We started gardening in our backyard 3 years ago and each year we get more and more. My entire backyard is now dedicated to urban gardening. One of the most amazing things I love about it is that there is an entire eco system just in my backyard. When we turn the dirt each season, we see so many critters down in the soil! We compost our own food scraps and put them back into the soil, which the bugs love. We have spiders, birds of all sorts, butterflies, ladybugs, and so many other neat friends that come to visit us or live in our garden. It is extraordinary!

The sidewalks and dirt paths at Brackenridge park are perfect for a lunch time walk during work. When downtown, I love that we have a special space at the riverwalk for walking away from traffic/cars downtown.

I spent some time cooking and eating my meal without distractions and thought more about the foods I was using - those I grew and those I purchased. Where were they sourced from? The tastes of the food were more apparent to me as I sat down to think about eating them. It was a very enjoyable experience that I will continue to do when possible.

One of my favorite resources here in San Antonio is the brush recycling center. As a San Antonio resident it is free to drop off any brush from fallen trees or tree trimming. They also use this brush to make mulch, which we use in our yard each year! They make finer chopped mulch for a very small cost. What a wonderful way to repurpose unwanted fallen trees in San Antonio!

I watched Katharine WIlkinson's TED talk on how empowering women and girls can help stop global warming. In this talk she discussed the need to close the gender gap to address planetary change. She advocates for educating girls in many areas including family planning to reduce the number of babies born accidentally. According to Katharine, this impact on the carbon footprint could rival solar energy. Interesting take!

Find new use for other parts that you don't use in meal you are preparing

Recycle reuse find a new use

Losing weight less food waste