Kate,

This is a great idea and service. I am one of those starving greens who will check in regularly. I often announce that I want to take a vow of poverty, that this is my life's calling to be just very poor and very sustainable. Then my wife and kids tap me on the shoulder and look at me with questioning eyes as if to say, "Be poor if you must, but please bring home some sustenance for us". So...I really need some pragmatic tips on how to do this right (the kids are only 2 and 5 - they can't even work yet).

One question/comment often on my mind. It seems so hard and impossible to change culture, convert to sustainability alone or for a single family. Wouldn't it be easier, better, less painful, more fun to convert en masse, in groups, in small networks, as whole communities? But I also don't want to have to move - I live here, this is home. Is there any way for brokeasses to unite in solidarity and help each other? I mean, besides your excellent column...

Thanks a lot...

Dan Fiscus

I'm always looking for supporters of the cheap green movement, so I love this column proposal.
The green movement is one I admire, but it often seems to entail even more consumerism and a further waste of resources.
Dan, I agree with you regarding the 'vow of poverty' and how impossible it seems to achieve change.  Teach your kids cause and effect.  Spend time talking to them.  I have a four and six year old who are extremely aware of their actions because of our discussions and are very vocal about encouraging others around us to live more conscious of their shopping habits, food choices, driving habits--the list goes on.  My kids seem to make the biggest difference in the lives of others.  People are amazed and listen.

A community of supporters would make things a whole lot easier, but that rarely exists.  I've spent a lot of my efforts trying to bring all of my closest friends and family in on the bandwagon with babysteps.  The little things that I go out of my way to show them aren't always accepted, but they have effected some change and earned me new supporters in the quest for change.

For food ideas: try your local ethnic markets.  We have an Asian supermarket nearby and the produce is local and extremely cheap.  (We're veggie due to environmental/social/health reasons, so cheap veggies are a plus.)  But also check out Steve Solomon's newest book Gardening When It Counts:  Growing Food in Hard Times. He's my gardening guru!

Willa, grow lights are pretty much a necessity for indoor gardening.  Except for sprouts.  They really aren't so hard as it seems though.  Once you get started it becomes pretty routine and you won't even think twice.  I also make sure to plant a good crop of overwintering carrots in August.  Otherwise, we just rely on what was preserved from summer.

That being said, I have been wondering about growing watercress (nasturtiam relative). It is really easy to root, but I can't make it thrive and was hoping it might be possible without a complete running water system, any ideas Kate?

I am grateful for some discussion that recognizes we  don't all own a single-family house, can't all afford a new car, find ourselves not buying veggies instead of paying high organic prices, and all that stuff.  

In fact, not spending much money, living in a small space, re-using old stuff instead of buying new, taking the bus--all the things that broke people just naturally do--are great for the environment. We just need to make it sound as exciting and virtuous as buying a hybrid car or putting solar panels on the single-family roof!

My favorite green activities: riding my bicycle around town (I'm old enough to look impressive on it), tending my worm compost box on the 4th floor porch outside my kitchen door.

My next project: Getting my clothesline up, under the roof overhang on the porch, so I can hang stuff up even on drizzly days.

Joyfully,
Racje

-- Love doesn't just sit there like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new. --Ursula LeGuin