Today is my “blogoversary” for greenspaces realestate.com. Hard to believe it’s been a year since I kicked off this site, sharing the story of finding my soon-to-be new home and reducing my “footprint” from a real estate perspective (not carbon in this case).
We are well established and happy in our new Built Green neighborhood of High Point in West Seattle. My husband and I both are involved in our community doing different things, and we also have time to take up hobbies and new interestes (his – a wine tasting class, mine – bell ringing in a choir). I just led a tour of the development on Sunday, showing off the environmental functions of the bioswales, pervious concrete, cobblestone drives, waterfall and pond, pocket parks on every block, and the market garden green with spring veggies and brown with freshly turned earth. The weather was sunny and it was invigorating. And the comments from the visitors were how quiet it was and peaceful. There’s nothing like being proud of where you live and eager to help others discover the possibility of being a part of a community such as this.
Can you see the bird here? One of my beloved Black-capped chickacdees. They visit the feeder every day.
As I begin a 2nd year writing about all things green, I can’t help but feel that I have made a difference in the lives of others. 20 years ago I wrote my senior English thesis paper about the destruction of the coral reefs and the beginnings of global warming and what was going to happen to us if things didn’t change. It was a radical idea then – today a much larger part of the population understands, believes, and sees a reason to change their individual behavior to create enough change to save the planet. By everyone working together, we can make a difference. Even working apart, but toward the same goal, we can still make a difference.
20 years after writing that A+ paper, I now am helping another high school senior with her “Culminating Project” and she has tackled the same subject but with a different question: “How can I change my own behavior to live a more sustainable life and influence others?” Jenny Light found my blog by Googling “Seattle sustainable”. She sent me an email and she asked me to be her “Field Advisor” while she searched for answers to her question. And I have really enjoyed myself, thinking of all of the things I have questions about and creating little field trips for us to learn together. Boy, if the internet had been around when I was in high school, what a report I could have written then!
So, today’s million dollar question is: If you changed just one thing in your life to help make the Earth a healthier planet, what would it be? Visit the 1 Thing Seattle web site to make your commitment to help save the Earth.
Reflections: Read Earth Day and Green Spaces 2007, the opening blog post of greenspacesrealestate.com.