My EcoChallenge

We live in transitional times, and I want to take part in creating the “new normal,” in visioning the “new reality.”

 

I think there’s nothing more important than learning how to live more sustainably—together.

If you’re like me, you want to be more diligent about taking steps towards a more sustainable life, but aren’t sure quite how to squeeze this into your day, much less coordinate it with others.

My answer is to make it a part of every day—by making sustainability a conscious priority, thereby saying “yes” to opportunities to engage in my broader community’s sustainability efforts. I’m amazed at how many doors this has opened in the short time since I’ve made this commitment.

My own personal EcoChallenge is to engage in Port Townsend’s lively sustainability community, and to “talk my walk.” (I love this spin on “walk your talk”!)

I’m not starting at “zero” on the sustainability continuum, but I’m not as far along as I could be with a little application and encouragement. I’m the halfway-there eco-citizen who is about to take the plunge into full community

I started by accepting the Northwest Earth Institute’s 2011 EcoChallenge, scheduled this year Oct. 1-15.
Learn more about NWEI’s annual EcoChallenge
For two weeks, I experimented with uncoupling from the cash economy—which freed up the time it took to earn that cash, and also led to creative exchanges with family, friends and neighbors. Read more on my NWEI EcoChallenge profile.

I am convinced of the benefits of living more sustainably in the context of a supportive community, some of which are:

  • Slowing down, taking more time to be with the people you love.
  • Connecting more with the natural world, its seasons and cycles.
  • Gaining physical health through eating more locally and using nonmotorized transportation.
  • Gaining mental/emotional health through close networks of friends and family—reducing feelings of loneliness and isolation.
  • Sharing the task of raising children so it is more joyful than burdensome. And having those children grow up in a “village” setting with many adult mentors and role models.
  • Seeing that you can have a tangible impact in your community—that you are not helpless or hopeless.
  • Getting out of the consumer rat-race, where you feel like you never have “enough.”
  • Saving money and reducing your dependence on the cash economy.
  • Gaining more flexibility around having to “work for a living” and moving towards “living to work” at jobs you love. (If you haven’t yet read Your Money or Your Life, do!)

It’s hard to know where to begin on this journey, but I don’t want to attempt it alone and I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, so I’m starting where others have trodden the way. Early on in this process, I plan to:

  • Become active in Jefferson County’s Local 20/20, an umbrella community sustainability organization that predates the Transition Town concept, but is similar in scope. In Sept. 2011, I joined the Local 20/20 steering committee.
  • Join an existing barter network called Fourth Corner Exchange, where Life Dollars can be exchanged for goods and services among members instead of (or in addition to) cash. I signed up in Aug. 2011.
  • Employ sustainability discussion courses offered through the Northwest Earth Institute to meet and bond with like-minded Port Townsendites. I am co-convening the “Healthy Children, Healthy Planet” course in Jan. 2012 with 10 other parents of young children.

In addition to these activities, I pledge to educate myself about the current sustainability movement and its literature, search out and learn from people and organizations who are leading the way, and find like-minded people to support me in my journey towards a more sustainable life.

Oh, yeah—and I’m going to take the time to tell you about it here.

Naïve? Perhaps? Bold and impassioned? You bet!