Ecochallenge.org

Drawdown Ecochallenge 2024

Samantha Niven

SAGE EcoLogicals

"To embody self-care through community care and environment conservation actions."

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
1,193 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

308

miles

not traveled by car
UP TO

308

miles

traveled by bus
UP TO

28

pounds of CO2

have been saved
UP TO

1.0

donation

made
UP TO

95

stories

shared
UP TO

1.0

person

helped
UP TO

0.0

hours

volunteered
UP TO

1.0

advocacy action

completed
UP TO

5.0

women, BIPOC, and immigrant-owned businesses

supported
UP TO

90

minutes

spent outdoors
UP TO

120

minutes

spent learning

Samantha's actions

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

Health and Education

Support Businesses Owned by Women, POC, or Immigrants

Sustainable Intensification for Smallholders

I will spend 120 minutes researching and shopping from 5 businesses owned by women, people of color, or immigrants.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health and Education

Connect With A Nonprofit

Family Planning and Education

I will connect with a local nonprofit working on issues affecting women, girls, trans people, and/or nonbinary people in my community, and find out how I can get involved or become a member.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Give a Microloan

Sustainable Intensification for Smallholders

I will give 2 microloans to women who need help starting a business.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health and Education

Help Students Overcome Health Barriers

Family Planning and Education

I will donate 30 Femme Kits to help people who menstruate overcome health and sanitation barriers to being able to attend school.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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

Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

Visit the Coast

Macroalgae Protection and Restoration

I will visit a coastal or ocean site to experience the ecosystem and look for the presence of macroalgae/seaweed.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Explore My Area

Sometimes protecting nature requires feeling connected to nature. I will invest 120 minutes in exploring and appreciating a natural area in my region, whether a forest, wetland, coastal area, or somewhere else.

COMPLETED
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.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Smaller Portions

Reduced Food Waste

I will use smaller plates and/or serve smaller portions when dishing out food.

COMPLETED 21
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Share to Social Media: Food, Agriculture, Land Use

Food, Agriculture, & Land Use

Through social media (LinkedIn or Instagram), I will share what I've learned about Food, Agriculture, & Land Use and tag Ecochallenge.org.

COMPLETED 20
DAILY ACTIONS

Land Sinks

Share to Social Media: Land Sinks

Land Sinks

Through social media (LinkedIn or Instagram), I will share what I've learned about Land Sinks and tag Ecochallenge.org.

COMPLETED 17
DAILY ACTIONS

Industry

Share to Social Media: Industry

Industry

Through social media (LinkedIn or Instagram), I will share what I've learned about Industry Solutions and tag Ecochallenge.org.

COMPLETED 19
DAILY ACTIONS

Transportation

Use Public Transit

Public Transit

I will use public transit 50 miles per day and avoid sending up to (___) lbs of CO2 into Earth's atmosphere.

COMPLETED 8
DAILY ACTIONS

Participant Feed

Samantha Niven 6/30/2024 8:11 AM
Reading the news lately, seeing the havoc SCOTUS is wreaking, reading about the truly dire state the climate is, I can't believe that the world Octavia E. Butler imagined in Parable of the Sower is a lot closer to our future than anyone could have guessed. Incredible read about the intersection of environmental justice, capitalism, and faith.

Read More
Samantha Niven 6/29/2024 3:20 AM
Feeling particularly pessimistic today; between an absolutely heinous presidential debate, the SCOTUS overturning of the Chevron doctrine, and all the genocides happening around the world that are being censored and supported by US tax dollars, it's feeling like we're all totally screwed. If any of y'all have read Parable of the Sower, I'm feeling like that's where the US is headed.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Health and Education

Which businesses that you researched are you excited to support? Are you already supporting businesses that you didn't know were owned by women, people of color, or immigrants?
Samantha Niven 6/28/2024 5:38 AM
I was at Chicago Pride today (06.22), and there were so many womxn/genderqueer and queer owned businesses there, and as a queer non-binary person myself, I felt very seen and validated being surrounded by such beautiful artists. Of the ones I purchased form, Comfortably Queer was probably my favorite! They make the most scrumptious roll-on perfumes.

I think spending most of my time in Philadelphia, I'd say most of the businesses I frequent (aside from big box stores) are POC-owned; probably one of my favorite parts of Philadelphia is how diverse it is, and the small businesses are, in my opinion, absolutely world-class.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Share Your Story

Did I learn something new about my community?
Samantha Niven 6/28/2024 5:27 AM
Sent to me by my yoga instructor, I learned about ECHO Systems in Philadelphia. They're a non-profit that works with businesses and organizations to eliminate single-use waste. Now, in perusing their site, I noticed something interesting: of the businesses and organizations they partner with, they don't work with one of the biggest food waste non-profits in the city, Sharing Excess. It made me think about the mobilization of environmental/social movements more broadly; especially in a city as big as Philadelphia, how can we enable support through the connection of similarly-minded organizations? Grassroots movements often struggle with capacity (ECHO Systems is actually trying to grow their board at the moment), and "reinventing the wheel" as opposed to developing a robust support network between organizations can really hinder their mobilization. Something the DEP Office of Environmental Justice is working on hopes to connect EJ-minded businesses, organizations, and individuals with each other as well as with tools and resources, and I just wish the PA DEP had something similar.

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Samantha Niven 6/20/2024 5:34 AM
Today I learned: humans can differentiate more colors of green than any other color, an evolutionary trait meant to help us forage! So if you're feeling ungrounded and lost in the concrete jungle most of us live in, immersing yourself in green brings us a sense of primal peace and connection :)

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Land Sinks

Have you been sharing what you learned throughout Drawdown Ecochallenge? How have people responded?
Samantha Niven 6/19/2024 7:40 AM
I've really loved seeing everyone on our team engage with each other on what they've learned and connect that with something someone else learned; I'm an intern that was only hired back in February, and it's been really great to learn from so many different people within DEP :)

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Samantha Niven 6/19/2024 5:01 AM
I need to get up on my soapbox for a minute:
On the rare occasions I need to drive to work, I park my car close to the office on a side street. Today, I picked up garbage on the three block walk from the car to the DEP building, and what really irked me was that the two blocks that were "visible" to state government staff (basically the blocks from the Merchant parking lot to the office) were spotless, but the one block that's around the corner from the lot had two grocery bags-worth of garbage, and I only picked up what could fit in those bags. From what little I know about Trenton municipal government, I already had an idea that it had issues, but the clarity in the distinction between what is and isn't receiving the attention of municipal government, and how that seems to prioritize state government needs as opposed to community needs, was painful to witness.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Land Sinks

What are the multiple benefits of community gardens, including carbon sequestration? Why do these benefits matter to you?
Samantha Niven 6/18/2024 5:13 AM
I could get on this soapbox for HOURS; so much of the research and community work I've done has been for and with community gardens. Community gardens are a lifeline. They are a social lifeline in that they provide community members with a safe, nourishing gathering space; they're an educational lifeline in that they provide community members with transferrable skills; they're an intergenerational lifeline in that they provide opportunities for wisdom to be passed down from community elders to youth; they're a historical lifeline in that, especially for people of color, they provide an opportunity to heal generational trauma around food growing practices (which was shared to me by a colleague of mine who is a PhD student and a Black farmer at Sankofa Community Farm in Philadelphia); and their a health lifeline, both for physical health (access to green space and healthy food) and emotional health (access to green space and community gathering space). If anyone wants to talk to me about community gardens, please do!!!

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- Lydia Roe 6/18/2024 1:02 PM
  Your assessment is so thorough! Community gardens are great everywhere: cities, college campuses, and even prison. The Well Gardened Mind (can't remember the author atm) has a really compelling study and narrative describing the benefits of gardening activities at a prison in New York. Incarcerated folks involved with the garden had significantly lower rates of re-offense (to be convicted and incarcerated again) compared with those who hadn't worked in the garden. In addition to building the tangible and practical skills of gardening, the act of cultivation helped the incarcerated gardeners to build a healthy self-confidence and sense of pride.
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Industry

Have you been sharing what you learned throughout Drawdown Ecochallenge? How have people responded?
Samantha Niven 6/18/2024 5:03 AM
I think that one thing I've been especially torn about is how social media can tend to be a bit of an echo chamber sometimes. While there are definitely ways in which social media can be extremely powerful (for instance, I try to share posts about how war impacts food systems in Gaza, Sudan, and the Congo), I think that a lot of the time, both the algorithm and the people we tend to maintain in our social media circles are typically likeminded people. It makes me wonder how much of an impact I'm having in the grand scheme of things.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Land Sinks

How can spending more time outdoors enhance your sense of place -- your deep knowledge of and appreciation for your surroundings?
Samantha Niven 6/13/2024 5:41 AM
I feel as though there is something primally healing about reconnecting with nature. We're reminded that our ancestors and every creature before us has been inherently connected to the Earth, whether it's from the food they ate or the paths they walked or the trees whose shade they sat under. We all have ways in which we need to heal, and it can be easy to overlook a remedy as simple as spending time reconnecting with nature. But every time I spend reconnecting with my environment to some capacity, I'm reminded of how much the Earth heals us.

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- Gabryella Pulsinelli 6/13/2024 7:55 AM
  There this concept I learned in school called "delocalization" where we have been come so disconnected from our food and work that we don't look around a lot. Your reflection made me think about that and how I can look more around at my own surroundings.
  
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- Tonia Wu 6/13/2024 6:32 AM
  I think this is very true. We are made of the same stuff as the earth and the biosphere. It's a truth that is backed by science but has also been a core insight of many indigenous cultures and wisdom traditions going back to ancient times. What we do to nature we ultimately do to ourselves.
  
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