Aaron Young

St. Louis Goes Green!

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
808 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

10

disposable cups

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

276

gallons of water

have been saved
UP TO

150

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

19

pounds

waste composted

Aaron's actions

Food

Compost Food Waste

I will avoid sending up to .69 lbs (.31 kg) of food waste to the landfill each day by composting my food or learning how to.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Action Track: Building Resilience

Connect Local, Support Local

We encourage teammates to connect to other local green organizations (including each other) and practice supporting local businesses at least once a week. Re-share a post, order curbside, make a donation to your favorite non-profit, or find a local business to make a purchase from! Let’s keep making St. Louis a greener, healthier, and more sustainable place to live, work, and learn! Have other or more specific actions to add to the Connect Local, Support Local Building Resilience Challenge please email Fbrandt@mobot.org.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Forests

Use a Reusable Mug

If possible, I will avoid sending 1 disposable cup(s) to the landfill each day by using a reusable mug.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Wildlife

Research Benefits of Biodiversity

I will spend at least 30 minutes researching how biodiversity positively impacts our world and how the loss of biodiversity harms it.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Wildlife

Research a Wild Animal

I will spend at least 30 minutes learning about a wild animal I find interesting, including their life cycle, habitat, ecosystem functions, and interactions with humans (if any!).

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Wildlife

Support Pollinators

At least 30% of crops and 90% of flowering plants rely on pollinators, including monarch butterflies, to produce fruit. I will spend 60 minutes researching which plants support local native pollinators and plant some in my yard.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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

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?

Aaron Young 4/30/2020 1:49 PM

This was a weird challenge being stuck in the house. I hope we can do it again next year and get more friends, family and co-workers to participate. We also need to engage people who do sign up more and at least get them to check in occasionally.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Wildlife Support Pollinators

Why is it important to take care of pollinators?

Aaron Young 4/30/2020 1:44 PM

They are one of the most important links in the diversity part of biodiversity. Aside from the trees, which spread their pollen in the wind, it's the pollinators that distribute the genes of a plant outside of that plant's immediate vicinity

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Compost Food Waste

New to composting? Be sure to check out the action resource links to learn tips and more about it. As you transition from throwing food away to composting, what do you notice about how much you are tossing? How will you use your compost once it is ready?

Aaron Young 4/28/2020 2:40 PM

Now that organics are not in our trash, it's clear that we still use way too much unrecyclable plastic. It's mostly the kind food comes in. I'm going to plant tomatoes again once compost is ready. My current garden is all used up and the tomatoes are blighted.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Wildlife Research Benefits of Biodiversity

How can you encourage biodiversity by your own actions?

Aaron Young 4/28/2020 2:36 PM

We have the privilege of "owning" a small wooded lot in Jeff Co. Ownership is such a limited and short-sighted perspective though. We're the current stewards. The first step in encouraging biodiversity is knowing what you've got. Mostly through iNaturalist we are identifying all the little plants and flowers on the property and looking up which ones are native and which are invasive. We are pulling up invasives and leaving natives. We are also mowing and spraying very limited areas.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Wildlife Research a Wild Animal

What interesting facts did you learn about the animal you researched? What are some of your favorite things about this animal?

Aaron Young 4/10/2020 6:50 AM

I love this book. Read it twice already. The Forest Unseen by David George Haskell. There are a couple of chapters I've gone back and read several times. One chapter is "February 2 - Footprints". In it he talks about deer. About their rumen, about their impacts on forests and about humans' attempt to manager their population. What I like about them is that they are the largest wild mammal around that you can usually catch a glimpse of. When I do, it makes me feel like nature is that much closer to home. However, our human attempt at 'managing' their population at levels we think is 'normal' is backfiring. The author thinks we (humans) are allowing their populations to grow too big and as a result the deer overgraze what forests we have left and prevent the forests from growing, maturing and evolving. So I'm not advocating for more hunting, but it would be beneficial to have more complete ecosystems that could control deer populations naturally.

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Aaron Young 4/09/2020 10:48 AM

I just watched this movie. https://grow.foodrevolution.org/ I thought it was going to be about food, but it was about climate and energy and biodiversity as well. There was good info in it. I do want to check on some of the stats as they seemed contrived. I also wish the director had put a bit more diversity into the people being highlighted. He tried, but definitely had a white-male perspective.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Forests Use a Reusable Mug

Maybe you've heard how good it is to switch from a single use coffee cup to a reusable one, but it's just hard to make the switch. What stands in your way of making this a habit? By identifying the challenges, you can begin to work through them to have better success in taking this action. Knowing the difference you are making, how does it make you feel?

Aaron Young 4/07/2020 12:44 PM

It pretty much already is a habit. The only time I grab a single-use cup is if I didn't know beverages were being served at the event. i need to figure out how to have a cup with me at all times. maybe a hat like this.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Fresh Water Conserve Toilet Water

What would a sustainable water future in your region look like? What needs to change?

Aaron Young 4/07/2020 12:38 PM

Two of the largest rivers in north america run through our region. what we do here can only have a small impact on the overall quality of the water in them. as a start though, we need to connect more people to them. the easiest way to see them is to look at them from a bridge. to get to the water's edge and put your hand in it is quite a journey.

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- Kathy Dolson 4/10/2020 1:17 PM
  
  I grew up on the Great Lakes and love the water! One of my favorite places to walk/bike ride locally is across the Chain of Rocks Bridge. On a warmer day this past winter, I was lucky enough to be on the bridge at sunset and I was surprised that it was as good as watching the sun set across Lake Michigan (almost!).
  
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- Lisa Young 4/09/2020 5:02 PM
  
  This is an important point. It's not the easiest to access our rivers from most areas of our community. At least without already sort of being in the know or being connected to a group that does floats or river clean-ups or something. I never really thought about it, but I bet the closest to a river experience a lot of St. Louis residents have is standing on the Mississippi's edge at the Landing. We can do a better job of getting people into and onto the many beautiful rivers here. Experiencing their beauty and power up close is moving and perspective- changing, for sure! Participating in river clean-up efforts in both Ohio and Missouri were impactful on my desire to see waterways preserved and protected.
  
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