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Ilana Zeitzer's avatar

Ilana Zeitzer

Dickinson Green Devils 2018

"I want to live more consciously so my life is a positive experience for me, the earth and those I meet!"

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 913 TOTAL

participant impact

  • UP TO
    55
    conversations
    with people
  • UP TO
    1.0
    energy audit
    conducted
  • UP TO
    3.0
    hours
    volunteered
  • UP TO
    56
    meatless or vegan meals
    consumed
  • UP TO
    220
    minutes
    spent learning
  • UP TO
    315
    minutes
    spent outdoors
  • UP TO
    220
    minutes
    not spent in front of a screen
  • UP TO
    7.7
    pounds of CO2
    have been saved
  • UP TO
    14
    zero-waste meals
    consumed

Ilana's actions

Create Your Own Action

Forage for My Food

I will use the resources below to find where I can forage for my own food locally.

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

Community

Volunteer in my Community

I will volunteer 3 hour(s) in my community during the challenge.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Express My Support

I will find out who in my state makes decisions that impact the environment and express my support for more environmental actions.

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.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Waste

Find Local Recycling Depots

I will find out where to recycle the recyclable items that I can't put in recycling dumpsters or my curbside bin.

UNCOMPLETED
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.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Reduce Animal Products

I will enjoy 3 meatless meal(s) and/or 1 vegan meal(s) each day this week.

COMPLETED 14
DAILY ACTIONS

Nature

Explore My Area

I will explore at least one new hiking trail or nature walk in my area.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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.

COMPLETED 7
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Support Native Communities

I will use the resource links provided below and spend 060 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.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

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

Community

Talk To My Friends and Classmates

I will decide which social or environmental issue in my community is most important to me and tell 5 friends and/or classmates each day about the issue.

COMPLETED 11
DAILY ACTIONS

Health

Learn About Local Environmental Justice Concerns

I will spend 60 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

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.

COMPLETED 11
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Weekly Meal Planning

I will reduce food waste and save money by planning a weekly menu, only buying the ingredients I need.

COMPLETED 11
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

Nature

Spend Time Outside

I will replace 20 minute(s) each day typically spent inside (computer time, watching television, etc.) with quality time outside.

COMPLETED 11
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Try a New Way to Prep

I will try a new method of food preparation, such as canning, pickling, or baking bread.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Support A Sharing Economy

I will create or support a sharing economy with family, friends, neighbors, or classmates.

COMPLETED 13
DAILY ACTIONS

Nature

Support Local Pollinators

At least 30% of crops and 90% of flowering plants rely on pollinators to produce fruit. I will spend 40 minutes researching which plants support local native pollinators and plant some in my yard or local community garden.

UNCOMPLETED
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?

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Nature

Practice Gratitude for Earth

I will spend 5 minute(s) per day outside, practicing gratitude (prayer, meditation, journaling, etc.) for Earth and my natural surroundings.

COMPLETED 13
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Choose Organic Ingredients

I will enjoy 1 meal(s) cooked with organic ingredients each day.

COMPLETED 13
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Zero-Waste Cooking

I will cook 1 meal(s) with zero-waste each day

COMPLETED 14
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
    Community Volunteer in my Community
    What is one thing you can do to help your community become more sustainable?

    Ilana Zeitzer's avatar
    Ilana Zeitzer 10/14/2018 7:19 PM
    I can help educate those around me. On Friday, I was able to volunteer with SEED. I taught second grade children about compost. I showed them what it looks life from the dining hall, we talked about the "FBI" of compost and how they break down. The kids actually learned quite a bit and were super excited to see worms!
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Health Learn About Local Environmental Justice Concerns
    Who is most affected by environmental degration and/or environmental irresponsiblity in your community? How are they affected?

    Ilana Zeitzer's avatar
    Ilana Zeitzer 10/14/2018 7:12 PM
    Minority groups tend to be most effected, often having harsh chemicals or side effects center around their area. Not to mention the impact of decreased access to clean areas to play/explore and the increase in healthy food prices. Also, many of our native plants are having trouble as garden plants, invasives and unchecked herbivores wreck the balance that once existed.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Community Express My Support
    What sustainability issues are most pressing or prominent on your campus? In your hometown? Where you live currently?

    Ilana Zeitzer's avatar
    Ilana Zeitzer 10/14/2018 7:09 PM
    I think for all of us some of the most pressing are the impacts of climate change. This past week there was an article stating that we have 12 years to make a difference, its kinda scary. Also near me though, pipelines are a big issue especially the Keystone pipeline and fracking since I live in PA. Not to mention, the impact of deer on the local forests. But there are so many others that impact us daily which few people choose to talk about as sustainability such as fast fashion, LGBTQA+ acceptance, gender/race inequality, antisemetism, and so much more which feed into eachother.

  • Ilana Zeitzer's avatar
    Ilana Zeitzer 10/14/2018 7:06 PM
    I have been spending a lot of time outside recently for my research. I am just so amazed by the diversity of fungi we have withing a half hour of campus. Its been a wet year and the fungi are showing off!

  • Ilana Zeitzer's avatar
    Ilana Zeitzer 10/14/2018 7:04 PM

    Thought I would share some of the lovely foraged food I got to enjoy with the farm last weekend as part of the edible excursion! So good and the edible flowers make it so pretty. A ton of the plants we used just grow as weeds around the farm!

  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Nature Practice Gratitude for Earth
    Kathleen Dean Moore says that a sense of gratitude leads to a sense of moral obligation. Do you agree? How can we cultivate a sense of gratitude as individuals, and as a society?

    Ilana Zeitzer's avatar
    Ilana Zeitzer 10/14/2018 7:01 PM
    Gratitude is something we all have. We just need to take a moment to think about it. Often times we take it for granted assuming people know we care. When we share it though we give something special to others and thus they share it too. Not to mention when we have gratitude for something we want to protect it. We need to just spend some time to think about it.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Create Your Own Action Forage for My Food
    People are motivated to forage for many different reasons: as a source for food, a means of income, to connect with nature, to participate in cultural tradition, transmitting specific ecological knowledge, or as a means of stewarding local and native plant populations are just a few examples. What is your chief motivation for foraging?

    Ilana Zeitzer's avatar
    Ilana Zeitzer 10/14/2018 7:00 PM
    I think I am interested in the local knowledge and gaining a more intimate knowledge of the native plants. There is so much to learn and such diversity around us that we tend to not recognize. Not to mention more food than we realize which could play important roles especially for low income families. Not to mention breaking this weird culture of finding thing growing not in agricultural fields not edible when they are.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Nature Explore My Area
    How might spending more time outdoors enhance your brainpower?

    Ilana Zeitzer's avatar
    Ilana Zeitzer 10/14/2018 6:56 PM
    When we experience something we really start to care about it. Walking around in a local forest I start to become familiar with the local trees, undergrowth, even fungi. It helps us understand where we are in the world and how special it is.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Health Happiness
    How does/can practicing gratitude keep you centered and motivated to work for a better world?

    Ilana Zeitzer's avatar
    Ilana Zeitzer 10/14/2018 6:55 PM
    Practicing Gratitude helps you to think about the good that has happened each day, especially when you tend to focus on the bad interactions. It also is a way to focus on the positive impacts. Not to mention, when you tell your friends, family or mentors how much they mean to you, it can really help them too!
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Food Try a New Way to Prep
    Canning and pickling food is a great way to have delicious summer fruits and vegetables all year round. Just make sure to follow the canning and pickling guidelines from the USDA or another trusted source. What are some foods that you would like to preserve and enjoy later in the year?

    Ilana Zeitzer's avatar
    Ilana Zeitzer 10/14/2018 6:53 PM
    I really want to learn how to can foods (I do not like pickled foods). I love harvest having both a garden at home and working at the farm. I want to learn to make my own strawberry jam and maybe blueberry for my roommate. I would also love to make my own salsa with farm tomatoes!