Ultimate Sustainable

As I travel around the world talking with architects and designers about their projects and ambitions I am inspired by the collective vision of a better world. Everyone I meet has a focus on making the world more beautiful, inspiring and sustainable for the future and everyone works towards this end with diligence, undaunted by the seemingly impossible obstacles before us.

The more I speak about sustainable practices and choices in design, the more I implement them in my daily life. I remember the day at the grocery store when I saw my stuff going into double paper bags. Knowing that it took seven trucks to transport the paper bags to the store compared to one truck of plastic bags did not make my preference for plastic meaningful enough-knowing there was an alternative. I made it a personal policy from that point on that I would bring my own bags (made from recycled plastic bottles), buy more on the spot or put my milk and eggs in my coat like a hobo to transport them home.

The benefit of this small change is a cleaner world. I am no longer troubled by piles of paper and plastic bags around the house and one whole bay of my recycling bin is free, meaning fewer trips to the town recycling center.

I swapped my gas car for an all electric one. Sure, a long trip takes a bit of planning, but it is a warm and fuzzy feeling to not drop $50.00 on a tank of gas on a regular basis. My car gets the electric equivalent of 98 miles a gallon. Electric cars make up 2% of all personal transport on the road and prevent 18 MILLION tons of carbon from going into our air. Imagine what will happen when we are all driving them and getting all the energy for them from renewable resources!!

Concerned about where my electricity was coming from, (40% of the US power grid is fired by coal), I installed solar panels at my home charger and now my electric bill is zero. And my carbon footprint is lower.

Where will this end? Not sure, but I’m liking the ride. For now, I plan on keeping my focus on sustainability, I’ll continue to make small changes in my own life, learn more from what others are doing and see where it leads. I hope you keep doing the same, then be sure to tell me about it. Send me your tips, experiences and challenges and I’ll share them forward.

mary@lightblocks.com