Less is More

Here I sit on my greenery-filled balcony, reveling in the lushness.

The California poppies are thick with blossoms, the balloon flowers as well, the nasturtiums are producing leaves the size of saucers and the tomato plants reach out sprawling arms that need to be tied up every second day. The callas are nearly as tall as I am. But…it is all getting to be too much for me, particularly dragging home heavy potted plants in the spring to replace those that did not make it through the winter, even inside, and watering copiously every morning. I have worked out a cutting-back plan for next year that will still enable the reveling in the greenery and give me some more much-needed space out there as well.

Contemplating labor-saving strategies and what plants to do without, I thought that this individual process is like the necessity for each of us to live a sustainable lifestyle that will not overtax the earth. Both involve some sacrifice, both are done for reasons that we did not choose and do not like, aging in the one hand and severe overuse of the earth’s resources on the other. Both call on our ability to recognize what is really important to us as individuals. Seeing both as challenges to recognize our uniqueness and at the same time our common humanity is far more inspiring than moaning about what we have to do without.

What I like on the balcony that is good for my back and

energy level: Only two tomato plants next year, perennials that survive dependably through the winter, anything grown from seed, arraying those plants that flower heavily and are very thirsty along the railing to catch the rain.

What I like on the balcony that is not good for my back and energy level: I have to have a hydrangea and cross my fingers that the one I bought this year will survive better than its predecessor did. A very good friend invited me to go along to the garden center with her and carried in the hydrangea; a boon not only for my back but also for friendship and warm feeling!

What I like that is good for the planet: local seasonal food including doing without meat, which I don’t miss, my small apartment and public transport head the list. Certain habits are second nature at this point: turning off standby and unused lights, recycling everything that is recyclable, having a small compost box on the back porch and mixing fireplace ashes in with it, washing clothes at 40° and drying them on the line, keeping the apartment coolish in winter and wearing a sweater. Cutting back on my cache of stuff each time I have moved has been a lightening of the spirit as well as the list of goods; as a friend said, much of what we own is just so much ballast. I kept what was important to me; I chose it, so it is more meaningful.

What I like that is not good for the planet: the sauna, ice cream,

non-Fair Trade chocolate, my heavily-used computer, wild salmon from the Pacific northwest (Marine Stewardship Council approved, but think of the distance it has traveled). Do I need these things? Of course not, but doing without the computer would change my lifestyle radically for the worse. The others are occasional treats. There is also a human environment to be considered and I think we have to believe that if each of us does what we can as individuals to live sustainable lives, the planet will survive. This may change of course, but hey, let’s try it.