May 21, 2008 by Julie.

Mom has always had flowers, since I can remember, which she took very good care of: lilies, iris, tulips, pansies…

But Dad planted a garden, with radishes, carrots, beans, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, canteloupe, pumpkins, even corn! I remember the first time we all helped him seed…and the first time we pulled up the mutant carrots… But Dad cared about that garden as well as for it. He watered it, tended it, and then we would bring in the bounty. Only thing was, Dad didn’t cook. And neither, really, did Mom. I am trying to remember eating this gorgeous bounty but, aside from swallowing soggy things boiled in bacon and salt water, which is how you “prepare” vegetables in the South, I do not recall ever eating any of these wonderful fruits of our labor at anything near their natural form…

Today, Mom and I had to go buy a tea kettle to replace hers that started spewing water all over the stove. On the way home, we had to wait for a train so we killed time at St Matthews Feed & Seed store. I thought to myself: It’s now or never, and walked straight over to the tomato plants. Real food. Plants you can grow which make no garbage and keep giving you food. It’s miraculous! I have grown plenty of plants in my house but, other than herbs, I have never bought and planted plants to grow food for my family. This is a first! We bought cherry tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, cilantro, lemon mint, and seeds to start green beans.

“You don’t know if any of these seeds are GMO?” I asked the store lady. “Huh?” “Genetically modified - these are just seeds right, they haven’t been messed with or anything?” She looked at me like I was asking her to bicycle to the moon so I took our little packet of seeds and thanked her, then we paid and skedaddled. The little plants are waiting hopefully outside in their pots for the day, coming soon, when I will put them in the real ground for them to take root and start really growing…like the baby in my belly…

We can grow things. That’s amazing.

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May 18, 2008 by Julie.

YERT mama checking in… confessing to some trash-making on the home front in Louisville, whilst the remaining explorers make out across Minneapolis in search of green drinks, BagE-Wash and bees…

When I got dropped off of the road part of YERT, I knew that being trash-free would become a bigger challenge - mainly due to food preparation since, suddenly, all the packaging that the three of us had mostly managed to avoid (by not finishing people’s cartons of milk or OJ, or boxes of cereal, etc) I would now be coming face to face with in my mom’s own fridge. I mentioned a few days ago that I’ve been a little frustrated but, seriously, what do you do with a kitchen full of already packaged food? Not waste it, surely?

“Mom,” I’d said, pointing to her little under-counter bin, “this garbage bag is going to last us until the baby is born. So don’t throw anything in there that you don’t want hanging around for the next 2 months.” She’d just looked at me, big eyes. “OK.” she’d said. I’d had a feeling it might take a few days to catch on. I did pull a couple of banana peels, a few pieces of junk mail and the occasional kleenex out of there but for the most part, and no thanks to my tirades and nagging, Mom started getting the hang of it. It has been 3 weeks.

I was hoping that we wouldn’t have to take garbage out…I really was. But, I am not kidding, the trash had started to stink. I couldn’t figure it out since all we’d been putting in there was plastic, plastic and plastic. And waxed food cartons that had been washed very well. This morning I found the culprit - a disposable diaper. Yum. We had a little visitor a few days ago who isn’t quite potty trained yet and I hadn’t told his sweet mama that we were trying to keep the same garbage until July.

It’s not her fault. Anyway, I was fooling myself if I thought I could keep packing the refuse down to make that bag last another week, much less another month. So, regrettably, Mom and I took the garbage out, and took video to record the unhappy event. I have to say, though, I am so proud of mom for her efforts!! We have only one very small bag of garbage, compared to 3 BIG bags of recycling going out tomorrow, and that is a BIG change. I wonder if the garbage men will notice? Almost makes me want to get up at 6:00 am just to watch them them scratch their heads in wonder at how we manage…but not quite…

AND, yesterday, Mom turned in her gas powered lawnmower for $50 at the recycling facility in Louisville and then we went to the hardware store to pick her up an electric, battery-operated lawn mower (for which she also got a $50 rebate. She’s hoping it will pay for itself in saved gas costs, and she feels good about not polluting or using oil), and today we bought a few more CFL (Compact Flourescent) bulbs. Next on the agenda…. could it be that Mom is considering retiring her old van and buying a Prius???

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May 13, 2008 by Julie.

YERT mama checking in on the site…and just noticing from the shower checker that YERT daddy has not taken a shower in 12 dys.
I can honestly say that I left the road part of the trip just in time.

I have been home for just about 10 dys now. Last weekend, I accompanied my brother Tony and his wife Heather here in Louisville as they picked up red wrigglers (worms!) from Breaking Grounds (related to Heine Bros Fair Trade Organic Coffee). Tony and Heather were the first people to buy worms from the newly established compost/wormery, along with another Louisville lady. I interviewed Brian B, the new worm wrangler, and got a first hand look at worm eggs which i had never studied so closely before. I hope to start volunteering on Sundays, bringing worms to the ignorant masses…

At home, we are finding the NO GARBAGE challenge to be nearly impossible. Firstly, we have a lot of food to use up in Mom’s fridge and cabinets that is highly packaged and, secondly, there are certain things that Mom cannot get on board with yet. I have to learn to be gentle or this will be fruitless. She did not sign on for the YERT experience. Hiding her papertowels and kleenexes and chiding her for flushing the toilet is, so far, not charming her. I have got to be more creative and maybe come up with a way of making NO TRASH more fun.

So far, I think it is mainly annoying. For both of us. I just didn’t realize how much easier it is to make no trash when you are all 3 dedicated and you are eating out half the time and not absorbing the waste that comes from restaurant food…or from the households that are so kindly offering us to partake in their juice, milk and cereal…

…To be continued…

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April 29, 2008 by Julie.

Yesterday while we were driving around in the car, Ben announced, “Day 300!”

Day 300. Man. When we started this trip, I wasn’t even sure that I would make it past Day 30. The idea of driving non-stop around the country with 2 dudes for a year (one of them my husband), with no home and one pair of shoes apiece (ok i also had flip flops, but they take up almost no room), interviewing strangers to see how America fares in the new and improved effort to live sustainably in a basically disposable culture…well, it seemed a gargantuan task, to say the least. I really had no idea what to expect. One of my brothers believed I would NOT make it, and was surprised every time I called him from the road. Well-meaning friends assured me many times that they would not think less of me if I left the trip before its end. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. And the only reason I’m leaving now is because I have a new mission: motherhood.

It hasn’t always been easy, with 3 of us tightly packed into our little Ford Escape Hybrid, juggling schedules, roadmaps, phone calls, emails, our psycho 10-CD factory-installed Navigational system, not to mention differing ideas about who & what should not be missed in any given state. We have different personalities, we three. Different preferences, patience levels, tolerances, judgments, thoughts about how things should be done, levels of perfectionism, ways of communicating…We haven’t always seen eye to eye. But I will say that this has provided us a pretty cool opportunity to learn how to navigate our own personal roadmaps…

I think we’ve shared from the beginning a sort of blind trust that humanity is basically good and that, given the chance, (the knowledge, the awareness of HOW to change, and what is out there) people will begin to do the right thing, and our children and grandchildren will have the chance to know how connected we are to every living thing on this planet, and there will be something left of beauty to sustain them.

I am so inspired by Mark and Ben, still - to see them work so endlessly, and to still be so driven after 9 1/2 months of solid work. I am so inspired by the people we have met along the way and the hundreds of blogs and websites we have become acquainted with since Your Environmental Road Trip began. I can hardly keep up with it all, there is so much going on out right now in this push to be green and learn to live sustainably. What an amazing wave of waking up! I had no idea when we left how big a wave we would all be riding. In every single state without exception we have found people caring deeply, working hard, thinking creatively, and making changes that are being reflected in government and legislature and even big corporations. Greenwashing does happen, sure it does, but this trip is making me believe that it won’t hold a candle to the real movement that is washing over us, which is Truth, and which will carry us into a brighter, cleaner, healthier future if we let it.

I am leaving the Road part of YERT for the boys to finish but I will continue the journey in Louisville, preparing for a completely different set of challenges. There are many things which have been made somewhat easy on the trip but which will be harder in “real life” (ie: garbage). I am very thankful to the boys for being gentlemen to me since I’ve been pregnant. I am honored to have been part of these last 10 months, and to have now the opportunity to raise a child who will hopefully benefit from everything we’ve learned.

Here we go. Babysteps to a better way of Life. Bon Voyage, boys, be safe! We will keep the green fires burning….and be sure that the waste smoke is being used for something…

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April 19, 2008 by Julie.

…ahhh…home. the smell of the subway, the roar of the…Nothing like setting foot on the train after being on the road smashed into a car with two boys for 9 months…actually, nothing like it at all. Amazing how fast things seem like you never left them.

Julie here, just checking in, relaying that the female(s) of Your Environmental Road Trip are still kicking and breathing. Singing, actually. Baby is getting her first glimpses of what Mama really does..and she seems to like it pretty well. Can’t blame her as, in my opinion, the vibrations that rock the walls daily of NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program on 2nd Avenue are nothing less than delicious, to even the most tested of ears, much less tiny, developing, new ones.

A little backstory: I negotiated with the boys for this week of work, singing in NYC, before we ever left Pittsburgh back in July, and have been looking forward to it fiercely ever since. (side note* this little baby was conceived on the only day on this trip that Ben and I actually sang together, performing a musical reading for a friend in LA back in October. I’m just saying.) Not surprising that everything feels just fine.

The boys have been working their patooties off getting the new website off the ground in flying colors, chasing interviews all over Manhattan, scrambling around the city shooting b-roll, while I sit on the edge of my chair in the rehearsal room with several other singer/actors, learning music and remembering what it feels like to soar. Happy. Free. And yesterday was simply gorgeous, 70’s and breezy… I went window shopping near Union Square just to see what people are wearing these days and i had to laugh bc everything looks maternity! All girls are wearing frocks! hahaha i fit right in. Except for my shoes. I found a spot on a bench and watched the people for hours…

Today is going to be amazing. My dear friend, Erin Crosby, is throwing us a green baby shower! at her apartment in Brooklyn, and I am told she has gone to many lengths to make this as different as possible from the 9 months we have spent in the car with same clothes, same shoes, same equipment, same each other… We have asked that everyone bring something 2nd hand, rather than something new, NO PLASTIC, Pls! and that it be “wrapped” in something completely reusable, and she has done her best to be sure that people are thinking creatively. I can’t wait to see what people have come up with, and I am so so grateful to her for pulling this off. Plus, I can’t wait to feel like a pretty girl again. Ugggh. For literally the first time in months, I will be wearing something other than dirty sneakers.

In short, I am giddy with anticipation and thanking in advance Erin, all my friends who are meeting us today, NYU, and my YERT boys for letting me have this window where I get to remember the joy of being a girl…greenly…before I leave this tour to learn how to be a green mom. Stay tuned…we’ll let you know how it goes.

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April 9, 2008 by Julie.

Gorgeous spring day in the Fingerlakes.
All 3 of us got outside for some good morning exercise in the fresh air before heading in to Ithaca to meet with Steve Burke, President of the Board of Ithaca Hours at his cool little shop, Small World Music. Talked about some of the challenges of using local currency as well as the benefits, and why Ithaca seems to be a hotbed for forward thinking. Steve told us that people in Ithaca, besides being well-educated, generally do NOT watch TV.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh.

We bought some local music from Steve and even used one of our Berkshares (gorgeous local currency from Great Barrington, MA) as part payment, and then Ben, Mark & I shared some killer vegan carrotcake at ABC cafe near Cornell University…bought partially with Ithaca hours…

(Berkshares are very different in their application than are Ithaca Hours. More information on local currencies can be found at the EF Schumacher website. Seems to be still a ways away from becoming mainstream but as the dollar continues to decline, local currencies are an interesting option for keeping communities thriving…) Thoughts?

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April 8, 2008 by Julie.

Girl is getting tired! Whoo doggy. Pregnancy brain has taken over and I don’t concentrate on anything besides baby names, birthing options, and breastfeeding … kind of funny bc I’m not really to a point to do any of those things yet … and as I am daily getting bigger and bigger… watching my belly burgeoning and counting the days before I can get out of the car, i remember that i am supposed to be blogging about the trip and researching something other than how many kicks are supposed to be felt every hour…

I missed most of DC cause I was in Louisville drinking sweet goo for the prenatal check for getstational diabetes. Highlights were that American Airlines waylaid my luggage (it showed up the next day at Mom’s) and that the nurses forgot me in the waiting area and I had to come back the next day and drink the sticky stuff a second time right before getting on the plane back to DC. Anyway, the only pics I have are of Ben and I on the National Mall on our last day before heading North.

So - today was a day of making phone calls and sending emails, for things in upstate NY and also NYC. No bites yet, but very excited to get an email back from Robin Nagle (an anthropology professor at NYU who has really done some interesting study of garbage in the Big Apple). Unfortunately, it looks like our paths will not cross this time through NYC…Perhaps we will find her again on this journey? Majora Carter also looks to be out of town for the week we are in NYC, and other people we’ve contacted have yet to respond, so we may have to reassess our options. We’ll probably try to get to Ithaca tomorrow and see what we can see, regardless of who calls us back from there. Fingers crossed.

Right now Ben is still working on graphics, Mark has gone to bed and I am still feeling happy for the Kansas Jayhawks’ NCAA victory over Memphis, and super grateful for this tiny kiddo brewing away in-belly…

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