“Hi, I’m Robin & I’m not a 100% sustainable. Where’s the coffee?”

 If you’ve been reading my blog this month, you know that I signed up to try to consume locally produced food for the month of August. If you’ve been reading consistently, you know that I tried pretty hard in the beginning and learned a lot. You also know that as time passed, I caved into the pressures of a busy life, laziness, addiction to bread, enjoying eating out with guests — all of which lead to me failing to make my pledge. And, really, I’m okay with it. Usually, when I set out to do something, I just do it. So, why am I okay with my failure on this diet?

First, I know that I live a fairly sustainable lifestyle. I garden heavily, raising lots of vegies in our non-rural garden. I also spend a large part of my time educating others on how to garden and how to do it sustainably. I buy local first, organic second, and junk last of all. I dove into this pledge and studied what I eat, and came to recognize what I would be missing if I had to eat locally.

If I had to eat locally, I would miss grains. I love bread, oatmeal, crackers and rice. But, what I realized after a couple of weeks of trying to live without them in my diet is that I don’t have to live without them! Sure, I could if i had to, but I don’t. So, I decided not to.

I did continue to grow vegetables and fruits, which I share with friends and neighbors. Rather than let all our peaches go to waste, I bought sugar and made peach preserves. The sugar isn’t local, but the peaches are. So, is that 50/50?

Let’s think about the things that I buy that aren’t local. Grains, tea, coffee, oil, salt, sugar — these are all things that have been imported across oceans and continents for hundreds of years. I suppose if oil disappears, we’ll continue to find a way to import them. The cost of the goods may change and access to them may become more scarce, but I believe we’ll find a way to make them available.

I took on a client this month who purchased some pastureland east of Seattle. They are building a new house and need help creating their farm where they hope to be mostly self-sustaining. Thing is, they don’t know much about it. I’m there to help them understand how to develop their land in a sustainable way. How to designate the right areas for the right usage. How much area they’ll need to grow the volume of food they’ll need for a family. What kind of livestock will help them clear land, make good pets, eat mosquitos, create aquatic ecosystems. I’ll help them identify desirable native edibles (and non-edibles) in the forested portions of their property. And so much more. I admire them for pursuing this lifestyle and I look forward to helping them over the years ahead, but I don’t really want this life for myself. I like living within the city. I like supporting local farmers — year-round mind you.

And thinking of sustainable, what about non-food items?

For instance, I like my car that isn’t a hybrid & isn’t completely fuel efficient. I considered trading it in for a new hybrid or an electric, but I realized that the amount of energy & resources that would go into building an entirely new car, plus the disposal costs of my existing car wouldn’t be a sustainable practice. I mean think about what it takes to build a new car — steel, plastic, glass, rubber, leather, wood, electronics all come at a cost. Does the production of this entirely new vehicle outweigh the environmental cost of the emissions my existing car produces? I doubt it. Steel, for instance, is one of the most environmentally costly manufactured items today.

Along these lines, Bob has been in touch with someone who does hybrid car conversions. He still drives a CRX high fuel model that his parents gave him as a college graduation present. We just can’t bring ourselves to sell it; its a great commute car. And, as it turns out, its a prime candidate to convert to a hybrid. This would improve its efficiency and continue to use the steel, etc…that went into creating it. Perhaps this will happen someday….

I know that my #1 contribution to the sustainablity of the planet is my choice to not have children. Don’t get me wrong. I love kids. I love families. My role in this life is to be an awesome Auntie, not a mommy. I don’t judge anyone for their choice to have or not to have children. I celebrate each new life as it comes into this world. That said, I know that the human population is growing at rates I can’t really even fathom. I know that my choice not to have children will impact the future more than my choice to eat toast this morning.

Electricity is another item that we consume in a less than sustainable way. We have computers running 24/7 in our house, which isn’t sustainable. We do leave security lights on through the night, but at least we use efficient bulbs. We are good about running the full dishwasher in the middle of the night. Our heat is gas, so consumes very little electricity. We turn off lights when they aren’t being used, and we use energy efficient light bulbs & some timers. We don’t have air conditioning. We do need to replace our drier to get it on gas from electric; same with our ancient stove. But, with each of these, I have the same questions as I do about replacing the car.  We have plans to add solar panels to our south-facing roof in order to feed back into the grid. This is on the list along with about a million other home improvement projects.

And what about water? We have rainbarrels, which are used more to divert rainwater to plants in the garden that want high volumes of water than they are as storage. They can’t hold enough water to really work as good storage devices. We have low flow heads on our sinks and shower. Our clothes washer weighs the clothes to determine minimal water requirements. And, I have an irrigation system in the garden, which I run in the most efficient ways I know.

I guess in wrapping up my thoughts on this diet, I’d say more than anything it really made me think about sustainability in a larger way. I hope by sharing my thoughts on the diet and related items that I’ve done some good in the promotion of sustainability. Obviously, it is something that interests me, but I did not find myself wholly consumed by it. I’m a foody who likes to consume a diverse diet, and I will until a day comes when that’s just not an option anymore.