Conrad Czuba

Last term I made a map highlighting the areas of the city that are difficult to get to from North Portland using public transportation. I came up with the idea when I was talking to my sister who lives in St. Johns. She mentioned that it's frustrating not being able to take public transportation to the airport in an efficient way. It takes the same amount of time to get to the airport from North Portland as it does from Beaverton (about an hour and a half). I mainly talked about how where you live impacts where you can work based on transportation. If there are parts of the city that aren't easily (or moderately) accessible, then that limits potential opportunities. Overall, I would say that Portland has really great public transportation services, but there's always room for a little improvement!

The other day in class I brought up to my small group some things about community development that people might not have known about. I think the one that was brought up was about the "master builder" Robert Moses. Moses was really into building public spaces, but was also super racist/classist. One of the more notorious things he was known for was building low clearance bridges. It might not seem that bad, but back in the early to mid 1900's wealthier people (primarily white people) had cars and less wealthy people (usually minorities) took the bus. The low clearance bridges were created along the way to beaches, reserving the coast for the wealthy (the busses were too tall to go under the bridges). A very depressing example, but I love looking at different architectural projects and thinking about how they help or hinder communities. 

Mulching the garden is one of my favorite things to do. Every year my neighbors and I go in on a pile of wood chips, but this year we were able to get free compost through the Portland Bureau of Transportation. The downside is that we had to pick it up ourselves (I REALLY hate driving, especially driving trucks) whereas the bark chips are delivered to us (and are free though PGE). I'm glad we were able to get the garden mulched earlier than usual this year because of all the dry weather.
This past week, I was able to get two 55 gallon food grade barrels. I'm planning on setting up a rainwater storage system because that seems like the logical next step in trying to reduce our water consumption. If anyone has any experience in setting up these systems, please let me know!

This past week has been a bit hectic, but I'm feeling great now that the warm weather is finally here! This past week I got 20 tomatoes into the ground and still have 40 more to give out to neighbors. I also started my Eco Change project of making bokashi using the spent grain from brewing beer.
My family is also in the process of getting solar panels for their house. We have a large tree in front of our house, so solar has never been the greatest option. It really isn't a huge issue though because the tree keeps the house cool throughout summer, so we use less electricity.
I also really enjoyed the Anthropocene section of the book. Last term we watched the film Anthropocene: The Human Epoch. It was very depressing, but really well done. You can look it up for free on Kanopy. 

I remember years ago calculating how many Earths it would take for everyone to live my lifestyle. I want to say around 10 years ago it was somewhere around 1.6 to 2.
I did it a couple times today because the first time it said I was at 0.7 and I felt that was way too low. I tweaked some of the options to be a bit of an over estimate and got a hair over 1 earth. My overshoot day was December 27th, so I'm still technically over the threshold of sustainability.  
I'm very lucky that the places I go to are in walking/biking distance from me. I don't really need many things (I HATE clutter) and the majority of the stuff I get come from online Buy Nothing groups (I got a really nice toaster oven a few months ago). Food and shelter are my biggest CO2 contributors. There isn't much I can change about the house itself, but I can definitely do a shift in eating habits to get that number down a little more.  

I'm going to do better about posting for each action, but for now I'm consolidating.

This past week, I watched a short documentary on restoring ecosystems that have been damaged due to climate change and deforestation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV4iSy4tTXc). Humans have always had a relationship with the natural environment and for most of human history I would say it's been symbiotic. I feel this short documentary explains how we can actively change our environment in a restorative way.

I also connected with Victory Project PDX this week and volunteered serving food to the houseless on the corner of NW 6th and Glisan. I wouldn't say that serving food is a solution to sustainability, but it's a step in making connections with a community that is otherwise overlooked. I had a really wonderful time.

I've also planted a BUNCH of new plants! We have so many seeds (plenty to share if people need some and are in the PDX area). I know I mentioned that I have tomatoes and that go to people around the neighborhood. Sometimes I have seeds that get mislabeled or moved around, so I keep them in a "mystery tomato" envelope after they're done being processed. This year I decided to plant some from the mystery stash and have 8 extra plants up for grabs if anyone wants them. I can hold onto them until the overnight temperature is okay for planting, or I can bring them to you/you pick them up whenever. Hope y'all had a great weekend!