Taiya Essex

For simple living and health, I tried to take care of my physical and mental well being by spending extra time outdoors and going to nature places I've never been to before. Everytime I'm outside, I take a few minutes to just breath and be present. I think about the systems and ways that nature is connected, and the ways I'm connected to it.
When I'm watering my small garden, I've made an effort to slow down and be present with my plants and my actions. I've also made an effort to eat mindfully and I want to learn more about where my foods come from. I want to know more about what is local, and I've been visiting farmers markets on Sundays to learn more about what grows locally. I want to continue to be mindful and connect with nature in order to live simply and improve my health.

For this week, I focused more on nature as I love spending time outdoors and I wanted to connect with nature as it's been super nice recently. I noticed how nature and community are very interconnected, for example I went to Vancouver's Saturday market which is on a street in a circle around a park. The green space on it's own is already gorgeous but seeing children playing and people shopping local business at the market made me feel really good to see everyone together.
I went on a few extra walks this week, especially after work. I'm making an effort to walk my neighborhood, and I often visit a park a few blocks away. I've started to notice the same people at similar times. I try to use this time to stay off my phone, and if I'm with my partner we get a chance to talk and spend quality time with our dog. I visited the gorge on Saturday and did the Cape Horn upper trail. Many times, I stopped to enjoy the bird sounds, observe the beetles scattering across my path and enjoy the scent of flowers and fresh air. At the same time, I could hear the cars on the road below the mountain. It's hard to connect with nature when you may have to go far out of town, especially if you have to drive a car and add to the pollution. But these spaces connect us and we need to protect them, and do what we can to continue to conserve local ecosystems.
As for consumerism, I was very careful to only purchase what I need and tried to meal plan/eat leftovers as much as possible so I didn't waste as much.

For this week's transportation challenge, I tried to walk as often as possible especially if I was going somewhere nearby. For example, I live about a mile away from my nearest grocery store and the walk is mostly paved (with really long wait times at crosswalks but I digress) so this weekend, I walked there twice instead of making unnecessary trips to somewhere close. I really enjoy walking and a lot of place I go daily are within walking distance (besides work and school), it can just be hard to get there due to lack of maintained sidewalks. I would really like to look into getting a bike, I would use it for any trip near to me.

This week, I decided to try and meet my neighbors as I very recently moved less than two months ago. I know a few neighbors from walking my dog, and one of my managers lives in my complex (lol). I realized that if there was an emergency, I don't know how I could turn to or who is even in my general area. This started off pretty slow as it is difficult to break the ice and talk to new people. I don't want to bother my neighbors and I'm also cautious due to past experience. Something that really helps in meeting your community is taking frequent walks around your neighborhood, as I do several times a day with my dog. I've started to notice the same people around the same times. My dog has been a great conversation starter, although hes talkative so he scares some people off. I also found it easier if my partner or someone I know is with me when I meet someone new. It takes away some anxiety. my complex's office occasionally holds raffles but I think the clubhouse here should be utilized to be more community focused.
I meet three neighbors this week, not including everyone I said hello to (just saying good morning everyday could lead to an eventual relationship!) The first one is an older lady who goes outside to smoke often, her name is Liz. I don't know much else yet but hopefully she will be nice! The other two were working on a car outside, I've seen them do this before but never said hello. I said hello and my dog barked so they asked if he was tiger, and another neighbor walking by laughed and said he was actually a lion. It was a very sweet interaction and I'm excited to meet more of my neighbors and maybe get to know them better. They are all older than me, but they could still be resources and maybe I can ask my office if I can put up a community board or a space for people to leave old things and take stuff that got left there, like a reuse station. Overall, I really want to find more ways to get involved with my community as I now recognize it's value and importance, and how difficult it may be to know your community in our type of society.

This week I decided to do several actions related to water to reduce my overall use. I realized how much water goes into everything, the food I consume, the products I use including materials/clothing and plastic products: it’s been very eye opening and it’s concerning how much water is wasted every day. I tried to conserve toliet water and only flush when necessary. This was difficult because I didn’t want to leave anything in the toliet, but I tried to as often as possible. I also didn’t run water while I was brushing my teeth and cleaning, only turning on the tap when necessary. I took shorter showers and limited them to a few less days a week than usual. I hope these things can help conserve water and I will continue to do so to try and conserve how much water I use, at least I will be mindful.

This week, I decided Turn It Off (when not in use). I researched some of the ways to save energy in your home by looking at PGE’s website, which offers ways to reduce energy waste around your home. I try to keep everything off when I am not using it, sometimes I use the heaters/AC so this week I made sure to not turn them on. I also made sure to always power down the computer when not in use. I went around and unplugged things that are just plugged in, such as chargers and gaming consoles that aren’t in use. Since the days are becoming longer, I don’t turn on lamps except in the early morning or when it gets dark. Maybe I will invest in LED light bulbs which save energy.

For this week’s challenge to reduce waste, I decided to research composting in Beaverton. Since I live in an apartment building, I am not eligible for curbside pickup of compostables, yard debris and recycling. I think a lot of people who want to compost (but aren’t necessarily using the compost themselves) can understand. What should I do with my compost if I don’t have a yard? The point of composting is to reduce food waste by recycling the nutrients and using it to feed soil. I want to start a herb garden but it won’t be large enough. I decided to walk around my community and see if there are any nearby composting bins I could use, but I had no luck even at the community garden.