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Two weeks ago I drove down to Milwaukee to attend a seminar on the introduction to renewable energy. That was really cool. I left there feeling like if I had ten grand stuck away I could change the way that our home impacted the earth. The start up really just is a daunting obstacle. Such is life.

The other part of the trip that made me feel pretty good was the facility that the seminar was held in. It is the headquarters for an organization called Keep Greater Milwaukee Beautiful. What a place. They have a little bit of everything green there. They sell rain barrels, composters, recycling information, and everything to do with renewable energy. The whole time I sat there during the seminar, I just looked around the room and tried to take in as much information as I could. I want to work for them. They seem like such a cool organization.

As it poured rain on Thursday and Friday, all I could think of was driving back down to Milwaukee to pick up a couple of rain barrels for our house. I sat there and thought about how difficult it really seems to do even the easiest green changes in your life. It just isn’t the norm to have rain barrels and compost bins in every yard. Why is that? Almost everyone that I know in suburbialand has a yard that they seem so proud of and try so hard to have look like it came straight out of a landscaping magazine. How easy it would be for everyone to have a composter in the back yard that they could toss all of the extra food that we Americans seem to buy and toss into the landfill. Come spring when it comes time to plant all of those house beautiful gardens, there would be a bin full of nice healthy compost to put in there to beef up the soil. Then, when people build homes, and install a rain barrel at the end of the downspout, they would have all of the fresh water that they would need to water the garden that they so painstakingly planted to look beautiful in their yard. Not only is this great for the environment because we are using less water, but it saves money as well in that we’re not paying to water our gardens with chlorinated/flourinated water that has been processed and cleaned for human consumption.

Ok, I’m climbing down from the soapbox. I just get these moments when I need to let off a little frustration.

Now all I need to do is get into gear and figure out how to redirect all of the water off the house into a rain barrel when I get it, and redirect all of the water from the garage roof directly into a compost bin. Starting with the stuff that we can actually do, but still making a difference. Good stuff!

If you know us, then you know we’re a tab bit obsessed with healthy living and saving the world. (Gotta dream big ya’know) You might be surprised to know that environmental awareness in Northeastern Wisconsin isn’t exactly what it was in Marin County California (where, as you know, we lived for 8 of the last 10 years) but Kirk and I persevere inflicting on our friends and family stories of compost (and in some cases, actual compost), the latest books on organic food, and earth friendly practices of all kinds. Our friends and family are remarkably tolerant of us and our world saving ways and maybe that’s because it’s becoming quite the news story. I don’t think you can read a paper or watch t.v. for one day without hearing a global warming/organic food/green living story. Not that long ago my mother handed me a Sunday Chicago Tribune LifeStyle section in which a thirty-something couple and their young child were profiled for living the ‘green’ life. They recycle everything, have energy efficient everything and keep a worm bin in the basement. My mother said, “this profile could be about you.” To which I responded, somewhat horrified, “we’ve become trendy!”

But I digress, because this post is really about my love of Colin Beavan. As much press as green living gets, it’s still not the norm and it’s still sometimes complicated and more work than just tossing the stuff you don’t need or searching for a place to buy what you do need without it being wrapped in six layers of Styrofoam and plastic. To put it bluntly, it can be overwhelming and tiring and sometimes just a drag. Enter Colin. If you don’t know Colin Beavan by name, you might know him as No Impact Man for the experiment he is currently conducting (which is too much for me to chronicle here so please visit his blog). As he is working to save the world, he is putting as much emphasis on having fun as he is on making a statement about what he’s doing. And that, dear readers, is why I love him. The Free Hugs video in today’s post makes me laugh and I can’t think of a better way to impact the world for the better. So to you Colin, my undying love and appreciation!