

Mikhail Leybovich
POINTS TOTAL
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- 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!
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.
Coastal, Ocean, and Engineered Sinks
For the love of nature
Post a photo of something from nature that you love and want to protect.
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.
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!
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?
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)
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 :)
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use
Eliminating food waste during Thanksgiving (or other big meals!)
Watch the video and respond to the reflection questions below :).
Action Track: Healing & Renewal
Climate Change Action
Watch the film and respond to the reflection question :)
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.
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.
Electricity
Carbon Footprint Calculator
Use the link below to calculate your own Carbon Footprint.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Electricity
Watch a Video about Methane Digesters
Methane Digesters
I will watch a video about methane digesters (also commonly known as anaerobic digesters).
Food, Agriculture, and Land Use
Composting
Composting, Reduced Food Waste
I will start a compost bin where I live.
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.
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?
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REFLECTION QUESTIONLand SinksHad 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 6/09/2021 5:55 AMI 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 QUESTIONElectricityWhat 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 6/09/2021 5:53 AMMy 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 QUESTIONFood, Agriculture, and Land UseProducing 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 6/09/2021 5:49 AMI 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 QUESTIONLand SinksWhat are the multiple benefits of community gardens, including carbon sequestration? Why do these benefits matter to you?
Mikhail Leybovich 5/12/2021 5:52 AMI 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 QUESTIONAction Track: Healing & RenewalHow can this guiding principle show up in our school community on a regular basis?
Mikhail Leybovich 2/24/2021 5:47 AMThe 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 QUESTIONIndustryIf 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 12/09/2020 6:02 AMI 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 QUESTIONAction Track: Healing & RenewalWhat'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 12/02/2020 6:11 AMOne 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!
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REFLECTION QUESTIONLand SinksWatch 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 10/28/2020 5:51 AM-
Jess Norris 10/28/2020 9:33 AM -
Trafton Hubert 10/28/2020 5:56 AM
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REFLECTION QUESTIONFood, Agriculture, and Land UseDependable 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 9/30/2020 6:00 AMI foraged Paw Paws locally for food and even shipped some to members of my foraging class from last year. -
REFLECTION QUESTIONCoastal, Ocean, and Engineered SinksDescribe your photo and why you chose it!