by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

Perhaps Inspiration is like the ocean – once you catch a wave, it’s a big ride!

This past weekend, I attended the local kick-off meeting for Transition Towns. This began innocently enough through an email from a friendly acquaintance who lives and works on a sustainable farm project near Carrboro. Her name is Margaret, she is one of those sensitive but powerful women who wants to do the work and have her party, too – she exudes a sincere enthusiasm when it comes to changing and shaping our local future and it’s contagious. And from the size of the group who showed up (on a beautiful Spring Sunday), I’m not the only one who feels that way. In fact, I feel like I’ve been waiting for this – an opportunity to stop simply musing and hoping (and writing about) a better future and get my hands in something positive and tangible. Thanks Margaret!!!

Transition Culture was founded by Rob Hopkins in the UK. With an impressive environmental resume in permaculture, resource management and local initiatives, he has created a wave of change that is catching on all over the world. Transistion Towns looks at how we can face climate change and peak oil through the same creativity, ingenuity and adaptability it took to get us here. The emphasis lies on a collective plan to act early with awareness raising, connections with groups and local governmetnt to increase resilience so that communities can individually sustain and thrive with positive energy rather than fear.

Don’t assume this is just another ORG that will get lost in the shuffle. Transition Towns is user-friendly and focused. Rob Hopkins has written an accompanying guide, The Transition Handbook – From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience. It is a precise, detailed how-to manual with three sections, entitiled Head, Heart, and Hands and outlines 12 steps of action.

From the website: There are now over 40 Transition Towns in the UK, with more joining as the idea takes off. With little proactivity at government level, communities are taking matters into their own hands and acting locally. If your town is not a Transition Town, this upbeat guide offers you the tools for starting the process. It is a process which is, as Richard Heinberg writes in his Foreword, “more like a party than a protest march”.

By Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

Although I wax and wane like everyone else when it comes to feeling inspired – I mean, truly and unreasonably inspired – but after 2 months of injury and 2 varieties of the flu, I’ve found some. First, there was Back Alley Bikes, giving me back my bicycling groove, and today, the nuns.

Okay, so there’s this convent in Brooklyn…It’s been around for awhile so the nuns are between 50 – 87 years old – or young, I should say, because these women are nothing if not ready to rock and roll with Change – and into a green life. Although it took awhile for the Order to reach consensus when the conversation began a decade earlier, they are now whole-heartedly committed to life on Earth as well as in Heaven.

Where to begin? They belong to the local CSA, they grow food, shop otherwise organically and fair trade, they compost, they sold their van and joined a ride-share and needless to say – waste not, want not. Wait, there’s more. They are looking for a supplier to make their habits out of organic, fair trade cotton and will soon be building an even more green living space – complete with living roof and solar-energy system. Even composting toilets are under consideration.

It’s cold. My leg still hurts and I just got my appetite back after 5 long days. But, I’m inspired and I’m smiling!

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

I didn’t think it would happen, but it did. I haven’t done a bicycle commute since December. No, it’s not only the Winter issue. It started with my thigh injury on December 1st – I couldn’t even consider riding for the first 6 weeks. And I missed it. I mourned each day when I would be driving the 2.5 miles into town, missing the pedaling, the feeling of moving over the ground by my own strength and I especially missed the feeling of belonging to the bicycling community.

I tested out my leg around week 7 – pedaling with my dog, Ayla, around our our old farm route and found out that it felt pretty good. In fact, the therapist assured me that it was a good place to continue my rehabilitation. But, it has been a bit Wintery since then and I admit it – I’ve lost my bicycling groove. I’ve lost the rhythm of “gearing up” and getting on my way. Somehow, it seems daunting at this point and the car keys are just sitting there. Yeah. This is how it happens, I suppose. Denial. Defeat. But in the end, I know I’m missing out – not just on greening my ride, but on the fun. Hmm. Now what?

Then it happened. Last weekend, while wandering around downtown Carrboro, I stumbled upon a bike shop I hadn’t noticed before. There was a hand-painted sign hanging above the window, that said, simply, “Bike Shop”. Needing a spare tube, I wandered in and immediately felt at home. I’m not sure why since the atmosphere fell somewhere between grunge bar and tattoo parlor. But, I sensed art, purpose and a little bit of rebellion at work. As well as the friendly, laid-back attitude that strolled out from the back room to greet me – from behind a door which said “Santa’s Playroom”.

Back Alley Bikes sells, repairs, and custom rebuilds exclusively used bikes. They know their sh*t, they love to ride, they offer great rates and service, they promote conscious-commuting and they don’t need to prove anything to anyone but themselves.

There is a resident dog, some random art-like displays and t-shirts with obviously original designs that looked a lot like this cool image above from their website. When I saw that the shirts themselves came from the fair-trade U.S.-based company, American Apparel, I bought two. I couldn’t resist. I was back. I wanted to gear up and I wanted to ride. And nothing is going to stop me. Thanks Back Alley Bikes – for being the real thing and helping me re-discover the real me.

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

Community, as well as life, is – like most things – what you make of it. Sometimes the less “normal” you are willing to reach for, the more magic you will find. Ask the 5 urban pirates living on a Ferry off of Manhattan Island. The ship, purchased on yachtworld.com, is owned by Jonathan, who lives on it with 3 other men and one woman. According to today’s NY Times article, The 6,000 sq.ft ship has a Christmas tree, a refrigerator and a drum set on board, toilets that flush with a bucket of sea water added, though showers and other amenities (like central heat) are not yet in working order.

Residents make trips into the city or to pick up friends in a small motorboat or sailboat. They share an old van kept in a parking garage nearby and most of the furnishings were acquired on Craigslist, including 5 free couches. This group lives, works, creates and throws parties, while planning a trip to long island in the Summer where they will hang out, work on the ship and commune with nature.

Although there is a constant maintenance workload to life onboard, Ben DeVoe, an artist and landscape gardener, is not considering going back to a “normal” apartment life. They’d all rather put up with the inconveniences to have a bigger, more communal and more creative life together.

As Jonathan says, “It’s a magical, fantastical thing and that’s why we’re here.”

Ahoy.

Although I will never give up my thrift store shopping for necessities, luxuries and unique, or one-of-a-kind gifts, I do choose online shopping at my favorite sites for convenience and environmental reasons. Yet, once in awhile, I’m stumped about finding something so mainstream and conventional and unexciting that I just put it off even beginning a search. For instance, after purchasing a futon-style mattress made from recycled soda bottles from an independent store in NC, I’ve wanted to get a mattress pad/protector, oh, for about a year now! Somehow the idea of searching and comparing prices and any eco-options that may or may not exist was about as alluring as eating last year’s fruitcake (or this year’s for that matter).

So, I was thrilled to discover GreenGenius.com, a comparison shopping engine for green living, which has come to my shopping rescue. Two clicks took me to the best eco-value for the eco-bed – done! Green Genius links you to products, merchants and reviews while allowing you to browse or search by category, popular items, stores, and eco-status. I found the eco-status categories especially helpful with products ranked by eco-friendly, fair trade, organic, renewable, recyclable and eco-healthy status.

Green Genius does not charge merchants for listings which means everyone is invited – inclusive rather than exclusive. It also functions as an online community of social networking so you can get objective and complete feedback through reviews and discussion by your peers. You can even create your own lists. You can also use the site whether you join or not – a nice, no-pressure option.

Search and Green!

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

I’ve been biking a lot more this year and I’m pretty happy about it. Daily commutes downtown, to stores and services like the bank and post office. To the coffee shop, to visit friends, to social events and my legs think nothing of those miles these days, which feels good, too. I’ve learned more about the right gear to get around conveniently and feel more confident.

Hmm, Confident? Cocky may be more like it. Ride a lot and you can begin to get a bit too headstrong about traffic – after all, I’m on my bike to rise above this carbon-emmitting mess, right? Well, not really. When you are on a bicycle, you ARE traffic. Although I wouldn’t say I’ve had any  truly close calls, I have caught myself taking chances for no good reason – you know, crossing at a red light because there are no cars in sight, riding through a parking lot to turn a corner, hopping onto the sidewalk and back onto the street when it seemed more convenient. Fortunately, I woke up – before I caused an accident. I now ride with my bike AND my head in the right place.

Of course, there is much that can and should be done on the driving side. Drivers education programs and testing should include important information when it comes to sharing the road – a big part of the safety equation. More and better-designed bicycle lanes, intersections and shoulders will go a long way towards creating harmony in the way we get around.

Still, there is a lot of good news for cyclists in this comprehensive article on Safe Streets, by Alan Durning, where he reminds us that not only is commuting by bicycle safer than you think, but “Not Pedaling Can Kill You”. Whether you ride now, or are considering it, this article is a must-read. Because the truth is, when you look at facts and figures, bicycle commuting is actually safer than any of us think. Statistics show that while bicycling is increasing, crashes are not. Bicycling is also safer that getting around by foot – pedestrians are 3 times more likely to be killed by a motorist per mile than cyclists.

Much of cycling safety seems to depend upon the rider – one survey shows that 80% of bike wrecks involve falling or colliding with something other than a moving vehicle. (Come to think of it, my only significant wreck was with a mailbox.) For more on this, read The Art of Urban Cycling: Lessons from the Street, by Robert Hurst.

If you’re still a cycle-skeptic, or a risk-taking rider, read the full article where you can wrap your head around the information above and much, much more. It could get you into a more fit world and body and help you keep both wheels on the ground.

There really are no coincidences. No mistakes, no accidents. This is how the journey happens, I promise. Just remember to keep your eyes, mind open.

There I was, in the woods with the dogs (again). We somehow disturbed a nest of yellowjackets – the dogs got the worst of it – those buggers burrow right into their fur. We got into a creek fairly quickly and I was pulling the stubborn bees off the dogs as fast as I could. I felt a few stings on my hands, but kept going until a bee found it’s way down the back of my jeans  – eek – sorry, girls, you’re on your own now! We finally outran the swarm and collapsed on the grass near the house.

BEE STING REMEDY: Within about 15 minutes, I was able to give the homeopathic remedy, Apis Mellifica, and a dose of baking soda dissolved in milk to all of us. (It works great if you can act fast!). Ayla’s eye swelled but went down again within 30 minutes of dosage and, as for me, I barely knew I was stung after an hour (I normally react to all bee stings with long-lasting pain and swelling). Moral of the story? Keep these remedies on hand, especially in the Fall, when some bees become more aggressive. But, the story has really only begun…

At this point, I realized I had thrown the leashes somewhere in the woods. I bravely returned to the scene of the crime that evening, but since the leashes were leather and the color of the ground, I couldn’t locate them. This is when the unfolding began. Need leashes…but I don’t want more toxic nylon or leather…time to search for more sustainable options. Of course, Hemp! I knew they were available, but I didn’t know how much I would learn and be inspired by the company which offered me the most simple, undyed version.

Rawganique made my day. Not just with the discovery of their many good for people and the planet products, but with their inspiring, hopeful and unambitious story of life and work. The founders of Rawganique, Touch Jamikorn and Klaus Wallner, former accomplished academics, set out to share information on sustainable living for humanity and the environment – and a way to live lightly and work mindfully. Living completely off-grid on Denman Island, BC, they co-founded a “human-scale” family business in 2000, replacing bad goods in the marketplace by offering products and clothing made of naturally organic and sustainable cotton, hemp and linen.

Their About Us page reads like a good book – one that leaves you hopeful and encouraged to find your own way to peace and balance in your life and in your work. They don’t take all the credit for finding their way to success, health and wholeness, but share the names and ideas of those who have guided and inspired them along the way. After all, this is how it works.

Watching. Listening. Sharing. Growing. Healing. All from a few bee stings~

by Jeannie Newell, Crested Butte, CO

With my 20/20 hindsight, I have seen a few things I would do differently for ‘off-grid’ living if I had to do it all over again.  I would definitely consider buying a second solar panel ($150 a piece) so I could plug in the fridge – we have a cooler / fridge that can be plugged in or not.  It would be easier than carting frozen water in milk jugs back and forth to the camper every other day.  This worked well in May, but July proved to be much more of a pain

Also, I would have known that our handmade tarp based awning would be no match for the Colorado winds, and would have bought something more durable, because moving our wooden chairs and dog beds in and out of the camper during the daily rains is also a pain.  I might find a little something extra for storing things – the truck occasionally gets filled with crap that we don’t have room for in the camper, and so is annoyingly full when we are driving ourselves / our dogs / our recycling around.  Bigger waste water tank — we use a pretty small one, and dish water fills up the tank so fast, emptying it is a weekly job.  Bi-weekly would be nicer.  Its funny experiencing all of the reasons people sought to live more comfortably and conveniently in the first place.  Let’s see, I would buy  travel size bottles of shampoo & other toiletries, because I need to keep them in my backpack at all times and they can be re-filled by the bigger bottles as needed.  They can be kept for future travels, too!
I would have a back up toothbrush and deodorant.

Just some random thoughts about this so-far adventure that I hope will continue through September.

The summer is coming to an end here in Crested Butte. ‘The monsoons’ roll in this time of year, cooling things off.  The camper and truck have been getting nice ‘n dirty from muddy dog paws and just from mud in general!  I now have cows on my street.  Apparently ‘the cows come home’ – seriously – around this time of year.  They drive them here in trucks and drop them off!  sometimes we drive too fast around a bend in the road and get startled by a big mama cow standing in the middle of the road, hanging out.  I am bummed that I still ride my bike less, but at least I carpool with Michael, and I vow to live somewhere (even if it’s here, just in town) where I can bike everywhere.  I would still bike with toiletries and stuff, I think, just because.

Right now I really need some rest.  I’ve been working sooo much lately.  My sister and her friend, Patti, were up from Boulder this weekend and I was busy working a lot of that time.  Also, our little dog Django has been very sick this past week, and we are waiting to hear what the vet thinks about his condition.  Please send prayers and thoughts if you can…

Love and peace,

Jeannie