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October 5 - October 26, 2022
Sarah MacGregor's avatar

Sarah MacGregor

Shorelight - Green Committee

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 1,126 TOTAL

participant impact

  • UP TO
    37
    meatless or vegan meals
    consumed
  • UP TO
    321
    minutes
    spent learning
  • UP TO
    735
    minutes
    spent outdoors
  • UP TO
    525
    minutes
    not spent in front of a screen

Sarah's actions

Balancing Consumption

Needs Vs. Wants

Each day, I will practice a "Needs Vs. Wants" approach and only buy things I need.

COMPLETED 12
DAILY ACTIONS

Nourishing Food

Eat Plant-Based Meals

I will enjoy 2 meatless meal(s) and/or 0 vegan meal(s) each day this week.

COMPLETED 20
DAILY ACTIONS

Regenerating Nature

Explore My Area

Each day, I will spend 30 minutes exploring a new area around my neighborhood, which might include a park, water body, trail, etc.

COMPLETED 2
DAILY ACTIONS

Regenerating Nature

Support Local Pollinators

At least 30% of crops and 90% of flowering plants rely on pollinators to produce fruit. I will spend 60 minutes researching which plants support local pollinators and plant a few in my area.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Regenerating Nature

Listen to a Nature Podcast

I will spend 45 minutes listening to a podcast about nature.

COMPLETED 5
DAILY ACTIONS

Regenerating Nature

Spend Time Outside

I will replace 30 minute(s) per day typically spent inside and often with electronics with quality time outside walking, exercising, enjoying the sunrise/sunset, gardening, journaling, observing nature, or practicing gratitude for nature.

COMPLETED 10
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
    Regenerating Nature Explore My Area
    How can spending more time outdoors enhance your sense of place? Was there a new place in your region that was exciting to learn about and visit?

    Sarah MacGregor's avatar
    Sarah MacGregor 10/11/2022 7:36 PM
    On Sunday I walked in a conservation land I'd never visited before, just 18 minutes from my house. The trail was beautiful and filled with glacial rock formations you could climb up. A sign told us on the way back that this area had been one of the 1st settlements around here and was founded by a few family's from Chelmsford. The settlement became known as The City and later the Lost City as the inhabitants moved away after the 1800s and all that remains are a few cellar holes now filled in and forested over. There is always something interesting and connecting in learning about those who lived in the same areas you did in the past. I wonder what the landscape looked like then. The sign said they came to the area because it produced good hay, which was in high demand at the time. I am used to seeing my home town covered in forests, with fields dotted here and there, but once the forests where the things dotted in a sea of fields. You still come upon the old stone walls which separated one field from another walking through the forests in thus region today. I'm glad the trees have been allowed to take over again and with them bring their biodiversity and heat capture. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Regenerating Nature Spend Time Outside
    What are the implications for a culture that spends most of its time inside and on screens?

    Sarah MacGregor's avatar
    Sarah MacGregor 10/06/2022 1:50 PM
    People that spend most of their times inside on screens miss the calming effects nature has. The sounds, smells and sights are so soothing and breathtaking. They also miss learning about all the amazing plants and animals which exist on this planet. Observing the animals that live around me going about their daily lives, from my beloved jumping spiders, to the various birds at my feeder and the rare sightings of opossums, fisher cats, raccoons, otters, and bob cats, is one of my great joys in life. Equal only to spotting a wild flower or mushroom I'd never seen before. I think being out in nature invites you to not only be inquisitive but also has the ability to give you a sense of both place and belonging, in what can often feel like a chaotic world.
     

    • Sarah MacGregor's avatar
      Sarah MacGregor 10/11/2022 7:45 PM
      I have to admit I'm a bit fond of Fisher cats, they move very much like they are from the weasel family. I am totally going to have to try that app Mary. My mother has a wealth of knowledge about bird calls (and the common names for a lot of the native plants in our area) so I'm confident with a lot of them, but I admit there are some I still have no clue what bird makes that sound! I think my favorite visitors are the Carolina wrens (they are so cute and sassy), and all the visitors from the creeper family (nuthatches and various woodpeckers). My favorite call is definitely the thrush. There song is so lovely and metallic!

    • Mary Parsons's avatar
      Mary Parsons 10/11/2022 7:40 AM
      I had to google fisher cat. I'm not sure if I want to meet one or not! But your backyard looks extraordinary!
      I just discovered an app called Merlin Bird ID by Cornell. You can stand outside and record the ambient noise and it will tell you what kind of birds it can hear. If you try it, let us know who lives and visits your backyard!!

    • Sarah MacGregor's avatar
      Sarah MacGregor 10/07/2022 9:17 AM
      It is my backyard Courtney! Me and my younger sister just bought the house in January so it's my 1st time seeing all the leaves change around us here. Sooo relaxing and exciting!

    • Courtney Schneider's avatar
      Courtney Schneider 10/07/2022 7:34 AM
      Wow, Sarah! After reading that, I think you should lead a meditation session! It makes me want to go outside right now! Is that a picture of your backyard?! It is stunning!
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Regenerating Nature Listen to a Nature Podcast
    What podcast did you choose and what did you learn on the podcast you listened to?

    Sarah MacGregor's avatar
    Sarah MacGregor 10/05/2022 1:35 PM
    I listened to one of BBC earth's Podcasts "The Man-Made Forest that led to extinction", It started out talking about how human's have shaped their landscapes across time, often to the detriment of the native species both plants and animals which live there, but ended on a more positive note about how, if we put in collective effort, humans can work to change the adverse effects they created. The example given was the Chinese Government's push to transform the Loess valley from the dessert it had become due to local farming and agricultural practices, back into the rich green ecosystem it had been before humans over farmed it. I will have to check out John D. Liu's documentary on the project called  "Regreening the Desert".

    • Courtney Schneider's avatar
      Courtney Schneider 10/07/2022 7:40 AM
      Oooooh, I've never heard of this podcast! It sounds interesting. I'll have to check it out! Let us know how the documentary is!
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Nourishing Food Eat Plant-Based Meals
    What was the tastiest meatless or vegan meal you ever had or had recently? Did you make it? Can you share a recipe?

    Sarah MacGregor's avatar
    Sarah MacGregor 10/05/2022 12:38 PM
    The meatless meal that changed my life (for the better) and made me realize that sandwiches (which I'd always disregarded) could be made delicious beyond compare, was Flour Bakery's original tomato, pesto and mozzarella sandwich. It elevated sandwiches to a whole new level for me. 

    • Sarah MacGregor's avatar
      Sarah MacGregor 10/06/2022 9:41 AM
      Me too Mary! It's such an easy sandwich to make, but I also never make one for myself at home. Maybe we should both try doing that this week :p

    • Mary Parsons's avatar
      Mary Parsons 10/06/2022 7:14 AM
      I love this kind of sandwich! But I never think to make one for myself in my home.