Pledge for the Planet and The Community Resilience Challenge

By Susan Price, Daily Acts

Spring is here and as Sonoma County wakes from its wet slumber we all feel the seasonal urge to spring into action. The garden calls with its sleepy voice, household projects itch to get started, and we all look forward to the delights of a new season. It’s time to make your New Year’s resolution for the planet and think of what you can commit to do for the Community Resilience Challenge, running April through May.

The Community Resilience Challenge (aka “the Challenge”), a program of non-profit Daily Acts, is your chance to join a movement committed to building a better future. Earth Day was created in April 1970 to bring attention to the issues facing our environment. With the challenging times we are facing, honoring the Earth is about looking for solutions while actively eliminating as many problems as we can influence. It’s about conserving resources and reducing our consumption.

This Earth Day, make your pledge for the planet count! What can you do to make a stand, speak out and take action? What can you do that will build our community more resilient? Join your community and Daily Acts by pledging to take action for the Challenge. Daily Acts’ spring programs will lead you through making your own non-toxic cleaning products, managing a compost bin, and hands-on opportunities to see, smell, and touch bountiful drought-tolerant, food, pollinator and habitat landscapes. Volunteer for a workday! Get in there and get your hands dirty!

I recently heard a man recollect living through World War II’s “V for Victory Garden” movement. He described growing food as “just what you did” for a nation wanting increased security and independence. Back then, everyone pitched in and food sovereignty was very real and was a key part of our communities. What happens to our groceries when there is a tsunami, or when highways wash away from atmospheric rivers? What happens when fossil fuel prices skyrocket until they impede our shipping economy? We can establish food sovereignty in our region once again by directing our values and purchasing power toward buying local, investing local, and supporting local while working with neighbors and co-workers to plot who is growing what and then sharing and trading the bounty.

Speaking of plotting with your neighbors, what else can we gain sovereignty over as we look to grow our regional independence and local resiliency? Sovereignty looks like a community considering the life-cycle of its decisions with special attention toward the origins of and end-life of products and projects. What if we refused single-use containers and unnecessary packaging to save a mountain of trash with a 20-100 year half-life from entering our dumps and oceans? What if every single drop of precious fresh water was valued and reused before returning it the hydrologic cycle? Why not host a potluck with your neighbors, start a tool share or garden wheel and purchase bulk goods together? We can create energy sovereignty and divest from fossil fuels by investing in solar panels and fuel efficient vehicles while conserving our existing energy usage. Hang a clothesline and save major wattage with that one simple act. There is so much in our world we have power to influence!

Commit your Earth Day resolution for the planet at www.dailyacts.org and register online for the Community Resilience Challenge. Once you make your commitment, your pledge will join others on a map where you can see the growing movement taking shape all around us. Participants are eligible for local discounts, free incentives, and special raffles to help encourage you on your journey. Check our website for additional offerings on a wide variety of subjects while we also promote other local organizations offering educational and volunteer opportunities in our community. The Community Resilience Challenge is in its 8th year with over 29,000 actions taken so far right here in Sonoma County – that’s 29,000 acts that build our community more sustainable, one act at a time. Way to go Sonoma County! Now: ready, set, act!

The Community Resilience Challenge (the Challenge) is a free program of Daily Acts Organization that runs through the end of May. Participants register their actions online at www.dailyacts.org and all actions are quantified at the end of the Challenge to tell the story of our collective impact. Stand up and be counted! Register today!