Welcome

Welcome to Sustainable Choices… and welcome back to those of you who followed Fresh in the Delaware River Valley from 2011 until the fall of 2014.  Since I left off, I have written a book on sustainable lifestyle choices, which I hope to see in print in the next few months. Please stay tuned!

Now that I’m back, I’ve made a few changes to the blog, most notably, a new name and location (sustainablechoices.net) and an updated  look and feel. Over time, you also may notice a few other changes.

• While Fresh focused on the PA/NJ Delaware River Valley,  Sustainable Choices won’t stay within those geographic bounds.
• New posts generally will be shorter, offering a quicker read.
• The blog will continue to feature sustainable lifestyle choices as well as ruminations on the value of adopting them. But it also will offer profiles of exceptionally sustainable people, places and projects, more essay-style posts and, hopefully, some insights from guest bloggers.
• Finally, while I maintained third-person anonymity throughout the Fresh years, Sustainable Choices will embrace the word “I,” particularly in essay-style posts.

Regardless of these small changes, Sustainable Choices will remain committed to the original mission of Fresh: exploring the meaning and value of living in a way that is (as much as possible) environmentally, economically and socially sustainable.

Whether your inspiration for living sustainably was the quest for healthier food and a less toxic home life, the desire to reduce your consumption and lighten your carbon footprint or the yearning for a re-localized economy and a stronger, more resilient community, once you took the first few steps, you probably found yourself continuing the journey. We may not see it at first, but nearly all of our sustainable choices can lead to and support many others. If we can avoid feeling overwhelmed and simply stay on the path, taking one small step at a time, we can slowly but surely find our way to the change we desire. Neither the journey nor the goal (or goals) will be the same for all of us…and that’s a good thing. Conformity is hardly sustainable. But each of us, in our own unique way, may come to learn that we’ve made a positive difference in the world while reaping many personal benefits along the way.

As I wrote in the original “welcome” to Fresh, it is my hope and belief that as more and more of us commit to living as sustainably as possible we can protect our health and the planet, help create a greener, saner economy, support communities that are more interconnected and resilient … and restore our very American sense that we have the power (quite a lot of it) to help ourselves and others.