Mixed Greens

Leaves, Beans, and Wages

2011-01-12T11:16:00.000-08:00

When I was 17 I traveled to England. Many wonderful adventures happened on this trip, but one of the most enduring things I brought back was a love of hot tea. I had never been a tea drinker until I stumbled upon The Crooked Tea House in Windsor; literally a crooked house. I still remember that place like it was yesterday. As you walk into the cafe there was a rotating glass display of pies and cakes. My friends and I ventured up a crooked little staircase to find seating. I had never been a fan of tea, mostly because it came in the iced form where I grew up. On a whim, I decided to embrace England and order a pot of early gray and a toasted cheese sandwich. It was, dare I say, the best tea I have ever had. I remember the beautiful way the dark early gray collided with the fresh milk. It was creamy and herbaly all at the same time. For the rest of the trip, I bought boxes and boxes of tea where ever I went, shoved them all in my suitcase, and thus, began my great love affair with this leafy beverage.

What in the world does this have to do with sustainability you might ask? Well a lot actually. The food movement is picking up and people are starting to critically evaluate where that mango in the middle of winter actually came from (probably not your neighbor's greenhouse). However, I don't often hear people talk about where their beverages came from. The exception to this is probably coffee. I do, after all, live in an area known for it's copious amounts of coffee consumption and have met people obsessed with the search for a perfect bean. Fair Trade, organic and shade grown are often words associated with coffee. I often think that as long as my coffee meets these requirements, it's ethical and sustainable to drink it. However, it's very rare for coffee to be grown in the U.S. One place in the U.S. that has the hot climate for growing coffee is Hawaii; not exactly close. This means that my little cup (or 5) of coffee is a world traveler. The same goes for tea. Although some teas are grown in the U.S. (there are two commercial tea gardens in this country), many of them are still imported. Is it environmentally ethical to drink these beverages? What does Fair Trade actually mean? Why in the sam hill is it important for stuff to be shade grown? Instead of rambling on with answers to all these questions, I offer the upmost empirically sound reference of wikipedia (sorry, but it has the most comprehensive defintions).

Fair Trade
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_trade

Shade Grown
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shade-grown_coffee

and if you're interested in really getting into the corporate er, I mean, government, side of things you can read about NAFTA here (sorry dems, but this is one thing Billy didn't do so well on)...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Free_Trade_Agreement

And after reading that, check out the Beehive Design Collectives massive copy-left art on free trade and mesoamerica and the war on drugs (it's all connected man). I suggest checking out everything the beehive has to offer and catching them on tour if you can. Those are some damn hard workin' and knowledgeable bees and all their information comes from interviews with local people directly impacted by globalization.
http://www.beehivecollective.org/english/ftaa.htm

Peace and Cups of Tea

Resolutions and Radio

2011-01-07T09:09:00.000-08:00

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions; however, since I am almost done with my thesis (I passed! woohoo!), I am going to try to update this blog more often and get more followers. Maybe the best way to do that is to keep it short and sweet so I don't feel like I have to write a novel every time I post. I mean, who wants to read that anyway?!

So today, I offer you a beautiful, cruelty-free nugget of information...Sierra Club radio podcast. It's a weekly program, it's free to subscribe and, just like many of the things Sierra Club does (join today!), it's excellent, informative, and activist-oriented. Feels good to learn! Search Sierra Club Radio in the itunes store or click the link below.

Peace and Motivation towards your own resolutions,
Courtney

http://www.sierraclub.org/radio/

Sustainability Stolen?

2010-07-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

My bike was stolen yesterday. I love that bike. I have not owned a bike for many years because my first bike was stolen in college. This bike was a gift from my parents. It was a beautiful, comfortable, and small bike for my small height. Perhaps this is my punishment for not having rode it in a month. Perhaps its Karma for moving, for feeling too happy, for being too self-involved the last year, for not finishing my thesis, for my privelage.

Can I really call this sustainability stolen? One cannot speak of sustainability without speaking of social justice. The inequities of the world that have created this enormous catastrophe we are in. It's not the person who can't afford a car that was buying gas from BP after all. In the more grand scheme of sustainability, our planet would have died long ago if everyone lived as I do. And I live more simply than many others and less simply than most. Privilege does not exist without oppression.

Perhaps it's Karmic for also owning a car. Right now I'd gladly rather have my car stolen than my bike. Maybe then I would stop feeling guilty for owning a car and feeling guilty for not having taken more advantage of the person powered transportation that was at my finger, er, toe tips.

It's pathetic to mourn the loss of an item. Something that is replaceable. However, in our over consumptive culture it's quite the norm. My only consolation is that I hope the bike was stolen out of need. That the person is either happily riding it or has sold it for money to buy basic necessities like food or clothing.

Patchwork Quilt

2010-07-14T12:01:00.000-07:00

I love quilts. Especially quilts that were handmade by grandmothers and great grandmothers in their quilting bee. They usually have wonderful stories woven in with the stitches and fabric scraps. An entire quilt can be made from fabric that had a former life. Warmth from repurposing. Quilting is, in my opinion, one of the few heirloom skills that is more prevalent than many others because of the rich history it supplies. I wish I knew how to make a quilt. I wish I owned one. But I do know how to make use of a quilt as a metaphor.

Olympia is my favorite patchwork quilt.
Beautifully rich in hues, fall sugar maple orange, heirloom tomato red, eggplant purple, the obligatory evergreen green, golden honey yellow, and every shade that exists within this earthy spectrum.
Each swatch has it's own political and social history, the cloth is never new.
It is made of some of the most unusual fabric-local and imported.
It is ever changing and shifting akin to the threadlike tributaries that erode and shape a hillside--slowly and subtly working their way over time but faster after an arduous or unceasing rain.
The stitching hints at a community that is at once unbreakable, and vulnerable to snags, time, and seam rippers.

I am newly part of this quilt and yet my heart feels as though a piece of it has been stitched in forever.
I believe that is what it means to feel at home when you are not near to what you've always called home.
I guess our hearts can be stitched into many quilts. Some we carry with us, others we leave where they should lay.
Which is both liberating and melancholy at the same time.

Back in Washington

2010-06-24T08:52:00.000-07:00

I don't feel like putting together cohesive paragraphs at the moment so I'm going to make a list of things that have happened or thoughts I have had in the last few weeks...

I moved to Olympia, WA

I have a new roommate and a new dogmate and catmate

I spent time on two different farms on two different evenings both lovely but both reminders about how little I know about growing things. I want to know it all and learn more!!

I herded a goat into a milking barn. I was very timid as the goat had horns.

I learned how to make mango sticky rice.

I joined the food coop and I feel really good every time I shop there.

I went to the farmer's market and bought organic cherries. It's cherry season and they are better than candy!

I happily started back at my old job.

I am still working on my thesis and it is an extremely frustrating process.

I have been having weird dreams and even some nightmares every night which leads me to believe that I am actually feeling a lot of stress subconsciously. This stress rarely presents itself during my waking hours. But it's not unexpected as I just had an enormous amount of life change.

I have been very "I" focused this whole blog and this whole past year. As soon as the thesis is done, that focus will be shifted to others.

I am happy to be back in the NW but miss my friends and family terribly.

The last nine months

2010-05-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

I've been in Illinois for nine months and my time is almost up. Just 23 days til I begin my half cross-country journey back to the Northwest. It's time to reflect on the things I have learned here in Illinois.

Springfield, IL surprised me this year. There are people here who are committed to simplifying and changing the way we live. People who work for non-profits promoting environmental stewardship, students who are no longer happy with the way we are treating our planet or our current system of government, and faculty who challenge students to rise up and be heard. There's a growing local food movement fueled by the surprisingly wonderful farmer's market. There are events like the Haymarket Festival, Political Art and the Public Sphere, the Environmental Film Festival, and Brew and View that bring together the community to engage and learn about issues affecting our planet.

I am renewed with hope by the handful of people I keep seeing at these different events. I am renewed with purpose as I make my way back to a part of the country that is further ahead in the environmental movement than the midwest. Sometimes I wonder if I'm making the right decision going back. The NW has way more than a handful of activists committed to sustainability and radical politics. Perhaps my skills would be better served in a place where there is much more work to do. But I know it is time to go back. To become part of the Olympia community (which I was not a part of before). To bring my skills in leadership and social justice to my work. I think I am called back to learn more so someday I may return here with a greater knowledge. I have faith that the wonderful people I met this year will continue the fight and they will fight hard. Someday I hope to come across these people again and they will have much to tell me about their progress in a most difficult system.

I learned this year that being open to others creates an opennes in them. This is something I have known for a while, but I got to practice it a lot more this year. Some conservatives are surprised that I listen to them. I even had one such friend tell me that my passion for sustainability is contagious. I say to those that have different viewpoints than me...thank you for challenging me. You help create stronger convictions for myself and reflect on why I feel and believe the things I do. And thanks to those who also listened to me.

I also learned that role modeling and education may very well be my best form of activism and direct action. I may not be ready to get arrested for a cause. Maybe I never will be it truly depends on how bad things get. I still have a lot of hope for the future. When people ask me why I do the things I do or live my life the way I live it, I get to educate them. I get to plant a seed that will hopefully blossom into a revolution of the mind. Multiple revolutions of the mind lead to revolutions of culture. It may sound grandiose, or possibly even arrogant. But I need to feel like I'm making a difference in order to keep hope. This year, I have struggled with whether or not role modeling and education were enough for me. Right now they are and they have to be. I'm not willing to lose a job I love over it. I think there are ways to stand up for your beliefs, to advocate for others and our planet without getting into trouble. I choose this route for now. If it gets to the point where I can no longer live with what is happening, where freedoms are taken away, where there is only a shred of hope, then I will take further action. I believe this day will come during my lifetime. Probably when we run out of oil. When that happens I do believe life will be chaotic and the government will try to control us even more. I don't want to live in a world where freedom exists only as a memory. When that day comes, well, losing all hope is freedom. Will I be ready for this? Will you be ready for this? It will take an enormous amount of courage to stand up. Until then I'll keep fighting, and educating, and raising awareness with the hope that this day gets further and further into the future until it flashes forward into infinity. I hope you will do the same.

Tiny houses made of ticky tacky

2010-01-20T14:40:00.000-08:00

Lush hills roll by chattering streams.
In the distance the mountains beckon.
Encouraging play.
Wild gardens give way to complex ecosystems and provide dinner.
A small solar panel powers an entire house.
A fire pit in the center of the room provides heat, smoke rises up through the hole in the ceiling.
Laying in bed looking at the stars through the skylight, while a lavender breeze swirls through the open windows.
The sounds of homemade music drifting around my mind.
Tiny houses, creating simple lives in a collective community.
This is what I dream about.

http://www.simondale.net/house/index.htm

Another War

2009-12-28T13:48:00.000-08:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/world/middleeast/28yemen.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss

Movement and Stagnation

2009-12-21T12:39:00.000-08:00

Last month I wrote about peak oil and said that role modeling was the way I was currently educating people. I no longer believe that it's enough. Maybe I shouldn't be concerned with alienating people anymore. Maybe it's time to start arguments with people to get them to think of something other than themselves. Copenhagen failed. We are past curly lightbulbs and hybrid cars. Earth is our mother. She provides us with all the resources we need, but she can't live forever if we only take from her. It's not just about me living as simply as I can...the answer is mass-simplification and massive organization and to demand reductions from our "leaders."

I say all this and I do not have much experience with organizing. I'm part of a small organization that is new but will hopefully do a lot of great work. I need resources that I don't have right now. I need to talk to people but I'm not totally sure who to talk to! I feel helpless, but not hopeless. I need direction though. So this is a HELP to anyone that's out there. Yikes I'm probably sending this into cyberspace and not many will see it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/after-the-catastrophe-in_b_398708.html

Reparations?

2009-12-01T09:34:00.000-08:00

Really interesting interview on Democracynow.org today. This is a really eye opening perspective on the effects of climate change on poor countries.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/11/23/naomi_klein_on_climate_debt_why

Double Double Oil and Trouble

2009-11-30T20:24:00.000-08:00

I just saw a showing of "A Crude Awakening." I liked this film very much. My one criticism of it is that people who are not yet informed about the oil crisis will more than likely be very freaked out by it. It freaked me out. I'm not always a fan of freaking people out to try to organize them into action. Although perhaps this film didn't want to do that. Anyway, you can't argue too much about the fact that we have to become less dependent on oil. Ideally I think we should be completely independent of it as an energy source. The difficult truth for some people is that there isn't a viable alternative energy solution currently that can completely replace oil and still allow us to maintain our standard of living. I say that's cause for me to live more simply! But a lot of people won't be into that. Many people think technology will solve our problems. We can't just sit around waiting on someone else to come up with a solution! Futhermore, oil processing was a new technology in the early 1900's and we thought it was going to last forever. We didn't have the forsight to predict how quickly it would run out. Humans have to start thinking more consequentialy. We have to look at long-term effects and see how interconnected we are to this planet and every single being and thing on it. Pull a link in the chain and the whole chain moves, pull too hard and the chain smacks you in the face. How do we get people to care?

In my last blog I talked about modeling behaviors. I think my simpler lifestyle raises a lot of questions for others. Many of them ask. I'm more than happy to educate them on why I do the things I do. It doesn't mean that they are going to go out and make drastic changes to their life right away. But it does plant the seeds. Someday, when we are in a crisis, and on the brink of a revolution, it may sway them onto the side of simplicity. It may not be the fastest way to start a revolution, but it's what I've got to work with right now. I don't want to alienate people.

The positive side of this is that I'm starting to meet some more people around here who feel simlarly to the way I do. It fills my bucket and gives me hope.
On a lighter note...

At this very moment I would like two things...to start an environmental revolution and to go see Andrew Bird on Dec. 8. Both of them are beyond my current means and abilities and arguably equally important j/k :(

Peace, Walking, and Solidarity,
Courtney

I'm a bad blogger =(

2009-11-29T19:57:00.000-08:00

So admittedly I'm not so great at this. I've always prided myself on being a good writer and this blog is already an argument against that. Furthemore, posting once every three months is probably not good blogiquet (that's blog ettiquette). Additionally, I only have two followers. I'm pretty sure that's poor.
Moving on from that moment of self-deprication...what have I been doing in the midwest the past few months? The answer is three things:

1. working on my thesis. very boring. no need to elaborate.
2. Going to concerts as a way of coping with working on my thesis. I've seen some great shows. Yonder Mountain String Band in Chicago, Matisyahu, Trevor Hall, Michael Franti and Spearhead, and The Black Crowes in StL. All were amazing and much needed breaks from writing!
3. Arguing with people about sustainability, corporate greed, and conservatism. I wish I could say that I've been educating people and really challenging their ideas, but really I've learned that I am very much an emotional arguer. Espeically when multiple people gang up on me. It's been surprising how much that has happened when I'm talking about "liberal" values. I'm surprised that being an environmentalist is a liberal value. I thought everyone loved the place we live. I'm really trying to learn patience. I'm also trying to help others learn that just because I state my opinion, I don't expect you to agree with it. But I will challenge you if you challenge me on my opinion. Otherwise a most wonderful friend in the NW told me that the best way to educate is to model. I think she's right and I certainly learned a lot just by observing her. And it's actually been working! I still get angry and upset when people are disrespectful but I'm trying not take slighting Mother Earth as a personal offense. Although even the tiniest of negative actions impacts all of us.

Peace, Activism, and Education
Courtney

Electric Cars and other interesting articles I read today

2009-09-16T12:17:00.001-07:00

Here's hoping the Beattle lasts til 2020!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/15/eup-volkswagen-electric-c_n_286719.html

This is something I've thought about a lot. Glad there's research to back up my thoughts. Our world is overpopulated. If you want kids think about adoption. I know it's not for everyone and someone's gotta keep having kids, but just food for thought.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/14/AR2009091403308.html

And my hero speaks again...
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-09-14-pollan-health-reform-will-fail-unless-we-change-eating-habits/

Community

2009-09-15T20:58:00.000-07:00

I don't feel it here. Sometimes I want to start or run away to an intentional living community. A place where the values I have are mostly shared by others and we all strive to live as simply as possible. A community that is activism embodied in every aspect of daily life. A place that is mostly disconnected from contemporary society, living outside of capitalism as much as possible, with a strong emphasis on relationships with the Earth and each other.

Peace and Communes,
Courtney

Currently listening to Ray Lamontange's Trouble

Trials and Tribulations from Being a Student Again

2009-09-10T15:41:00.000-07:00

The reason I moved back to the midwest is to finish my master's degree. Otherwise, I would probably still be living it up near Seattle. Being a student again has proved to be quite a challenge. From adjusting to a new, strange schedule to the financial tole of going from full-time work to part-time, to dealing with financial aide again (who I am currently furious with) it's been a rollercoaster the last few weeks. Thus the reason for not having posted in a while. To my two followers --sorry about that. :)

Beyond all that, I've had many occasionas recently where I thought...hey I need to discuss this in my blog! And of course, I can't remember all of them. Really need to start writing those ideas down.

Today I'd like to touch briefly on the challenges of being a student and eating localally, healthfully, organicly, and plantely on a budget. In a acorn nutshell (they're local to IL), I don't have great answers to this yet. It has been tough. The Farmer's Market, of course, has been wonderful and cheap. And being a vegetarian saves money for sure! The one health food store in my area does not focus primarily on local food and it can be quite expensive. However, a friend linked me up with a Springfield Locavore blog that is very promising. It's a family that is committed to eating local in Springfield, IL. They offer lots of wonderful resources and I've already found out about a Farmer's Market I didn't know existed. yippee!!

Of course, one of the best and cheapest ways to eat locally is to grow your own food. This has been difficult for me as I just moved to Springfield a couple of weeks ago and it's already late in the growing season. I'm going to try to get a few herbs going indoors and maybe some quick growing veggies. If you live in a small space and don't have a lot of room or a yard, you can still grow many things! I highly reccomend Scott Kellog's book on Radical Urban Sustainability. He has come up with some amazing ideas for not only growing food but living a sustainable lifestyle in a small, urban areas. It's a really reader-friendly guide that gives you step-by-step advice.

Ok that's enough for today. I'm going to try to be more consisted with my postings. You can tell I've been thinking about food a lot lately! Enjoy the weekend!

Peace, Namaste, and Planetoneness,
Courtney :)

P.S. I said I was going to incorporate music into this blog and I haven't yet...Here's what I've been listening to a lot lately The Black Crowes new album Before the Frost...Until the Freeze. Kick ass classic Crowes with a bit of funk, especially on I Ain't Hidin'. Fantastic song. Can't wait to dance to it at The Pageant when I see them live in November with my bestie Mer! How do the Crowes tie into Sustainability? They recorded this new double album over a couple of days in Woodstock, NY (yes, that Woodstock) so they saved tons of energy by doing a live album! Yay Crowes you get two gold cucumbers in my book!

Veggie Tales

2009-08-24T14:26:00.000-07:00

Bro-cco-li, cel-ery, got-ta be...

What's it like to be a vegetarian in the midwest?...kinda tough. While enthusiasm for low-meat and vegetarian diets is growing, many restaurants simply don't offer vegetarian options. And if they do, how do you know they are really vegetarian. Did they just cook my french fries with the fish? Did that veggie burger get cooked on the same grill as the triple decker bacon cheeseburger? Beyond restaurants, I get a lot of weird looks when I tell people I'm a vegetarian. Many people automatically assume I'm a member of PETA, that I hate meat, meat eaters and will try to talk them into dropping that steak from their mouth.

While I think PETA has some solid ideas, I don't think going after Obama for killing a fly is a high priority and I'm not always a fan of organizations that focus on that sort of thing. Although that could be attributed to the media buzz (pun intended) created around the Obama fly homicide.

I don't hate meat. The truth is, I salivate everytime I walk by those rotisserie chickens in the grocery store. I miss bacon and steak and shake cheeseburgers. However, I don't miss them enough to go back to them. The reason I am a vegetarian is because it's a form of activism. A friend from WA once said she viewed growing a garden as a form of activism. Giving up meat is similar in the regards that it makes me less reliant on an industry that I think is unethical and monopolizing. There are sustainable ways to farm meat that don't involve pesticides, antibiotics, and thousands of cows or chickens crammed into tiny quarters. Did you know that "free range" means chickens have access to grass. It doesn't mean they can get there. When there are 20,000 chickens crammed into a coop built for a 5,000 there isn't much room to walk around or get to the one door that leads to the grass. Furthermore, I don't want my body pumped full of antibiotics that they have to give the cows just so they can survive long enough to be slaughtered. The reason they give cows these antibiotics are because they get really sick. They get really sick because they are eating corn instead of grasses. Their stomachs are not made to process grass. Similarly to the chickens, they are crammed into small spaces and like a co-ed college dorm, disease spreads like wildfire. You may ask, why are they feeding them corn when it's so obvious they should be feeding them grass so they won't get so sick? That's a wonderful question. The truth is, corn is cheaper. Corn is the cheapest plant we have and there is such an abundance of it, that it seems like a logical thing to feed all animals. But it's at the animals and our expense. They don't just feed the cows corn. To make it easier for them to digest they mix it with fat. Fat from chickens, pigs, and even other cows. That's right our poor cows are sometimes eating their friends. It's a sad reality that is often hidden from the general public. I could go on about antibiotics and large-scale farming, but most of my information comes from Michael Pollans book "Omnivores Dillema" and another book called "From the Farm to the Table. I highly suggest reading it if you are interested in knowing more.

On a happy note, there are farms that are doing it right! Small scale, pasture grazed farm animals are available. It's just that it's difficult to find. And in this day and age, it's hard to know who to trust.

Long story, long...
Being a veggie is hard whereever you are, but in the heart of the farmlands where it should be easy to find farms committed to doing the right thing for the Earth and their animals, it's proven to be a challenge. Well, I've only been back two weeks and I'm going to keep trying to find options. I'll post them on here if I do. I'm still not going to be a meat eater because cutting meat out of your diet is one of the biggest things you can do to reduce your impact on the planet. More on that another day. I don't want to bore you with more veggie details today. Plus I'm making dinner for the folks tonight. Leading by example people, that's what it's all about (sorry hokey pokey but you lied to us).

Peace, veggies, and namaste,
Courtney :)

P.S. Vegans, Vegetarians, localvores unite!

The Vision

2009-08-23T19:13:00.000-07:00

I grew up in the Midwest and always felt a bit "out there" with my viewpoints. It was difficult to find people who had similar ideas, values, music tastes, etc. So a few years ago I moved to the Northwest and felt right at home. However, due to some interesting turn of events in my master's work, I suddenly have found myself back in the midwest and struggling to live a more sustainable lifestyle. This blog will chronicle my adventures in sustainability as I attempt to simplify my life as much as possible, eat organic, local, and whole foods, utilize natural medicine, eschew corporations and a conventional, corporate lifestyle, and meet people who are interested in similar things all to the background of my favorite music. I hope you enjoy! P.S. excuse the commas!