Storytime!

It's Friday afternoon and time for a story. I have had a few opportunities to live at the 10% consumption level instead of the 100% consumption level. One of those was during my college years when I took a year off and traveled in the Gulf of Mexico and to Central America with a missionary organization.

This was an international, not a US group, and for the first part of the trip I lived on a refurbished 1950's combination cargo/cruise ship with 300 some-odd folks. We were all expected to live at basically the same level of consumption. I had one suitcase for an entire trip, a small locker to put things in, and a bunk bed. My three roommates and I shared a room that was about 10x10, had a small desk and a bookshelf.

Showers and bathrooms were down the hall, shared by about 30 folks. The standard for taking a shower was to get in, turn on the water, once you were wet turn it off, soap up, turn it back on and rinse off.

Meals were communal and served buffet-style. Breakfast featured tubs of granola, milk, juice, coffee, and fruit. Lunch was salad and leftovers from dinner the night before (or any of the previous nights). Dinners were recognizable to American palates, but rarely our star dishes like steak and potatoes. I actually forget most of the dinners, but I assume we had things like meatloaf and spaghetti and taco salad. (I do remember the catfish and the liver and onions... the only two dishes I couldn't work up the courage to try. ;-) )

Despite the word "cruise" in an earlier paragraph, the ship was pretty much in a 100% working state. Our visits to US ports consisted of making presentations to businesses and professionals to collect donations and recruit folks for the 3rd world parts of the trip. Well, that's the glamor side. For people like me, it was to do intensive maintenance on the ship for her 3rd world trips. (I got to refinish the teak railings.)

Another difference from a standard cruise was that fuel was an incredibly short resource for us. Cruise ships maximize their time in international waters to maximize the time people spend gambling. We sailed from one close port to the next and stayed in port for at least two weeks.

The one exception was when a Hurricane Gilbert hit Jamaica. We were docked in New Orleans at the time, and there was a huge outpouring of compassion for the people of Jamaica. Companies donated fuel to fill our tanks and charities filled our holds with food and clothing donations and we sailed off to Kingston.

We didn't have TV on the ship. There was a movie room, and movies were always a group affair. It's hard to get away from people when there are 300 of you on a 552 ft ship. The galley was a place to read quietly, and the former bar had group-inducing round booths that always had an interesting conversation, or 5, to check out. During our off hours we could explore the city... anywhere we could get by foot or public transportation. There were also always extra tasks that could be done. I remember one afternoon that I spent shoveling ice out of one of the walk-in freezers, and got a Twix bar as a thank-you. ;-)

As an American, my fee to join the ship was in the highest tier -- $3,500 for the 5 months. That's nearly $6,000 in today's dollars, or $1,200 a month. I think my carbon footprint would go down pretty quickly if I were living on that instead of most of my current take-home pay.

Saints

I grew up in a transitional urban neighborhood in Denver in the 70's. If you were to paint my life in broad strokes one that would have to be included was the time I spent across the street at our Mennonite neighbors' house. B., the father, was in training for ordination and his life in Denver involved what was essentially a re-localization project for the Hispanic main street and the neighborhoods surrounding it. K., the mother, ran the home front, which included taking in me and my siblings while my mom was going through job retraining and my dad was putting in long hours starting a business.

So, for a couple of years, their home was a second home for me, and it has taken up residence in my memory as a living witness to the power to opt out.

Some of the things I remember from their home are: The huge garden they planted in the back yard; the expectation that everyone contribute combined with the gentle, personal recognition for contributions; the encouragement to play, build, explore, and discover instead of sitting in front of the TV; eating fruits and vegetables with every meal; the way they created neighborhood around them by inviting people to show up; and the Dolly Parton poster in the bathroom... but that's a story for another place and time. ;-)

I don't know, but I think that their lives were pretty good examples of Mennonite principles. I know what I saw in their home was consistent with the More with Less cookbook. And I think, given that, the whole Mennonite culture of living simply and putting people before stuff is a light on the path of lower-carbon living.

Recommended Practices (so far)

I wanted to do an Earth day post of my top 10 tips... but I haven't tried 10 new things since starting this blog, let alone trying enough to talk about the "Top" 10. So I'm gonna summarize what I've done so far and whether it was worth it.

Change to CFLs - Definitely worth it. Virtually no impact in lighting in the house (my office is cooler without the halogens on and I think my cat misses curling up under the desk lamp) and changing 15 high-use bulbs saved $7 in the first month.
Driving Journal - Definitely worth it. I used a small notebook and wrote down the starting mileage and my destination for every trip I made. I now know I can have a very satisfying life on less than 8,000 miles per year.
Rechargeable Batteries - I think this is definitely worth it for anything I'm changing the batteries in more than once a month. Still up in the air for things that use less. I am considering whether, as batteries burn out, I will start swapping sets around... say one set for my remotes and my wireless game controller and another set for the calculator and adding machine in the office.
Wearing a hat to bed - Definitely worth it. Makes me comfortable enough in a cool bed to be able to warm it up before I get cold. Lets me turn the thermostat down a degree.
Choose to re-use - This is more an exercise in creativity than a specific thing to do. I'm getting more intentional about not allowing anything into my life that I'm only going to use once. I'm now brewing tea in glass jars at work and stashing them in the fridge for when I want a cold and/or caffeinated drink. And I'm using handkerchiefs.
Start a conversation - Definitely worth it. I'm very introverted, so this one is a challenge. But I'm finding that when I come up with a question that's based on my interests, people are interested in answering it from their experience. I've had really nice talks with energy efficiency experts, former farm kids, new farm managers, friends of various backgrounds, a bike renovator, gardeners, and at least a dozen other people I never would have known I had something in common with until I talked to them.

More stories of transformation

A Nevada City woman transformed her life by trading in her SUV for a motorcycle, replacing all the lightbulbs in her house with energy-efficient bulbs, taking in a roommate, cutting down on meat consumption and saying goodbye to her cell phone.

"These are really easy, manageable changes that make a difference. That's all we ask of people," Reinette Senum said as she talked from the steps of Nevada City's United Methodist Church at the top of Broad Street.

The Nevada City Union (registration required)

Her group's website is www.apple-nc.org, not the address given in the article.

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A Wyoming couple tells the story of their efforts in 2007

carbonneutraljournal.com

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The Carbon Coach

A Vancouver journalist's family meet with a carbon coach about their goal of cutting their carbon by 33%.

Part one, Part two

Changing with others

The New York Times last week ran an article on this guy. The hook for their article was "The Year Without Toilet Paper", which did what good headlines do... got a lot of people worked up and interested. The toilet paper issue aside, I think the article's main point is what it looks like when a couple of New Yorkers try to hang on to what's essential about their lives and put the rest up for re-evaluation.

One of the things that's obviously essential to this couple is their relationship. But in the article, and more so in the blog, we hear the voice of one part of that couple. I wonder how you create such radical change without everyone having exactly the same values.

I've been wondering about this in my own home. There are three adults living here and I am dating. We all come to this place on the planet for different reasons, but there's something in each of us that makes this place a good place to be. Saturday morning we decided to go out for breakfast, and spontaneously decided we should take the recycling too. We got into a conversation about why we recycle. I'm motivated by global warming and reducing the impact of humans on the other species of the planet. Roommate #1 is motivated by a sense of duty. This is just what you do. Roommate #2 is new to recycling, but she knows it's important to us, so she participates as well. So we have different values that lead to the same end result. We all sort and look for times to take the recycling over to the recycling yard.

I have been changing the incandescents for CFLs unilaterally. This is not a value we all share, so in fixtures that take multiple bulbs, I've only changed half the bulbs for CFLs. This means there are still 8 high-use bulbs that could be changed out... and I could go there, but it is a higher value to me to have the house full of people than to use the minimum amount of electricity.

Similarly, Roommate #1 uses an electric blanket and Roommate #2 uses a space heater. Are these the most efficient ways to heat the areas that are most essential for comfort? Perhaps so. But I guess that's another of the areas where I'm not going to make decisions for others.

I'm also seriously researching my garden options, and both roommates have been very upfront in saying that I can't rely on them to help. That's good to know.

So the thing that intrigues me most about No Impact Man is this: how do they communicate about these things? What values do they each bring to the project?