Jessica Edmiston

This week, while I was unable to make it to the hike (weather can do terrible things to ones biology), in fact I was forced to spend a few days simply lying flat and not moving due to the stiffness in my back. However, that does not mean I was unable to appreciate nature. I am blessed that there is a tree that flowers right outside of my dorm window. It's leaves were some of the last to fall, and now I can see that the beginning of buds on the branches are slowly beginning to develop. But it seems like the tree knows that this has been a false spring, so instead of rushing to bloom it is instead waiting, patiently, teaching me that if I slow down, and wait, that the opportune moment will arrive, and then it will be safe to bloom. Even from my bedside window, I can still see nature, and learn from it's abundant lessons. Everyday I look at the branches of the tree, and I wait to see; is it spring yet? is it safe to bloom?

Last weeks Nature Activity: I decided to more deliberately walk around campus and look at the garden-scapes that are being developed, the different ways the university is working to further integrate nature into the campus space. Just taking slower steps, looking around instead of merely looking at my phone or a book while I'm walking a well tread path to and from the library and the dorms where I live. And noticing the small signs of spring. We frequently walk briskly from one place to another, or if we're walking slowly it's usually with a book in our hands or a concept on our minds - I took this opportunity to focus not on homework, life, or future plans which usually keep my gears spinning. This time I decided I was going to walk slowly, to places I don't usually go, and to focus on what I saw around myself, instead of what I usually spend thinking about.

Consumerism.
What's there to say on the methodology of advertising ("don't sell a product, sell the fear of not having the product" paraphrased).
Over the years, it's been a matter of learning impulse control - I try to make sure that I contemplate each purchase for at least 24 hours before I buy something. Which sometimes ends up quite entertaining when I open my Amazon account and find items I'd completely forgotten about in my cart, which obviously means that it's something I don't need.
All that being said, I'm a photographer, camper, and road tripper - so there are some things I've spent quite a bit of money on, in order to have a quality item that's going to last a long time (dude, lenses are not cheap!). Also, it sometimes (often) means I'll have multiple items (extra hammocks, extra blankets, extra sleeping bags, etc.) as I test different products.
All that being said. My own consumer habits are focused on my activities and interests (I have quite a few bushcraft knives and manchettes, useful on foliage, as well as security).

Focusing on transportation, I suppose this is the area in which I have the most room for improvement - but also admit that there are some environmental elements involved.
When I live in a larger city I rely on public transportation, walking, and in the last few years, e-scooters. It's amazing how convenient it is to not rely on maintaining my own car.
However, here in Portland, the public transit system is not quite up to snuff (after Chicago, especially) and so I do rely on a car, especially in rain, and especially to get to and from work, which is not on a convenient route, and since I work nights, I really prefer the safety of my box on wheels then trying to get around on my scooter via river front bike trails.
All that being said, a few years ago, when I was living on campus and working in downtown, I virtually stopped driving entirely and relied solely on my scooter to get to and from work and home.
I must admit, that everything is situational.

Water
There are many aspects outlined in my previous comments have pointed out some of the methods I rely on for water management. So I hope I'm not being redundant here.

As a bush crafter, camper, and merely for general just in case purposes, I rely on water filtration devices when I go off grid. As uncomplicated as the Katadyn gravity water filtration system in personal (0.6 l), small, and large camp size bags (1.5 l and 5 l). These systems are simple, yet designed to filter out bacteria, protozoa, and sediments including microplastics.

For more extreme, and a much smaller filtration system, I rely on the Grayl UltraPress Titanium water filter; this filter system is smaller and more contained, however, it also removes excess particulates, including pathogens from virus', bacteria, and protozoan cysts.

Sometimes the key to my choices are the materials (Grayl is the most versatile in and out of town), sometimes it's a matter of volume, when I'm going to be at a campsite by a running river for more than a night, my larger Katadyn gravity filtration systems mean that I'm not rushing to the river to fill a filtration device more regularly.

But the most important concern, for me, is that all of my options can be used on the trail, or in town if there is any sort of concern due to pipes or infrastructure issues.

For me, when I think of sustainability and water - I think of how to make water drinkable, useable for cleaning, and usable for cooking, whether drawn from a well, a flowing river, a small creek or even from my own apartment.

My Canvas feed said we’re supposed to be talking about food.
As I’ve mentioned in some replies, I have spent a lot of time in the last 20 years living in van life, which means relying on food that does not require temperature controlled storage (take a moment to imagine, no refrigerator, no freezer, no stash of ice cream for a bad day, no cold fresh milk for a bowl of cereal in the mornings, no creamer for your coffee…) These conditions have long changed my relationship with food. For instance, I only cook what I’m planning to eat at each meal, I embraced thermos cooking, dehydrated backpacking food, my staple meal product is rice, learning how to use a tiny pressure cooker to make chili, etc. from scratch from dried beans. I also only buy fresh produce or any kind of meat products as I intend to cook within about an hour of purchase.
A lot of people seem to think that living this lifestyle can mean a lot of fastfood, eating out, etc. but not for me, and not for the practiced car or vanlifer - a focus on healthy eating, means we have less sick days, time loss at work, etc. (and no one wants to be sick while living in a vehicle and living in town! Trust me.) Vanlife also taught me the value of managing cooking fuel resources, lack of refrigeration, eating based on the seasons (a lot of salads and fruits in the summer, a lot of soups and stews in the winter).
After 20-odd years of backpacking, bushcrafting, vanlife, etc. I have grown to have a very practical approach to food, which serves me well in living conditions such as the dorm (hey I have access to a refrigerator and a freezer, albeit tiny ones). But food conscientious does not stop once you have the luxury of appliances - in fact, it’s easier to be wasteful when you aren’t living on small grocery runs, than it is when you have to manage your space, fuel, time, and temperature.

This weeks theme being Energy, I thought I'd share some of the ways I work around energy use now (while living in the dorms) and when I'm on the road (relying on solar and engine power to keep me going).
While in the dorms, I'm lucky to not have to pay a power bill, but I still rely on energy efficient LED lighting, instead of the overhead light in the room, lighting only the spaces that I'm using (my bed, my desk), always turning lights off when I leave my room for more than a restroom break. Since I work the late shift at work, I come home, turn on the overhead light, go to my desk lamp (my primary light source), and then go turn off the overhead so that I'm not wasting the energy of too many inefficient lights. While I'm at work I do a similar thing, since I'm the only person working on my floor, I turn all of the overhead florescent lights off, and only have two small LED lamps at my desk that I use to do my work. This keeps my eyes from straining in the florescent light, as well as not wasting resources when it's just me and the overage head lighting is excessive for one person.
When I'm on the road I rely heavily on solar power and battery banks. I invested in 100w USBC charging outlet plugs to ensure that I can charge my battery banks and laptop faster so I can use Starbucks and libraries to fill up my portable battery banks for my phone, laptops and tablets to be used in my van later, without drawing on the power of my larger, car and solar charged battery bank that runs the refrigerator I keep, in an insulation bag, in my van because I have medications that need to be refrigerated. This way the largest appliance I use on the road (my refrigerator) is insulated from the heat, and insulated in the cool air, which requires it to pull on the energy of the battery bank less, and therefore my battery bank can keep the fridge running longer, even if I'm not making long drives. One of the considerations that this leads to is that I can not park my van in parking garages without going up to the roof, where there's sun light, and therefore I have invested in solar reduction methods for my windows, not just my front windscreen, but also the rear passenger compartment has UV blocking shades, and my rear window also has means of mounting a blackout curtain to keep the light from warming my van up too much in the summer - which again contributes to a reduction in use of electricity by the fridge, while allowing the solar panel on top to passively charge my large battery bank as much as possible.
These are just a few ways I manage my energy use.

I'm a bit behind this week.
My challenge on reducing waste, may sound simple, but, not using filters for my coffee, instead I have a reusable filter for my aero press, instant coffee sometimes, and then I have a mesh pour over filter when I just want slow and simple coffee. Also, I only make coffee per cup to drink instead of making a large or small pot of coffee and ending up wasting coffee that I don't drink. I also use glass and metal strainers for my loose leaf tea so there's almost zero waste, the tea remains are kept for composting deposits when I find them. And lastly, I suppose this is more consumer, with the goal of less waste - as I work at night, the heat in my office is lowered and I get cold, so I bought an electric heated throw blanket to wrap around my legs at night which is helping enormously, and because it's not a pocket heater or a fan, the warmth is contained in my blanket and I keep it on a lower setting so it's not using a lot of electricity.
Oh, and one other waste topic, although this is mostly related to water. I use the three basin system of doing dishes heating water in an electric kettle (my dorm does not have hot water for resident rooms), have one basin for washing, and another mixing vinegar and water to rinse items before, if needed, running some items under the cold water for a final rinse. This way I'm not running the water the entire time I'm doing the dishes, and conserving water (this is also how I do my dishes when camping, however with one wash basin and one rinsing pot and the water is heated, usually, over a fire, but if there's a ban then I use one of my camp stoves. Additionally I use water from the site, usually a river, after it's run through a filter.

With regards to waste - currently I try to minimize my waste foot print by: using rags and towels instead of paper towels, using biodegradable trash bags, not purchasing food items in surplus packaging (getting my meat from the deli instead of buying precut/pre-packaged meat), buying only what I am going to use within one week, buying individual stalks of celery and carrots instead of precut bags or bunches - so only what I know I am going to use. I try to take this a step further and only buy what I am going to cook for my next meal. However, because grocery stores close early and I am a night owl, this can be inconvenient.
I also stopped using plastic food storage containers and moved to glass a few years back, and additional incentive to eat left overs instead of just tossing the whole thing. Finally, I simply try (emphasis on try) not to impulse shop, to make sure if I'm purchasing something, that it's going to be able to do multiple jobs, and not collect dust or end up in a trash pile one day.