Skip to main content
Mikhail Leybovich's avatar

Mikhail Leybovich

Mahiri

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 159 TOTAL

Mikhail's actions

Health and Education

Become a certified Climate Ambassador!

The Climate Museum in NYC is working with local teens to form a Climate Volunteer Coalition! The first step is to educate yourself on the main talking points around climate change. Next, share your knowledge! To help you do this, the Climate Museum has produced a pocket-sized "Climate Ambassador" card. Read the instructions, print the card, cut/fold, and start talking to the people! If you don't have a printer--make your own! https://climatemuseum.org/ambassador **With parent permission** You can also sign up on the Climate Museum website for more info. You can even post a reflection that the Museum will publish on their website for all to see!

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Climate Change and Wildfires: How is climate change affecting you? Our hometown? And what can we do now?

First, the article about the CA wildfires and climate change. Climate Change In Your Hometown The featured article discusses the connection between climate change and California wildfires. Another Times article, from 2018, lets you track how the number of days when temperatures hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) or higher changes in your hometown over your lifetime. As you look at the graph created based on your hometown and the year you were born, what do you notice? (If you want, try entering the birth year of your parents or grandparents as well.) Then, scroll to see the climate predictions for your hometown when you are 80 years old. Continue to scroll to learn more about these predictions, and then see how your hometown compares to other parts of the country and the world using the interactive globe.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks

For the love of nature

Post a photo of something from nature that you love and want to protect.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Support Local Food Systems

Plant-Rich Diets

I will source 10 percent of my food from local producers each day. This could include signing up for a local CSA, buying from a farmer's market, visiting a food co-op, foraging with a local group, or growing my own ingredients.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Health and Education

Sir David Attenborough: The Voice of Planet Earth Speaks on Climate Change

After you watch the video with your advisory, answer the reflection question below. For additional points, respond to a teammate's post!

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Justice for the Whole Community

Voting Rights

After you listen to the StoryCorp episode about voting rights, reflect on what it means to vote. Check in with the adults in your life-are they planning on voting? Why or why not?

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Justice for the Whole Community

Native Land and Practices Acknowledgement

Native Land Acknowledgement means to learn about, talk about, and show respect for the Native inhabitants of an area of land. We do this for many reasons: to correct history, protect and preserve the culture and identity of native peoples, acknowledge the role of European colonization in the loss of native lives and lands. For this activity, read about the Lenape. The tribe indigenous to Brooklyn, Queens , and Manhattan. Who are they, what was NYC like before colonization? How can we honor the Lenape today? (links below)

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Justice for the Whole Community

Sustainable BUGS

The goal of this action to create a more sustainable school experience for our students and staff :)

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Eliminating food waste during Thanksgiving (or other big meals!)

Watch the video and respond to the reflection questions below :).

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Action Track: Healing & Renewal

Climate Change Action

Watch the film and respond to the reflection question :)

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Industry

Time's Kid of the Year: Water Quality Tester Engineer

Gitanjali Rao is the first “Time’s Kid of the Year”. She is being recognized for inventing a device that detects lead in drinking water.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Learning to Fly

Our surroundings, the environment--natural and manmade---have a huge impact on our life story. Watch the video together and then share a memory of your home, your neighborhood, or another special place that has helped you become who you are today.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Electricity

Carbon Footprint Calculator

Use the link below to calculate your own Carbon Footprint.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Action Track: Healing & Renewal

BLM/BHM

The Black Lives Matter Movement drafted 13 Guiding Principles. These principles were created in order to heal and sustain our communities. Read through the Guiding Principles. Choose at least one to reflect upon.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

We are all connected: Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai was the first African woman to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. Of course, she was not the first African woman to deserve a Nobel Peace Prize but racism, colonialism, and sexism have long played into this award. Read about Maathai, a biologist and activist, and reflect on what Americans can learn about her work and apply to our own hemisphere.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health and Education

Jaysa Miller and Youth Voices for the Planet

Climate Change and pollution disproportionately affect Black Americans and communities of color. Young people like Jaysa Miller have had enough. Miller is working to unveil and hold developers, policymakers, and factory owners accountable for the risk they put communities in. Learn about her work by watching the video below!

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Health and Education

Why have the accomplishments of African Civilizations been obscured?

Harvard professor and filmmaker Henry Louis Gates Jr. is interviewed by Audie Cornish about his series Africa’s Great Civilizations.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Health and Education

Women are at the front of Farmer's Protests in India

Read the article below and reflect on the event with your advisory and independently.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Health and Education

Research Barriers to Participation and Representation

Health and Education

I will spend at least 10 minutes learning more about the barriers to women's equal participation and representation around the world.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Learn More about Silvopasture

Silvopasture

I will spend at least 1 minutes watching videos and/or reading about the environmental benefits of silvopasture.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Land Sinks

Support a Community Garden

Multiple Solutions

I will support a community garden by volunteering, donating, or advocating for a new or existing one.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Transportation

Go by Bike

Bicycle Infrastructure

I will commute by bike 5 mile(s) each day and avoid sending up to (___) lbs of CO2 into Earth's atmosphere.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Electricity

Watch a Video about Methane Digesters

Methane Digesters

I will watch a video about methane digesters (also commonly known as anaerobic digesters).

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Composting

Composting, Reduced Food Waste

I will start a compost bin where I live.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food, Agriculture, and Land Use

Keep Track of Wasted Food

Reduced Food Waste

I will keep a daily log of food I throw away during Drawdown Ecochallenge, either because it went bad before I ate it, I put too much on my plate, or it was scraps from food preparation.

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?

  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Land Sinks
    Had you heard of the term "silvopasture" before now? After learning more about it, what do you think is the biggest advantage of silvopasture?

    Mikhail Leybovich's avatar
    Mikhail Leybovich 6/09/2021 5:55 AM
    I have heard of silvopasture before. The biggest benefit of it would be a carbon sink as well as a natural habitat for people to visit. If the silvopasture is done with permaculture in mind it could also produce food for local communities. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Electricity
    What does your vision of a sustainable community look like? What would need to be changed in order for such vision to become reality?

    Mikhail Leybovich's avatar
    Mikhail Leybovich 6/09/2021 5:53 AM
    My sustainable community looks just like it does right now. The only thing that needs to change for my vision to become a reality is people's values and culture at large. The way culture puts value on certain things needs an adjustment, so perhaps people need to consume less media and focus on producing content in their lives.
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Food, Agriculture, and Land Use
    Producing food that goes uneaten squanders many resources—seeds, water, energy, land, fertilizer, hours of labor, financial capital. Which of these kinds of waste most motivates you to change your behavior regarding food waste? Why?

    Mikhail Leybovich's avatar
    Mikhail Leybovich 6/09/2021 5:49 AM
    I personally have been composting in my back yard for about a decade. I've also helped my friend, Carlos start a community composting area 2 blocks from my house. For me the most important part about composting is that makes use of a valuable resource, instead of having that resources by thrown away. By throwing it away you not only waste it, but also need to transport it which doubly uses fossil fuels. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Land Sinks
    What are the multiple benefits of community gardens, including carbon sequestration? Why do these benefits matter to you?

    Mikhail Leybovich's avatar
    Mikhail Leybovich 5/12/2021 5:52 AM
    I am a member of a community garden at Jamaica Bay, Floyd Bennett Community Garden. Obviously plants sequester carbon dioxide out of the air, but that's not why I am a member. I joined to take responsibility for growing my own healthy food, as well as to become a member of a smaller scale gardner community. Finally, being a member there also draws a small connection to my job at  BUGS. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Action Track: Healing & Renewal
    How can this guiding principle show up in our school community on a regular basis?

    Mikhail Leybovich's avatar
    Mikhail Leybovich 2/24/2021 5:47 AM
    The one thread that connects all of the 13 principles of BLM is that different groups of people in the past did not get their fair "shake" at being members in society. Society has not and still does not tree everyone fairly with the dignity that they deserve. For me one way to make these principles show up in our school on a regular basis is to remember to treat every individual person with the dignity and respect that we all deserve. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Industry
    If you suddenly had the ability to invent a device that helps humanity, what would it do? (draw a pic and upload it you can!)

    Mikhail Leybovich's avatar
    Mikhail Leybovich 12/09/2020 6:02 AM
    I would work on bio-engineering either a bacteria or fungi which is able to decompose plastic(s) and potentially turn decomposed plastic into food that people could eat. We could collect plastic pollution (bags, bottles,  etc.) and have it be turned back into soil , helping heal and beautify our environments. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Action Track: Healing & Renewal
    What's one thing you can do in your daily life to slow down and appreciate our world--the people and the planet? How can you concentrate on doing more "good" instead of competing for "the best"? How has competing to be the best contributed to human impact on the environment?

    Mikhail Leybovich's avatar
    Mikhail Leybovich 12/02/2020 6:11 AM
    One thing I can do in my own life to appreciate our world is grow more exotic plants. I already do, and this requires me to bring them inside during the winter, so that they don't die. It forces me to "slow down" because I spend quite a bit of time having to water them, and prune them. Also I see them on a daily basis and get to witness a exotic fruit ripening slowly over time, like my naranjillas. 

    Being "the best" might mean winning at something in the short run, but it may not mean you're winning in the long run. Having a long term outlook will help me make short term decisions that have "the best" outcome for my and my communities future. 

    Companies that sell us water, have begun to buy rights to water springs which they use to fill up their water bottles that they sell to us. Some much water has been removed that some springs have begun to run dry and on the other end of things plastic bottle pollution is a really big problem too!


  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Land Sinks
    Watch the video together and then share a memory of your home, your neighborhood, or another special place that has helped you become who you are today.

    Mikhail Leybovich's avatar
    Mikhail Leybovich 10/28/2020 5:51 AM
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Food, Agriculture, and Land Use
    Dependable fresh food, supporting local farmers and building resilient communities are just a few benefits of local food systems. Which of these (or other) advantages inspire you the most?

    Mikhail Leybovich's avatar
    Mikhail Leybovich 9/30/2020 6:00 AM
    I foraged Paw Paws locally for food and even shipped some to members of my foraging class from last year. 
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks
    Describe your photo and why you chose it!

    Mikhail Leybovich's avatar
    Mikhail Leybovich 9/30/2020 5:57 AM
    This is an image of erosion at Caumsett state Park. I want to protect the park from erosion.