Terri's blog

I have joined thousands of others in making public my support of President Obama's commitment to tackle the climate crisis as he heads to Copenhagen next week. Please add your voice to mine. The more voices, the greater chance we will be heard.  Thank you!

Yes, I missed Day 4, which was Food.  I do pretty well with food. I eat vegetarian a lot. I only eat meat that is locally raised with humane and sustainable practices. I purchase local or organic produce when possible, and dairy and eggs come from a local source.  My biggest downfall is eating out, which I did too much this week.  So, I can work on that, and I need to put together a to go container with cloth napkin and utensils to keep with me when I have to get take out.

Day 3 was about transportation. I drove to work by myself.  BUT, I did cram seven people in my car to drive to lunch.  Was there anywhere we could have lunched here and spared the one mile drive?  Probably, but then I would have missed the incredible corn pudding at Zoe's kitchen (maybe I compensated by not eating any meat). We do have our house on the market, and I am looking for a home MUCH closer to my place of employment and my kids' schools and activities.  So, hopefully this part of my footprint will begin to shrink soon. 

Today was all about reducing the amount of trash I create.  I generally don't create so much, but today was one of my worst days!  First, I failed to collect my trash yesterday, so I couldn't separate it into two piles, a pile for the waste created from stuff I used for 10 minutes or less and stuff I used for more than 10 minutes.

Day 1 is all about consumption.  The first exercise is to create a list of stuff I need to purchase this week. Here is my list:

Groceries (for meals and school lunches), moisturizer, gas for the car.  That's it.  I was supposed to delete all the items I could do without for the week.  My girls suggested the moisturizer, but really I must have it.  Really!

I have discovered a new website, simplesteps.org. I love the appearance of this site - the graphics are great. I love the calculators that let me know where I stand. I love the straightforward information. And, I love the real life stories. After visiting this website and learning of the thousands of Simple Steps I can take to reduce my impact on the Earth, I have decided to undertake the No Impact Experiment -- a One-Week Carbon Cleanse.

I keep hearing these ads for the "Independent Restaurants of Greensboro" on NPR.  These restaurants are hawking their local and organic cred, and I happen to have eaten at, well, just one of them, Sweet Basil's, but it was probably one of the best meals I have had in my life.  But, where, exactly, are we supposed to eat in Winston-Salem?  Chipotle was the ONE restaurant (besides Whole Foods, but that is not really a restuarant) where I could order meat with a clear conscience.  The carnitas burrito

I am lucky.  I know it.  When I cook at home, I use meat that was locally and humanely raised, without hormones or antibiotics.  In many cases, I actually know the farmer.  That is so with the beef tenderloin I wrote about last week. It is a comfort to feel so good about the food I prepare for and feed my family.

I am back from my amazing adventure and finally settled back into my routine.  I have been contemplating posting some musings on my excellent adventure, and I will at some point, but for now, I want to tell you about my dinner last night. It did not occur to me until I sat down to eat and looked at my plate that it was all local. The corn (grilled in the husk), romaine (used in a salad), and blackberries (made into an incredible crisp) were from the Krankies farmer's market (Tuesdays at 11 a.m.).

A Disney could learn a lot from a Tivoli.  Tivoli was built in 1843, and it is about the same size now as it was then, approximately two square miles. There are 26 rides and other amusements, so it is very compact, but there are beautiful little gardens around just about every corner. The rides range from small ferris wheels for young children to mightily scary drops and coasters for the brave at heart. What you won't find at Tivoli is a lot of space between attractions or trash. One of the most environmentally friendly initiatives in Tivoli is the cup (beaker) system.

Copenhagen certainly aspires to be a green city, but, to me, it seems to be just a large, bustling, urban area.  Okay, granted, you can spot wind turbines poking up behind 15th century buildings.  And, of course, there is the Lillgrund wind farm in the Oresund, between Sweden and Denmark.  Copenhagen's published goal is to not only be carbon neutral but to also provide the world's best urban environment by 2015.

I spent today in Malmo, fourth greenest city in the world, according to Grist.  It is hard to believe that this city is the same size as Winston-Salem, NC, where I live.  Malmo is much more compact and feels much more urban.  Of course, having been a walled city for centuries to keep the marauding Danes from invading doesn't exactly lend itself to urban sprawl.

This is the cottage.  It was built in 1726.  I cannot imagine raising a family in those three small rooms.  The ceilings are about 6 feet, and I have to duck through the entry ways to keep from hitting my head.  Electricity has been added, but there is no running water.  Here also is the outhouse.  Quite a nice one in my view.

First impressions -- Sweden is green.  Both as in verdant and as in eco-friendly. There are bicycles everywhere, and folks can safely travel on two wheels because there are separate bicycle paths along just about every road.  There were hundreds of bicycles at the train station in Linkopping when we finally arrived last night at around 9:00 p.m.  People ride their bicycles to the station and then take the train to work.

After months and months of planning, the day of departure is finally here.  We leave on the 6 p.m. flight out of Raleigh and will fly to London. After a 7-hour layover, we will fly from London to Stockhom.  I will post my total flight miles.  I will be tracking all flight and rail miles so that I can purcase carbon offsets upon my return.