I made it to the challenge but way after the fact. But I'm here now!

Hey everyone... I'm sorry I've been away the last couple weeks. I've been co-facilitating a camp and working zero waste at events in the community. I feel like I am living sustainability & kicking a**! That being said I realize I have not been keeping some commitments and promises I have made to the group. One being sending information about climate battery greenhouse technology. I am linking it to this! Be well and be strong friends!
http://www.ecosystems-design.com/climate-batteries.html

Hello! I'm sorry I haven't been active in the class the past two weeks. On the 31st my wife and I significantly increased our family's ecological footprint by welcoming our second child to the world. Things have been a little silly since then. 

I'm especially disappointed to have missed today's discussion, since sustainable transportation--especially cycling infrastructure--is a passion of mine. I liked the short piece by Hachadourian. It's interesting how this is almost always a discussion centered on cities, while suburban drivers with longer commutes would also benefit from more sustainable transportation options. Protected bike lanes may be minimal in urban areas, but they are practically non-existent outside of them. At least in my limited experience. 

I find it ironic that our topic for today was transportation, and I have flown thousands of miles and driven hundreds of miles to land myself in Moscow, ID this week. My sister lives in town, just a few blocks from Main Street and a few more blocks from the city's parks and amazing neighborhoods. Even though I live 'in town' at home, just 1.2 miles from main street, it's totally different just being a few blocks away. I'm motivated to invite neighbors to inhabit our drive-through street more fully, maybe even have a pop-up gorilla on-street party...In spring, summer or fall.

I am out of town for the next 10 days, so can't actually build my home community this week. That said, I am inspired by this group and am encouraged to take more regular action once I get back home. Although it is hard to feel personal when communicating with voices online, I love how I am starting to recognize different people's voices, experiences and visions. It's subtle, but meaningful. Community is about feeling as if you belong somewhere. It is great to belong to this larger network of people who are working toward a sustainable future around the world. Thank you.  Here is an image from Powell's Books in downtown Portland - - I'm visiting from New Hampshire and love love love this huge block full of books and people of all sorts exploring together. What an amazing place! And then there are those coffee shops and places to sit out on the streets. So welcoming.

I recently participated in a Neighbor Circle led by Neighborhood Connections.  Here's an example, http://www.lawrencecommunityworks.org/node/64. Last week participants from the Neighbor Circle met at a local business in the neighborhood to continue building relationships while supporting a locally owned ice cream shop. It provided us time to enjoy each others company and get out into our neighborhood. 

There's a book that I always reference, Staying Healthy with the Seasons, https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/198370/staying-healthy-with-the-seasons-by-elson-m-haas/9781587611421/ 

"Nature’s cycles affect not only the external climate, but also our internal health and mental well-being. With this as its primary tenet, STAYING HEALTHY WITH THE SEASONS revolutionized the fields of preventive and integrated medicine when it was first published in 1981, and introduced a seasonal approach to nutrition, disease prevention, and mind-and-body fitness. A leading practitioner of the season-based lifestyle theory, Dr. Elson Haas provides simple, logical advice for achieving glowing good health: Bring the mind and body into balance with the earth, and consume a diet that emphasizes in-season, chemical-free foods. Joining Western and Eastern medicines with seasonal nutrition, herbology, and exercise practices, this timeless classic, revised for the 21st century, provides the keys to staying healthy from spring right on through winter."

 

Thank you everyone for your thoughts today. I appreciate being part of a group of people all trying to figure out this crazy puzzle - - balancing water, energy and our habits. I watched the Story of Water - - While it was nothing new in terms of content, I appreciated the directness of its message: We are being manipulated to think we need and want something that we can have without spending money and using excessive energy. It makes me so upset when people put profit before all else. I believe in entrepreneurship and creating products and services that truly meet a need and serve a purpose. But knowingly polluting the planet to increase "shareholder value" does not make sense to me. It is, of course, complicated by the fact that my husband and I have been carefully saving for retirement and taking advantage of our employer's programs. In the process, though, I am sure that one of those mutual funds is invested in the very companies I'm frustrated with. We are working on that side of the equation, but it takes a lot of time to make it all work together. 

For today's class on Water, I followed the given link and found that I am located in the convergence of the Upper Colorado and Arkansas-White-Red watersheds, but for the activity, I would say I mostly affect the Upper Colorado region. The site was difficult to navigate and didn't load properly, so I wasn't able to find the most prominent water concern for the areas, but my instinct tells me it is drought. The boundaries are southwest Wyoming, western Colorado, and eastern Utah. There are a plethora of streams and creek, mostly created by snowmelt, that run into the Colorado river, which ultimately runs to the Pacific Ocean. The far east boundaries of the watershed that converge with the Arkansas-White-Red watershed is where tap water may be split among sources, but my tap water comes directly from the Upper Colorado watershed, from lake reservoirs and the Eagle River.

Greetings everyone! I made it back safely from Costa Rica! I had a truly transformational experience and am ready to dive back into my sustainable lifestyle learning full force. I apologize again for missing last week's discussion, but food is my passion, so I am already doing a lot of work with my coalition group to help localize our food system in our mountain region.