{"id":4652,"date":"2009-07-01T20:27:49","date_gmt":"2009-07-02T02:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=4652"},"modified":"2009-07-01T20:27:49","modified_gmt":"2009-07-02T02:27:49","slug":"july-4-how-are-you-celebrating-independence-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/july-4-how-are-you-celebrating-independence-day\/","title":{"rendered":"July 4: How are you celebrating Independence Day?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Like millions of Americans, we\u2019re celebrating July 4th, Independence Day.<\/p>\n

However, we\u2019re celebrating this national holiday by focusing on the many aspects of our life that, in various ways, have led us to quite a different vision for a sustainable tomorrow \u2013 complete with local, renewable energy and lots of delicious meals harvested within ten miles of where we live \u2013 if not from our own kitchen garden.\u00a0 Sometimes we even celebrate July 4th with a rainbow.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how our Independence Day is different — and yours can be too:<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0 Be energy independent by generating all our power with renewable energy systems.
\nFor a vast portion of the United States, there is enough solar and wind energy to completely meet our needs right where we live.\u00a0 True, adopting renewable energy will require an investment either personally or for your business if you work from home.\u00a0 But with present Federal tax credits and many state incentives, the time couldn\u2019t be better.\u00a0 We completely power our Inn Serendipity Bed & Breakfast and Farm with solar electric and wind turbine systems.\u00a0 In fact, we overproduce renewable energy to the tune of about 4,000 kWhs (kilowatt hours) a year.\u00a0 We share the surplus with our neighbors.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0 Be your own water utility.
\nWhile rarely possible in the city (or suburbs), owning your own well can eliminate yearly water bills.\u00a0 As water becomes even more precious and increasingly scarce in many parts of the United States, having your own source of clean, safe drinking water can be a key element of sustainability.\u00a0 We won\u2019t last long without water.\u00a0\u00a0 Closely related, however, is also conserving and collecting the water that does fall on our property with rain barrels and various rainwater catchment systems, another way to cut down the amount of water you actually need to pump from the ground.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0 Be your own grocery store by growing most of your own food in a kitchen garden.
\nForget about the checkout lines and rising costs of food.\u00a0 Plant seeds in containers, mini-plots, community gardens or a kitchen garden<\/a> in your backyard (or, as a recent B&B guest did, in their front yard), then harvest nature\u2019s abundance for pennies on the dollar.\u00a0 Growing your own food is the ultimate inflation buster.<\/p>\n

When you can’t grow your own, eat local and support area farms.\u00a0 Make a statement this Fourth of July with the menu you serve and join a movement of kindred spirits — and state governors — who are doing the same through the Food Independence Day<\/a> campaign.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0 Be your own boss.
\nEcopreneurs<\/a> own the ladder, not climb it.\u00a0 Millions of ecopreneurs \u2013 all bent on making the world a better place \u2013 work from a home office or have an enterprise that is place-based.\u00a0 They don\u2019t need to find a job, or hope the government provides one.\u00a0 They create an enterprise that they\u2019ve always dreamed about, one filled with meaning and purpose<\/a> that also offers sufficient revenues, while operating it in the emerging restoration economy.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0 Be your own garbage company and recycling center.
\nThere\u2019s no curbside pick-up where we live, so it\u2019s a pain to drag waste to the dump.\u00a0 Therefore, we endeavor to reduce or eliminate as much \u201cgarbage\u201d waste as possible and then aggressively sort through the rest of the recyclables.\u00a0 One key we found is simply selecting things that have little or no packaging.\u00a0 For example, when we do pick up items at the grocery store, they\u2019re in biodegradable bags or we bring our own containers to fill up.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0 Be your own transportation (and fuel) company.
\nForget about GM<\/a> or Chrysler and their fancy, often powerful and mostly fuel-inefficient, vehicles.\u00a0 Go on foot, by bicycle, on public transportation or, our favorite, by CitiCar.\u00a0 Sustainability is largely about reinventing our communities where the car is not a requirement to live in one.\u00a0 Some cities, like Madison, Wisconsin, find well more than half the population using bike and pedestrian corridors to go to and from work, shopping districts and the like without even using motorized vehicles.\u00a0 Curtaining all our commuting around goes a long way to save money and the planet.\u00a0 When we need to run to the bank, we do so in an all-electric CitiCar recharged with a solar electric system<\/a>.\u00a0 There\u2019s also the possibility, as some have done, to fuel a diesel vehicle with filtered veggie oil or homemade biodiesel processed with waste fryer oil.\u00a0 Who needs foreign oil?\u00a0 Sometimes independence is re-creating interdependencies with people or businesses within the community in which we live.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0 Sharing the abundance with friends and family.<\/p>\n

In the Great Depression, many people defined their wealth by the number of friends and family they held close.\u00a0 Community was what mattered, since there wasn’t much money for consumption.\u00a0 Likewise, we celebrate July 4th with lots of friends, some family members and our neighbors, giving thanks for what we do have, including our health, food on the table, and friends to share it with.<\/p>\n

So, how have you declared independence on Independence Day?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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