April 1 - April 30, 2020

Kevin Kane

"To go where no sustainable living creature has gone before, to explore brave new ways of minimized existence. I want to be a symbiont."

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
491 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

5.0

pounds

waste composted
UP TO

60

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

28

meatless or vegan meals

consumed
UP TO

42

plastic bottles

not sent to the landfill

Kevin's actions

Climate

Grow my own food.

I will supplement my food needs with food I produce from.my home garden. It will eliminate much of the green house gases involved in food production.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Forests

Forest-Friendly Foods

I will replace or remove the palm oil, coffee, and cocoa products in my current diet that are known to contribute to deforestation.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Advocate For More Food Options

Access to affordable, nutritious food is a food justice issue. I will advocate for local and/or organic food options in my state and/or community.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Watch a Documentary about Food Sovereignty

I will watch 1 documentary(ies) about food sovereignty: the right of local peoples to control their own food systems including markets, ecological resources, food cultures and production methods.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Forests

Explore My Area

I will explore at least one new hiking trail or nature walk in my area while following CDC guidelines for social distancing.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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

Food

Reduce Animal Products

I will enjoy 3 meatless meal(s) and/or 3 vegan meal(s) each day of the challenge.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Learn the Truth About Expiration Dates

I will spend at least 10 minutes learning how to differentiate between sell by, use by, and best by dates.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Oceans

Smart Seafood Choices

I will visit seafoodwatch.org or download the app and commit to making better seafood choices for a healthier ocean.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Wildlife

Research Benefits of Biodiversity

I will spend at least 15 minutes researching how biodiversity positively impacts our world and how the loss of biodiversity harms it.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Wildlife

Leave No Trace

I will respect and protect biotic communities by practicing the seven principles of Leave No Trace when doing nature activities alone or with family and friends.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Fresh Water

Use a Reusable Water Bottle

I will use a reusable bottle and stop purchasing bottled water, saving 6 disposable plastic bottle(s) a day.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

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 10 minutes researching which plants support local native pollinators and plant some in my yard.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Participant Feed

Kevin Kane 4/22/2020 12:32 PM
Happy Earth Day to the Earth !

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Kevin Kane 4/21/2020 8:55 PM
I want to watch Voices of Transition. Do not want to
Pay for it. Anyone watch it ? I asked the library to subscribe to Kanopy, a documen

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- Kevin Kane 4/21/2020 8:56 PM
  documentary provider.
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Forests

How difficult or easy was it to change your diet?
Kevin Kane 4/17/2020 1:08 AM
. I've used too many of my nine lives. I needed to eat healthier. So, I started tracking everything I eat with the cronometer food tracking program. Initially, it was stressing me, but it has become much more routine. I know at any point during the day what I have consumed in terms of calories, protein, nutrients and vitamins. It is not as easy to get all of the daily required amino acid amounts while eating plant proteins. I could supplement with vegetable protein concentrate.. I cook usually twice a day, but make soups and stews in bulk, as well as seitan that I freeze in two meal amounts. I have learned much about eating vegan and vegetarian and feel much better too.

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- Kevin Kane 4/17/2020 9:19 PM
  I haven't added any protein or amino acid supplements. I saw a excellent nutritionist one time. I will ask her for more info My lab values are much improved, my doctor was impressed.
  
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- Jeanne Poirier 4/17/2020 8:11 PM
  Have you tried Bragg organic Coconut liquid Aminos? Available locally at most all major groceries - last I tried. Delicioso!!
  
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Kevin Kane 4/17/2020 12:40 AM
Going good, If I read less, I would rack up more points for the team. But right now I stay up late, get up late work, pot plants I started inside, pull some weeds and read too much. I am reading a book about Mexican drug cartels in the early 1990's. The author states that the reason the DEA does not go after money laundering operations is that the same operations are used by US corporations to avoid paying taxes.

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- Jeanne Poirier 4/17/2020 8:15 PM
  Tell me to stop replying if it is annoying - but Kevin - I super enjoy your posts in middle of the night when I am so in deep sleep! Keep up the good work - all the way around!
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food

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?
Kevin Kane 4/15/2020 11:08 PM
I seldom throw food away. I compost scraps, but do not have much compostable food waste. I do not eat the seeds of a pepper, but eat most everything else from the plant. I sue it in my garden. I am concerned because I have railroad ties on one border of my yard and this is where my compost bins are located. The timbers are old, but creosote could have leached into the soil and it could end up in my food. I will probably have soil testing done to see if it is contaminated. Should these even be sold yard use if they contaminate soil and be absorbed into plants ? We have lived here for 36 years and I own a problem that I did not create.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food

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?
Kevin Kane 4/15/2020 10:59 PM
Meat is a luxury item, it is more expensive in economical and environmental terms than eating a plant based diet. Many people in rich countries can afford meat while the poor in these wealthy countries cannot.. .There are extreme environmental costs associated with animal agriculture. Damage to soils, water and air pollution, green house gases and loss of ecological functions. Cattle grazing damages ecosystems in many ways, from a reduction in biodiversity, decreased water infiltration and percolation, soil compaction and hiding cover and food wild animals. It is the single most damaging effect on western shrub steppe ecosystems. All of the associated envrionmental costs are externalized or passed on to so many life forms and to other people whether they eat meat or not. On a global scale lands are slashed and burned, overgrazed to satiate the western world and growing global demand for meat. Meat consumption impedes changes that will allow all life on the planet to continue. A football field sized area is needed to feed one person on an animal ag diet, while 14 people could survive on the same amount of land if eating an all plant diet. The rich get meat and the poor of the earth go hungry, the food we feed to animals could be used to feed starving people (if we could ever get the distribution of food to those that are starving).

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- Teresa Boushay 4/16/2020 10:26 PM
  One of the main reasons I’m vegetarian is the effect on the planet and amount of resources required to make meat!!
  
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- Jeanne Poirier 4/16/2020 9:12 PM
  Great writing Kevin! I learned today 80% of deforestation on the globe is due to cattle grazing on a call about finance 101 and climate change - I learned lots!!
  
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Kevin Kane 4/15/2020 1:03 PM
Took a couple days off. Spending time in my garden. My neighbors across the street say they are interested in having a garden so I am giving them seed and some advice as they ask for it. The fun in growing your own food is what you learn in the process and information you glean from other sources as you have a need for it. My garden is in my front yard so they see me working in it. I would like to think that my garden has moved them to have a garden of their own. It too will be a front yard garden as they s they live in a duplex unit facing the street with no backyard. With the quarantine they have the time right now to get the garden planted.

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- Jeanne Poirier 4/15/2020 9:40 PM
  FOOD growers, not foo
  
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- Jeanne Poirier 4/15/2020 9:39 PM
  No doubt they were motivated by observing you & yours. Bless all you foo growers - and Kevin, may you find mushrooms In yours!
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Wildlife

How can you encourage biodiversity by your own actions?
Kevin Kane 4/15/2020 12:55 PM
In my own actions, my backyard has a variety of diverse micro habitats, is not clean and tidy with straight lines but it is DIVERSE, it has last years leaves on the ground, three compost bins, a variety of different shrubs with berries and lawn. I t gets watered so it has moisture in some areas and none in other areas. My front yard has nesting birds in a ponderosa pine that i planted from a seedling. It has a blue elderberry that I pruned, that now contains an edible mushroom species, and nesting holes that a black capped chickadee has made. I created another bird nesting house. out of a hollow branch section. I do not garden clean, but keep some woody debris that breaks down over time, as well as growing a variety of crops, again no straight lines, but diversity in all areas. The soil is rich with compost I created, it supports lots of earthworms and very likely abundant microbes and fungal growth. I participate in government environmental planning by providing input that considers the needs of vegetation and wildlife. If they do not answer questions and do a complete analysis as required by law I appeal the action.

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- Kevin Kane 4/15/2020 9:58 PM
  My dad was an avid mushroom hunter and as kids we all went along . One winter I was laid off from work and took a mycology class at Central Wa. Univ., I drove down twice a week and the professor was amazing. I have grown several types of mushrooms from tissue culture and spores. Yes, those kind too !
  
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- Jeanne Poirier 4/15/2020 9:46 PM
  There's your mushrooms! Curious about your last sentences - the whole thing sounds great!
  
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Kevin Kane 4/07/2020 9:26 PM
How do we get to the point that people feel shame for misusing natural resources and destroying habitat diversity ? We teach our kids in school how to be super consumers and many leave school no knowing where food comes from-- the store they say. Do you feel shame when you see a homeless village of people ? I do. This same feeling is necessary when the ecology of the land is violated. We need to see that both are wrong and the need to end both, that it can not be that way, it is shameful.

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- Kevin Kane 4/09/2020 1:52 AM
  Shame without action is lame, then to know the system is gamed causes me.....torment.
  
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- Jeanne Poirier 4/08/2020 7:13 PM
  Maybe be grateful you have this awareness - so many folks (it seems) only feel pain, not shame.
  
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Kevin Kane 4/07/2020 12:49 AM
Going well, it is the last thing I do in my day, usually late at night. The challenge keeps me focused on the most ecological way of doing things. I removed all of these trumpet vines and other woody plants from my back yard and I am thinking about what to do with the large amount of cuttings. I am drying some that I will keep to make biochar for my garden. I think about the tradeoff in burning some of the wood to make biochar that stores carbon long term in the soil while greatly enhancing long term soil fertility of my garden versus the carbon output of the burning. I want to find some data that will contrast and compare the two. Hmmmm. Somewhere, I have a massive government, I think Forest Service database for all of the carbon sequestration and output values for various actions, types of management and no management. I have three acres of pasture that I water. I keep four goats and one sheep on it and buy about a ton of hay a year, does the pasture sequester more carbon than Is produced each year from my goats and the hay I buy ? I need to find that database.

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- Jeanne Poirier 4/07/2020 7:38 PM
  Even when you find the data - be sure to factor in your joy because it has huge value!! I wonder if Tierra Learning Center is still operating their bio-char operation. It was awesome when I toured it some years back.
  
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