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Benjamin Ford's avatar

Benjamin Ford

Washington College

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 735 TOTAL

participant impact

  • UP TO
    3.3
    pounds of paper
    have been saved
  • UP TO
    24
    people
    helped
  • UP TO
    3.0
    zero-waste meals
    consumed
  • UP TO
    30
    minutes
    spent learning
  • UP TO
    140
    miles
    not traveled by car
  • UP TO
    518
    minutes
    spent outdoors
  • UP TO
    211
    pounds of CO2
    have been saved
  • UP TO
    1.0
    waste audit
    conducted
  • UP TO
    7.0
    locally sourced meals
    consumed
  • UP TO
    28
    miles
    traveled by foot
  • UP TO
    5.0
    hours
    volunteered
  • UP TO
    1,286
    minutes
    spent exercising

Benjamin's actions

Community

Help Others

I will offer to help 2 person(s) who are in need each day.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Volunteer in my Community

I will volunteer 5 hour(s) in my community during the challenge.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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

Visit a Waste Management Facility

I will spend at least 10 minutes visiting a local dump/transfer station, material recovery facility, and/or landfill to learn about the waste stream.

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.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Meet My Local Farmers

I will visit my nearest farm to find out who produces my food, and will learn about the quality of life of those who produce my food in other regions of the world to make better choices when I shop.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health

Learn More about Food Deserts

I will spend 10 minutes learning about food deserts and find out how I can advocate for healthy and fresh food in my region.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health

Exercise Daily

Exercise is a great stress blaster! I will exercise for 30 minute(s) each day.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Nature

Go for a Daily Walk

I will take a 32-minute walk outside each day.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Transportation

Drive Less

I will cut my car trip mileage by only taking necessary trips.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Transportation

Walk Instead

I will walk 2 mile(s) each day instead of driving and avoid sending up to 3.01 lbs of CO2 into Earth's atmosphere.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Simplicity

Go for a Daily Walk

I will take a walk for 32 minutes each day.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Nature

Tend a Garden

I will tend to a garden each day, work on starting one, or find a local community garden to get involved with.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Locally-Sourced Meals

I will source 2 meal(s) each day from local producers.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Zero-Waste Cooking

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

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Buy From a Farmers Market

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

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Simplicity

Support a Sharing Economy

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

COMPLETED 0
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
    Waste Visit a Waste Management Facility
    Field trip! What a fun way to learn about our impact and consumption! What facility did you visit? What did you learn? Did you take anyone with you?

    Benjamin Ford's avatar
    Benjamin Ford 4/27/2020 3:29 AM
    I visited our local recycling center AND a wastewater treatment plant. Both are fascinating.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Community Help Others
    In your opinion, how do social inequalities diminish a strong sense of community?

    Benjamin Ford's avatar
    Benjamin Ford 4/27/2020 3:29 AM
    Social inequalities serve to allow us to designate people as "other", when in fact, there's very little that separates us.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Simplicity Support a Sharing Economy
    What are some of the barriers to sharing economies? What is your plan for supporting or creating one in your community?

    Benjamin Ford's avatar
    Benjamin Ford 4/27/2020 3:26 AM
    I've lent out a number of tools and equipment to friends and borrowed some in return rather than purchasing something new.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Waste Go Paperless
    Reducing your paper mail can be such a freeing action to take -- 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?

    Benjamin Ford's avatar
    Benjamin Ford 4/27/2020 3:26 AM
    I have not used a piece of paper in two months.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Food Locally-Sourced Meals
    If you were to only eat what is in season locally, what would be the hardest food item for you to give up?

    Benjamin Ford's avatar
    Benjamin Ford 4/27/2020 3:25 AM
    I made TWO meals today that featured all local or foraged foods!
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Food Buy From a Farmers Market
    What is one food choice that you make, or could make, that would do more good and less harm?

    Benjamin Ford's avatar
    Benjamin Ford 4/27/2020 3:25 AM
    I do this as often as I can, but with COVID 19 it's been a challenge. I've found ways to both volunteer AND to pick up my farm to table products directly from farmers.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Community Volunteer in my Community
    What is one thing you can do to help your community become more sustainable?

    Benjamin Ford's avatar
    Benjamin Ford 4/27/2020 3:24 AM
    I help volunteer bringing local farmed products to peoples doorsteps. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Waste Personal Waste Audit
    Why is it so difficult to understand the impacts our purchases and waste have on other people, animals, and places? How might your experience with this challenge impact your future consumption and choices?

    Benjamin Ford's avatar
    Benjamin Ford 4/27/2020 3:23 AM
    I found that a large portion of my true trash is packaging from food. It at least made me think about what to purchase in a store.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Food Zero-Waste Cooking
    In North America, up to 65% of food waste happens at the consumer level. Chef Steven Satterfield advocates for utilizing every part of a vegetable. How can you incorporate using an entire vegetable, including the skins, tops, and stalks during your next meal prep?

    Benjamin Ford's avatar
    Benjamin Ford 4/27/2020 3:22 AM
    I used stuff I'd normally throw out or compost and made a veggie stock and a chicken stock to put in the freezer for later!

  • Benjamin Ford's avatar
    Benjamin Ford 4/14/2020 8:34 AM
    Great! It feels good to mark things as "things I already do", but feels even better getting new things accomplished.

    • Mike Hardesty's avatar
      Mike Hardesty 4/17/2020 4:30 AM
      It is kind of nice knowing your daily actions already stack up by checking off the "things I already do."  I kind of loose sight of them once they become normal behavior. It's a good challenge to help us keep things in perspective.