I finally got to the farmers' market this weekend after several weeks of missing it. I find that I enjoy my food so much more when I know that it was grown locally by people in my own community, rather than coming from the sterile aisles of a grocery store. It also makes me feel better to know that the food is fresher and has traveled far less than produce in the grocery store. 

In the process of studying this topic, I also realized that there are some amazing electric bikes out there - fabulous changes in last 5 years really.  Given our incredible weather in SoCal I am considering that as an alternative too.  If I can get one that can offer 25mph speed instead of 18-20 of the past, I can get to work almost as fast as in my car assuming I can find a good safe route - that may be a challenge!!  The savings on parking costs alone would amortize the purchase and upkeep, plus the savings on fuel would stay in the pocket :), and reduction in emissions would be excellent!!  I could keep my cool car and just drive it infrequently instead of commuting daily, drive it when it rains.  

For the hour while my lights were turned off, I spent time with my grandpa just shopping for items we needed. Before and after we left, the house was strikingly dark, and I really felt like this one hour was saving a LOT of electricity for us. Had we stayed indoors, we wouldn't have much to do, and that's why we shopped.
I might plan to shut my lights off from now on, for at least 10 minutes any day that it crosses my mind. Cause sometimes I really just don't need them on, and over time this will save a lot of energy.

Well I turned off almost all the lights on the 20th.  I did have a task I was working on and left one 15w lamp on so I could do that task - does that count against me?  I don't work well in the dark - ha!  Normal habits were pretty much same, I often have the house pretty dim, and use my cell phone to avoid running into things in dark rooms - wonder what my neighbors think... ha! so that was not much different although I had to move a bit slower.  

I took the quiz to measure my personal carbon footprint and frankly, it was shocking. Despite living very intentionally to reduce my impact, my Earth Overshoot Day is May 31st and we would need 2.4 planets if everyone lived as I do. At first it made me feel....hopeless in a way. But then I realized that it really points to how important it is for us to enact SYSTEMIC change and not rely on individual actions and lifestyles to repair the damage we have caused. We need to encourage individual accountability AND change the way we do business, the way we govern, the way we assign value. 

I was surprised to learn about the big changes both Apple and Bank of America are doing to reduce their carbon footprints! They are not only making sure that facilities of theirs are powered by solar, or wind energy but also buying carbon offsets for the unavoidable CO2 that their companies produce. I have made business with these companies already and will make sure to continue this because of their goals and actions. 

I don't often eat seafood, but when I do...    actually for the occasions when I do order seafood, I will now be more careful to consider where it is coming from, how it is caught, is it a sustainable fishery, or should I skip it and order something else?  I have noticed that more restaurants post information, but I don't know if iit is trustworthy - but at least shows some consciousness about the topic.