Small Green Steps of Progress

So I wanted to keep you all updated on my sustainable progress.

I have some changes going on in my bathroom.

I purchased this new shower head and this shower timer.

I can now have truly green showers.

If only I wasn't so addicted to baths. I only take about 3 baths per month, but I need to wean myself off of it. The winter is the hardest time for that.

A 5 minute shower with my low-flow is my new goal.

Next, I purchased a portable hanging rack that I keep in my laundry room. This way I can hang up my clothes right out of the washer and avoid the dryer. I don't hang every load, but I am cutting down on the amount of time I use the dryer. I am also making more of an effort to use cold water instead of warm or hot.

By adding little things one at a time it helps me to live true to my values.

Mindfulness is Sustainable Living

Mindfulness is really the answer to a lot of problems in people's lives.

Most of us act according to automatic thoughts and behaviors, without even really paying attention to ourselves.

By living in the present and noticing thoughts and actions as they happen you can be more in control. You can think about whether or not your actions are sustainable or if your responses are sound. You can think about whether or not your thoughts are what you want them to be. You can even keep your feelings in check.

Meditation is a good way to practice coming into the present and quieting the mind. Focusing on a single picture or word in your mind while listening to yourself breathe for a few minutes every day.

With practice you can go throughout your day in control of yourself, not simply reacting automatically to whatever comes your way.

It is important that we are mindful if we want to be sustainable thinkers because old habits die hard. We need to be aware of what we are doing and what decisions we are making.

Constantly asking yourself, "Is this the best sustainable action I can take?" is a good way to keep on top of things.

Many times you might have to choose between good, better and best in regards to a sustainable decision. It is good to think through tough decisions (i.e. is it better to eat locally or organically if you can't do both?). These are the types of questions that can be considered when living your life in a mindful way.

As you realize that you do have control over your thoughts, feelings and behaviors you find a new freedom and can make great strides toward sustainable living.

Peak Oil Simplified: 10 Solutions

There is a storm brewing and pretty much everyone is on board our faltering ship.

The debate is over.

We are near the end of cheap oil. Maybe not as grim and bleak as this picture shows, but something is going to happen unless drastic changes and new innovations rise up to meet this challenge.

Oil demand is rising quickly, in places such as China, India and the Middle East -combined with the already high demand in all other developed countries around the world...

Meanwhile the supply is diminishing-(Oil is a non-renewable resource- no one is making more dinosaurs).

In the past, the International Energy Agency and the USs Energy Information Administration have forecast that oil supplies will increase with rising demand. They are not optimistic anymore. Recently the IEA conducted a large study of the 400 most important oil fields to determine the ability of the oil industry to keep up with the demand. The result is a "sharp downward revision of its oil supply forecast." Click here to read it.

So what we are looking at is...

no more cheap gas, cheap food, or cheap products (that use oil in their manufacturing). It means bankrupt businesses, and a depression..

and forget vacations and other air travel- this problem will ground planes (three major US airlines have dramatically raised round-trip fares in the U.S. as they struggle with record oil prices. The airline industry can not withstand the rising oil prices combined with the fall of the dollar)

This pending emergency will affect how we produce food, how we conduct commerce and trade, how we travel, how we acquire and spend money. It will affect every area of our lives from health care to feeding our families to our kids education.

The time to act is now-

The solutions:

1. Buy or grow food closer to home. Local farming. Start paying attention to agriculture. Learn fast.

2. Support the build up of creative, small urban economies/communities. Local shops, local suppliers. Local everything. Suburban sprawl needs to be retrofitted into sustainable communities. Do business over the Internet. Support industries that use and/or create renewable energy resources.

3. Move. Live close to where you work, shop and spend your time. Walking/ biking distance to everything. Small homes. High-rises. The mansions need to house more families.

4. Use less energy . Learn to live and be happy without dependency on energy and shopping. Read books, garden, eat raw, use solar products, cook from scratch, make homemade products. Lower consumption. Use thrift stores. Reduce. Recycle. Reuse. Read about the survivalists . Consider adopting some or all of their ideas.

5. Fix the passenger rail system. Improve all public transport.

6. We need to switch over to electric-powered or hybrid transport of all kinds, such as small cars, electric scooters and small buses.

7. Trucks and trains need to be converted from diesel to natural gas.

8. Farmers should run their equipment using biodiesel.

9. Everyone needs to focus on inventing/engineering new solutions. Invest in solutions.

10. When disaster strikes, don’t expect the government to save you. Learn how to self-sustain. (Check out this house) Be prepared.

The MAJOR concerns:

Pressure on government leaders over rising oil prices may cause the following (dangerous) actions , instead of the above

1. End the longstanding ban on drilling in environmentally sensitive areas including Alaska, the continental shelves, and federally-owned lands, instead of increasing conservation, efficiency, and the use of renewable fuels.

2. Resort to dirty coal. Therefore abandoning lower carbon emissions goals, causing carbon dioxide levels to sky rocket to dangerous levels, setting the course for catastrophic, irreversible climatic disasters later on.

3. People will be unprepared, will play the blame game, and will get very angry. Public disturbances, riots, fights, etc. will cause communities to break down.

It will be a hard transition. Better start now.

Great Resources to check out: A Crude Awakening - The Oil Crash
The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream


What do you think? Do you have any other resources to suggest?

Sustainable Living is a Lifestyle Change, A New Way of Seeing Yourself and Your Place In The World

Sustainable living is a lifestyle change. It is a new self-image.

It defines who you are.

It is a different way of viewing yourself and your worldview.

If you try to keep your old self- and just make a few changes here and there it won't last. Especially if you see those changes as difficult or inconvenient.

Sustainability requires a new mind-set. It requires seeing yourself as part of a greater, interconnected whole. It puts you in the shoes of all the world's people. It helps you to think globally, while acting locally. It is a reflection of what type of person you are. It shows that you are a caring person- who cares for the people around the world who rely on the earth's systems for survival and wellness.

It means you are the type of person who values the natural things of the earth. It means you are an advocate of health and education, of prosperity and wellness. It means you want to slow down your lifestyle and appreciate the beauty around you. It means that you are responsible and not wasteful. It means that you think about how your actions affect others.

If you are your old self and you think, "I am saving water by turning off the tap" but then turn around and see your neighbor running their tap 24 hrs a day you might give up. If you are not a sustainable thinker you can easily find excuses to go back to your old ways because you haven't really changed.

You are not saving the world by your sporadic attempts to recycle or turn off the water... you are changing the world by changing who you are- the way you think and the way you speak to others and by the total example of your life and behaviors.

You are changing the world because you are changing yourself.

What has unsustainable actions brought us... overconsumption, deforestation, climate change, obesity, huge landfills, air pollution, traffic, water scarcity, poverty, water pollution, greed, species extinction, excessive debt, exclusivity, destruction of the earth's systems, rampant disease (in rich and poor countries), soil erosion, widening of the rich and the poor, a physical infrastructure built on declining cheap oil (not to mention our whole economy), lack of food security, collapsing fisheries, and advancing deserts.

Do you really want to be part of that?

A sustainable thinker doesn't want that stuff on their conscience.

I believe that if you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

Its a new you.