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Katherine Boyce's avatar

Katherine Boyce

ACW Climate Team

"small steps over time"

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 1,194 TOTAL

participant impact

  • UP TO
    1.0
    advocacy action
    completed
  • UP TO
    5.0
    minutes
    spent learning
  • UP TO
    29
    pieces of litter
    picked up
  • UP TO
    1.0
    plastic containers
    not sent to the landfill
  • UP TO
    1.8
    pounds
    packaging waste avoided
  • UP TO
    7.7
    pounds of CO2
    have been saved
  • UP TO
    1.0
    public official or leader
    contacted
  • UP TO
    18
    zero-waste meals
    consumed

Katherine's actions

Community

Write letters, emails or sign petitions

I will write or sign 1 letters, emails or petitions to advocate my position on plastic-free policies. 

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Pick Up Plastic Litter

I will pick up 1 piece(s) of plastic litter each day and dispose of it responsibly.

COMPLETED 29
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Contact My Legislator about EPR

I will learn about extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies for packaging and share my position with the legislators who represent me.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Personal Care

Purchase Alternative Toothpaste

I will purchase toothpaste powder or toothpaste tabs in plastic-free packaging.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Make Your Own

I will try a new recipe or food preparation method, such as canning, pickling, making yogurt, or baking granola bars or bread.

COMPLETED 14
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Swap the Snacks

I will swap 1 prepackaged snacks for unpackaged fruits or veggies or homemade or bulk items each time we need more.

COMPLETED 18
DAILY ACTIONS

At Home

Shop Used

I will buy secondhand goods to reduce the demand for new plastic products and avoid packaging.

COMPLETED 2
DAILY ACTIONS

At Home

Plan a Garden

I will plan an herb or vegetable garden for next year at my home, workplace, or community garden.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

At Home

Choose Natural Clothing Fibers

I will purchase clothing made with natural fibers, such as cotton, linen, or wool, rather than synthetic fibers like polyester, nylon, acrylic or spandex.

COMPLETED 3
DAILY ACTIONS

Plastics 101

Estimate Your Plastic Footprint

I will complete a plastic consumption calculator to learn about my plastic footprint.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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?


  • Katherine Boyce's avatar
    Katherine Boyce 2/29/2024 7:41 AM
    I really enjoyed the challenge this year! It's great to see so many people participating and learning together. It gave me a good sense of focus for specific steps in an overwhelming issue, and it gave me the push I needed to try making a bunch of my own food from scratch. Thanks everyone!

    • Katherine Boyce's avatar
      Katherine Boyce 2/29/2024 7:52 PM
      Fun that you joined, friend! No overhauling here either, just in my bread and yogurt era. :)

    • Georgia Nesbitt's avatar
      Georgia Nesbitt 2/29/2024 10:51 AM
      Thanks for inviting me. I don't feel like I've overhauled my life, but it's been nagging at me ever since our conversation a few month ago. This was a good push in the right direction.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Community Contact My Legislator about EPR
    How would you describe the experience of contacting your legislator to a friend? How might you encourage others to do the same?

    Katherine Boyce's avatar
    Katherine Boyce 2/29/2024 7:19 AM
    It easier than it seems like it will be! It's best to prepare your talking points. Usually you get a staff person who takes note of what you're calling about to share with your representative, but it's not like you have to debate or take a quiz on the phone. :) As someone who's afraid of phone calls, it's never as bad as I fear!
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    At Home Choose Natural Clothing Fibers
    What are the benefits (to people, animals, and the environment) of purchasing clothes made with natural fibers?

    Katherine Boyce's avatar
    Katherine Boyce 2/29/2024 7:00 AM
    The benefits seem abundant, ranging from better quality and longevity to less pollutants in the laundry. It's hard to know when something is a natural fiber AND ethically made. It's also just astonishingly hard to find anything that is 100% natural fibers. Even things marketed as wool have quite a bit of other synthetics mixed in (thinking Smartwool).
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    At Home Shop Used
    What kinds of items have been easy for you to find used? What has been hard?

    Katherine Boyce's avatar
    Katherine Boyce 2/29/2024 6:57 AM
    It's pretty easy to find kitchen ware used: e.g. glass baking dish to replace a deteriorated non-stick (PFAS!) baking pan. My husband and I are renovating our house, and we find a lot of the materials (hardwood floor, tools, light fixtures, etc.) used on Facebook marketplace. Clothing is hit or miss. I just found a store that sells surplus and returned running shoes at a discount!

    • Katherine Boyce's avatar
      Katherine Boyce 2/29/2024 11:08 AM
      I found two gently-used running shoes sites, one is by Brooks (which I found because I have Brooks I want to replace with the same shoe), Brooks ReStart. The second site is called Relay, which seems to have tons of surplus and returned (i.e. very gently-used) footwear. I ordered from them because they had the shoe I wanted. Hopefully it's in good shape, a bit of a gamble to buy "used" shoes, but the discount and the cause tipped me over the edge!

    • Georgia Nesbitt's avatar
      Georgia Nesbitt 2/29/2024 10:52 AM
      Say more about this running shoes store?
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Personal Care Purchase Alternative Toothpaste
    Currently, most of the packaging for toothpaste is plastic. What has been your experience using plastic-free toothpaste options? How can you advocate for more alternatives through your purchasing power and influence in community?

    Katherine Boyce's avatar
    Katherine Boyce 2/27/2024 1:14 PM
    In general, the plastic-free dental care products are much more expensive than plastic floss or toothpaste packaged in plastic tubes. It will be hard to sell this switch to the majority of buyers if the plastic stuff is always multiple times cheaper. Hard to know how to solve for that.

  • Katherine Boyce's avatar
    Katherine Boyce 2/24/2024 11:13 AM
    As an artist, I've been looking for ways to reduce my studio waste—plastic and otherwise. One way I'm doing that today is avoiding store-bought canvases (which always come wrapped in plastic) and building my own panels and canvas stretchers. Blick sells canvas in bulk and I build my own frames from Menards lumber. It's certainly not perfectly conscientious nor waste-free, but it's a small step. I also have a palette box to keep my paints from drying out without using cling wrap. Any other artists out there with tips for waste reduction?

    • Margo Ashmore's avatar
      Margo Ashmore 2/28/2024 3:39 AM
      Check out Better Futures Reuse Warehouse store at 2620 Minnehaha Ave. for lumber. It's less expensive than new, and we have a lot of old-growth. Don't know if that would be better or worse, for canvas stretchers. Would be interested in feedback - apparently a lot of artists shop us for various things. Reuse and rental of items such as tools that have plastic parts is a good way to avoid new manufacture of those items. Minnesota Tool Library rocks!

    • Layl McDill's avatar
      Layl McDill 2/24/2024 12:21 PM
      That's awesome! I was able to work with the manufacturer of my clay to have them cut back the plastic they wrap around the clay by half. I wish I could get rid of it completely but it's not possible. I also reuse plastic bags (and the plastic the clay comes in) to cover my clay- I have bags that I've been using for probably up to ten years!

  • Katherine Boyce's avatar
    Katherine Boyce 2/23/2024 8:43 AM
    I made these zero-waste granola bars yesterday, using ingredients bought in bulk at the Seward Coop. They are delicious. A very satisfying effort!

  • Katherine Boyce's avatar
    Katherine Boyce 2/21/2024 7:25 AM
    For those interested in reducing plastic in their clothes and/or overall harmful impacts of their wardrobe, Good On You is a decent resource. They track a lot of companies on their impact on the planet, workers, and animals. They also have informative blog posts about different types of fabrics, companies to avoid, etc.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Food Make Your Own
    How do you feel about being more involved in the food preparation process? Joyful, overwhelmed, engaged, empowered? What are the benefits of choosing to process or produce your own food instead of buying it pre-processed?

    Katherine Boyce's avatar
    Katherine Boyce 2/19/2024 7:59 AM
    So far, I have made my own yogurt, bread, tortillas, falafel, hummus, broth, cookies, brownies. I still plan to try pasta. I am pretty into it. I am spending much more time on food prep, so I realize that in certain phases of life, I may not be able to do all of what I'm doing now.

    • Katherine Boyce's avatar
      Katherine Boyce 2/19/2024 11:10 AM
      Layl, someone gave us a hand-cranked pasta press and I can't wait to try it! I just haven't been able to track down the 00 flour yet—sadly they don't have it in bulk at the coop!

    • Layl McDill's avatar
      Layl McDill 2/19/2024 11:05 AM
      You totally have to try making homemade pasta! It's the best in lasagna! And it is so easy- usually on 3 or 4 ingredients. It cooks a lot faster so you probably only add on about an extra 10 or 15 minutes at most. If you don't have a pasta machine you can roll it with a good heavy rolling pin like one made of marble. Tell me how it goes!
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    At Home Plan a Garden
    Besides having access to fresh herbs and vegetables, what benefits will you see from growing your own garden?

    Katherine Boyce's avatar
    Katherine Boyce 2/18/2024 9:52 AM
    I enjoy learning more about how my food grows and letting what I have on hand influence what I cook and eat. Today I am re-starting an aerogarden with herbs. I found replacement sponges that are fully compostable if I want to eventually plant the herbs outside, and these allow me to reuse all the plastic parts the aerogarden came with.