Ilara says: In
celebration of Earth Day, I thought I’d do a brief review to summarize the
masses of files that we found revolving around various environmental
issues.
It seems quite clear
that somebody at some point must have been some sort of an environmental
surveyor; there are multitudes of articles on the migration and habitation
patterns of various animals of Alberta, as well as a few newspaper clippings on
how to get along with the neighborhood wildlife. Personally, even though I’m painfully undereducated on these
matters, I find them fascinating and am ever willing to learn how to live side
by side with nature in ways that have a more positive impact on our
planet. I think that it’s
absolutely fantastic that co-op living attracts folks with the wealth of
knowledge in this area that is presented within the articles we found;
everything from the numbers of deer in an area from year to year to what types
of trees attract specific species of beetle. With species going extinct every minute of every day, I take
some pride in knowing that the folks I associate with are working to do
something to help, even in the little ways. Personally, I’m excited to grow some of our own food this
year and a few flowers from the Heritage Seeds that my housemate found tucked
away in storage; it’s nice to have a way of doing my part to care for the
Earth.
Faun says: As a
fairly recent addition to the cooperative, I have spent the last few months
explaining to everyone I know how it is organized, what its values are, and
what its members are like. The most common stereotype that people hearing about
a cooperative for the first time seem to fall back on is that of the tree-hugger
– and to be fair, I’m pretty sure that all of us in my house love trees. Trees
are up there with our other diverse loves (including neutron stars,
printmaking, welding, music, and ethnographic activism). What I love about my
house, the cooperative, and the archiving/discovery process that Ilara and I
are going through is the variety of people that all share a commitment to
thinking about our impact on our environment. Depending on the person, this may
entail anything from buying locally to habitually practicing random acts of
kindness. An awareness of being connected with others – socially,
environmentally, politically, etc – this is what seems to characterize
cooperative members. I think that the values embedded in the co-op community
help build this, and have done so over many years, as reflected in the papers
Ilara mentioned. In thinking about the Earth, we also think about community.
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