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April 1 - April 30, 2020
Karen Kincher's avatar

Karen Kincher

PCC SOC 228

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 829 TOTAL

participant impact

  • UP TO
    1.0
    advocacy action
    completed
  • UP TO
    360
    gallons of water
    have been saved
  • UP TO
    4.0
    hours
    volunteered
  • UP TO
    113
    meatless or vegan meals
    consumed

Karen's actions

Fresh Water

Conserve Toilet Water

I will save up to 12 gallons (45 L) of water a day by flushing only when necessary.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

People

Volunteer in my Community

I will volunteer 4 hour(s) in my community helping people who are most at need right now, including elderly and immunocompromised people, people without childcare, and people whose jobs have been affected by social distancing measures.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Reduce Animal Products

I will enjoy 2 meatless meal(s) and/or 2 vegan meal(s) each day of the challenge.

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?


  • Karen Kincher's avatar
    Karen Kincher 4/30/2020 7:21 PM
    I found an additional way to volunteer in my community.  The NextDoor app offers a “Help Map” where you can offer up help in your community and show up on the map that people needing help can see and reach out to you.  I’ve offered services like grocery shopping, dog walking, gardening, and check-ins

  • Karen Kincher's avatar
    Karen Kincher 4/23/2020 9:07 AM
    My plan to volunteer with Meals on Wheels delivering food to the community hasn’t panned our yet due solely to the massive influx of volunteers since the pandemic began that have accounted for all the necessary volunteer activities.  This is no way a bad thing so I just needed to figure out another way in which I could contribute.

    So I looked to my very local community, my next door neighbors.  One is a retired gentlemen in his 70s who’s been self isolating since beginning of March.  His daughter and delivery services has been bringing him food, but he’s been unable to attend to his front yard garden boxes due to their close proximity to the street and potential exposure.  So I’ve able to help him out with that acquiring, planting, and tending to asparagus crowns, tomato starters, and a variety of seeds.  

    Additionally — and this one has been a lot of fun for me — I have some neighbors with two young children.  It’s been a challenge for them homeschooling the eldest while trying to work full time in one of their cases and trying to find and hold down online contract work in the other’s case.  I also helped them prep and start up their vegetable garden, but the fun part is playing the mysterious “Wandering Fairy”.  I’ve been finding things around my house — coloring sheets, a colorful streamer I got for my nephews to play with when they come for visits — and making breads and cookies and leaving them on their porch when they go on their daily walk around the block with a note that says “From the Wandering Fairy”.  The kids don’t know the actual sender and they been able to build up this imaginary world where there is a fairy sending them gifts.  Sometimes I’ve been able to hide on my porch and watch from a far as they find the gift  and I relish in their surprise and excitement.

    Next month I hope to be able to pick up some shifts with Meals on Wheels including the new service they’ve just implement of calling their clients to check in on them and engage them in conversation to help with their emotional health. 

  • Karen Kincher's avatar
    Karen Kincher 4/03/2020 9:58 AM
    Yesterday my roommates had already forgotten our challenge to conserve water by flushing the toilet less.  So I laminated reminder cards and taped them to the back of the toilets.  

  • Karen Kincher's avatar
    Karen Kincher 4/01/2020 8:16 PM
    I met my goals of water use reduction and meatless meals.  Currently I’m waiting on assignment from Meals on Wheels, I just passed the background check.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Food Reduce Animal Products
    Why do people in richer countries eat more meat than people in other places? How does eating more meat affect our planet and other people?

    Karen Kincher's avatar
    Karen Kincher 4/01/2020 8:14 PM
    Meat from my personal experience puts more stress on food budgets without providing any significantly higher source of nutrient or energy.  Those in richer countries can afford the expense and go for the convenience meat has come to offer as we culturally forget how to cook produce in flavorful ways.  The long term impacts of meat include more carbon emissions and ultimately less food to feed the planet as the energy consumption from raising animals exceeds the energy production.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    People Volunteer in my Community
    How does volunteering enhance your community and/or change your relationship with it?

    Karen Kincher's avatar
    Karen Kincher 4/01/2020 8:06 PM
    Volunteering build connections between people and the natural world.  It provides insight into community needs and complexities, develops empathy with those in your communities, and encourages a sense of belonging and responsibility. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Fresh Water Conserve Toilet Water
    What would a sustainable water future in your region look like? What needs to change?

    Karen Kincher's avatar
    Karen Kincher 4/01/2020 8:00 PM
    Development policies around storm water management need to ensure maximum on-site storm water management in new development.  Also incentives need to be increased to help residences and businesses retrofit existing development implement solutions like rain gardens and ecoroofs, pervious driveways and sidewalks, grey water reusage systems, turf alternative landscape, and more aggressive rain harvesting to help the community get through the increasingly hot dry summers and reduce the amount of storm water going into our combined sewage overflow systems in the rainy system that endanger the water quality in our rivers and ultimately Pacific ocean.