The world looks better from the seat of a bike
A constant stream of choices requires constant reactions. And when we are constantly reacting to the world, we aren't living freely within it and enjoying what is actually there.
Had a dream last night that I gave away all my clothes, and then didn’t have anything to wear to work. The psychology of downsizing is complicated. ♥
Do you like trees? Would you like to see a few old growth forests survive the decade? And how do you feel about landfill? Smelly, depressing mountains of the discarded spoils of capitalism, right? There are three things you can order today that will save trees, reduce that pile of smelly old landfill, and make you the coolest kid on your block. Reusable Coffee Filters Coffee has a massive impact on the environment, but if giving it up is a horrifying thought (I know it is for me), the very least you can do is stop throwing away paper filters every day. It takes about 12 extra seconds…
Two years ago, we were shopping for a house. We had a short list of absolute must-haves that included three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a big outdoor space. We looked at about a million houses before we found The One. High up off the road, big beautiful yard, huge deck with a view, three bedrooms, two baths, nice little kitchen, open plan… 1100 square feet in all. Tiny by midwest standards, huge if you’re from New York. It was perfect. Then one day a few weeks ago I realized we have way too much space. There are whole rooms that go practically unused. Take “the office” for instance….
Remember when you were like, 15, and you were a total nightmare of a teenager? Always arguing, stomping out of rooms, slamming doors, and telling your Mom you hated her? And then, along comes Mother’s Day and it’s all flowers, cards, candy, and smiling through a lovely buffet brunch. You may have even put aside your teen tantrums long enough to tell her you loved her. The very next day it was back to being the ungrateful teen, demanding to know when your laundry would be clean and why you couldn’t spend the night at your boyfriend’s place. It’s just like Earth Day. A single day out of…
Right now I’m working on a post about environmentalism as religion (and why it isn’t). It’s turning into a monster two-parter that I’m just not happy with yet. And next week is the first installment of Should I Eat This? A Guide To Food In The 21st Century. So this week I thought it best to leave you with something short and sweet: We have a Chinese Elm in our back garden. My husband calls it “that fucking Chinese Elm” because it’s ugly as sin and it dumps leaves all over the place. We have gravel mulch between our paving stones, so picking up those leaves is a…
Since we got our solar panels installed, I’ve been talking them up big time to any and all who’ll listen. I love them. I love waking up in the morning knowing that my house is going to generate more electricity than I’ll use all day. I love that I’m no longer burning coal to power my laptop. I love saving money on my electricity bill. Talking about home solar to all and sundry means I have now heard every excuse under that great, powerful sun of ours for not going solar. Most of those excuses are a flimsy bunch of BS and I’m here to bust them. Excuse…
I’m running out of shampoo. And conditioner. And daily SPF moisturizer, night cream, toothpaste, hand soap, deodorant, mascara, mouthwash… I think you can see where I’m going with this, right? What products are in your bathroom right now? Go ahead and look. I’ll wait. Take a long hard look in your shower, your medicine cabinet, your bathroom drawers. It’s shocking how much stuff we can gather in the smallest room in the house, isn’t it? It seems like every part of our body needs at least one product all to itself. Eye cream? Check. Cuticle oil? Check. Elbow buffer? Uh-huh. Why? I need all my products to be…
Photo by Haplochromis This week’s green news has been big on alternative dwellings, of which I am a mad crazy fan. There was a minor frenzy surrounding this video of a 30-story Chinese prefab hotel going up in just 15 days. I wonder if this is going to end up just another empty shell in one of China’s freaky ghost cities. On the “I want” list is this house you can print. Yup, just program every single niggly detail of the house into your software (which must take, like, 6 years) and out comes your modular home, ready to pop together by whomever happens to be around. I’m…
Photo by kokogiak It’s a new year and the environment is in as much trouble as ever, though it looks like people are caring about it less and less. If this poll by the National Association of Realtors is to be believed, then less than 2% of people are even taking the environment into consideration when it comes to voting. Sigh. It’s hard not to just throw your hands up and say, hey, drive that Hummer all you want, we’re all doomed anyway. Maybe I’ve been despairing because I spent most of December sitting on LA’s 10 freeway. You get up close and personal with the hopelessness of…
We're Stephen and Jane. Our lives revolve around yoga, tasty vegan food, and beer. In March, our world will be taken over by bicycles when we start on our bike trip from Rome to Russia, via Eastern Europe.
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