Body, Mind & Spirit

Round Two: A few more steps to reduce our impact on the Earth, and balance our lives

by Erika Harding

So, have you done it yet? Taken your vacuum, got down on your knees, and discovered (and removed) the grunge covering your refrigerator coils? My family is in the process – we’re trying to change our ways and take the steps I laid out in the last article, last month (click here if you’d like to read it or pass it to a friend). Some things have been an immediate success, such as the satisfaction of removing the pet hair and dust insulating our refrigerator coils. Other things take repetition to change our bad habits: such as turning off the “vampires” in our house. I put our computer/modem/printer and TV on power strips, but now have to remember to shut them off after every use or at least when we go to bed. I haven’t used my clothing dryer once this summer, but it’s going to be a greater test of my commitment when the cold weather comes back.

We invite you to join us for the first Body, Mind & Spirit-sponsored energy-independence and sustainability party Saturday, June 28th , 4-7pm. This event is FREE! There will be a series of inspiring, information-filled presentations followed by a potluck meal and discussion/Q&A session with all the presenters. We will offer free childcare, but it will help if we know how many children to expect, so please pre-register by calling us at 232-2772 or going online to register and indicate you’ll be bringing children in the last box. These gatherings are motivating Albuquerque families to make the move toward greater energy efficiency in their lives and homes by adopting a series of small adjustments, and to consider some bigger steps such as energy-efficient vehicles and solar power to meet their home energy needs.

You may wonder why Body, Mind & Spirit – known for our birthing and parenting classes and workshops – is getting into the energy sustainability movement. First of all, new parents and young families are ripe for change. They are having and raising babies, and although this is an exhausting and financially-depleting time, children make us think about improving the world we live in and preserving our Earth’s resources for future generations. As parents, we also increase our attention to healthful practices, hoping to protect our families from toxins and pollutants. We feel that this is a natural outgrowth of Body, Mind & Spirit’s clientele and resources, and we also believe that it is simply the right thing to do. Please spread the word about these gatherings… person-to-person contact is the most effective means of growing a grass-roots movement and changing behavior.

Here are some additional steps, before we discuss the ins and outs of solar power and fuel-efficient vehicles in upcoming articles, that we can all take without incurring too much hassle or expense. These are not all aims at reducing energy consumption. Some of these measures simply put us more into contact with our own consumption and waste-generation levels, or put our hands back into the earth a little more often.

• Composting – Whether you have a free-form pile in your backyard, some chicken-wire bins behind the garage, a plastic composter bin near the back-door or one of the new (and bug/mice free!) tumbling composters, this is a fun way for kids and adults to turn waste into fuel – plant fuel! We just upgraded to a small tumbler we found used online through Craig’s list, and that has eliminated the mice and cockroach issues we had with our previous systems. This is a natural segue into home gardening, because you’ll find you produce so much lovely compost (“black gold”) that you’ll want to use it all to grow vegetables.
• Local food – grow your own, CSAs (Consumer-supported Agriculture), farmers’ markets: Local food makes sense on many levels. The more local it is, the fresher and more healthy it is, and the fewer energy resources required to truck it to us or preserve it for our use. Before we were able to garden substantially, we joined erda Gardens, a fabulous local CSA. This system of getting a share of the local harvest (whether bountiful or not), allowed my young children to see and participate in the growing and harvesting of our food and also allowed a community to directly support and share the risk with a local organic farmer, thereby reducing costs. There are a variety of CSAs available in Albuquerque, including erda Gardens, Rio Grande Community Gardens, Dragon Farms and Los Poblanos Organics. There are farmers markets available throughout the week at many Albuquerque and surrounding locations (see www.farmersmarketsnm.org). This is a pleasurable experience, so different from shopping our local grocery store or Costco, and it will inspire you to try new recipes to cook the lovely things you discovered and brought home.
• Carpooling and Smaller Cars – My family has adjusted our driving habits in accordance with high fuel prices, and have also made some strategic decisions regarding our vehicles. Here’s a terrific video about Albuquerque driving and fuel efficiency (starring Alan Zelicoff, local energy guru). We are also carpooling with a few local families to get our kids to our out-of-district elementary school and back and forth to various activities. My husband uses a 49-cc scooter to commute to work most days. His helmet is decorated with my daughters’ princess stickers, but he just smiles at those dudes in the big SUVs who laugh at him, since he’s getting about 80 mpg. We bought a small car for most daily use (a civic hybrid), which is now getting 40+ mpg. I use a bigger hybrid which can pack in six passengers, the driver and a big dog, for communal uses or camping trips. We are getting 30+ mpg in this 2006 Highlander Hybrid.
• Walking/Biking/Taking the Bus – obviously, takes more effort, but you can’t beat the fuel efficiency and it removes the need for paying for a gym! Bike routes and safety have a long way to go in ‘Burque, but advocates are pushing forward. Check out www.bikeabq.org and www.cabq.gov/bike.
• Travel less – Here I’m a total hypocrite, as I’m about to embark on a major cross-country driving national park tour with my two daughters. However, high gasoline and jet-fuel prices do force us to reconsider our vacation plans, and think about exploring the beauties of New Mexico. My family has fallen in love with Ghost Ranch family camp, where every member of the family can do arts, crafts, yoga, history, religious studies, music, service projects, outdoor activies or whatever moves them in the most stunning environment (Georgia O’Keefe territory) that New Mexico has to offer, for a reasonable price. We are returning to the Abiquiu Ghost Ranch this summer. My friend, has been to Ghost Ranch 40 of his 43 summers, and his family is not alone in this obsession. It is a well-guarded treasure (www.ghostranch.com).
• Fewer chemicals – take a close look at your yard care products, your house-cleaning products, your body-care products. Many of your home care needs can be met with white vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, borax, rubbing alcohol, washing soda, cornstarch, hydrogen peroxide and other non-toxic or less-toxic home solutions (www.eartheasy.com). Of course, increasingly there are low-impact choices available through natural food stores, online, and even through major retailers like Target and Costco. Home owners have as much impact on local aquifers and water sources as major industries, and yard chemicals (fertilizers, pesticides and weed-killers) account for a huge amount of water pollution.
• Re-use, Recycle… – Thrift Stores, Craig’s List and FreeCycle! My children have grown up with thrift-store shopping, as I did. My kids know that I’ll generally buy them what they want from a second-hand source, but rarely will impulse buy at a retail store. With the world so interconnected online, there are so many opportunities to share the things we no longer need (either for free or for money). My children and I have volunteered time to donate and fold clothing at Project Share, and thereby witness how great the level of need here is Albuquerque. If you would like to have even young children do a valuable service lesson, you can do easy jobs at the Roadrunner Food Bank (such as counting sugar packets into baggies for senior citizen food boxes, for example). Contact the volunteer coordinator (256-2952×101, www.rrfb.org).
• Less packaging – No more water bottles! If we can reverse the trend to drink water out of bottles, the world will be a better place fast! Not only are there toxicity issues regarding bisphenal-a and other cancer-causing ingredients in the plastic, but the result of all these unrecycled bottles is clogged landfills. Same goes for plastic grocery bags. They are phasing these out in California and China, and all of us need to break ourselves of these habits (me included!).
• Look at your family’s lunches – What are you packing in the lunch box today? How much is packaging, ending up as trash? I’m trying to avoid buying juice boxes or packets now, and substituting jelly jars with milk or juice, or the new non-bisphenal-a water bottles my husband found (there are also some great lined-aluminum water bottles that are very durable!). Soup, beans and franks, or macaroni and cheese in the lunch thermos became my daughters’ favorite lunch now that their school cafeteria is undergoing remodeling. We wash plastic sealable plastic bags and hang them to dry on the refrigerator. They last many uses this way, and my girls have gotten out of the habit of throwing everything – including plastic utensils – away. Now if I could only teach them to do the dish washing…
• Seeking community – share childcare, pools, parks – This idea is not only about human contact and interconnectedness, it is about sharing resources, physical and emotional. Multi-age intentional communities are the epitome of this effort: bringing together young families, retired couples and aging elders all of whom have things to give/share and needs to meet. A smaller example is a CSA discussed, earlier, or a group of parents who are working together to provide a class or entire curriculum (witness the local Waldorf preschool – contact Pam Rowan-Herzog at 244-3433) for their children. When every parent has their own pool, life is boring and lots of water is wasted. So get out of your yard and into your park, library or city pool and discover your community of like-minded families. Feel free to use our website’s message boards to advertise your (free) parenting group or gathering, your need for childcare, your newly-available nanny, etc. This is how community works!