Super Eco

Photo credit: sarah gilbert

I believe in a loaf of bread, a rescued Starbucks cup, a row of sunflowers, and planting peas in my front yard. Why? Because I believe I can make global change with these little things. Writing for the New York Times' Dot Earth blog, Andrew C. Rivkin points out that small acts—in this example, cleaning up a Hudson River beach in upstate New York—really do make a difference, especially over time and with the benefit of many people returning, over and over, to do those small things.

I see my role as a mama and writer as especially influential. A little thing I do while my three young boys are watching might be multiplied as they grow up, imitate me, and influence others. I try to pick up Starbucks cups to take home and compost when I see them stuck in bushes and branching trees in the local park (photographing them first, of course); now my three-year-old follows suit. When I plant sunflowers along the fence in my yard and let some of them dry up and drop seeds everywhere, baby sunflowers come up along the edge of the apartment complex driveway the next year (oops?), providing great food for bees. When I bake my own bread and cookies, buying flour and oats in 25-lb bags, I'm saving several layers of packaging, industrial pollutants, and transportation.

But my biggest impact comes from planting kale, and peas, and spinach, and lettuces, and grapes, and figs, and other edibles in my front yard. Many of my friends and family worry that the pollution from the busy street that passes our house, or hungry passers-by, might impact my veggies. But I'm more interested in the impact my veggies have on everyone who passes (not to mention how reducing my food miles and planting trees in my urban environment helps the planet). Neighbors and employees of nearby businesses stop to ask what we're doing and I give mini-lessons on pea culture or the many wonderful qualities of broccoli raab. Drivers slowed to wait behind a bus stopping at my corner watch me pluck chives for my mashed potatoes. And if someone should steal a grape, a sprig of thyme? They're welcome to it. Change starts small, and sometimes, change is as small as a pea.