that you choose were super impactful and definitely some things that I would love to try out. I am especially impressed by your efforts to better understand the experiences of trans, femme, and nonbinary people. I too need to work on this and better educate myself to understand their experiences and be able to help and mold a more accepting and open next generation. I think it is so important for everyone to be educated on this topic because you are completely right that people shouldn’t have to suffer from the ignorance of past generations. It is up to us to do everything that we can to be educated and informed so that we can give the next generation all of the information that they need and raise them in a world that is caring and accepting. I really love that you took on this challenge! I also think it is super cool that you decided to start changing the way you live in your dorm room to try and reduce or eliminate single use plastics and other disposable items. I really like what you said about noticing the little things. I often don’t think of something like my toothbrush as being single use because I do use it for an extended period of time before throwing it out and replacing it. But if you think about the things in your life that you will eventually throw away and replace consistently, it is definitely one of them and I think that doing things like buying a recyclable toothbrush are a great way to try and cut back on that. I am definitely going to look into doing this! I also want to say that it sounds like you are a great friend to talk with your friend past 3AM and I am sure she really appreciates that you did that. -
Andrew Stuhl 9/25/2020 8:22 AMWhoa Matt! What a powerful journal entry. You're an amazing friend to be there for someone in a time of need, that's incredible. And good for you too to do some self-education and feel the suffering of another on a personal level. You're really showing a lot of empathy and compassion!
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Matt Golden 9/15/2020 6:28 AMFor my daily challenges for this week, I wanted to expand on the notion of me spending more time in nature and wanted to choose challenges that stimulated me to become a better person. The two challenges I went with this week were watch the sunrise/sunset and keeping a journal and writing down 3 things that made you happy over the course of a day. I also included walking 1 mile every day and spending time outdoors as options to help balance out my week as a whole. With regard to watching the sunrise/sunset, this is one of my favorite things I've started this year and I feel its regimented my sleep schedule and motivates me to do my very best work while I can. Beyond just that, experiencing the sunrise and seeing the sky turn from pure black into an array of color is an experience that I never would've made part of my daily routine if it weren't for this challenge. Although consistency with this one is tricky, it is a challenge I am so grateful I started doing this week. The second challenge has been a lot easier and has made me frame things in a much more optimistic light. I've noticed that not only writing down the 3 things has not only made me feel better about my daily accomplishments, it really has put in perspective what I value most about myself and given me a sense of my growth on a interpersonal level. Like I find it really fascinating what each individual puts their value on, and having a daily log of my 3 daily accomplishments really puts your values in check and on display. For example, I never would've said I'm a fitness buff or anything off the top of my head to someone, but to see the common theme of my daily workouts making the top 3 shows me that I put great value into staying in shape. Finally, my new one time challenges for this week were Ride Share and Support Pollution Reduction. These two seemed like no-brainers to me, as they are both ideals I already try to follow. For ride share, I have carpooled extensively this week to and from my classes and avoided going on the road whenever possible. It isn't the most conducive of campuses to start this challenge, but I wanted to implement this routine into my mindset, as I believe ride share can really add up over a lifetime. For Support Pollution Reduction, I actually wanted to get the opinion of a peer on climate action, so I talked to my friend from Penn State who is a bio major currently working on a thesis paper for using algae as a renewable energy. We talked for 25 min over zoom, where I basically got to ask her about the work she was doing, the current state of the environment in PA specifically and what more I can do on campus to help. While our talk gave me a lot of anxiety for the future of our planet, it gave me a lot of hope in the sense that at least our generation is fully aware of the strife laying ahead for us. Speaking with her has gotten me inspired to help preserve wildlife in PA and try to find new & creative ways to volunteer. -
Matt Golden 9/08/2020 5:35 AMFor the first week of our eco-challenge, I decided to go with two daily challenges that I’ve been personally meaning to get around to: Meditate and Power down my Computer. The first one I chose because it is something that I do practice but not in routine daily, but more as when I feel I’m in the need to clear my mindset and not in flux. I like the idea of setting a set amount of time into meditation each day, as I’ve noticed doing it right before bed has really helped me really find my center and have the soundest nights of sleep. My biggest challenge with this task is trying to stay within a set amount of time in meditation, as I can often find myself getting carried away in deep contemplation. I kind of have the opposite problem here, where I have my routine, visualizations, breathing work, etc in lock, I just need to work on becoming more “efficient” with guiding my own meditation. When it comes to the second challenge of the week, this is something I’ve been meaning to do myself, but never had the initiative or push to really consider making it part of my daily routine. I’m really a big believer in the one drop in the bucket mentality, in the sense that incremental drops will fill that bucket over time regardless. So for us to power down our electronic devices when they’re not in use, can really add up over a lifetime in energy saved. This challenge has been easy for me, as I usually try to turn off all my devices completely before bed. I’ve noticed it has also made me more aware of all the energy I’ve been wasting, as I’ve been trying to power down any lights I have hanging, speakers I might’ve left plugged in or any other devices when I leave a room.For my one time action, I chose to explore my area further. I really enjoyed this challenge, because it really aligns with another challenge I’ve been eyeing for this upcoming week: waking up for the sunrise. On Saturday, I felt the draw to wake up nice and early for the sunrise and go for a run. This time, I didn’t go my usual route and instead wanted to do something a little different, so I took an old beaten path off campus and decided to run towards Amish country. It wasn’t long after I crossed the main interstate that I found myself in an area completely foreign to me. It was around Mazeppa area, where it turns to farmland over these beautiful rolling hills. Quickly I found myself completely secluded in cornfield, just taking in the beauty around me. For context, I grew up right outside of New York City, so any moment alone in silence can be a blessing and a half. In fact, I came to this school to get away from the noise of it all and get to experience what the other side is like out here. While I have spent extensive time hiking on wilderness trails during my time at college, this was the first time I ever got to see what life outside of Lewisburg is like in farm country in such a direct way.-
Andrew Stuhl 9/16/2020 6:16 AMAwesome Matt! Like Lizzy, I also appreciated hearing about your run thru the outskirts of Union County! It is a fascinating spot and one I keep finding new corners in, even tho I've lived here 7 years now. I just want to add -- make sure you reference the "resources" you read as part of your challenges in future Journals, otherwise you'll have to revise + resubmit. See the Guide for Unit 2 for more, or happy to talk thru it! -
Lizzy Rojas 9/14/2020 4:13 PMI thoroughly enjoyed reading your reflection, especially because I didn't choose either of the daily challenges or one-time challenges you chose. I’m glad you wanted to hold yourself accountable to do the things you've been meaning to do and I hope you feel accomplished after doing so. I’ve actually been meaning to meditate routinely as well. I try to do it before bed but then get super exhausted after, so I’m not quite sure if I’m doing it right or effectively. I also definitely agree with your one drop in the bucket mentality. I like to see that you’ve noticed the energy you’ve been saving. I’m sure I would recognize the same. That's why I think it's crucial to engage in challenges like these so that you can become more aware of the affects of your daily habits on the planet and others. Once you do that, you become more intentional about everything you do.Your exploration of the Mazeppa area seemed so beautiful! I’m really glad you got to appreciate that because growing up in a city I’m sure can make you feel disconnected from nature I presume. I will definitely have to check that out if I am back in the spring!
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