Earth Month Ecochallenge 2022: Sustainable Development Goals

April 1 - April 30, 2022

Manny Kemp

ADL - Northern Europe

"Working with the ADL Northern European Cluster to reduce our environmental impact this Earth Month."

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
1,567 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

600

gallons of water

have been saved
UP TO

3.0

hours

volunteered
UP TO

40

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

210

minutes

spent learning

Manny's actions

Climate & Ecosystems

Investigate solar panels

I will investigate the local Solar Together scheme for block buying domestic photovoltaic solar panels for my house.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Climate & Ecosystems

Learn About Invasive Species

SDG #14 & 15

I will spend 10 minutes learning about invasive species and ways to reduce their impacts.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Education & Livelihood

Plan A Staycation in Your Community

SDG #11 Communities

For an upcoming vacation, I will plan a staycation in my region.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Economy & Communities

Understand Your Climate And Natural Disaster Risks

SDG #9 Industry & Infrastructure

I will spend 15 minutes learning about the climate and natural disaster risks in my area.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Climate & Ecosystems

Learn About The Climate & Ecosystems SDGs

SDG #13, 14 & 15

I will spend 15 minutes learning about these SDGs.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Economy & Communities

Induction Cooking

SDG #7 Energy

I will spend 10 minutes learning about induction cooking and consider if I could add this to my food prep methods.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Climate & Ecosystems

Support Local Pollinators

SDG #15 Life On Land

At least 30% of crops and 90% of flowering plants rely on pollinators to produce fruit. I will spend 15 minutes researching which plants support local pollinators and plant some in my area.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Climate & Ecosystems

Public transport

Review options to substitute use of private transport with public transport.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Climate & Ecosystems

Domestic electricity consumption

Take actions to reduce electricity consumption e.g. washing by hand instead of using the dishwasher, air drying clothes instead of using the tumble drier, identifying devices that can be switched off or unplugged instead of left on standby or drawing power to a transformer.

COMPLETED 15
DAILY ACTIONS

Climate & Ecosystems

Domestic gas consumption

I will run my central heating below 20 degrees Celsius to reduce my gas consumption

COMPLETED 29
DAILY ACTIONS

Health & Equity

Learn About The Health & Equity SDGs

SDG #3, 5, 10 & 16

I will spend 15 minutes learning about these SDGs.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health & Equity

Safe Disposal of Medications and Household Chemicals

SDG #3 Health & Well-Being

I will spend 10 minutes learning about how and where to dispose of medications and chemicals properly.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Education & Livelihood

Learn About The Education & Livelihood SDGs

SDG #4, 8, 11 & 17

I will spend 10 minutes learning about these SDGs.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Education & Livelihood

Volunteer In My Community

SDG #11 Communities

I will volunteer hour(s) in my community.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Basic Needs & Security

Volunteer

SDG #1 No Poverty

In my community, I will volunteer at a community shelter, food pantry or soup kitchen.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Basic Needs & Security

Learn About the Basic Needs & Security SDGs

SDG #1, 2 & 6

I will spend 10 minutes learning about these SDGs.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Basic Needs & Security

Get To Know Your Watershed

SDG #6 Water & Sanitation

I will spend 15 minutes learning about my watershed and the particular water issues my region faces.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Basic Needs & Security

Know Your Produce

SDG #2 Zero Hunger

I will visit ewg.org to learn about and use their Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen produce lists.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Basic Needs & Security

Calculate Your Water Footprint

SDG #6 Water & Sanitation

I will calculate my water footprint and look for a few ways I can reduce consumption or waste.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Economy & Communities

Learn About The Economy & Communities SDGs

SDG #7, 9 & 12

I will spend 10 minutes learning about these SDGs.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Economy & Communities

Find out where your energy comes from

SDG #7 Energy

I will spend 10 minutes learning about where my energy comes from.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Economy & Communities

Choose Clean/Renewable Energy

SDG #7 Energy

I will sign up for my utility company's clean/renewable energy option.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Basic Needs & Security

Reduce Animal Product Consumption

SDG #2 Zero Hunger

I will enjoy 1 meatless meal(s) and/or 0 vegan meal(s) each day this week.

COMPLETED 30
DAILY ACTIONS

Basic Needs & Security

Take 5-Minute Or Less Showers

SDG #6 Water & Sanitation

I will save up to 6 gallons (23 L) of water each day by taking 5-minute showers. Tip: Use a timer to practice or count to 60 a few times.

COMPLETED 30
DAILY ACTIONS

Climate & Ecosystems

Reduce Single-Use Plastics

SDG #14 & 15

Throughout the day, I will note the single-use plastics I use and consider the reusable options available to me.

COMPLETED 21
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?

Manny Kemp 4/30/2022 5:47 AM

Last day - definitely made some changes that will outlast the challenge, though!

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Education & Livelihood Plan A Staycation in Your Community

What place in your region are you most excited to visit during your staycation?

Manny Kemp 4/28/2022 9:34 AM

My wife and I will be travelling around England to visit some of its most prominent cathedrals - York, Durham, London, Winchester, Canterbury. We will do a lot of this trip (the journey to and from the north of England) by rail to cut down the carbon emissions, and the rest (mostly shorter trips around the southeast) by car.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Climate & Ecosystems Learn About Invasive Species

What is one invasive species in your region and how does it impact your region's ecosystem?

Manny Kemp 4/28/2022 9:31 AM

Grey squirrels are one of our well known invasive species in the UK - although they are now very well established and not really going anywhere, and I think the red squirrels only persist in Scotland.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Health & Equity Safe Disposal of Medications and Household Chemicals

Do you have any tips for others on finding locations that accept products for safe disposal?

Manny Kemp 4/28/2022 1:38 AM

For colleagues in the Cambridge office this is relatively simple - chemical waste can be taken to the Household Waste Recycling Centre at Milton, a few minutes drive from our office (also located very close to the Park & Ride and accessible from Milton village if you don't mind a bit of a walk).

Guidance on disposal of different kinds of waste can be found here: Recycling and rubbish A to Z - Cambridge City Council

Medicines cannot be recycled and should not be flushed down the toilet. The guidance isn't as strong over putting them in the bin, but this clearly isn't a great ideal as medicines in landfill could leach into the groundwater. The recommended approach is to take them to a pharmacy for safe disposal - these are easy to find.

However the overriding guidance with medicine is to minimise waste in the first place so there is less to dispose of - apparently medicine waste costs about £300 million per year to the National Health Service in the UK!

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Education & Livelihood Volunteer In My Community

What is one thing you can do to help your community become more sustainable?

Manny Kemp 4/26/2022 5:25 AM

Just spent a reasonably productive hour with teammates Ben Hansen, Kerri McGowan, Hannah Marsden and Harry Field in the garden of the Buchan Street Neighbourhood Centre in north Cambridge.

This centre is home to Cambridge Sustainable Food, a local partnership of private, public and community organisations working to build a sustainable food economy. We spent some time planting herbs in their small garden which they will be able to use when preparing food packages to provide for households experiencing food poverty.

Pictures forthcoming.

Read More
- Manny Kemp 4/28/2022 9:41 AM
  
  Some of our plants...
  
  Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Economy & Communities Understand Your Climate And Natural Disaster Risks

What are the climate and disaster risks in your region?

Manny Kemp 4/25/2022 7:47 AM

The main risks I've seen or read about appear to be flooding and storms. In Cambourne storm risk is limited due to the prevalence of new buildings - so more likely to resist damage, less likely to have tiles coming loose. Trees coming down is still a risk, but most of the actual damage to property is borne by fences and light exterior structures (our greenhouse was completely wrecked by several storms). Floods are less prevalent in the south of the county, especially the southwest, as we are further from the Great Ouse or the Nene.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Climate & Ecosystems Support Local Pollinators

Why is it important to take care of pollinators? Do you have a favorite pollinator?

Manny Kemp 4/25/2022 2:04 AM

Lavender is the classic in the UK for bees - we've put some in our garden and we do see bee activity around the neighbourhood.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Climate & Ecosystems Learn About The Climate & Ecosystems SDGs

What was a linking factor across this group of SDGs?

Manny Kemp 4/25/2022 2:03 AM

The environment (obviously) is the linking factor across SDGs 13-15.

This seems to be at the heart of sustainability targets given the scale of the climate threat. We can 'sustain' poverty, and have done throughout human history - it's not nice but it can perpetuate without posing an existential threat to wider civilisation (well...that might not be entirely true if poverty-induced migrations were part of the cause of the bronze age collapse...)

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Economy & Communities Induction Cooking

Would you consider using an induction cooking surface? If you have used one before, what do you like about induction cooking?

Manny Kemp 4/25/2022 2:00 AM

This technology is surprisingly clever - I have to admit that I had previously thought the term referred to any kind of electric hob rather than something that effectively doesn't involve a heating element at all. Without heating of the surrounding space it is clearly far more efficient in terms of the energy consumed to cook something, and there are clearly safety benefits and improved ease of cleaning because the surface doesn't heat up.

That said, I'd be interested to see the comparison on cost with a gas hob. The main resource I found comparing the two only compared the energy requirement to cook, not the cost to the consumer of that energy - and electricity costs several times as much as gas on a per kW-hour basis, so using less energy by no means guarantees less cost. However, as part of an integrated approach to renewable domestic energy - involving solar panels, for example, to generate a lot of the domestic electricity at the property so it doesn't have to be bought - induction cooking could well be cheaper.

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Basic Needs & Security Volunteer

What was one of your most memorable volunteer experiences, and why? What would you like to volunteer for next, and why?

Manny Kemp 4/19/2022 1:14 AM

Just spent two hours driving around Cambridge collecting food donations from local shops and taking them to a cafe that provides meals for households that are struggling.

My more memorable volunteering experiences involve dressing as Superman (or once, Batman) to collect money for charity...

Read More
- Kerri Mcgowan 4/19/2022 1:55 AM
  
  Nice one manny!!!
  
  Read More