sustainability

Last weekend I volunteered at Portland’s Better Living Show at the Portland Expo Center. As a member of the Energy Trust of Oregon’s New Homes and Products Team, I had the opportunity to spend a few hours volunteering at Energy Trust’s “Good Energy Pavilion,” talking to customers and answering questions they had related to refrigerator recycling, energy-efficient lighting options and Energy Trust products incentives.

A few months ago I was asked to participate in an activity for a work training. The activity was calculating my ecological footprint on the Global Food Network website. I found the results to be really interesting, and I've been thinking about them ever since.

source: RateMyVelo (Franz-Micheal Melbin)

It seems like you can do just about anything with a smartphone these days. You can call, text, listen to music, purchase music, use it as an address book, Internet provider, game console, e-reader, and GPS, just to name a few. And thanks to the development of some really great apps, you can also use it to "go green."

The other day I ran out of moisturizer. I was expecting it, so when I couldn't coax the last dollop of cream out of the bottle, I grabbed another one and went to toss the empty bottle in the recycling bin. That's when I saw the dreaded number "5" on the back, indicating that it couldn't be recycled in our curbside recycling bin, and had to be tossed in the trash instead. I don't know about you, but I hate creating garbage.

I was talking to a friend recently about my frugal angle with these blog posts and she posed an interesting question:  “I've wondered about how to feed the family in a sustainable way on a budget.  I know people say buy local and organic, but I haven't always found that to be the most inexpensive way to eat. Are there other tips on where or when to shop that I'm missing?”

I recently came across two articles that prove why I am proud to be an Oregonian. The first was a story in Sustainable Business Oregon’s e-newsletter that announced per capita car registration in Oregon has dipped 5 percent in the last three years.

I’m moving soon, and I’m one of those people who leaves the place cleaner than when they moved in, so I’ve been pretty busy on that end lately.  Store bought eco-friendly products can be expensive and I also sometimes question how eco-friendly they really are, so I’ve decided to experiment with natural cleaning solutions instead. 

About four years ago I had been living and working in Oakland, CA for ten years and was looking for a change.  Several close friends who graduated from Reed College said, “You should move to Portland, you would love it.”  I considered the city - focused on sustainability, great food and beer, easily accessible outdoor activities, fantastic bookstore, considerably more affordable than Oakland – for approximately 3 seconds and then set plans in motion.  A few months later, I settled into my new Portland address.  (Yes, I became one of THOSE people – those Californians relocating to Oregon.)

Sometimes I take it for granted that we get to live and work in one of the most sustainable cities in North America.  And then I find myself in Portland's "living room", Pioneer Courthouse Square, at dusk, and I see this glorious tree, and I'm reminded: