happy belated earth day

I didn't write a post on Wednesday, April 22, as I had planned. In fe-mmage to Janet Jackson, I was fired up to write a post entitled - Earth says: "What have you done for me lately?" It's quite fitting that I wasn't able to follow through in time (as many of us want to do something for sustainability but find it hard to follow through on change) and am now belatedly weighing in for Earth.

There's a lot of buzz about green living these days. It's a phenomenon whose development the husband and I noticed sharply when we returned from serving in the Peace Corps. We met each other serving in Americorps in 2001, working on outdoor environmental restoration projects for the Minnesota Conservation Corps and the DNR. We wore steel-toed hiking boots and Carhartts to work, and our office was a field of prairie or a stand of pine forest. During that year, every day of our 40-hour work week was Earth Day.

Then we moved on to work in more office-based positions in the environmental field. He became a landscape restoration technician, planning and leading native plantings and erosion control projects. I led volunteer exotic species removal events, and then went on to work on development and grant writing for environmental organizations. Instead of working 'four tens' in the state parks, we got our quality time outdoors by taking camping, hiking and canoe trips in the wilderness, and leaving no trace when we did.

When we applied for Peace Corps, we both presented strong skills for the Environment program, and even though I was assigned to a Health/Water and Sanitation post and the husband to an Environment post, the environment was the star player in both of our projects in West Africa. Water borne diseases and malaria? Issues with both environmental and behavioral factors. Bush fires and deforestation? Issues with both environmental and behavioral factors. We were taking our domestic experience with environmental work to a whole new level.

We lived at the edge of a village with the African bush right outside the door of our cement block house. We had to hike a half-hour up to the rim of a canyon, among farm fields and overgrown bush, to get any cell phone service. We had to burn all of our own trash, as there was no waste removal system, so we dug a compost pit at the edge of our "garden" (it was more like a mini-farm where we grew row upon row of vegetables and herbs) to decrease the amount we had to burn. We had electricity some of the time, and running water some of the time. The rest of the time we had to strategize how to most efficiently use the supply of water that stood in a blue plastic barrel in our kitchen. Every day we woke to the sound of insects, chickens, and livestock roaming free outside our window. Every day we had a chance to live with minimal impact on the land around us. For another stretch of our life, every day was Earth Day.

Then we came back to Minnesota in the winter. So many cars! So many rows upon rows of packaged food rising up to the ceiling at Cub Foods! Totally overwhelming. We didn't have a car in Ghana, and we didn't have a car when we first got back either. (Eventually we did buy a car, but now we share the one instead of each having our own.) There was so much, of everything, everywhere, and it seemed so excessive in contrast to our simple life in the African bush. We've been back for over two years now, and we are still adjusting.

One of the strikingly strange things when we returned in 2007 was how often the term 'green' was being used in the media and in common parlance. We were used to being part of a minority who always thought about leaving the campsite, the park, the city, the world... in better condition than we found it. We were used to constantly thinking about how to make sustainable changes to the way things are done. But now that concept had a name, and it was being used as a marketing tool. NBC had an entire "Green Week" where all of their programming had a strain of 'green' messages in it. But it seemed too slick, too gimmicky, and completely off the mark of personal responsibility. Compared to the entirely green life we had just been living, out of situational necessity, this new spotlight on 'green' seemed completely void of meaning. A lot of things seemed like that when we first got back.

And even though this new over-use, and misuse, of the whole 'green' concept seemed to cheapen the idea and strip it of its potential power for change, it has at least made 'green' into a household name. I must admit that, in some cases, any awareness is good awareness.

Regardless, with the help of perspective gained living in Ghana, we now approach life in America with a strong value of minimal impact. We began as environmentalists working to conserve the natural resources of our state. Now neither of us works in the environmental field, but we believe in the importance of taking responsibility for our personal impact on the environment. Our focus has shifted from trying to get other people to decrease their ecological footprint to continually decreasing our own. Maybe that way we can be the change we want to see in the world.

So, Earth, here's what I've done for you lately, though there's always more I can learn to do: we've installed rain barrels at our gutters, we compost, we are a one car household, we use bike and bus commuting, we joined a CSA farm share, we're now mostly vegetarian, we've reduced our energy use (with power strips, CFLs, thermostat set-backs and drying clothes outside on the line - just like we did in Ghana), we shop at the coop and support local businesses and artists when possible, and we tell our family, friends and neighbors all about it!

Gradually-Gradually, as the Ghanaians say.

andrew bird is my own personal elvis

I went to the Andrew Bird concert at the State Theater last weekend, and I have to admit that I swooned a little bit in my seat. I was with the husband, so I couldn't swoon too dramatically or anything, plus I was sitting down the whole time, but in my mind I was swooning like an Elvis fan at the ground-breaking, hip-swiveling height of his rock 'n' roll fame.

It may seem strange to swoon over a skinny, introverted guy wearing a scarf and dancing jerkily to his own violin playing, but that's just the kind of thing I go for. I had never seen Andrew Bird play live before, so I was struck immediately by his mild-mannered, self-deprecating humor, and his impassioned whistling and violin finger-picking. Who knew that two such traditionally un-rock 'n' roll moves could knock my socks off?! Consider them knocked.

What I loved about the show was the blend of instrumentation and computer assisted mixing that all happened simultaneously with the help of multiple mics and foot pedals that Bird used interchangeably and instantaneously. That there was some multi-tasking! Even more impressive was the double-horned gramophone-looking contraption at the back of the stage that I initially thought was part of the artsy set design. That too was part of the music-making accoutrements. Bird would step on a foot pedal at the height of a song's arc and then the recorded loop would echo forth out of those double horns - that were spinning no less! It was simply awesome.

Now, I am fully into my thirty-somethings, and I have come to realize that going to shows at First Ave - no matter how much I like the artisit playing there - are no longer a good time. You get pushed around as people jockey for positions closer to the stage, strangers shout their conversations into your left ear as they try to talk over your head and over the music, people spill their beers on your shoes, and your feet hurt from standing on the cement floors starting when doors open two hours before the show and all through the often times crappy opening act. Last time I went to a show there I left feeling like I hadn't really been able to experience the music I had gone there to hear because there was so much else going on around me.

Behold the State Theater as my new favorite venue for grown-up concert going! We had tickets that got us right in the door, seats that were assigned to us alone, and the people in front of us were not only sitting down as well, so we could see the artists on stage, but because we were in an actual theater, their seats were a bit lower than ours. Similar to stadium seating at movie theaters - what a concept!! I fully acknowledge that the First Ave scene is still great for many a twenty-somthing who wants to dance the night away and be seen at all the happening shows. No argument there. But that scene is no longer for me, and that's why I was glad to discover the State. The experience of seeing the show there enhanced my enjoyment of the music I was already going to love.

Back to Andrew Bird. To put it simply, he's a genius. I so appreciate the intelligence and passion he puts into his albums and his performances. I loved his music before, but I love it even more now that I've seen him play it live. I highly encourage anyone who reads this to go right now and get thee some Andrew Bird tunes for your listening pleasure.

Bird is the word.