| Environmental Sustainability |
 The evidence is irrefutable! Our planet is undergoing dramatic climate changes due to human activities. This is the most important environmental crisis that humans have faced. The need for every person to reduce his or her carbon footprint and practice sustainable living has never been greater. I address these issues in some of my artworks I try to practice what I preach. How am I doing? Well I found out by playing the game “Consumer Consequences” published by American Public Media. I do many things to live in a sustainable manner, however I discovered that if everyone on the planet lived my lifestyle then two earths would be needed to support all the people. I encourage you to try the game yourself and see how you score. Among the things that I do to live a sustainable lifestyle are recycling 100% of recyclable waste, eating vegetarian, eating locally grown produce when in season, using reusable shopping bags, using goods or services that are locally available or produced locally when possible, eating organic foods, riding a bike or taking public transit when possible, using a timed thermostat at home with the day temperature at 66 degrees and the night temperature at 60 degrees, buying energy efficient appliances, insulating the windows, driving a Honda Civic that gets 36mpg, reusing or repairing items rather than buying new ones and replacing all my bulbs with energy efficient compact florescent bulbs. I am happy to report that in November 2008, My husband and I bought our first house which is a three family property close to public transit. Multifamily housing is a more efficient use of land and energy than a single family home. I am now able to commute to work via the subway and commuter rail. We are in the process of improving one of the apartments. We are adding insulation, and low-flow water faucets and fixtures as well as giving the apartment a facelift. We are working on finding reclaimed building materials and materials made from recyled glass and plastic. This summer my husband and I are growing a small vegetable garden. However, I want to make more changes that will make my lifestyle more sustainable including capturing runoff water from the roof for watering the garden, composting, installing solar panels or a wind turbine on my roof, and buying an all electric car that can be recharged by plug in to my (future) solar powered system. I encourage you to learn more about what you can do to have a sustainable lifestyle and help reduce global warming that causes climate change by visiting the following websites: Know The Science:
Learn about your personal impact on the planetLearn about what you can do to make a differenceInfo on Vegetarianism and Sustainable LivingIn addition there are some arts organizations, artists and researchers also doing interesting work in this area as well. I know of a few web sites that may be of interest. |