The mission of the Stanberry Green Team is to be an unparalleled resource for our clients looking to make greener real estate choices. If being a better steward of the environment has value to you, you may enjoy this seven part series on expanding stewardship beyond real estate. Here are the Stanberry Sustainable Living Seven, one post at a time. Stay tuned!
Everyone loves to eat, so let’s start with FOOD! There is so much benefit to the planet and to our health with attentive eating choices.
+Buy local and organic as much as you can, and support restaurants that use locally sourced produce and meats. Grow some of your own!
There are health benefits and fuel saving benefits galore from adopting this practice, and it turns out to be fun (addictive, even) to support local growers, choose organics, and even grow some of our own. Make changes gradually. Start by buying produce once a month from a farmer’s market. Take your grocery tote (Stanberry has them free for you if you need some!) and talk to the folks who raise/make the stuff. If you don’t like that idea, try a delivery service like Greenling. When you shop at a supermarket, add “how far away did this come from?” to the list of items you always compare, like price and health benefits. Organic onions farmed in Texas may cost more than conventionally grown onions from California, but if you also consider the amount of fuel used to get them here, the “bigger picture” vote is for the Texas onions. As we collectively begin to change the way we make purchase decisions, the market changes in response. Our demand creates more supply, which helps prices come down.
We have become accustomed to having whatever we want, whenever we want it, and forget to factor the fuel cost of shipping items over long distances. Produce shipped over long distances like this is invariably pulled green, fumigated, waxed, and otherwise made to tolerate unnatural handling. The growing practices for huge production farms are not sustainable or earth friendly. Growing and raising food that is intended for a local market results in healthier food, better stewardship of the land, and more dollars being used directly in our local communities. Remember to include wine, spirits, cheeses, honey, eggs, oils, jellies, nuts, etc. in your “I Love Local” planning.
Regarding food and playing your part in defense of the environment, try to eat “lower on the food chain”. Start small if you need to; one vegetarian meal a week may whet your appetite for more. If meat is a must for you, buy from local small farm sources. It takes a lot more fuel, water, and energy to produce meat than plants, and the production of meat animals by the huge factory farms that produce most of what is in our grocery stores is seriously harmful to the soil, air and water. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization tells us the livestock sector produces more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks worldwide combined. The health benefits of eating more grains, vegetables, and fruit are widely known, as well. Take steps in this direction for the health of you, your family, and the environment.
Here are some good sites to help you get started, or further your knowledge if you have been at this practice for a while:
http://citizengardener.ning.com/ http://www.austinfarmtotable.com/ www.localharvest.org
www.edibleaustin.com www.austinfarmersmarket.org www.greenling.com
And check the Live-Eat-Buy Local section on this Stanberry Green Living site…
celebrated the completion of the Lydia Street house, constructed by the Alley Flat Initiative, whose goal is to provide sustainable, green, reasonably-priced housing alternatives for Austin.
City of Austin Implements Stage 2 Water Restrictions
Two recently opened green building resource centers show that greening works in theory and in practice, according to Mother Nature Network. Centers like the 
your stuff in here” recycling bins. They don’t just sit there as you struggle to lift heavy bags full of recyclables into their mouths. Mikey and Herb march to the beat of their own drum, and instead of doing what other recycling bins do – which is hold stuff –they hold stuff and inspire people to recycle with a little bit of help from the Beach Boys.