Some Volunteerism

Following on Obama's recommendations, Mayor Bloomberg held a press conference on Monday announcing his grand plans to increase volunteerism in NYC. The event was held in the massive Armory Track & Field arena and featured 4 big screen tvs and MTV News reporter Sway Calloway. You would think that with all of the talk of volunteerism I would be able to find some place (any place!) to volunteer on Earth Day tomorrow. Of course, this is mostly my own fault for waiting too long, but in the course of my last minute searching I realized that there very few Earth Day events in NYC.

The main NYC Earth Day events include the Earth Day Fair in Grand Central and a celebration in Central Park featuring music and free events. While both of these are educational in nature and I am sure that they will both have various green elements (the Central Park event will feature a bike powered stage), I find it bothersome that neither one is centered on volunteering. Instead, they focus on entertainment. The Green Apple Festival in NYC offered the chance to participate in volunteer projects in the city prior to Earth Day, but their website mainly focuses on a post-volunteering concert. "The Official New York Times Square Earth Day Celebration" seems to completely miss the point as it celebrates Earth Day with, you guessed it, a big gaudy ball. But wait- it's "10%-20% more energy efficient that the previous year's energy efficient ball." Does any one else see the irony in wasting tons of resources for this one-time 'symbolic gesture'?

My favorite part about all of this is that the only reason I remembered it was Earth Day, is that on Sunday Anthony and I drove on remote, back country roads through the Catskills and saw dozens of community members cleaning up trash. Even when we got back to suburban NJ we saw stacks of garbage bags and tires pulled out of Nomehegan Park in Cranford. Now that I am back at home in a city of over 8 million, I can't find a single chance to pick up trash or plant a tree.

NYC Homestead

If all goes well, in two weeks my husband and I will be the proud owners of 54.81 glorious acres in Pond Eddy, NY. Fifty-four plus acres of... trees and rocks. There's no house, cabin or shed, electricity or plumbing. There's not even a fully cleared acre. We've decided to devote the next five to ten years of our lives to slowly clearing and shaping our land inch by inch. We've also decided that we should keep our day jobs and work at paying off our principal as quickly as possible so that when we are ready to start the farm and B&B we're dreaming of we won't be drowning under the weight of debt.

While we may be running off to our land every chance we get, we will continue living here in our current "homestead": a teeny, tiny apartment in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan located a mere avenue away from the lights and chaos of Times Square.

Last year my husband and I spent 3 months living and working on organic farms in California and we came back with a new appreciation for simple living. We experienced the satisfaction of a lifestyle that is not only connected to the earth, but to oneself and the things one is capable of creating with their own two hands. When we first came back to NYC we went through withdrawal. Again: we live in a teeny, tiny apartment outside of TIMES SQUARE. We don't have a backyard for a garden or chickens; we're not even supposed to put pots out on the fire escape.

I have seen so many websites and articles that equate "green living" with consumerism and purchasing eco-friendly products. What I haven't seen enough of are websites detailing simple DIY steps anyone can take to bring their own two hands back into the picture; it's this notion of self-sufficiency that lies at the heart of a green lifestyle. I am not trying to say that I live off of the grid or even that I am an expert homesteader. I'm just a girl who wants to share a few tips, and hopefully get a few back in response.