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?

• Reducing Consumption

Everything we consume has an actual cost and a hidden cost, depending on how it’s made and where it came from.

e.g a glass of water.

I bought a water filter and be done with water bottles, even though they are made from recycled plastics, but the recycling costs money and energy. The emphasis on REUSE, so I got myself a migo water bottle for work.

And it’s been more than year … alright, I’m bumping this goal up, so I can see it often.

Working on to reduce my garbage .. the trash that I throw, I see more of my stuff is being recycled and my bio-trash stuff goes down the sink, after being crushed.

OG is a wonderful, beautiful, tasty little treat of a magazine. I really do love it and I have only bought one issue. However, in just that one issue there were tons of good tips and tricks and ideas on doing things the organic way. I think organic and sustainable go hand in hand, so what a great little piece of readage. A must read.

Sustainability is a lens through which to view all issues. The sustainability movement encompasses environmental justice and social justice, because one cannot be obtained without the other. It means living life to the fullest without compromising future generations’ ability to do so. It respects the interconectedness of all life and acknowledges the responsibility that each person has to consider the effects that his actions have on other life forms, both living and to be born.

It’s something I love learning about.

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.