About Lauren

Note from Ralph:  Lauren Cyrsky’s getting to be a regular here.  What follows is her way of introducing herself in more depth.  You may want to respond with your own list of ten (or fewer) things about you.

Top ten things about me (Lauren Cyrsky)…

I love lists. They’re quick, easy to follow, and efficient. Here are 10 reasons why I write this blog and care about preserving our planet.
1.)    I love the outdoors. A recent trip to Denali National Park taught me the importance of enjoying but not disturbing the outdoors.  Leaving the tiniest crumb from a picnic can upset the whole food chain of an animal’s habitat.
2.)    I love animals and respect their place among us. I get angry when I see any that have been injured or killed by a car or truck. The reason all these deer and squirrels are getting hit by cars?  We’re invading their natural habitat.  (They were, after all, here first.)
3.)    I hate the gym. I love exercise but opt for running or riding my bike outside. It ruins the work-out if I’m confined to a treadmill (that uses energy) and away from nature.
4.)     I love to help. Sorry if this sounds sappy, but whether I’m helping at a soup kitchen or fund raising for a worthy cause, I feel most content on the days I know I do something to benefit others.
5.)    I like to have a purpose. I pick up trash on my runs, I combine errands to save gas, and I recycle as much as possible.
6.)    I love to clean. I use biodegradable laundry detergent and cleaners. In the summer, I save energy by hanging my clothes outside to dry.  Sorry, I’m not for hire.
7.)    I love to argue. I do not hesitate to correct a friend or stranger about something that could be done more sustainably. They may think I’m crazy, but I see their oversight as laziness. Am I wrong?
8.)    I like to teach. Everyone does not share my view on the environment. At work I created a month-long activity focused on Earth Day. I showed folks how to make small changes in their daily routine to be more sustainable.
9.)    I love to cook. I buy as much as possible from local farm stands. The food is fresher and requires less energy to transport it to my plate. Also, my business benefits the community and local farmers.  (Who’s your local farmer?)
10.)    I love to eat. Ever read the label on a Doritos bag?  You are what you eat (uh-oh), and what you eat eventually comes out (double uh-oh).  All those chemicals and additives we digest by eventually end up back in the ground and the water.

As you can see, environmental awareness permeates most aspects of my life. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

We Ponder Reality

Take out a piece of blank paper, any size will do, and something to write with.  Go ahead.  Humor me.

In the middle of the page, make a circle about two inches in diameter.  Around it, make another one, say about five inches in diameter.  Label the smaller one with the term “economy”.  Name the larger one “community”.

This should help you keep things in perspective, and remind us of at least two lessons.  First, most of us see the economy as the center of our thoughts, and it often is.  Second, the economy, even when it appears to be the main thing, is less than half of the all the community stuff there is.  if we pay attention ONLY to the economy, a lot of other stuff is going to deteriorate and go to heck.  Keep this in mind when you’re making choices.

Now, draw one more circle.  Make this third one as BIG as you possibly can.  Use the whole page.  It doesn’t even have to be round.  This one’s called “ecology”.  It contains everything.  There is nothing outside of it.  There is no larger circle.  It holds all the resources and relationships you’re ever going to know or need.  It even holds all the time.

We will, of course, damage the ecology (perhaps irreparably) if we keep our gaze narrowly focused in the short term solely on the smallest circle.  And then where will we be?

Here’s one last thing for our drawing exercise, and it’s the tricky part.  Place yourself in the circles — all three of them at the same time.  Now, based on this whole drawing, make a to-do list of your priorities.

Ralph

Bottled Water Sales Down!

Well, not really.

They’re only up 2.3%, as opposed to 12% average annual growth over the past several years.  This according to a recent report in Dallas newspaper.

Somebody explain it to me.  Why would you pay for the stuff when it’s virtually free in your sink?  Is it because you LIKE paying more for water than you do for gasoline?

Is it because you know that commercial water bottlers are required to conduct many fewer tests on the water than a municipal water supply?

Do you have extra time and energy to lug the bottles from the store into your house and to drag an extra barrel of recyclables to the curb?

Or is it because you enjoy having the petro-chemical based substances that leach from the plastic containers mixing with your blood stream?

Don’t buy that stuff.  Don’t drink that stuff

We have a terrific municipal system here in Lawrence Township.  It’s a great, under-rated community asset.  It’s something we do better together for ourselves.  Why waste it?  It’s part of our present — and our sustainable future.

Ralph

Free Play, Outdoors

Richard Louv came to town last week.  He’s the author of Last Child in the Woods, a first-rate journalistic investigation of how American children suffer because they no longer enjoy self-regulated outdoor play, either by themselves or with other children.  If you care about children, pick up the book.

Why, Louv asks, is the rise in child obesity coincident with the growth in organized sports leagues?  Why are parents so afraid to let their kids play by themselves outdoors?  What has made trhe US such a risk-averse nation – right down to the appearance of “NO RUNNING” signs in some school yards?  Let me repeat that.  School yards.

Relevance to sustainability: children cannot grow into adults willing to take care of a place (i.e. their community) if they spend their entire childhood indoors.

Tell your kids to go outside and play.  Play what?  Anything. Children are excellent at making up their own games – in the yard, in the woods, on bike paths, along streams.  We have PLENTY of all this stuff in Lawrence Township.  Send them now.  If they don’t come back with dirty hands and muddy knees, send them back out.

Ralph

Change? Maybe.

In January, we will have a new president.

We can hope that the nation’s policies on matters affecting our ability to become more sustainable will take a positive turn. They may.

But a truly sustainable Lawrence is up to us. Here. Now. We must continue to change our own lives. The ways we eat, heat, and relate to each other are some of the keys.

Today is an opportunity to redouble our efforts to live more sustainably, regardless of who’s president, governor, mayor, or dog-catcher. Every day is a chance to get going.

Joyce and I are using our dryer less, hanging wet clothes either on the line outdoors or on one strung from rafters in a basement utility room. Easy to do, saves energy, costs absolutely nothing. Makes me feel good to do it.

Congratulations, Mr. Obama. Lend us a hand. We’ll do our part.

Ralph

SUV’s, Yuck!

I hate to generalize, but I can’t stand SUV’s. Specifically, I can’t stand people who drive them. I often wonder the thought process that a future SUV buyer goes through at the dealership. Unless you’re plowing a field or towing a barge, there is no purpose to own a vehicle this size. I can’t see around you at traffic lights or when switching lanes on the highway, and you take up too much space to fit in a normal parking spot. I avoid you when driving anywhere, since I know your SUV will crush my tiny sedan if we collide. At least you’ll be safe.

Do not mistake my dislike as jealousy since your vehicle is more expensive than my sedan. I feel bad for you SUV owners. Your mode of transportation guzzles gas and wastes money. You create more air pollution than other cars on the road. Compared to the average compact car, your tires are huge, requiring more energy to produce and will take up more space when they eventually end up in a landfill. I could go on and on. When you take a close look, there is no sensible reason to purchase an SUV.

They say a car is a reflection of its driver. Using that logic, I could assume that most SUV drivers are enemies of the environment, environmentally unfriendly, brown and not green. They are self-centered and unaware of the harm and potential damage they can cause others around them. Maybe I’m being a bit harsh by judging a group of people I do not know.  In the meantime, I will enjoy paying $25 a week to fill up at the pump.

Lauren Cyrsky