Community Team

I joined this challenge to check my awareness of environmental issues in our PNW region, and to expand my understanding.  Each of us contributes individual action, but community coordination is important too.  I wanted to learn how to harmonize my personal efforts with those of the community.

Orcas communicate through sounds that they send to each other. Sound waves travel underwater and are received by receptors in an  orca's head, in a center called the melon.  Orcas can locate landmarks and send and receive signals through series of clicks and whistles.  Just as a conversation between humans can be interrupted or even drowned out...

My "created action" for the Nature topic will actually take place next Spring.  My neighborhood has several green spaces that I'll seed with native wildflowers that attract pollinators.  Like everywhere, our community has suffered from the decrease of bee activity this year... but we also don't provide much to attract them.  In...

My "created action" for the Nature topic will actually take place next Spring.  My neighborhood has several green spaces that I'll seed with native wildflowers that attract pollinators.  Like everywhere, our community has suffered from the decrease of bee activity this year... but we also don't provide much to attract them.  In...

Planning to research the tribal lands my home is located on, during today.  We can identify the tribes whose land we use by entering our addresses at native-land.ca.  We can then learn about the tribes, their current status and issues, and how we can promote their health and sovereignty.  One action can be to pay rent to the tribes for the use...

Just contacted 5 legislators to respectfully urge them to continue prioritizing orca recovery and Chinook salmon habitat reclamation.  

Made two small donations to wildlife protection initiatives.  Revised my gardening plans yesterday to include more bee-friendly plants.  Some volunteer is sprouting that looks like bee balm: will research it and promote its proliferation.  Also promoting Native Hope's initiative against child trafficking.  

When I studied community sustainability and social justice a few years ago I learned a great deal about the inequities of our society. But layered above the fundamental injustice is a constantly changing community.  During this challenge I've been shown many new developments  relevant to our nation's minorities.  

Wherever there is industrial activity which contaminates air or water supply, land values decrease.   This means that housing in those areas is affordable to lower income people.  The result is that poor populations are exposed to greater pollution and have a greater percentage of disabilities and illnesses associated with toxins in the air and...

I had never heard the term "food desert" before taking this Ecochallenge.   I had noticed the general decrease of fresh food markets during my lifetime, and the proliferation of fast food outlets, often all lined up in a shopping area, rather like a food court design.  The other phenomenon I've noticed is that people seem to be...