learn more about sustainable living

This entry might have also gone under ‘live frugally,’ but faithful readers will already know my 43things.com shows that goal complete :)

An American (from Phillie!) visitor to our community gifted us a little glass jar of citrus preserves she made herself. It reminded me of the jam Maritza serves at Casa Coson, also homemade. In combination with a little goat cheese, fresh bread, olives and a glass of wine: I’m so happy I’m a little teary. Is sustainable living when $15 in groceries finds me so much luxury, to the point of guilt, over the padding of little bare feet outside the door?

I need to work harder on this. Baby step: go the library and take out some books on saving energy/cutting down on garbage. Baby step: all the City and request a recycling bin.

1. We moved to Philadelphia, and I feel pretty good about that because my decision was motivated, substantially, by the commitment to stop driving all the time (as I did in Los Angeles). In LA, my house was almost a mile from the nearest bus stop. I tried biking there, but it was pretty intimidating. So here I am, in Phillie, and I can bike or walk just about everywhere because public transit actually works well in connection with human peddle power. Nice! Its a record warm winter, so that’s bad news. I am sans car, hopefully for good!

2. There is no city-wide recycling program here. But I think this might be a good thing because I hear that its more energy-intensive, petroleum-wise, to collect recyclables than its worth. Boo, no winning here.

3. The streets are incredibly dirty, and we all know where trash on the street ends up: the ocean.

4. I watched “An Inconvenient Truth.”I wish they had included more info on what the average person can do.

5. I should take an environmental science class.