October 2015Volume 6 . Issue I

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

BIKE ETIQUETTE

CHAMBANA HIGHLY RANKED FOR SUSTAINABLE COMMUTES

UIUC TAKES ON KILL THE CUP

A VISIT TO THE STUDENT SUSTAINABLE FARM

CANDIDATES ON CLIMATE CHANGE

RECAP: ISEE WATER CONGRESS

BRISTOL PLACE LEED NEIGHBORHOOD

TRANSITIONING TO OFF-THE-GRID LIVING

MODERN HOMESTEADING FOR THE URBAN LIFESTYLE

GREEN IT YOURSELF: WOODEN COASTERS

PHOTO BY TRISTAN SCHRAMER

2 Re a d G r e e n . L i v e G r e e n .

Hello Readers and welcome to GO 2.0! We have said goodbye to many beloved seniors but this year, have wel-

comed in more new students than ever before! Look for their fresh and exciting contributions in all aspects of this issue; our revamped cover, illustrations and graphics, and a majority of these pieces are brought to you by new, green-observing faces! Come along with us on our journey

to learn about living off-the-grid. Refresh your memory about proper biking etiquette. Marvel at the environmental policies of the one million presidential hopefuls. And if you notice something that we missed, let us know!

This issue brings to light many ways that YOU can make a difference in environmental problems today. The GO has always encouraged individual action to help change the sta-tus quo and we are pushing students at U of I to follow suit. So, use our articles as guide-lines and work towards a more sustainable lifestyle. The planet needs all the love it can get and you can do more than just read green. Live it.

Enjoy,Jess and Catherine

LE T TER FROM THE ED I TORS

check us out online: www.greenobservermagazine.com

READ I T. S IGN I T. PASS I T ON!Sign your name below and stick this issue back on the rack for someone else to enjoy!

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3 The Green Observer Magazine

CAELI CLEARY

ANDREW DUNHAM

VICTORIA HALEWICZ

ANDREW HARLAN

RACHEL LEE

LAURA SCHULTZ

ALEX PEREDNA

WRITERS

printed on 100% recycled paper

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MEET THE GO T EAM

BIKE ETIQUETTE

CHAMBANA MOVES GREENER

UIUC TAKES ON KILL THE CUP

I-FARM

THE LEAN GREEN

TREADING WATER

“LEED”ING THE WAY TO GREEN LIVING

LIVING LIFE UNPLUGGED

STRIVING FOR SUSTAINABILITY

GREEN IT YOURSELF

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JEETHSURESHwebmaster

KATIEKLAUS

layout editor

NIKKIEVANS

copy editor

REMYCROWLEYFARENGA

YMCA liason

ELISESNYDERtreasurer &

advertising chair

RACHELLAUTER

distribution chair

ILLUSTRATORS/PHOTOGRAPHERS

ANDREW HARLAN

TRISTAN SCHRAMER

4 Re a d G r e e n . L i v e G r e e n .

Andrew Harlan

Biking in any form is meant to be fun, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few guidelines to keep things running smoothly for all purveyors of the sport, especially in cityscape. Champaign has a nifty website for all things bike, http://www.champaign-countybikes.org. They have links to great biking resources in the area, such as The Bike Project, which serves as a shop to teach YOU how to fix your bike, rather than them fixing it for you. The website also includes handy-dandy bike maps of the area, and the official bike legislation of the area. With that being said, let’s learn some etiquette, shall we?

1. Be SeenYes, cars should look out for you, but there are still humans con-trolling them (for now), not robots with sensors to detect all bike commotion. Make yourself apparent as a road traveler.

2. Leave the sidewalks to pedestriansHave you ever been in the situation where you are walking to-wards someone in a hallway when all the sudden, you find your-self in an intense side-stepping dance as you pass said person. Imagine that dance on a bike … with a pedestrian. Leave it to the pedestrians, at least they can do their funny dances safely.

3. Flow with the currentIn this case, the current is traffic, and you should go with it. You will aid in keeping things safe for all travelers. Find your exit, signal when you are getting off, rip it, roll it, punch it, and picture Crush (from Finding Nemo) giving you a fin, noggin, dudeeeeee.

4. Stop signs mean stop … even for bikesAlthough bikes are a superior race* and deserve to be wild un-tamed animals, they must stop at stop signs in order to keep the peace among the general populace. Plus, tickets are a potential punishment for failing to do so. Nobody wants a ticket while bik-ing.

*We do not discriminate here at the Green Observer. Travel your way, and do it in style … your style.

5. Share the roadAs cyclists, let’s use our brains. They are there for a reason, and are capable of some pretty incredible things. Let us maintain a general level of respect for all those who speed walk, unicycle, drive, ride buses, wander, look lost, ride planks of wood, roller blade, scooter, pogo-stick, etc.

The Champaign-Urbana Metropolitan Area recently ranked very highly in green transportation. Accord-ing to census data, the area ranked 11th on a list of metro areas with the lowest rates of car commuting, at 78.4%. And for a tally that didn’t consider many university students as residents, this number is quite significant. The average driving rate is between 85% and 89% in American metro areas and suburban areas, respectively.

The reason for this success is somewhat due to the university, which has, along with the Champaign and Urbana governments, been building miles of bike trails and wide sidewalks for roughly five decades. These offered alternative transportation options for many people here in an era where Americans were buying cars at high rates. Even with extensive infra-structure already in place, the twin cities embarked on another bike lane and bike trail expansion master plan in 2008, and have been slowly adding bike lanes ever since.

In addition, there has also been ample public trans-portation since the inception of the MTD in 1970. With free rides to UIUC students, late hours of opera-tions, and cheap fare ($1 for non-seniors and those without an iCard), it makes the city more accessible to everyone, while polluting less than solo car com-mutes.

Although we Americans have a long way until we finally kick our addiction to polluting cars, it is nice to know that Urbana-Champaign has been making strides toward eco-friendly transportation for all its citizens, not just Illini.

CHAMBANA MOVES GREENER

Andrew Dunham

GRAPHIC BY KATIE KLAUS

5 The Green Observer Magazine

UIUC TAKES ONK I L L THE CUP

Caeli Cleary

Each year, roughly 500 billion paper cups in the U.S end up in landfills and take more than 20 years to decompose because they cannot be recycled. According to CNN, if the cups were placed end to end, they would reach the moon and back around 5 times. Starbucks alone sells around 8.2 million paper cups of coffee per day, and these cups contribute about 1.5% of paper cup waste in the world. To reduce the University’s cup waste, UIUC will be participating in the Kill the Cup challenge, a nationwide campaign to reduce waste produced by disposable coffee cups.

The challenge takes place October 5th-30th and ev-eryone is encouraged to take part in the competition. The University will be judged on two aspects: social impact and waste diversion.

Social impact is judged by the percentage of campus population that uploads a selfie with a reusable mug to the Kill the Cup app. Students who post selfies will be entered in drawings for weekly prizes and the grand prize, which in the past has been a $50 Amazon gift card and an iPad.

Waste diversion will be measured by the University’s

partner, Espresso Royale. Espresso, located on Oregon and Goodwin, will record the number of people using dispos-able mugs and the coffee shop that serves the highest percentage of drinks in reusable cups will determine the winning university. Katherine Pollman, a student ambassador for Kill the Cup, says that using a reusable mug is something everyone can do to help eliminate waste.

“It’s so easy to do the right thing and most places will even encourage this behavior by giving you a discount when you BYOM (Bring your own mug),” Pollman said in an email interview. “Bringing a reusable mug is something easy that we all can do to make less of an impact on the world.”

The University is 1 of 16 universities competing in this challenge, and if Illinois wins, the campus will receive a so-cial impact grant to fund a sustainability project on campus. Join the Facebook group “Kill the Cup 2015 at UIUC” to get involved with the challenge, and remember to bring a reusable mug to Espresso this October.1. http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/02/business/uk-recylable-cup/ 2. http://www.designlife-cycle.com/starbucks-paper-cups/

When I first ar-rived at the Student Sustainability Farm (SSF), I was surprised by the mere size of it. I originally envi-sioned small garden plots run by stu-dents with a modest amount of produce. However, after asking some of the volunteers and farmers for more information, I learned that the farm spread across 5 acres, 4 of which are currently plantable. This farm is home to tomatoes, eggplant, strawberries, raspberries,salad greens, bok choy, kale, the list goes on.

I couldn’t help but wonder: how does this farm, being so close to campus, interact with students at U of I? Well, about 90% of the produce ends up in the dining halls. If you don’t live in a dining hall, you can swing by the South Quad every Thursday, 11 to 5, and purchase some fresh produce straight from the farm.

All of these discoveries brought me to one question: How can students take part in this? There are a lucky few undergrads that get paid to work on the farm, typically hired towards the end of the summer.

The simplest way to contribute though, is by volunteering your time to the SSF. The University

also supports volunteering here by al-lowing classes such as CORE 105 and CORE 100 to receive extra credit by helping out. With cold weather ap-proaching, make use of the remaining produce this season has to offer!

Victoria Halewicz

I - FARMMEMBERS OF THE GREEN OBSERVER AT THE SSF OPEN HOUSE IN SEPTEMBER

6 Re a d G r e e n . L i v e G r e e n .

THE L EAN GREEN : CAND IDATES ON CL IMATE CHANGE

Laura Schultz

With all the media coverage surrounding the presidential primary races, it’s easy to forget that the actual presidential elec-tion is over a year away. Popular early topics of debate on both sides of the partisan divide have included immigration laws, the Middle East, social welfare programs, and much more. One issue that is certainly of utmost importance, but has been unjustly neglected, is the environment and what the United States should be doing to combat climate change and reform energy policy. You may not think that a single president can have much influence on environmental policy, but the truth is that the stance of our next president on the environment will be make or break it for the Earth. The planet is rapidly approaching several environmental tipping points that can only be prevented by prompt action that few but the United States is fit to lead. So if you care about the condition of our planet and its future habitability, the environment should certainly be on your mind when picking which candidate you will support. As a guide, here are the candidates’ stances on climate change- a likely indi-cator of how much they would do for the environment if elected president.

REAL AND WILL FIGHT ITBernie Sanders (D) (25.4%)

Martin O’Malley (D) (0.6%)

Hillary Clinton (D) (41.5%)

Lincoln Chafee (D) (0.1%)

Lindsey Graham (R) (0.3%)

REAL BUT WON’T COMMIT TO FIGHTING

Jim Webb (D) (0.6%)

Carly Fiorina (R) (11.0%)

John Kasich (R) (3.1%)

Chris Christie (R) (2.6%)

STANCE IS UNDECIDED/UNCLEAR

Jeb Bush (R) (8.3%)

George Pataki (R) (0.3%)

PARENTHESIS REPRESENT

POLL NUMBERS AS OF 10/3/2015

7 The Green Observer Magazine

By this estimation of environmental friendliness, the best candidates for the presidency are Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, and Hillary Clinton, although Clinton’s acceptance of big money from oil companies is certainly a point of concern. Republi-can Lindsey Graham is the only GOP member committed to fighting climate change, but he has made no specific proposals to do so and supports the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline as well as continued oil and gas exploration. The worst choices are undoubtedly Donald Trump, Rick Santorum, Ted Cruz, and Ben Carson- who are unlikely to be convinced that climate change is even happening. The rest of the Republican candidates, as well as Jim Webb, may be persuaded to take action if an environmental problem of convincible certainty arose- but all the same, they are not ideal choices.

In all likelihood, the candidate likely to take the most action concerning the climate is Bernie Sanders, Vermont’s junior Sen-ator- he has a strong record of fighting global warming in both the House and the Senate, and believes that climate change is “the greatest planetary crisis we now face.” Martin O’Malley, former Maryland governor, has also put forth an aggressive plan for combatting climate change, but is currently faring poorly in the polls compared to Clinton, Sanders, and Joe Biden (who has not yet decided if he will join the race despite strong support in the polls). As for Hillary, she is promising drastic action on climate change- but it’s hard to judge how well she will follow through.

SOURCES:

http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/09/23/442814701/graphic-the-presidential-candidates-on-climate-change

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/07/26/3683808/gop-field-climate-energy-ranked/

https://www.yahoo.com/politics/climate-change-where-the-2016-presidential-126684106071.html

Images are public domain, sourced from https://commons.wikimedia.org

“THE SCIENCE IS INCONCLUSIVE”

Bobby Jindal (R) (0.5%)

Mike Huckabee (R) (2.8%)

Marco Rubio (R) (9.5%)

Rand Paul (R) (2.4%)

CLIMATECHANGE IS “IRRELEVANT”

Ben Carson (R) (17.3%)

CLIMATE CHANGE IS A HOAX/”PSEUDOSCIENCE”

Donald Trump (R) (22.8%)

Rick Santorum (R) (0.4%)

Ted Cruz (R) (6.1%)

8 Re a d G r e e n . L i v e G r e e n .

TREAD ING WATERKatie Klaus

Last month, the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Envi-ronment (ISEE) held their 2nd annual congress themed “Water Planet, Water Crises?” From September 14-16, people from around world gathered at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center to talk and think about water. There were over 20 speakers, many of whom were from various departments within the Uni-versity. Others were from universities and companies around the country, and even as far away as India. Additionally, there were poster presentations, which offered students the oppor-tunity to share their research on water issues. The variety of speakers brought a range of topics, covering everything about water from shortages to policies to diseases, but the principal focus was on the nexus between water, food, and energy.

The Congress kicked off with a keynote address from Robert Glennon, a University of Arizona professor of Law and Public Policy. The Alice Campbell ballroom was packed with people of all ages and backgrounds, patient yet eager for the discussion to begin. Glennon began by talking about Las Vegas and the Bellagio fountain. This fountain has an 8-acre footprint, yet is located in one of the driest parts of the United States. How is this possible? The Vegas Strip relies heavily on recycled water. The city also pays residents to remove grass lawns, and puts out many powerful PSAs to discourage water usage.

Glennon went on to talk about policy. According to the professor, US energy policy has developed without any regard for water intensity. He stressed that if we are to protect our remaining water supplies, we need to restructure our policies. Extraction methods such as fracking use a lot of water and are located in all the worst places. In a similar vein, Glennon argued for economic changes. Our current rate structure for water supply puts all the cost in provision services, like trans-portation and infrastructure maintenance, but none on the water itself. An increase in pricing is of course undesirable for the general public, but it would reduce consumption signifi-cantly.

Another big area for improvement is in agriculture. In fact, according to Glennon, over 50% of California’s water is dispensed through the most wasteful form of irrigation. He stressed that we need to explore subsurface drip irrigation, and suspend irrigation as much as possible during the sum-mer. A mere 4% reduction in agricultural water consumption would lead to a 50% increase in water availability to munici-pal and industrial uses. It may be a challenge, but the rewards would be staggering. Glennon ended his talk by saying “It’s a crisis, no doubt… What we need is the moral cour-age and the political will to act.”

On Tuesday, the Congress continued with talks about water in the context of climate change, agriculture and energy, and diseases. The keynote speaker was James Famiglietti, a professor of Earth System Science and Civil & Environmental

Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. He is also the Senior Water Scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Labora-tory. Famiglietti focused his talk on his work at NASA with a project called GRACE, or the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment. GRACE incorporates two satellites that fly over the earth, measuring the monthly changes in total water storage in critical regions. It does not measure how much water is in our aquifers, but it can measure how much they are being drained over time. So far, they have found that in California, the water loss over the past three years has been about four trillion gallons, or the equivalent of two Lake Meads (the largest reservoir in the US, when full). Famiglietti noted that it would take about three to four years of above average pre-cipitation in a row to return our groundwater storage to nor-mal levels. He also emphasized that this is highly unlikely, and events that bring heavy rain like El Niño are unlikely to make much of a difference. Furthermore, over half of the 37 largest aquifers in the US have passed the “sustain-ability tipping point.” Famiglietti was not afraid to admit that he is less optimistic than the previous keynote speaker.

Although he is less optimistic, there were several common-alities between the talks. Both speakers emphasized the need for policy changes and improvements in agricultural efficiency. They also stressed that desalination is not the answer. Al-though it may alleviate some of this crisis, it will not solve our problems. It is still highly expensive and would be unsuccessful for agriculture (which makes up 80% of groundwater usage).

So what can we do to fix this problem? Many of us will soon enter the workforce, where we can begin to whittle away at these challenges. As Famiglietti put it “one person is easy to ignore,” but a generation of progressive thinkers can change the world. If you want to make a difference right now, Dr. Glennon offered several suggestions. One 60-watt light bulb uses about 6300 gallons of water each year. Turn off the lights when you aren’t using them, and rely on daylight whenever possible. Also, 1/3 of residential water usage goes to landscaping. We college students may not have lawns yet, but you can tell your parents to turn off the sprinklers. If they still insist, encourage them to water early in the morning or late at night, when evaporative loss will be the least. When you have your own lawn someday, consider planting with cover crops that require much less water than grasses. Finally, about 1/3 of indoor water usage is from flushing toilets. Dual flush toilets allow you to flush with more or less water, de-pending on need. Small changes can make a big difference, especially when they spread from person to person. Share your knowledge, share The Green Observer, and lets fix this water crisis together.

To learn more about the 2015 ISEE Congress, and to see presentations from each speaker, go to: http://sustainability.illinois.edu/outreach/isee-congress/isee-congress-2015/

9 The Green Observer Magazine

“LEED” ING THE WAY TO GREEN L I V INGRachel Lauter

On Wednesday, September 9th, the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) student organization at the Uni-versity of Illinois hosted its first meeting of the year. There, USGBC introduced Champaign Assistant Planning & Devel-opment Director Rob Kowalski. Mr. Kowalski spoke about the Bristol Place LEED- ND (Leadership in Energy and En-vironmental Design Neighborhood Development) Master Plan. Bristol Place is an area that encompasses three different neighborhoods: Garwood, Shadow Wood, and Bristol Place.

The plan to create a new neighborhood began after re-search done by Champaign County examined mean housing price and found that it was far below the average property value of the City of Champaign. Rob Kowalski stated in his presentation that “the Bristol Place median property value is $43,303 while the average city property value is $138,400.” As a result of these numbers, and the fact that property values were still declining, it was decided that Bristol Place would be completely torn down and rebuilt. With $8 million com-mitted to redevelopment and relocation of residents, the city government is busy buying each home in the area and help-ing to relocate the inhabitants. Once the new neighborhood is complete, previous residents will be the first people asked to move back.

A LEED-ND neighborhood has differ-ent requirements than a LEED building. The main reason the Bristol Place project decided to follow LEED-ND standards is to create an area with a “healthier com-munity, cleaner environment and stronger economy,” explained Rob Kowalski. Since Bristol Place already met many of the LEED-ND standards including Bristol Park, CUMTD access, close proximity to schools and jobs and a well-connected network of streets; the targets for this project to be certified LEED-ND were housing afford-ability, a diverse building type and an increased dwelling density (the number of dwelling units per acre of land.) One of the biggest planning challenges for the city was increasing the total dwelling density for Bristol Place from the existing 76 units to 193 units total. To be certified LEED-ND the dwelling density needs to be appropri-

ately matched to transit access and because this area has ex-cellent access to CUMTD service, the dwelling density needed to be increased. The city accomplished this goal by creating a multi-family building and a greater number of townhomes, stacked dwellings and side-by-side homes.

The final draft of the new neighborhood plan was created in 2014 and the city is now looking for developers to bid on the plan and start construction in 2017. One of the unique things about this plan is that instead of the developers creat-ing their own, they will use a neighborhood plan crafted by the city and past residents.

The Bristol Place redevelopment is scheduled to be com-pleted summer 2019. For more information, check out the City of Champaign website: http://ci.champaign.il.us/

BRISTOL PARK

10 Re a d G r e e n . L i v e G r e e n .

Because of the constant increase in energy costs, many Americans are gradually making the switch to off-the-grid living. Either by installing solar panels, improving insulation, or implementing efficient water systems, the ultimate goal is to live life while disconnected from the national power grid. Living a greener lifestyle does come with its initial con-struction expenses, but eventually, the long-term benefits can exceed the costs.

L I V ING L I F E UNPLUGGED Written by: Rachel Lee

Graphic by: Katie Klaus

SOURCE: HTTP://WWW.GREENAND-SAVE.COM/MASTER_ROI_TABLE.HTML

Green RoofFlat rooftops covered with

plants and shrubbery limit wa-ter runoff and provide greater insulation that saves energy.

$8,000 $16,000 $800 10 years

Smart RoofReflective metal roofing can limit the heat trans-

ferred in attics.

Solar Hot WaterRooftop water that has been heated by the sun is channeled through

panels to a storage tank. This limits the energy used

to heat water.

Solar for ElectricityEnergy costs can be reduced significantly by using rooftop solar panels to convert sun-

light into electricity.

Low-Emissive WindowsUsing low-E glass for windows can greatly cut energy costs

because they improve the way windows transfer heat.

Insulated WallsProperly-insulated walls

using appropriate materi-als can save energy and

reduce utility costs.

Large-Scale Water Retention

Rainwater or grey water can be recycled through water collection systems. This recycled water may be used for irrigation or toilets, which decreases

water costs.

Furnace ReplacementHigh efficiency, variable

speed, or two-stage system furnaces will cut heating and

cooling costs.

Geothermal SystemGeothermal systems use the

ground temperature to reduce the energy required to heat or

cool a home.

KEY:

Initial Cost 20-Year Savings Annual Savings Payback Time

$2,500 $280

$5,600 8.9 years

$2,000 $300

6,000 6.7 years

$750 $300

$6,000 2.5 years

$2,200 $216

$4,320 10.2 years

$13,000 $1,200

$60,000 10.8 years

$700 $300

$6,000 2.3 years

$1,145 $300

$6,000 3.8 years

$30,000 $3,000

$60,000 10 years

Thermal Mass FloorsUsing flooring materials that hold temperature

reduce demand on a fur-nace or air conditioning. $3,000 $400

$8,000 7.5 years

11 The Green Observer Magazine

You hear people nowadays singing praises of the modern homesteading movement…or maybe not, depending on your social circles and enviro-blog readership. One thing is for certain: the modern homesteading movement is gaining ground faster than you can probably pronounce the phrase “modern homesteading movement”.

What is the modern homesteading movement, you ask? Kristen Reynolds from the Small Farm Program at the Uni-versity of California-Davis defines a modern homestead as “a household that produces a significant part of the food, including produce and livestock, consumed by its residents. This is typically associated with residents’ desire to live in a more environmentally conscious manner.” What does this mean? Modern homestead-ers adopt environmentally-responsible behaviors to reduce resource consump-tion. They collect greywater, reduce electricity usage by drying clothes on a line, raise goats or chickens, grow produce, can food, reduce waste by recycling or composting, and plant native plants! The theme is conservation. Whether that’s saving plastic shopping bags to weave into rugs for your apartment or collecting grey water for your vegetable garden, self-sufficiency is key.

Historically, homesteaders played a large role in the devel-opment of the western United States. These people are the rough and tumble pioneers that you’ve read about in history books. They used the resources available to them in the most sustainable way possible, and thrived upon being self-reliant and sustainable in a world where the only other alternative was death. In more modern times, homesteading was adopt-ed during World War I and II. Victory gardens were planted to supplement family produce needs while the country was at war and our citizens were living on rations.

Recently, people are jumping on the sustainability band-wagon at an astonishing pace which delights environmental-ists, but also frustrates those of us living in bustling urban areas. We live in apartments and dorms and to be frank, just don’t have the space or resources to be involved in such a progressive environmental movement, right? Well, fret not, urban dweller! You do, in fact, have the space, time, and resources to be a part of the urban modern homesteading movement!

In the Champaign-Urbana area, people are implementing modern homesteading practices in their urban residences. University of Illinois student Fiona Weingartner plants a veg-etable garden in the yard of the house she rents and is also converting the yard of her childhood home into an edible yard. Instead of planting grass seed yearly, she plants edible plants. These plants require less watering and have nutritional functionality, unlike grass. Growing produce or culinary and medicinal plants can cut grocery bills each month--yet anoth-er perk of the movement. Even if you live in an apartment or

dorm and don’t have access to a yard, window boxes made of wood or an old milk crate can be a fantastic solution!

Some urban homesteaders raise their own livestock in the form of bees, rabbits, chickens or goats. Local residents have even built chicken coops from salvaged wood or children’s swing sets. Robert Kanter, pro-fessor and advisor for the De-partment of Earth, Society and Environmental Sustainability, and his wife have adopted this notion and currently have a coop built in their backyard. Part of the appeal for raising

livestock and growing food is knowing exactly what is in the food you consume. They can raise chickens without extra hormones and added stress, or can monitor exactly what is in the soil where they raise gardens.

Another key aspect of the movement is community food sourcing such as bartering with neighbors. Trading food you’ve grown for food grown by neighbors can help both parties supplement resources. Community collaboration of resources and skills is essential.

No matter how large or small the efforts you undertake in the homesteading movement, you can make a difference. So take the initiative! Explore your options! It’s never too late to get involved, no matter what your previous knowledge or experience level may be.

Happy homesteading, urban dwellers! SOURCES: Kristen Reynolds, University of California Small Farm Program, February 2009, Urban Agriculture in Alameda, CA. http://sfp.ucdavis.edu/docs/ urban_agriculture09.pdf Weingartner, Fiona. Personal Interview. 15, Sept. 2015. Kanter, Robert. Personal Interview. 17, Sept. 2015.

STR IV ING FOR SUSTA INAB I L I TY:MODERN HOMESTEADING FOR AN URBAN LIFESTYLE

Alex Peredna

ILLUSTRATION BY ANDREW HARLAN

visit us online at: www.greenobservermagazine.com

GREEN I T YOURSELF : WOODEN COASTERSRemy CrowleyFarenga

Want to be the proud new owner of killer coasters like the one this cup of responsibly sourced coffee is resting its post-consumer-materials butt on? Well, you could spend $15 on Etsy and have them delivered to you in a week; or, you could come on a journey with me.

Imagine you’re off on a nice walk and you see some scraps of a tree that your municipal district decided to cut down. You see potential for all that wood, but you’re not a woodworker! So you grab a roughly 3.5” diameter log and mosey back to your resi-dence, intent on finding some purpose for it.

Here’s what you’re going to do with it and what you will need.

1. Preheat your oven to 200° and place your log in it for an hour. This will help dehydrate it and kill microorgan-isms that might bring mold.

2. If you have a miter saw (which will make this a walk in the park), set your angle so that you’ll make a nice 90° cut on your log. Make your cuts approximately half an inch apart, but the thickness of your coaster is really up to you. SAFETY GLASSES ON! Good luck if you’re using a hand saw, getting those cuts straight will be a work of art unto themselves.

3. Once your log is nicely sliced up, sand both sides of each coaster.

4. Since there is a good chance the log you found in the middle of the park/on the side of the road isn’t a beauti-ful mahogany or cherry, you’ll probably want to stain it. Head over to your local Restore (or other similar resale shop) and pick up a can of partially used stain. You won’t need much. Apply the stain in the direction of the grain (circularly). You will probably need 2 coats.

5. Let the stain dry for a full day. At this point you may stop. However I would suggest step 6.

6. Douse your coaster with mineral oil and rub it in until you feel there has been significant absorption. This will help preserve your coaster and give it a nice sheen (as opposed to a matte look)

7. Enjoy your fancy new coaster with a warm dark roast, an oaky red, or give them to your friends!

READ GREEN . L I VE GREEN .

• Your new log

• An oven

• A saw (a miter saw will work the best, but a hand saw will also do)

• Wood stain

• Sandpaper

• Varnish/mineral oil

• Brush

• Safety glasses