You Rotten Rain-Harvester…

Ok, let’s just dive in here.  Did you know it’s illegal to harvest rainwater in Denver?  In fact, it’s illegal in most of Colorado.  Check out the LA Times article on the subject here.  Now, before I go further, let me say that I’ve tried to read the Colorado water law, but I found it pretty freaking confusing.  Ultimately, Colorado’s water law says that if you were here before me, then your claim to water supercedes mine.  And since  the rainwater that falls on our beloved lawns and gardens and is not absorbed runs off into rivers and streams, flowing downstream to someone with a potential legal right to the water that is greater than mine, I am not allowed to sequester the water in a cistern, rain barrel, or any other storage mechanism.  This post is just an FYI.  The whole reason I started this blog was to chronicle my ongoing education about what’s real and what’s fantasy regarding sustainability.  So there you go – - I learned something.

2 Cents

Let me just say, I think it’s ridiculous.   Makes me mad.  Imagine the state government telling you that you cannot harvest sunlight or wind.  The city of Austin, TX actually offers city residents a voucher for credit towards the purchase of a rain barrell.  Now, Colorado has taken a step forward, allowing residents to harvest rainwater if they would have to dig a well or have water trucked in just to have water.  But this is still a lame statute, in my opinion.  Honestly, I’m skeptical as to how much of the rain that falls on our property (meaning yours and mine) actually makes it to the drain.  Seems like most of it either soaks in or evaporates.  I do understand the “first in line” business, but I don’t really care, and don’t think that’s a valid method of determining who gets water.  If you have a water right that superceds mine, and you NEED it, ok, let’s talk.  But the fact is that according to Denver Water (Click Me!) at least 55% of our household water usage is used outdoors.  Beautiful, lush, green lawns and sparkling clean cars are not items of NEED, and if that’s what most of our water is used for, seems to me that the government should be happy if we use harvested rainwater instead of treated water for those purposes, reducing the strain on the overall water supply system.

So there it is.  I wish I had a cistern, and I wish you had one, too.

jeremy.

A Whole New Me?

Growing Up

It’s been quite a month since my last post.  I feel like things have really begun to change in my life – - unexpected and almost unbelievable changes.  I think tilling Mom’s garden awakened some sort of alternate reality inside me.  I have been reading by choice (non-homework-non-fiction – a first for me), building self watering containers from every cat litter bucket I can find, actually weeding both my mom’s garden and my own, getting up early to walk Sloans Lake, eating cucumbers and apples instead of chips and candy bars, and in general feeling like my life is finally coming into line with my values more and more each day.  I have always been a lazy person who has traditionally gotten by on charm, an eagerness to please others, and a decent sense of humor.  I have always been willing to work hard for someone else’s benefit, but have almost never taken any time to “sharpen the saw” as it were, completely ignoring any kind of life-maintenance type work.  I kept telling myself that I will someday be the person I want to be – - resourceful, altruistic, disciplined, energetic, motivated…  I have gone through phases where I tried to will myself to become this version of myself, but I have traditionally been a big ‘relaps-er’.  I would make some noble but impossible commitment, keep it for three days, break it, and determine that there was no use even trying to change, and immediately go back to whatever way of life I fostered previously.  Suddenly, I feel like a different person.  I’m not talking about some religious experience, where “I’ve seen the light”, but I definitely feel like it has become much easier to be the person I have always wanted to be.  I am really enjoying my life, and I don’t miss Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups as much as I thought I would.  In fact, that’s the great thing about the changes I’m experiencing:  I’m not really consciously making them, they are just sort of happening on their own.  I feel like part of my brain has been reprogrammed or something.  Take the change in diet, for example.  I really don’t even remember deciding to stop drinking soda, I just don’t drink it anymore (except on very rare occasions when I just want one).   Is this what growing up feels like?

Shameless Plug

By the way, I have no idea why, but I kind of blame my new mode of thinking on a certain book.  Again, a disclaimer:  I don’t know if this book sold me some new ideas, or just cemented several thoughts I’ve been having, but I first noticed my mind changing when I started reading “The Urban Homestead”.  If you are at all interested in gardening, composting toilets, harvesting rainwater or grey water, biking to work, or just seeing new sustainability possibilities, read this book.  I enjoyed it so thoroughly that I will definitely read it again.  An excerpt from the introduction:

• “We’ve also shifted from being consumers to being  producers.  Sure we still buy stuff.  Olive Oil.  Parmigiano reggiano.  Wine.  Flour.  Chocolate.  And we’re no strangers to consumer culture, not above experiencing a little shiver of desire when walking into an Apple computer store.  But still, we do not accept that spending is our only form of power.  There is more power in creating than in spending.  We are producers, neighbors, friends.”

Next post… *ahem*

• “Did you know it’s illegal to harvest your rainwater in Denver?”

jeremy.

p.s. - Here’s a picture of Sloans Lake at 5 a.m. taken with my phone during my walk.

Practical Sustainability

Let’s not go crazy and stop eating chicken wings now…

I was having a conversation with a friend recently about the merits of standard vs. automatic transmissions.  He is a fan of standard transmissions for various reasons, and I absolutely hate driving them in town.  Growing up in Oklahoma, everything was at least 30 miles away, so I didn’t mind driving a stick.  Now that I live in town, however, I want my commute to be as simple as possible, and to that end, I prefer driving an automatic.  He challenged me that if I really cared about sustainability, I’d drive a stick because they get better mileage.  This brings me to the crux of my beliefs about sustainability.

“One man’s battleground is another man’s luxury”

While nebulous and unquantifiable, I am hoping to live and promote practical sustainability.  I believe firmly that if everyone just indulges a little bit less, we will see a great difference.  The above quote from another friend of mine says it well, and points to the mental flexibility required to bridge two groups – - those who are die hard “greenies” and those who are turned off by any talk of sustainability.  The fact is, I LOVE chicken wings, which is not exactly the most sustainable food.  But I’m also trying to purchase most of the rest of my food locally (or grow it).  I love driving an automatic, which does get a little less MPG, but I also carpool with my wife to work, and we are currently living with one car (which takes some scheduling gymnastics, let me tell you).  My point is that I am committed to living a more sustainable life today than I did yesterday, with tomorrow being even more in line with my values, but I am also willing to accept some things as luxuries that I will happily enjoy.  I love beef, but have decided to eat it sparingly because I wholeheartedly disapprove of the way beef is raised/processed today.  Also, I typically choose grass fed beef when shopping for a steak - which is more in line with my values regarding sustainable farming.  To anyone reading, my desire is for everyone to enjoy their lives – - and show a little bit of restraint.  Your choices won’t look like mine, but I personally think that’s a good thing.  It keeps us thinking and challenging ourselves to do what we believe is important, not what’s easy.

jeremy.

Mmmm… Radishes…

I love me some okra…

Growing up on a wheat farm in Oklahoma, my mother kept a huge garden.   We’d come home from school, drop off our books, and head straight out back to start raiding.  My favorites were anything that grew above ground – - green beans, tomatoes, peppers, and my absolute favorite, okra.  As much as I loved eating my fill of veggies after school, I really hated that garden.  from about the age of 11 or 12, I had to roto-till that freaking huge garden every year.  I hated work of any kind when I was a kid, and although I did enjoy the fruits of my labor, so to speak, I really had no interest in gardening, and after watching my dad farm wheat for years, no interest in agriculture at all.  But a couple of weeks ago I was at my mom’s house here in Denver for some random yard work, I don’t even remember what we were doing exactly, when Mom and I started talking about a nice patch of ground in her back yard that she had been thinking of turning into a garden.  Within 30 minutes, the plan had been hatched:  I would rent a roto-tiller and we were going to create a garden.

Breaking Ground

After pulling up what seemed like miles of weed barrier buried about two feet down, I headed to The Home Depot and picked up the tiller, some manure, and fencing supplies.  It was a strange experience, firing that tiller up.  I was transported back to my childhood, but this time with a sense of excitement and determination.  I couldn’t wait to see something grow from that previously unusable patch of ground.  Before I knew it, I had made four passes on that garden and I loved every minute of it.  Something in me began to change while I tilled that ground.

Doesn’t get any more local than this

I was so inspired by the idea of taking dirt that was doing nothing and turning it into my own farm, that I decided to create my own garden.  After surveying my property, I found a spot and put down some black plastic to kill off the grass and remaining grass seed.  So far I’m planning to grow green beans, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, and several different kinds of lettuce (I haven’t found a way to grow chicken wings just yet).

What’s the big deal?

I’ve tried to figure out why I’m so excited about starting a garden, and I’ve come to a couple of conclusions.  First, I am obviously in favor of the net benefit of being able to eat the things I grow – - I love veggies and they will be highly accessible.  Second, from a sustainability standpoint, the food I’m growing doesn’t have to travel from a distant farm, isn’t sprayed with pesticides, and I can control whether or not I’m growing and eating GMO’s.  And third (although I could probably continue listing things here), I could probably create quite a long list here), I feel good about it.  It makes me feel like I can actually do something to help change the things I don’t like about our culture (like corporate farms, genetically modified foods, and the requirement of mass quantities of fossil fuels, fertilizers, and pesiticides to grow our veggies). 

Anyways, this is a long post to say that I’m stating a garden and I’m terribly impatient to see my freaking radishes start sprouting.

jeremy.

Bye bye, Frito-Lay

He’s one of those people…

Christa and I attended the Green Festival here in Denver on both Saturday and Sunday, and while I had mixed opinions about what I saw and heard, I did come away with one concrete belief:  I do not want genetically modified foods.  I had already heard some of the dangers of eating GMO’s (genetically modified organisms), but we listened to a presentation that was pretty darned compelling.  Jeffrey Smith gave a talk entitled “Seeds of Deception” that further cemented my desire to never eat GMO’s.  After hearing Jeffrey’s talk about, among other things, water buffalo who died within days of eating GMO cotton leaves (even though the same buffalo had been grazing on non GMO cotton for years), I decided that the fault was mine if I continued to be a victim, feeling that I have no power or choice in whether or not to eat GMO’s.  Jeffrey passed out pamphlets that list both companies that strictly prohibit the use of GMO ingredients and those that do not.  Sadly, according to the pamphlet, Frito-Lay doesn’t discriminate.  I checked out their website today and saw no mention of any explicit exclusion of GMO ingredients.  So I did what I had always associated only with crazy extremists:  I wrote them an email promising to never purchase or knowingly eat their products until they explicitly stop using GMO ingredients.  What’s funny to me now is that choosing to not purchase a product based on health concerns is in no way extreme – - most of us make those choices every day (unless you love chicken wings as much as I do).  The difference is that now I feel like I’m voting, and although it’s just one vote, my vote has been cast – - and I let Frito-Lay know about it.

One more thing…

Even if we don’t factor in the known (and potentially even more dangerous, the unknown) health risks, I still don’t want to eat GMO’s because of the practices of the companies responsible for this technology.  Monsanto, for instance, has successfully sued and collected undisclosed damages from farmers who neither purchased nor wanted GMO seeds in their crops.  Two farmers state their cases in the excellent documentary, “The Future of Food”.  They claim that the seeds blew in either from neighboring fields or spilled from a passing grain truck.  I grew up on a wheat farm, and find either explanation entirely plausible.   Additionally, according to Jeffrey’s website, Monsanto executives have expressly declared their desire for a future in which 100% of all seeds are genetically modified – no more natural cross breeding.  Stupid and dangerous.

Rant partially complete – or perhaps partially begun.

 

jeremy.

Getting it off the ground…

Trying Something New!

I have traditionally been pretty slow when it comes to assimilating new technology into my life.  I was totally oblivious to cell phones, satellite television, YouTube, and blogging in general until all had become firmly and irrevocably established as fixtures in American society.  This is a strategy that has worked out surprisingly well for me, as I have never owned the latest and greatest gadget, only to have it become obsolete inside of a year.  I have also rarely used the beta version of any technology and found myself at the mercy of design flaws that were only rectified by purchasing nextgen upgrades.  All that is to say, now that everyone in my social circle knows more about blogging than me, I feel I can confidently launch one of my own.

“Why blog?”

I read a terrific statement about blogging recently online – “Never have so many with so little to say said so much to so many”.  I totally agree.  I’m amazed at the number of blogs available today.  While some are really good (http://failblog.org/ comes to mind), I really am not interested in being just another voice among millions, trying to be heard.  The real reason for this blog is that I am writing a book, and I know that unless I have some reason to write (and write often), I will never finish.  So, while my hope is that my friends and family will read this and engage, my ultimate version of success in relation to this undertaking will be to have my name on a manuscript that will hopefully spring from the assemblage of thoughts I will post here.

An Idea for All times

Every time I turn on the television lately, I see a commercial advertising a “green” product.  My favorite thus far has been for the ARC, which touts that by purchasing “recycled” clothing, we are being “green” (*Note* – the office chair I’m sitting on was purchased at the ARC, and I would not hesitate to patronize ARC in the future.  I think they are only doing what they can to drum up business, just like any good capitalist would want them to.  As a matter of fact, what they are saying is true, and I have no quarrel with them as an organization.   There – disclaimer issued).  What is interesting to me is that most of society is caught up in the “Green Wave”, so to speak.  What I’m interested in, however, is sustainability.  Maintaining a sustainable lifestyle is different from “being green”.  Being green primarily involves selectively purchasing items that are renewable, recyclable, etc.  Sustainability means living your life in such a way that you trim the fat from your life – learning what luxuries you really don’t need or don’t add any value to your life and evaluating yourself through the filter of what is the overall net benefit of your decisions.  This has been a wholesale change in my way of thinking that has been a process several years long by now.  

Now, most of my ideas regarding sustainability are not born from my own brain solely.  To that end, I’ve been wondering alot lately if my ideas are really important enough to write a book about.  After all, I’m not a writer by trade, and there are untold numbers of people who are more intelligent, more skilled with words, and better informed than me.  Why not let them write the books?  The answer is simple.  I ultimately feel that when I browse in Borders or Barnes and Noble, I really don’t see many books that will address the topics that are important to me – - at least, not presented in a way that I enjoy reading.  I’m a college dropout who has taken a bumpy road to arrive here.  I have harbored countless misconceptions based on internet forwards, a-friend-who-knew-a-guy stories, and just bad information and lies.  I have been embarrassed when I learned some things I believed turned out to be false, but I have also been inspired when I learned of new possibilities.  That is the essence of what I want to communicate in my first book.  I want the journey to knowing to be tantamount.  I want the reader to learn, as I am learning, that it really does take a fair dose of humility to approach the truth about ourselves and our world.  Some will read this and instantly be uninterested, but I’m going to keep writing nonetheless.  My highest dream for this space is that it in some way will help foster community and the exchange of ideas.  To that end, please let me know if I type something here that is debatable, actually proven, or just flat out false.  After all, that’s how I have come to believe what I do so far – by being corrected at every step along the way.

Thanks for reading, whoever you are, and now I’m going to play my Xbox in celebration of my first post.

 

jeremy.