Lindsi Seegmiller's Blog: Living Sustainably

Three days late, but just as important: TRANSPORTATION

2009-11-20T20:43:13Z

I like what Michelle, of the No Impact Man duo for those of you who don't know, said about alternative transportation: it's ‘net net net positive gain' and that it is. You can help the environment, save money, do something good for your body, brighten your day, and make your hometown a better place to be all by avoiding one simple thing: a personal/individual vehicle.

For many reasons, living in cities is better for our environmental impact. (although, maybe not for our souls) - especially New York, where I could have taken ANY of the below listed forms of transportation, got to work with a reasonable commute time, and still beat owning a car and commuting to work:

1. subway
2. bus
3. walk
4. run
5. bike
6. ferry
7. water taxi
8. yes, even regular taxi
9. Pedi cab

My favorite and daily mode of transportation is the bicycle. I'll explain my love affair briefly. When I ride my bike in the morning, I wake up my body. I sing to myself. I find a little joy each time I pass cars stuck in traffic. I am with fellow bikers. I love, and have recounted to many friends, that when I'm running a little late to work, I can guess that most of the bikers around me are as well. I feel like we're in it together- even though most of the time we don't talk. I run into friends. I meet new people, like this morning, I ending up meeting someone simply because a car cut him off (ok, so it's too bad that happened). I get time outside- isn't it said that you need a certain amount of sun exposure to collect vitamin D? I have more mobility than relying on set routes and schedules. I rarely spend money on transportation.

On a broader scale, though, New York City has amazing options for transportation. Yes, there are issues and yes, it can, should, and will get better, but I can say with confidence that I will never have a problem reducing my environmental impact as it pertains to transportation (one of the biggest chunks of our environmental problems) in New York.

Example: New York City is home to the only (one of the only?) 24 hour subway systems in the world. On top of that, there is 24 hour access to the subway with a bicycle. I lived in Paris for a while and the metro system stopped at something like 12:30 on the week days and 2am-ish on the weekends. All their amazing urban planning and green space, nuclear energy and local food doesn't make up for the fact that if I want to get home in the evenings I must take a taxi. They have night buses, but they are far from convenient or frequent. One more point on the subway: take a minute, look up from your book and really appreciate what you see. You can do this on a bus too, or light rail, but I find the subway most rewarding. Public transportation is a little cross section of the inhabitants of a city, a microcosm if you will.

NRDC- you rock. I've done quite a bit of advocacy in relation to alternative transportation. One of the most important things to ensure a shift in how we move ourselves around is how accommodating our employers are to it. Incentives and encouragement, even simple understanding goes a long way. NRDC has really done an amazing job at making an example of itself.

1. This first, and probably most important thing that NRDC (along with many employers- ask yours) offers is the ability to put up to 230 pre-tax dollars onto a card that can be used to purchase transit related expenses like metro cards and ferry passes.

2. NRDC also buys carbon offsets. So, although many of our employees have to travel to other offices or to meetings quite frequently, we try first to take the most emissions responsible (and cost effective) mode of transportation possible, we also enter in the mileage for any travel. At the end of each year, we buy carbon offsets for the emissions we could not avoid. Most times I would worry about this, because carbon offsets have the danger of making us feel like it's ok to burn as much fuel as we want, but I've found that it is reduce travel emissions first, and compensate for those we couldn't avoid second. I like that.

3. There are bike racks on two floors- each can hold 5 or 7 bikes. I've provided pictures. I like the picture* of the 10th floor bike rack because it also shows two different sets of stairs- I appreciate that although there are 5 floors, the way to get from one to another is use in-office stairs. You can also see light from the sky light in this picture- yay, thoughtfully designed buildings!

4. There is access to elevators at all times with a bike - people elevators! I've had experiences in the past with other jobs that were not as pleasant. I like that I am not cast out to the freight elevator just because I have a bike. And I like that, although we have it so the elevators only stop at two of our floors, since we have the inter-office stairs, if I ask I can get the elevator opened on my floor.

5. When surveyed, the second most popular response people give for not commuting by bicycle is lack of showers at work. Well, NRDC has two. And while I am comfortable not showering when I get to work, many of my colleagues use our showers almost daily. It is so nice to have the option, especially in the winter when one may get caught in a cold rain, or just need a way to warm up.

Regardless of how you do it, transporting yourself from one place to another is likely to be just as present in your life as eating or sleeping. And along the same lines as food/eating, it's also likely to be one of the ways you have the most environmentally harmful impact. Think about it. And check out the non-profit Transportation Alternatives (www.transalt.org for New York) and Streetsblog.org (for nation-wide). These two networks provide a great learning space for a less-impactful way of transportation

*what's that gorgeous black cruiser** with the brooks saddle in that picture? ooooo, how pretty. And thank you to Anthony Clark (also blogging on switchboard about No Impact Week) for the lovely photos.

**yes, it's mine, but I love it so much I couldn't resist the obnoxious mention - apologies.

Why are you putting your [insert produce here] into a plastic bag?

2009-11-17T14:33:52Z

One of the last environmental courses I took in college was called ‘Sustainable Cities' and it rocked. Talk about being relevant for an urban environmentalist living and work in New York City. Anyway, one class we got onto the discussion of at what point an item made to be reused- let's take a coffee* mug, because that is probably the thing I use most often - surpasses its disposable counterpart. Yes, at the end of use, a disposable coffee cup goes into the trash and each time I do it hurts me a little inside, panged with guilt I guess (remember to check the lid because although most coffee cups have a plastically liner that can't be recycled, the lids often times can be.) But, a light paper cup took a lot less energy to make, is made of a (more) renewable material, and is significantly lighter to transport. So, after how many uses will my coffee mug actually start to be worth it? I don't remember the exact conclusion we came to in class, but it was a lot.

Why did I think of this in relation to Monday's ‘Trash day'? Because step number two in the no impact week guide told me to put together a reusable kit for the week so that I could avoid using disposable materials. Luckily I already do this for the most part, mostly because bringing food, water, and supplies with me inevitably saves me bunches of money - but this request did get me thinking just how much I'm using these things and whether or not the use amount will justify its use as oppose to a disposable item, and if I would keep the item long enough to make it count. I'm going to separate my thoughts into ‘at home' and leave ‘at work' up to Anthony (fellow eco-committee member and switchboard blogger who did a fantastic job writing on waste and waste reduction at NRDC), and if I've not bored myself by then, I may add on ‘at play'.

At home:

Going through my mind of reducing waste I automatically think of food (a likely subject for most of my thoughts). It's easy to reuse dishes and appliances in the apartment where you live, so the next step to try to reduce the amount of waste the food enters the house with- buy fresh, local, and in bulk. When I do my shopping I have several considerations for each of the things that I buy- and I promise it's not as tedious as it sounds:

1. Do I want to eat it? (probably most important, not only because food tastes lovely and is fun, but also if I want to eat it, it is much more likely to be consumed and therefore put to use, and less likely to go bad and go to waste.

2. Where is it from? - The closer the source of the food, the less packaging and preparation the producer had to add to get it to me.

3. Is it filled with pesticides or preservatives? Pesticides just creep me out. They also enable large mono crop agriculture and poor farming practices. Preservatives usually mean it's from farther away and will have more packaging.

4. Can I get the same or similar product without packaging? I really like granola (just to add the hippie stereotype seeping from every pore of this whole deal) and often find myself looking at the stuff boxed up next to the cereal. Each time, however, I end up going to the bulk section of the coop (Park Slope Food Coop - google it, it will change your life) and getting my granola there. Why (and this applies to all products, not just granola)?
      a. Less packaging means less waste
      b. Less packaging means more fresh
      c. Less packaging means supporting local and reducing transport of item

d. LESS PACKAGING MEANS CHEAPER

e. When less packaging also means bulk, it also means you have more liberty with just how much or how little you take. Yum.

And because I talk about all things food and kitchen related too much, I will continue onto other items that I use and could either replace with reusables and avoid packaging altogether but don't- and will probably continue to reflect throughout the day as to why I don't:

A. Tissues
B. Q-tips
C. Newspaper
D. Pens
E. Floss - what does one do about floss?
F. Shampoo and conditioner
G. Make- up
H. Books
I. Paper, sooo much paper
J. Non-produce food containers: tofu, pasta, frozen items, chocolate

And now a brief ‘at-play', because I think it's important. When I go to spend time with friends either during the day or at night, I like to bring a small reusable water container with me and a small snack. I also like to bring a book and an item of clothing. I know these all sound like simple, no brainer ideas, but I know I have avoided buying countless water bottles, heavily packaged/prepared food, magazines or other light reading material, or an impulse item of clothing because I've been cold or needed to change for unexpected activity. Being prepared really stops a lot of unnecessary consumption and waste.

Finally- what's with the subject line? Well, when thinking about waste production and avoiding it, placing produce - especially something you are going to only eat the inside of or are going to wash - when purchasing it is hilarious. Fresh fruits and vegetables are the most natural and nutrient provide way to eat, and then we go and ruin such a simple step (ah-ha, get the pun to this blog?) to keeping our impact low.

*coffee is not a regional crop and therefore it is far from ‘no impact', but some things I will take a little longer than others..

Warm compost spurs excitement about No Impact Week

2009-11-16T15:37:55Z

A Sunday Afternoon post:

Friday at 11:45 am my outlook calendar popped up to remind me to bring the 10th floor compost bag down to the 8th floor so that the week's 'compost stars' would have an easier time bringing the large load to Union Square Green Market for drop off.

I'll start by explaining this compost business, and then go into why this related to No Impact Week, which starts today. At least three days a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I am certain- maybe even Saturdays and Sundays, although I'd have to check on this) the Lower East Side Ecology Center (LES Center) has a station at the Union Square Green Market where anyone who wishes can come and deposit their compost in one of several garbage bins that will be taken at the end of the day back to the center to be maintained and eventually turned into nutrient rich compost soil, which you can also purchase at the Union Square stand. This is just one of the many stellar programs the LES Center runs, and for the purpose of this post, the only one I'm going to ramble on about (...well, at least in this post..)

So, cool, a few times a week I can bring a bag of frozen food waste from my apartment and drop it off on my commute to work- awesome. Awesome for many reasons.

1: Composting is a really amazing way to reduce the amount of landfill space need.

2: Composting creates amazing fertile soil that can be used to grow new things and avoid buying scaring chemical fertilizer.

3: Keeping food waste in the freezer to keep until it's ready to be distributed reduces reason for roaches, mice, and other not-so-welcome house guests to come around.

4: Keeping a bag of food waste makes it easy to evaluate just how much of your food is processed and/or animal based. It's sort of like the bag of trash I'm collecting today- it helps me to see what exactly I'm consuming. I like the idea that when most of my food waste is going into the compost bag I am not only eating healthy hearty vegetables and feeling sweet, but that I didn't put a bunch of packaging into the garbage and was not consuming methane intense meat or dairy (yes, I know, the New York Times just made the point in a recent article that soy may be just as bad of a gas releaser- we'll talk about that later).

5. Being able to drop off your compost allows you to still contribute without having to keep a home worm bin (which the LES Center also can set you up with if you'd like) that ultimately takes a lot more work than most people have time, energy, or interest to give.

So, to shorten this lengthening post, I'll explain simply that the Eco-Committee at NRDC is a group of staff members who have taken it upon themselves to see that we're doing everything we can in the office to reduce our environmental impact. Each week on Friday the compost collected over the week from each floor is brought down to the bottom floor and wheeled over to the Union Square drop off by a willing (and awesome) pair of volunteers. While tying up the bag to bring down to the bottom floor this past Friday, I started to think just how lucky I am to be able to do that sort of thing at my work place and how excited I am to see my daily lifestyle choices in a new light as I participate in No Impact Week.

Monday, tomorrow, is trash- I will write more later on how today's experiment of keeping a bag of my trash worked out...