tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38495321885223572262024-11-01T03:34:15.435-07:00Little house in the big suburbsAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.comBlogger156125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-57845367163975642022011-02-21T07:52:00.002-07:002011-02-21T07:57:55.982-07:00

The Mother of urban homesteading: http://www.motherearthnews.com/urban homesteading: http://www.rootsimple.com/Denver urban homesteading: http://www.denverurbanhomesteading.com/sustainable urban homestead: http://sustainableurbanhomestead.com/the old urban homestead: http://www.oldvaapples.com/Leda's urban homestead: http://ledameredith.net/wordpress/

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-85663983857897206242011-02-21T06:00:00.000-07:002011-02-21T06:00:07.199-07:00

When I imagine an urban homestead I picture three different huge gardens I've lived next to. The first was the side yard of the depression-era couple my family lived next to when I was young. At some point in the distant past they bought the city lot next to the house and transformed it into a huge garden -- a huge ring of roses and other flowers in the front, vegetables in the back half,

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-50389976240110312432011-02-05T12:09:00.002-07:002011-02-05T12:24:43.711-07:00

This was posted on the blog of one of my favorite local CSAs:"We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that's got to change."~Al GoreAnd while I appreciate that Al is working on keeping his statements more sound-byte friendly, the writer in me sees my high school creative writing teacher's red pen alongside the

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-80998138440512095162008-10-28T14:42:00.002-07:002008-10-28T16:16:53.576-07:00

A couple weeks ago I ran into a couple on the bus who needed directions to the Boulder International youth hostel. They asked about other things to do in the neighborhood and I thought I'd post my list here. The hostel is located on "The Hill", a residential and light retail area just west of the CU Boulder Campus and I'm only including things that one can get to on foot or with a short bus

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-73865097874682111132008-10-19T10:11:00.004-07:002008-10-19T10:27:40.153-07:00

I woke up to a nice synchronicity today. Tatsuya Ishida, who draws the webcomic Sinfest, neatly mirrored something I've been thinking a lot about over the past month or so. Namely how in the past 40 years we've come to a place where it's nearly normal to buy everything we need from some corporation or another. Here's the strip.'nuf said for today. Have a great weekend.

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-36941769469615363772008-10-07T10:42:00.003-07:002008-10-07T11:03:59.480-07:00

I grew up in a libertarian household that was won over to the Republicans in the age of Reagan's "government is the problem" 80's. I have an innate skepticism about turning to the government for solutions. But in the late 80's I started getting involved in churches and learned a different lesson. In a church, the pastor and the board can set a direction, but people are basically going to do what

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-9114220368422288082008-10-02T10:01:00.002-07:002008-10-02T10:22:07.327-07:00

I haven't posted here in a while... trying to do more direct activism lately. But I'd like to pass on some excellent sources for understanding what's going on with our finances.This is an interview (half an hour) from Fresh Air discussing how our current crisis parallels the Great Crash of 1929, which marked the end of the Roaring 20's and the beginning of the Great Depression. What I appreciate

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-18321604715545465032008-06-17T10:30:00.004-07:002008-06-17T12:04:49.140-07:00

In my real life, I'm active in a vibrant, urban church. In fact, I'm on both the Fundraising Committee and the Board. This after a decade of doing youth and young adult ministry. One of the things I am wrestling with now is how I can do a better job of integrating my concerns about climate change and peak oil into my work at the church.My concerns are very much influenced by my faith. I think

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-6974606855182549572008-06-11T19:31:00.002-07:002008-06-11T19:44:23.673-07:00

Thanks to The Joy of Cooking, I have finally, actually made lemonade at home.I grew up with the powdered or frozen concentrate kind, and I've found myself buying bottled lemonade, or the kind in a carton, over the last few years. This was frustrating, because my tastebuds tell me it's basically a simple drink, and I've been using more fresh citrus in my cooking.But my experiements with mixing

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-21667848428214727482008-06-06T08:45:00.002-07:002008-06-06T10:42:57.086-07:00

Two big pieces of news this week, as far as I'm concerned. The first is that it seems the SUV is finally starting to go the way of the tail fin. That's a win.And then Senate Republicans blocked passage of the first, very tentative, US bill to address global warming. Their argument was that the bill would eliminate jobs and raise gas prices... which seems painfully short-sighted to me.When it

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-30733592534800333512008-06-03T11:29:00.004-07:002008-06-03T12:20:47.401-07:00

This week the elements of the stew that is my thoughts contain these: Reaction to reading the books Littleheathens and Affluenza, a good friend of mine calling me a hippie -- a few times, and starting to read Simple Prosperity, a follow-up book to Affluenza, written by one of the Affluenza writers and local guy David Wann.I don't mind getting called a hippie. Some of my favorite people in my

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-76664360188245216822008-05-13T16:07:00.005-07:002008-05-14T10:56:08.902-07:00

Good article in The Economist last week exploring the reasons why energy efficiency is not pursued more vigorously as an avenue for investment. The bottom line reasons why it should:It returns 10% to 17% annually. (The S&P 500 historically gets 12%.)It requires reduces carbon emissions.The reasons why it hasn't been more actively pursued by individuals:Individuals tend to demand a return on

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-74085496948586629132008-05-12T14:53:00.002-07:002008-05-12T15:00:35.892-07:00

I'd heard that Colorado HB 1270 -- which would prevent HOA's from restricting solar installation, shades designed to lower energy costs, installation of attic fans and vents, and from installing clothelines -- had passed the House, but I didn't hear through the same grapevines what had resulted.I did some poking around today, and found articles on a number of HOA sites that suggested there would

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-63028696714656761902008-05-05T13:56:00.004-07:002008-05-05T14:06:51.436-07:00

The AP is reporting that up to 10,000 people may be dead in Myanmar as a result of a cyclone there.I feel like stopping there. One second of silence for every person would be 2 1/2 hours of silence.When 3000 people died on 9/11, the US mobilized it's armed forces for a massive response. This is 3 times that number. We are a nation that talks about the value of the life of every human being... so

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-45925037944258924292008-05-02T12:04:00.005-07:002008-05-02T13:43:38.375-07:00

I now have 17 months of energy-use data stored in a Google Docs Spreadsheet for easy viewing from whatever computer I happen to be at. The results are very satisfying.In the months of February, March, and April 2007 -- when I started blogging -- I was using more than 800 kWh of electricity a month (892, 814, 826). By changing all the incandescent bulbs to fluorescent, replacing four light

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-5400666594806804412008-04-23T08:33:00.002-07:002008-04-23T09:16:11.090-07:00

Well, I'm gainfully employed again. At least for three months. I'm mostly doing data analysis, but I get to help the company I'm working for "go green" for a few hours a week. It's nice to be in a company that needs to tell employees to use the recycling they're already providing instead of being in one that says "no, you can't take the cardboard to the recycling center because recycling just

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-4289053609954674462008-02-15T09:28:00.002-07:002008-02-15T09:41:37.668-07:00

Another point raised in The 11th hour is that our economy is based on consumer transactions. We buy things, consume them, and trash them. We create money at the purchase point of that transaction, and that's what we base our national performance numbers on. So when Dick Cheney says that responding seriously to global warming will harm the economy, he's talking about this kind of economy.As the

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-45642582070549750282008-02-14T09:07:00.002-07:002008-02-14T09:41:51.251-07:00

I don't think a person who doubts that the climate is changing or who doubts that the observed change is human-controlled or who believes that Earth can recover from anything we do to her is in the same boat as a holocaust denier. So I don't want to call them Climate Change Deniers.... but I'm struggling for a phrase for folks who are less convinced because I'm going to talk about them today.My

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-31458477359883442122008-02-12T08:19:00.000-07:002008-02-12T08:35:22.579-07:00

I got to see Leo DiCaprio's documentary on the environmental crisis posed by global warming -- and what we can do about it -- a couple of weeks ago on campus. When it was in the theaters I was a little too overwhelmed and a little too down to make hearing more bad news a priority. But the film wasn't really about bad news... at least for anyone who's seen An Inconvenient Truth and March of the

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-90660883211091288372008-02-11T16:07:00.000-07:002008-02-11T16:28:16.585-07:00

It's a common theme on environmental blogs to talk about why one person's behavior makes a difference. I generally stay away from that, believing that folks who care to read blogs like this are looking for things to do and stories about what happened to keep them in the game. However, a couple of weeks ago, I caught a story about the American Airlines pilot's union. (Original story here.)Here's

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-81225406941297553342008-02-07T16:12:00.000-07:002008-02-07T16:28:18.207-07:00

A friend of mine reminded me a couple of weeks ago that unemployment is a great time to try out new things without the stress of wondering what bosses and co-workers might think. So I've been scoping out bike/bus options for places within my preferred travel range. I took two buses in to Whole Foods last night and camped out with Grist's "Wake up and smell the planet" and a cup of chai (soy milk)

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-86089534802918908522007-12-21T12:57:00.000-07:002007-12-21T13:48:06.597-07:00

One piece of reducing our waste is to use things more than once after they are produced. This is an ancient tradition, but one that was branded as “old-fashioned” during the rise of the consumer/convenience culture of the 1950's and beyond. It is time to bring it back. But if we are going to present “being green” as a sustainable, positive live choice, we have to keep the convenience part.I go to

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-80603272802742576572007-12-11T12:58:00.000-07:002007-12-11T13:08:41.801-07:00

Christopher Kimball's "Letter From Vermont" for December landed in my inbox today. In it he writes:Christmas in Vermont is, if nothing else, practical. Back in the 1960s, Marie Briggs, the baker, was up before dawn 364 days a year to cook for the farmhands. On Christmas Day, however, she got dressed up (still wearing sensible black shoes and with her hair in a bun) and was taken out to dinner by

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-45232595239109026932007-12-10T10:21:00.000-07:002007-12-10T10:44:31.048-07:00

As I surf the web for blogs I like, I get caught up in trying to categorize myself. I'm not a strict buy nothing new crowd, but I take inspiration from them. I still drive, but I've cut my gas use in half and continue to look for further ways to reduce my driving. I do carbon offset and buy green energy, but I don't think those are a total solution. I re-make things and fix things and hang out

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849532188522357226.post-12115363678467790802007-12-08T08:38:00.001-07:002007-12-08T09:09:22.094-07:00

A couple of days ago, No Impact Man posted a link to this video on "The Story of Stuff". It's an entertaining video, but a few hours later I was reminded of how frustratingly general advice can be ignored. I was stuck in traffic and idling behind a huge SUV that sported a bumper sticker that said "One nation has 5% of the world's people, uses 50% of the world's resources, and generates 50% of the

Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15325195365190586576noreply@blogger.com1