Morgan Houk

As I've become aware of the, hmm not sure what to even call what I'm becoming aware of, but something like our wasteful consumer ethos and how its quickly destroying our environment, communities, and individuals, I've tried all sorts of ways to engage the people around me in my concerns.  Everything from attending my first march, signing petitions, starting a blog in college, speaking up loudly and often in economics class, changing my own behaviors as I become aware of them, pushing my thoughts on family and friends (not the most productive), or traveling in a tiny house and talking to anyone who would listen.

Some of these worked well, others lost me friends.  I didn't see why everyone couldn't see!  I thought, if I can just get them the same information I've read they'll understand.  But we are all leading different lives and have different backgrounds of environmental awareness.  The most important thing I've learned about changing others actions is to stop worrying about their actions.  The largest impacts I've made are by speaking positively, living my own values, and being willing to talk to others that are interested and ready to see a different path.  I appreciate the folks who do this for me as I continue to learn and adjust my life.  

One experience that's worked well for me is to give gifts I know someone will appreciate, but reflect the values I'm trying to live by.  I stopped giving Christmas gifts in the traditional sense and now give my family a donation in their name to a charity I think they would love to know more about, or I already know is special to them.  There were some tears shed this past year and it was really special for me.  Another example, for Mothers Day, I got my Mom a flower CSA from a local farm.  The gift encouraged her to sign up for a veggie CSA from the same farm.  Now we love to grow more veggies as a mother daughter duo and can piles of fruit each year.  Our excitement has encouraged my Dad to focus on buying organic when he goes to the grocery store.  We're not making perfect decisions but one gift inspired a lot of change in my family.

Most of our water heads down into Puget Sound underground, through street runoff into stormwater drains, and through nearby creeks.  We're enjoying planning our new rain garden with the help of our city planning department.

Our new home sits over an area that holds a lot of our communities ground water.  We area also near several creeks that open up into various parts of puget sound.  I walk by the storm drain from just a few streets over on the beach every week.  

We switched to a composting toilet this past year for just these reasons, to help mitigate wasteful water use.  We are also learning about rain gardens and how best to put back the water that impermeable surfaces drain off your land.  Our new home sits over a watershed in our area and we want to help keep fresh water in the soil rather than running off into the fish bearing creeks that surround us.  

Until recently, I didn't realize how important this was in the PNW.  It rains a lot here, but summers are getting dryer and dryer and I'm realizing how much of an impact over use of fresh water and development is having on our fresh water.  You can see the native plants by the end of the summer wilting and struggling to pull through until the first rains of the winter. 

Making purchases without thinking of waste is habit.  Almost second nature.  The more I'm conscious of it the more I think about it in the store, and then the more I think about it before I even make it to the store.  It's slowly making its way into my thinking when I make a grocery list, for example, so that I remember reusable containers or decide to make time to bake bread rather than buy it with a plastic bag too.  

It's also making me think about what comes along with an Amazon purchase.  I'm not just buying an item I want, I get packaging galore.  In fact, I've stopped a few times to consider if I even "need" what I'm going to buy online?  If yes, can I get it from a local store for only a few dollars more but with a lot less packaging?

Once I made the decision to do something other than mindlessly scroll instagram it was easy to find great things to do, but remembering before I get sucked in is the hardest part!

We actually made soup from some saved veggie scraps and the leftovers of a roast chicken.  It turned out awesome and has made several awesome lunches and dinners this past week.  We also took a stab at making our favorite Dave's Killer Bread and the recipe turned out "killer!"

We took our puppy up to a piece of public farm land with an orchard that is open to everyone in the community to pick apples.  I think we both felt more connected to the folks that farm that property professionally, the organization that protected it, the gardeners who have their pea patches there, and the volunteers who take care of the trees.  

We earned a lot about native pollinators in my research for a new rain garden our city requires when you add impervious spaces to a property (aka our small shop/studio addition).  The difference between native pollinators like parasitic wasps, flies, and other critters and non native species like honey bees is an important distinction.  All habitat is positive, but focusing on good plants and housing for natives is imperative.