
I have always loved being outdoors. But I haven’t always been, I’m sad to say, an environmentalist. The story of my love of nature began on 16 acres in rural New Hampshire nearly 30 years ago. I remember playing with leaves in the woods - and walking “tightrope” on trees felled by time. I picked weeds and wildflowers, and ate snow peas and cherry tomatoes right off the vine. I remember seeing deer and porcupine and flying squirrels on a fairly regular basis, hearing and very occasionally seeing black bear. My appreciation grew as my parents took my brother and I backpacking in the White Mountains each summer. Though I groaned and whined and generally made a pain in the ass of myself over the effort to get there, I will never forget some of the places that we went, views that we saw, and experiences that we had - and I remember them all now with a smile (and my behavior with a wry one!). My journey to becoming an environmentalist happened much later. That story begins with the loss of one beautiful person and the birth of another.


The first was a naturalist and an environmentalist. Her knowledge of flowers and trees, birds and other animals was enormous. And her care for these beings and the places of the natural world was unparalleled in anyone that I’ve met so far. This is the woman who taught me to sew, and hence the value of making things. And though I don’t remember it, it’s almost certain that she put knitting needles in my hands at some point, though for some reason this particular skill didn’t stick at the time. My father has said that nature was her religion. And I believe that it was. And it wasn’t until she had gone that I began to make the connection between the choices that I make and the effect that they have on the outdoors that I love so much. It was an avoidance brought on by a fairly fortunate (dare I say blessed?) life. When you’ve never lost something, it’s hard to imagine that the beauty that you see can be taken away. And for some of us, for me at least, I think it takes a loss of something good before we begin to see beyond ourselves. I did care before, but I didn’t care enough to examine the hard things and turn my attention outward. Now I act. And I act as much in appreciation of our world as in memory of her, and still it’s not enough.

Incredible, isn’t she?
The second person, not mine though connected to me, now makes me think twice about almost everything. Will these beautiful things be there for her to see when she is old enough too appreciate them (though one could argue that no one appreciates the wonders of nature better than children) - old enough to care for them then? Will I be able to show her the view from the mountains that I climbed as a child, or will the scenery be obscured by smog (a worry perpetuated by a more recent backpacking trip to the same mountains, when the air quality was quite poor)? She is so young - will she develop asthma or be impacted by one of the many other diseases that appear even if not yet proven to be environmental in cause?
These two beautiful people make me aware of the the connectedness of myself and my actions to the world around me and the impact of my life on this earth. I want to leave that with a balance on the positive side, if that’s even possible. I want to do more to protect the environment than I do to destroy it each day. And I don’t always know the best way to do that, but I am researching and learning. This is something that I think about now. Daily. And wonder about - and try to be more positive than worried (though I don’t always succeed).
Here are some of the amazing and beautiful things that inspire me to take action and make conscious choices to reduce my impact on the environment (click over to Flickr for details & decriptions):
And here are some of the steps that we are taking toward that end:

We have grand plans for the future as well, very happy-making plans - involving rural living, a small solar-powered straw bale home & a little farm. This is still a few years away, but we are researching and planning, and in the meantime striving to find new ways within our current home and situation to be good inhabitants of our world.
The biggest thing that we are doing now to contribute is something that I don’t know how to take a picture of, and that’s reducing our consumption in general. The following questions are becoming our mantra 1. Do we really need it? 2. Can we get it used? (thrifted, consignment, Craig’s List, Freecycle) 3. If not used, is there a green option (local and/or organic where it applies; or with the most limited environmental impact possible) The main area where we are failing in this is in the purchase of books & music (though we now purchase all our music digitally) - and for me yarn, to an extent, though I have been whittling away at the stash that I have and thinking hard about any purchases, applying the same methodology above - with the replacement of 1. Does it have a set purpose?, since yarn itself is not truly a needed item (though I may still try to argue otherwise ;)) I am also attempting to purchase yarn that is local or made in a sustainable fashion when I do purchase, and I’ve been doing a little yarn-recycling as well, which I will share with you all soon! These are the positive points about this whole post, the parts that make me happy, the why’s and what’s that we are doing about the situation. Frustration and sadness gives way to hope - I am so excited to see what some of the other bloggers participating in this event have to say on the subject, I imagine there are as many different takes on it as there are bloggers.
What inspires you toward a “greener” lifestyle? What are your favorite ways to reduce your impact?
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Now playing: Cloud Cult - Chain Reaction
via FoxyTunes