Jennifer Goldschneider

Several of us have been watching documentaries to learn more about issues that concern us. For the Community unit (Session 5), you might want to check out Communities of Hope: Discovering the Ecovillages of Europe, which can be viewed in full (28.50 minutes) on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9hbPFAzF0Y.

Welcome to all our new Winter 2022 team members! I'm looking forward to exploring all the ways we can increase our personal, local, regional, national and global sustainability!

Reflection #7: I continue to reflect on the changes that the pandemic has brought to my family's patterns of consumption. For example, we have missed travel, but don't miss clothes shopping. We haven't needed updated clothing to work online! I don't miss browsing in stores as much as I thought I would, and do not intend to go back to doing that in the future. Apart from grocery and pharmacy, we really haven't shopped much at all. We reduced gift-giving, too.  We are also more conscious about the impacts of what we invest in: as we explored the options for new window treatments for our bedroom (replacing 20 year-old blinds), we asked vendors lots of questions about materials, manufacturing processes, and expected lifespan. We're trying to make responsible choices that will function well for many years. What surprises me the most about these changes - they don't feel hard. Simpler feels good! That lesson is one of the silver linings for me of life in the pandemic.

Reflection #4: I learned a lot about my watershed area this week, both from the link in the book, and from information provided by the Hamilton County Soil & Water Conservation District site. Not surprisingly, the streams in my suburban area are listed as "impaired". I want to do some more digging and see how far out from the city I have to go to find better water quality (if it exists at all).

Reflection for Session Two: I will be looking for more examples of "dynamic balance" (like the ladybugs and the aphids) and how these can be used to create resiliency to cope with ecosystem change. I really get excited about these natural cycles and often think that there must be some way for us to emulate them in human-created environments.

Reflection for Session One: I want to learn more about food rescue in my area. To be more sustainable, I want to change how much water I use when I wash dishes. Something I can contribute to the group: my background in gardening, including community gardens.