Adventures in Sustainable Living

Unless you are particularly interested in Earth’s history, most people do not think in terms of a geological time scale. This is because geological time is measured in eons, eras, periods, epochs and ages. This corresponds to anything from 1 billion years to millions.  But due to our lifespan we only relate to a human time scale, which is centuries, decades or less. In fact civilization as we know...

I mentioned in E67 that our homes account for approximately 30% of our ecological impact. I have also mentioned before that most of us can live on much less than what we do. Helping you to accomplish just that is the focus of this three part series on the art of living small.   There are unique challenges to living in a small space. I know this from personal experience. But, there are also numerou...

In my last episode I spoke about the pros and cons of living small. I talked about how it is more affordable, how you can live without a mortgage, how you can simplify your life, how it is possible to be debt free. While all of that may sound attractive, you also have to realize that living small is a lifestyle choice that comes with a unique set of challenges.   In this episode, I am going to dis...

Part of the focus of sustainable living is being mindful of the impact you have on the world around you. As you have no doubt heard me say, every single thing we do has some sort of impact. But there are numerous ways to reduce our individual ecological foot print.  I have spoken of this before in previous episodes on reducing your carbon footprint and life without plastic. I now want to continue...

Despite our best efforts to rid our lives of plastic and reduce plastic pollution, there is the possibility that we may loose, meaning plastics may actually win out and we have to deal with this problem forever. But we have to remind ourselves to do the best we can and to make slow steady progress.  In episode one of Life Without Plastic, I covered some valuable tips on what I call the no brainers...

We are often told to reduce our waste production, conserve water, recycle, eat less meat, drive less, convert to renewable energy, and thus be more sustainable. The challenge is that a great deal of the time we are not given easily accessible, affordable options in order to live more responsibly.  By far one of the largest challenges we have these days is that of plastic pollution. Plastic is lite...

One of the most common questions I hear is "How to I reduce my carbon footprint?" In the first two episodes of this three part series I covered how we travel and how we live. In this episode I am going to focus on what we eat.  Our agriculture systems have truly put us in a predicament. It has long been known that this is the source of our greatest ecological impact. Yet we must continue...

One of the most common questions I hear regarding sustainability is “How can I reduce my carbon footprint?” The answer to that question is not the same for everyone. For example, a sherpa in Nepal that spends his time taking people up Mount Everest has a completely different carbon footprint compared to your average urbanite in the United States. That said, there are three different areas of our I...

As the result of my association with several groups and forums focused on sustainability I have begun to see trends in the types of questions that people ask. One of the most common questions that comes up is “How do I reduce my carbon footprint?”  Maybe I’ve spent way too much time over the last 3 years examining and dissecting my own life because I’ve gotten to the point to where I think the ans...

There is no doubt that our daily diet plays a major role in our environmental impact. Our choices of the food that we consume on a daily basis does make a difference. But the good news is that even small changes can add up to significant environmental benefits. It has long be known that our agricultural activities are the greatest drivers of environmental changes. But there is a vital resource tha...

We already know that agricultural activities produce some of our greatest environmental impact. Yet some sort of agriculture is needed in order to produce food because we are beyond the point of hunting and gathering. World population is expected to reached 9.8 billion by the year 2050. It is projected that agricultural production will have to increase by 60% to 70 % above current levels in order...

There are several things that I can look back on and definitively say that those things changed the course of my life. For example decisions and choices I made, unexpected events, simply being in the right place at the right time, and sometimes just plain bad luck. And I am sure that many of you can say the same thing. But you know, this is really not all that unusual. I can easily point out sever...

I think we can all agree that we truly live in unprecedented times. We now live in a world that is changing so rapidly that it is difficult for even the most sound minded person to feel some since of security.  But that can change by learning to manage some of your own resources. That can change by learning to live a little more independently. That can change by simply living a more sustainable li...

Over the past year or so, many of our normal activities have been put on hold. But that is starting to change, albeit slowly. If you are at all like me, you want to simply get out of the house and go do something, possibly even travel. But as the world returns to tourism activities once again, what will this return to tourism look like? Or maybe a better question is what should it look like?  Alth...

In 1950 less than 65 percent of Americans lived in cities. But presently nearly 83% of us live in or around a major city. And this trend is remarkably similar on a global scale. By 2050, it is projected that nearly 70% of the global population will live in urban areas. Now there are a number of reasons for this transition. In fact there are many benefits to move into an urban area.  However, while...

Since the founding of St. Augustine, Florida by Spanish colonist in 1565, and the establishment of the first English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, America has always been viewed as the land of opportunity. Economic opportunity, political freedom, and religious freedom were the initial draw to come to the United States. But in the 20th century immigration was stimulated by globalizatio...

Did you know there is a direct link between our melting polar ice caps and increased volcanic activity? There is also a link between shrinking buffalo, faster growing trees, and fewer tasty beers coming out of Belgium. And why is the King Crab invading Antarctic when they have never been there before? Almost on a daily basis we hear about the affects of climate change: heat waves, droughts and flo...

Did you know that you can calculate the atmospheric temperature by using a cricket? Yes it is true and I can even give you the formula if you like. But did you also know that dogs can sense a coming storm? Did you know that sharks can sense an approaching hurricane? And some animals are capable of genetic adaptation in less than 5 years.  All of these things are true simply because animals, and ev...

I actually have no memory of eating store bought meat until I was 18 years old. This is because there were two working farms in my family. We had a large garden and raised a lot of animals.  There were numerous fruit and nut trees on the farm. We foraged for berries and went on frequent fishing trips. If that still did not provide enough, we would go to the local farmers market because the things...

Since this is the holiday season, I want to diverge a little bit from my usual format but still of course focus on the principles of sustainability. The three pillars of sustainability are economy, society and environment, which can also be translates as  profit, people, and planet. Now I am quite certain that the environment would be just fine without any people.  But, without people there is als...

Some of my best childhood memories revolve around holiday celebrations. The holidays were always a time of great excitement and anticipation. They were about family, fun, lots of good food and, of course, Santa Claus.  But as I have gotten older, my views on many things have changed, including what I do around the holidays, how I spend my time, and of course whether or not I lay awake at night wai...

As Americans, we use more paper towels than any country in the world. In fact, in 2017 we spent $5.7 billion on paper towels.  But, we do this as simply a matter of convenience.  But this is a habit that is enormously detrimental to the environment. .  Every day over 3,000 tons of paper towel waste is produced in the US alone. But you see to make one ton of paper towels requires 17 trees and 20,00...

If you have listened to some of my previous episodes, then you have heard me say more than once that preventing a single piece of trash from going to the landfill is not going to save the planet. But, a lifetime of sustainable habits will.  Similarly, focusing on your carbon footprint is not what is going to save the planet. Although I discussed the concept of a carbon footprint in E47, there is m...

There are few things I dislike more than going shopping. When I do, it is out of sheer necessity. I walk into a place of business with a mission in mind, purchase what I need and immediately leave.  However, online shopping from some e-commerce platform saves me from all of that. It saves me time, gas money, and is enormously convenient.   And while I suspect that most people use e-commerce platfo...

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization say that agricultural production on a global scale will have to increase by 70% in order to feed a global population that is expected to reach 9.1 billion people by the year 2050.  Yet agricultural production is one of the largest drivers for environmental destruction.  Decreasing meat production and intake would reduce or eliminate the expansio...