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In this post I will give a little background on my views concerning the subject of this section of my blog: "Sustainability, Environmentalism & Green Politics," and what I intend to write in this section.

As with many other young liberals, the environment has exploded into my consciousness in the last few years. Everyone likes to point to Al Gore as the catalyst for this trend, but I actually think he was merely an indicator of a trend that was already in existence... although I don't have any data to back that up, except for the anecdotal fact that, when I saw An Inconvenient Truth my thought wasn't "Oh, now I get it" but, rather, "Finally! Maybe this will help us wake up!" If I had to point to anything, it would actually be my move from Seattle to DC, my first big move since graduating from college, which made me very aware of the amount of "stuff" I had accumulated, and how wasteful it was.

My viewings of Who Killed the Electric Car?, Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices, The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil and A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash were likely just as significant as An Inconvenient Truth, in part because, to borrow from Gore, each of these films framed their respective topics not as political issues, but as moral issues (perhaps colliding with politics). This has also been the basis for my increasing in the Green Party, which has a rich, nuanced ideology that, in my view, expands the moral notion of stewardship so that it encompasses not only the environment, but all of human society as well.

In any case, the environment has definitely become the socio-political issue that I'm most curious about, most knowledgeable about, and most connected to in my daily life. In part -- and this is a very promising detail -- this is because environmentalism is such an easy belief to embody: it's much easier to take small steps every day to help the environment than it is to, say, take small steps every day to reduce global income inequality. I also have the beginnings of a great environmentalism support network -- my social life is dominated by people who are better at this than I, so I continue to learn from them.

In this section of my blog, I'll be a bit more personal and reflective than people might expect... largely for the embodiment of these issues that I describe above. I'll certainly raise political and environmental issues, but I'll try to leave most of that to the many people who will do a better job, including my roommate and his colleagues. Instead, I'll focus on my daily experiences and thoughts about trying to lead a more sustainable, environmentally friendly lifestyle while cultivating a community based local morality.

I'll begin, with this post, by simply discussing my progress, focusing on consumption...

Things I'm doing right:

Biking: I bought a used road bike last fall, then upgraded to a new one this spring. I bike EVERYWHERE. On the rare occasional that I can't handle the weather, I take the metro. I sold my truck, and will be getting rid of my car soon (don't ask how a grad student ends up with two vehicles).
(Urban) Composting: I built a rat-proof compost bin out of an old steel trash can. It's a bit too small to generate the heat a good compost bin needs, but it'll get the job done eventually, and its amazing how rarely we have to empty our trash now that we're not throwing out food waste.
Rainwater Capture: Roughly 75% of the water I use in my garden is captured by buckets on my back porch. The ratio will probably go down, because we've had a lot of rain this spring, but it's still been delightful to save a little water this way.
(Urban) Gardening: I'm growing tomatoes (pictured at right), swiss chard, chinese cabbage, pumpkins, zucchini squash, several herbs, and some decorative sunflowers. My roomies have planted a single potato plant and a variety of flowers. I'm pretty sure the food is rat-proof, and everything we've harvested so far has been delicious. We spent a bit recklessly on preparations, but I'm convinced that this can be a big money saver in the long term.
Recycling: I'm upgrading from passive recycling to aggressive recycling -- going through the trash from my basement neighbors and removing the recyclables, collecting hazardous and electronic waste, returning plastic bags to the store, carting recyclables around town until I find a bin, even looking for places to mail my damaged bike tires and broken hard-drive.
Plastic Bag Reduction: I'm using reusable cloth/nylon bags regularly, though I need to get better at carrying them with me at all times.
Registered Green: I know, I know... don't worry, I won't be voting for Cynthia McKinney for President. However, last year I became a registered member of the DC Statehood Green Party, because I want to show my support for green politics at the state and local level, in the hopes that they will trickle up to the national and international levels.
Carbon Offsets: I purchase offsets for all my flights, and each year try to offset the rest of my energy consumption.

Things I need to work on:

Local foods: I'm trying to get to farmers' markets every week, but haven't done a great job so far. My food shopping habits are pretty awful to begin with, so this isn't surprising.
Packaging: I'd like to reduce the amount of plastic, styrofoam and paper that I'm consuming via the things I buy, particularly the needless extra packaging that coffee shops are putting on their foods, and just the extra little things I use that I don't need to: an extra plastic cup at the office, the occasional convenience of bottled water.
Electricity: I'm good with lights and heat/AC, and am using CFLs wherever possible, but I want to get in a better habit of shutting off (and unplugging) other electronics, particularly my computer.

Anyway. Future posts in this category will be a little more focused and analytical, but still fairly reflective. We'll see where it goes.