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April 1 - April 30, 2021
Erin Cannan's avatar

Erin Cannan

Bard College + Community

"Helping students use the liberal arts and civic engagement to problem solve for the future. "

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 686 TOTAL

participant impact

  • UP TO
    2.0
    donations
    made
  • UP TO
    17
    locally sourced meals
    consumed
  • UP TO
    34
    meatless or vegan meals
    consumed
  • UP TO
    390
    minutes
    spent exercising
  • UP TO
    120
    minutes
    spent learning
  • UP TO
    558
    minutes
    spent outdoors
  • UP TO
    2.0
    public officials or leaders
    contacted
  • UP TO
    10
    trees
    planted

Erin's actions

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Mulch the Base of Trees and Plants

Farm Irrigation Efficiency

I will prevent water runoff and increase absorbency by mulching the base of trees and plants in my yard.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Go for a Daily Walk

Walkable Cities

I will take a walk for 60 minutes each day and take note of the infrastructure that makes walking more or less enjoyable, accessible, and possible.

COMPLETED 7
DAILY ACTIONS

Transportation

Express My Support For Walkable Cities

Walkable Cities

I will find out who in my city makes decisions that impact neighborhood walkability and express my support for better walking infrastructure.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Climate Resilience

Support Businesses Owned by Women, BIPOC, or Immigrants

Sustainable Intensification for Smallholders

I will spend 60 minutes researching businesses owned by women, immigrants, and Black, Indigenous, and people of color that I can support when shopping.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Climate Resilience

Plant Trees

Temperate Forest Restoration

I will plant 10 tree(s) in my community, public parks, or backyard.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health and Education

Connect With A Nonprofit

Health and Education

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

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health and Education

Fund Family Planning

Health and Education

I will donate to supply a community with reproductive health supplies.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity

Communicate the need to Price Carbon

Thousands of economists agree that we need to put a price on carbon pollution. There's a 'carbon cashback' bill in Congress introduced this week in the House that will do that - returning money to households. We need to mobilize around this as a best first step (and do everything else in this challenge, too!)

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Accelerating Solutions

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

Action Track: Climate Resilience

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

Composting

Composting, Reduced Food Waste

I will start a compost bin where I live.

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 8
DAILY ACTIONS

Action Track: Climate Resilience

Tend A Garden

I will tend to a garden, or prepare for one, each day using sustainable gardening practices.

COMPLETED 16
DAILY ACTIONS

Action Track: Accelerating Solutions

Advocate For More Packaging Options

Multiple Industry Solutions

I will advocate for alternatives to single-use packaging at local grocery stores, markets, at work, or on campus.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Attend GATHER Screening on April 18th, 7PM.

Kick off Earth week with a screening of Gather, "an intimate portrait of the growing movement amongst Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political and cultural identities through food sovereignty, while battling the trauma of centuries of genocide."

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

I will be Less Material in a Material World

If I live on campus I'll follow FreeUse on Insta (@bard.freeuse) (and I'll donate there as well) in support of a circular economy.  Away from Bard I will find sustainable clothing options, avoiding fast fashion retailers, valuing long-lived clothing and supporting Bard-born orgs like Thrift to Fight and Cahoots.

COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION

Transportation

Count Your Steps & Share

Count how many steps it takes to get from one point to another on campus or where you live. For example, count how many steps it takes to get to Kline from Robbins. DM the BardE3 or Bard Office of Sustainability Insta with the number of steps you counted and we’ll use the info to make posts about walkability! @bardsustainability @barde3bos

COMPLETED 11
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Compost Food Scraps

Compost at Kline, dorm composting bins, or returning food scraps to Kline.

COMPLETED 16
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Support Local Food Systems

Plant-Rich Diets

I will source 10 percent of my food from local producers each day. This could include signing up for a local CSA, buying from a farmer's market, visiting a food co-op, foraging with a local group, or growing my own ingredients.

COMPLETED 13
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Reduce Animal Products

Plant-Rich Diets

I will enjoy 1 meatless or vegan meal(s) each day of the challenge.

COMPLETED 16
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Attend a Screening of GATHER

Learn about Indigenous Land Management, Regenerative Agriculture and Food Sovereignty at a screening of Gather, "an intimate portrait of the growing movement amongst Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political and cultural identities through food sovereignty, while battling the trauma of centuries of genocide."

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health and Education

Learn via Solve Climate by 2030

Sign up to listen to Solve Climate by 2030 (live on April 7 or recorded)

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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?


  • Erin Cannan's avatar
    Erin Cannan 5/01/2021 5:00 AM
    As with anything, the practice of incorporating knowledge and habits into our daily routine is both enriching and can make a difference.  A shout out to our intrepid coach Laurie Husted whose guidance and encouragement is changing the world.  

  • Erin Cannan's avatar
    Erin Cannan 4/28/2021 8:31 AM
    Spent class today co-facilitating a workshop with a colleague focusing on Emotional and Cultural Intelligence.  So much of sustainability work will require all of us to hone in on these skills. 

  • Erin Cannan's avatar
    Erin Cannan 4/23/2021 7:52 AM
    Great start to the day at the Council for Inclusive Excellence meeting where report outs touched on so many of the UNSDGs!!  Incredible working groups -- shout out to the CIE!!!

  • Erin Cannan's avatar
    Erin Cannan 4/22/2021 6:58 AM
    Spoke at a workshop this morning with students from around the world planning projects in their communities.  Talked about Health and Education Drawdown Solution for Gender Equity.  A key to climate solutions that needs more attention. 

    SOLUTION SUMMARY*

    Educating Girls

    Education lays a foundation for vibrant lives for girls and women, their families, and their communities. It also is one of the most powerful levers available for avoiding emissions by curbing population growth. Women with more years of education have fewer and healthier children, and actively manage their reproductive health.

    Educated girls realize higher wages and greater upward mobility, contributing to economic growth. Their rates of maternal mortality drop, as do mortality rates of their babies. They are less likely to marry as children or against their will. They have lower incidence of HIV/AIDS and malaria. Their agricultural plots are more productive and their families better nourished.

    Education also shores up resilience and equips girls and women to face the impacts of climate change. They can be more effective stewards of food, soil, trees, and water, even as nature’s cycles change. They have greater capacity to cope with shocks from natural disasters and extreme weather events.

    Today, there are economic, cultural, and safety-related barriers that impede 62 million girls around the world from realizing their right to education. Key strategies to change that include:

    • make school affordable;
    • help girls overcome health barriers;
    • reduce the time and distance to get to school; and
    • make schools more girl-friendly.
    ---

    Family Planning

    Securing women’s right to voluntary, high-quality family planning around the world would have powerful positive impacts on the health, welfare, and life expectancy of both women and their children. It also can affect greenhouse gas emissions.

    225 million women in lower-income countries say they want the ability to choose whether and when to become pregnant but lack the necessary access to contraception. The need persists in some high-income countries as well, including the United States where 45 percent of pregnancies are unintended. Currently, the world faces a $5.3 billion funding shortfall for providing the access to reproductive healthcare that women say they want to have.

    Carbon footprints are a common topic. Addressing population—how many feet are leaving their tracks—remains controversial despite widespread agreement that greater numbers place more strain on the planet.

    Honoring the dignity of women and children through family planning is not about governments forcing the birth rate down (or up, through natalist policies). Nor is it about those in rich countries, where emissions are highest, telling people elsewhere to stop having children. When family planning focuses on healthcare provision and meeting women’s expressed needs, empowerment, equality, and well-being are the result; the benefits to the planet are side effects.



  • Erin Cannan's avatar
    Erin Cannan 4/21/2021 1:05 PM
    Attended the Rural Assembly Conference these last two days https://ruralassembly.org/.  
    Listening now to a panel with four indigenous women leaders at the Roundtable: Indian Country Response to Covid-19.  I recommend you join the Rural Assembly to link to rural communities all over the country. 
    More about the Rural Assembly:

    Rural people and places are frequently overlooked by policymakers, philanthropy, and mainstream media. Going forward, it will take thoughtful, consistent effort to restore rural voices to national conversations about how we create systems and policies that fully embrace all populations and geographies.

    We believe rural America has a vital contribution to make to our national narrative and decision-making, and that rural leaders need more tools and support to take on that endeavor. That is why the Rural Assembly is committed to strengthening rural visibility and presence across convening, media, and policy platforms, from local to national. 
    We also believe that building relationships and trust is the key to understanding and honoring our interconnectedness. That is why the Rural Assembly is committed to fostering relationships within and across rural places that lead to better solutions and a less polarized nation. We believe people and places that have been marginalized must instead be at the center of these relationships.

    The rural experience is diverse and complex. By amplifying rural voices and leadership, the Rural Assembly ensures that rural people and places are actively shaping a more inclusive nation as culture-bearers, practitioners, influencers, and decision-makers.


  • Erin Cannan's avatar
    Erin Cannan 4/19/2021 6:43 AM
    Hosted youth activist and indigenous filmmaker Kynan Tegar and executive director Paul Redman for https://ifnotusthenwho.me/.  Kynan raised awareness about his community's fight to secure land rights.  

  • Erin Cannan's avatar
    Erin Cannan 4/16/2021 11:47 AM
    21,000 steps today!  No driving.

  • Erin Cannan's avatar
    Erin Cannan 4/16/2021 5:45 AM
    Home compost is starting to make its magic and all my gardens have now been mulched with compost from a local organize nursery.  Shout out to Phantom Gardner!

  • Erin Cannan's avatar
    Erin Cannan 4/01/2021 7:31 AM
    Despite the rain today - I am tending my garden.  Here comes the garlic.

    • Erin Cannan's avatar
      Erin Cannan 4/01/2021 8:27 AM
      Inviting my whole class to join our team.  Hopefully we will have participants from 8 countries.  Wish me luck.