Challenging myself to live more sustainably and reporting my experiences in this blog has been an interesting experience and has taught me much about the impact of an average North American lifestyle on the environment. As our school year comes to a close, and Amy and I are off for summer adventures, we will be ending our term as sustainability bloggers and moving on to bigger and better things.
Bigger and better than sustainability? Surely I must be joking! Blast, readers you have caught me in my own web of lies. If I were to truly consider living sustainably as a passing fad, as many do, then I would return back to the life of ignorance and wastefulness and live in blissful ignorance right up until the onset of the First World Climate War in 2046. You've caught me again readers, I do not actually confirm that I have any advanced knowledge of the future of human civilization, I was merely using the example of another world war for hyperbolic effect. However, the message I was attempting to convey was very real. Climate change is set to transform the world: environmentally, socially, and politically. Coastal areas will be devastated by rising sea levels and vast areas of the world will see their regional environments turn to dust. These effects will be felt first and foremost by those living close to the equator; i.e. those living in developing nations, often in extreme poverty. I doubt very much that billions of people will lay down and die as their environmental conditions turn to disaster. Mass movements of refugees will quickly bring the social problems of climate change to our borders, and lines may be drawn to decide who will live in who will be lost. Hopefully, I am very off base with my fears but nonetheless, I feel that it is my obligation to make changes in my own life and to encourage others to live sustainably in order to help in any way to protect the stability of the planet. So my point from all of that is that although I am finishing up this blog, I am in no way finished with thinking about my footprints and changing the way in which I walk.
Living sustainably: Do I measure up?
I chose to challenge myself by:Substantially lowering my thermostat [Link]
By turning the thermostat down to 55F and only heating occupied rooms with space heaters my household was able to cut our gas bill by 30% with only a small increase in electricity use for the space heaters. Therefore by wearing sweaters and accepting that winter isn't meant to feel like summer, we were able to significantly reduce the amount of energy used to heat our home.
Comparing my life to a list of suggestions [Link]
I was having trouble looking for ways to challenge myself and came across a huge list of ideas posted by Amy. I went through each and every one of these suggestions and evaluated whether or not I could make the proposed changes. I found that I was already ahead of the game for almost every suggestion and I was able to pick out a few things which I could be doing such as cutting down on junk mail, reducing showers, and switching to vegetarianism.
Flirting with vegetarianism [Link]
Partly guided by the list of ideas for a more sustainable lifestyle, I recognized the impacts which my diet had on the planet. The week I spent without eating meat actually went by very quickly without too much trouble. Despite the benefits of avoiding meat, I wasn't able (willing) to continue to avoid eating meat because of how good animals taste. You can hate me all you want for saying that, but at least I am being honest about my feelings on the matter. I absolutely 100% believe that everyone needs to switch over to being a vegetarian, I'm just not willing to be the first. I suppose that this exposes a trend in many people like me who recognize the importance of lowering their impacts of the world but are unwilling to personally make the changes required. I feel almost as if I am invalidating all of my work I have put into attempting to live sustainably by refusing to adopt vegetarianism. I will not leave vegetarianism off of the table however I feel it is too much of a change for me to make all at once. I've always been rather awkward at goodbyes and I know that I must find a way to say goodbye to steak but it's not coming easy.
Networked and Educated.
We were able to set up as part of the booth for the Sustainability Club at the 2012 World Water Day event on campus at UBCO. This was an interesting experience, we spoke to many students as they passed by and helped the Sustainability Club ask them questions about their water use and plans for personal sustainability.
As part of another outreach effort, we were able to visit Lisa from Urban Harvest and discuss their organic food delivery service, how it could be accessed by students, and what alternatives existed which could benefit students with local and organic food. My questioning focused on if a delivery service could be used to treat the food desert situation at the UBCO campus and strategies for students to take advantage of these services.
To copy Amy, I will answer the question Can I can be sustainable?. I feel as though I am much more of a pessimist. My answer would have to be No. These small steps I've taken and others that I have heard of but not tried are all very small incremental changes almost designed to make me feel as though I am doing something in order to feel better about my life. Without making drastic and radical changes to the ways in which I work, travel, and participate in the environment I do not believe that I could ever meet the definition of a sustainable person. I can however become more sustainable than I am now. Although this doesn't solve the problem, it does help. So despite my pessimism in making small changes to my life in the name of sustainability. I do believe that from small beginnings, great things can come to be. The true power that I witnessed while talking to others about these issues weren't the great changes that people were making in their lives, but rather the networks of informed individuals which were forming from sustainability programs. If we are to see change than it will come from the actions of no single person. It will take networks of informed citizens to take back our climate and force the world to reorganize. Consider the fact that just fifteen cargo ships contribute as much to climate change as every car on the planet and you will see that our problem is situated deep inside our capitalist mode of production which seeks continual growth and thrives by externalizing environmental costs. It is imperative that everyone get involved with local environmental groups. No single person is going to beat this crisis by recycling their milk jug. It is going to take strong collective action in order to beat climate change and therefor I suggest that the single greatest and most simple action which you can take against climate change would be to go get involved, meet others who share in your views, and figure out how to teach others about the impacts which their lives have on the planet.
