How to date an Environmentalist

When life/work get you down, time to divert with a little light hearted fare. I have been thinking that everyone has certain rules or guidelines when searching for an ideal partner or just someone to get through this lonely weekend in the city? Regardless of its longevity I seem to be perpetually looking for someone, like a lot of people are these days, on line (Tinder!), in coffee shops, at parties... The reality is when you are trying to meet someone new, how can you explain how important environmental consciousness is?

As an environmentalist I find dating tedious.  Once my date picked me up in an Uber and threw his gum wrapper out the window, I had the car pull over and got out, that was not the man for me. My horror stories aside, some may say I am hard to please, whereas I just tend to think I have some gosh darn standards! So here is a little guide of how to date someone who is like me, environmentally conscious, social justice loving, passionate and ultimately someone who wants to spread the love and challenge your unthinking bologna. So here is how to date an environmentalist (or maybe just how to date me):

Local food & waste free packaging! Accra, Ghana

Do buy her flowers, just because she is a die hard advocate for the bee's does not mean she will appreciate a nice freshly picked wild flower bunch from time to time, the thought much sweeter than the bud.
Do not buy her some imported and generic bouquet wrapped in plastic and wreaking of inconsideration.

Do take her to that new farm-to-table social enterprise restaurant you read about in the the community newsletter. Follow up with a poetry slam night at a local coffee shop or an evening stroll along the water or even dancing at the outdoor music festival!
Do not even think about the traditional chain restaurant dinner followed by the latest blockbuster hit at the nearest mega-plex industrial movie complex, it's been done.


Do bring your own cup to get coffee at the farmers market together, maybe even keep an extra one for her just in case! Why not have reusable bags on hand for your purchases too! Waste free dates are not only possible, they are adorable.
Do not, I repeat do not grab a plastic water bottle on the go, get the clerk to double wrap your frozen pizza and try to romance her with poisonous microwave popcorn.

Bring your own containers!

Do plan meaningful activities on dates! Cheese making, soap making, cooking, hikes, volunteer together! The time with each other is worth more than anything.
Do not fly her away on your private jet to your yacht in the Mediterranean...I mean wait is this an option???

Do order your meal with consciousness of where it came from and how it was produced. Bonus points for critical eaters and flexitarians!
Do not leave food on your plate, food waste is so unsexy. Take it to go (bonus points for bringing your own container) and enjoy together later.

Do let her know what you are passionate about, being with an environmentalist doesn't mean you can't also introduce what interests you.
Do not complain about how much parking is in the city, how bike lanes take up space or that's its annoying to pay 0.05 cents per plastic bag. You people are apart of the problem.

Hike dates rule! Canary Islands, Spain

Do support local artists and venues, spending your time and money together on meaningful experiences rather than hot ticket events.
Do not be surprised if she is not on trend, she probably spent too much time worrying about the food system or future of the planet than celebrity gossip or billboard records.

Do impress her with your own environmental quirks, did you recently start composting? grow your own herbs? these little things show you care!
Do not try to impress her with your fancy car, stacks of cash or snobbery. Gross.

Ultimately when you do fall head over heels for this overly considerate green nut job, make sure you propose (if she's into that whole outdated marriage thing of course) with an antique ring made from conflict free minerals in a quiet, meaningful place, mega-trons are so 1992.

You don't need to be perfect, but you will score major points for effort. If you don't get this, then you don't get me, plain and simple. Showing you have the capacity to think of others is sooo attractive. So is this just me or do my other eco-princess' feel this way?


Happy hunting,

XX Melanie

"I want to show people that environmentalism can be fun!" -Adrian Grenier

"I'm not great at dating, but I need to do it to relax." -Lena Dunham

Post-Summer Update

Goldstream Provincial Park

After a few months off I am back and eager to catch everyone up on my summer and new post grad life! I have left my personal bubble of the university that was a safe space filled with like minded individuals. I have found that the rest of the world has a lot of things to catch up to in their ways of thinking about the environment and sustainability, sometimes frustratingly so. Never the less my new home on Vancouver Island has proven to be a bit of a hub of local food loving and conscientious  people. Be it the burgeoning young farmer and agrarians groups or the musicians and yuppies, people seem to generally agree on one thing- Local food is the bomb diggity! While some of us preach the word others are in the trenches building the foundations of our future food system. I salute you fellow foodies and I beg you spread like wildfire across the landscape.

Chickens!

So many exciting things happened this summer, here is a quick run down:

• I eat meat! (post coming soon!)
• Vancouver Island
• Organic Farming
• Chickens! 
• 2 jobs
• Farmers Markets 6 days a week
• Moving (again!)

Hard at Work 

This summer has been the most local loving yet and I had a blast doing it. Though my summer contracts are finishing up and I am looking forward to moving on to new projects in the winter months and a bit of a break in between. 

Stay tuned for the next exciting chapters!

XX Melanie

"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." -George Bernard Shaw

Graduated!

After what felt like 3 very long years, I am finished my undergraduate degree! My time at school has been filled with volunteering, activism, work and a whole lot of learning...most of which I could attribute to outside of the classroom. I learned the most from the activities and work I did with the University Farmers Market, PGPIRG and working with Meal Exchange that will apply to my life outside of school. The fancy piece of paper that I will be paying off for the foreseeable future may not be what I anticipated going into University but the experiences I gained are invaluable and I don't regret for a minute returning to school. For me it was a time of self-discovery that allowed me to explore my interests and build skills. Everyone has a different experience at the end of the day but for me it was the right time and place to continue on this life long learning adventure. Go to school, don't go to school and you can still learn to be a better person, citizen and neighbour to those around you.

Having fast-tracked through a 4-year degree in 3 years time while working multiple jobs and being really involved, I am exhausted. What are you going to do with an Environmental studies degree was the biggest question I asked myself this year. But without missing a beat I packed up my worldly processions, (having given away most of them) and moved down to Vancouver Island. I am relocating to the Nanaimo/Parksville area to work on an organic farm for the summer. After going from a fast pace environment in Toronto, to a busy bee in Prince George I will now be moving at a slower pace in the country side. This presents both challenges and opportunities for me to explore the kind of lifestyle I want to lead and ultimately discover what will allow me to live simply. This area boasts lots of fresh, organic produce, tons of farmers markets, ocean access and a more southern climate. All of these things make me feel like this is the place for me, for the next little while at least.

This transitional time has also been very disruptive to routine and when you travel you are forced to explore communities to find local, sustainable options again. Leaving my comfort zone in Prince George was at first a welcome idea but I already miss knowing where the fair trade coffee is everyday. I also bought my first car, begrudgingly, to move with and drove more in a week than I have in my entire life. I am on a month long vacation and off to Europe to celebrate in the least environmentally way possible by taking a cruise. I will spend the rest of the summer working off my carbon emissions and negating the impact of this month's movement.

These changes will hopefully turn out for the better but only time will tell what is next on this journey for me, work, grad school, life? For now I will continue eating locally, reducing my impact and enjoying life.

Lots of Love,

Melanie XX

"You are educated. Your certification is in your degree. You may think of it as the ticket to the good life. Let me ask you to think of an alternative. Think of it as your tickets to change the world."  -Tom Brokaw

8 Ways Your Diet Can Reduce Climate Change

Global Climate March- Prince George, Nov 29

With the world's attention on climate change at the recent COP21 conference in Paris, I thought it may be interesting to look at how climate change and food are related issues. A lot of attention has been spent on the big, bad fossil fuel industry but did you know meat production burns more fossil fuels than all the cars on the road combined? Agriculture itself is responsible for up to 30% of all emissions, so changing the way we eat and think about food can help fight global warming!

But what can you do? Making simple changes as a consumer and eater (which we all are) can go a long way if we act together!

1. The first thing you can do to reduce greenhouse gases and slow climate change? Lose the meat! I am not saying everyone needs to become a vegetarian or vegan, (but that would be great) but even cutting back to one meal a day with meat can make a big difference! Why not try Meatless Mondays?
2. Go Local!!! As this blog title advertises, shopping local is the best! Buying local products will reduce transportation and processing associated with imported foods. Check the local section in your grocery store, read labels, or shop at the Farmers' Market! 
3. Buy Whole foods. They will be less packaged, have fewer additives, be less processed...less can be more and it is overall healthier for you! 
4. Grow your own food! Why not cut out all those middle people, transportation, and waste and go straight to the source by growing your own veggies? Just $1 in green bean seeds can yield $75 worth of produce! How's that for a money saver and planet saver?!
5. Eat in Season! Eating in season goes hand-in-hand with shopping locally and growing your own food, and will reduce energy and transportation normally expended on your meals. 



Food Waste is not sexy!

6. Choose Organic. Organic food is produced with fewer chemicals, no artificial hormones, healthier soils and supports a better agriculture system that can feed the world.
7. Don't waste it! Throwing out food that has already gone through so much to get to your plate is a travesty.  If after all that production, transportation and manufacturing occurs, food is wasted, we might as well leave our cars running all night long for the rest of our lives, too! Don't throw out the energy, time and resources by buying only what you need and taking leftovers home.
8. Compost veggie scraps and leftovers. Instead of scraps going to the landfill, they will break down in your home composter and make organic fertilizer to grow your own food! Win-win! 

Vote with your dollars and show how we, the consumers, are the ones in control of the demand and will ultimately fix the broken food system we have created!

In good food,

Melanie

"Getting the whole food system to change is a seriously big challenge. But one thing is clear: no change in food means no gain in climate change prevention."- Rebecca Wells & Tim Lang

A Day in the Life of a Market Manager

Market Twinsies!

One of my jobs, the one I could even say I love the most, is my position as the Market Manager at the University Farmers Market. When I was looking at schools for my undergraduate degree, one of the pulls to the University of Northern British Columbia was access to a farmers market on campus that I had a goal to be involved with in one way or another. In my first year I volunteered every week setting up tables and helping vendors load their goods and became the volunteer coordinator. In year two I was voted in as the chair of the committee and helped with everything from events to wearing a carrot suit when needed. Now in my 3rd and final year I have taken over as the manager and am putting my experience and passion to use every week.

Though the UFM runs Tuesdays from 11-3pm during the school year there are still lots of things happening before market day from organizing special events, to coordinating layouts and finding new vendors. The main event for me is market day. Here is a look at a day in the life of a market manager on a typical market day:

Harvesting in the PGPIRG Garden

7:00- The mad dash begins as I catch the first bus up to the University to begin my day. My first order of business is to get to Campus in time for a quick shot of coffee from Degrees Coffee Co to get me through the busy day ahead.

8:00- As I was also the gardener for the summer, harvest time is still in progress. I arrive at the PGPIRG Garden as early as possible to pick and wash the weeks ripe vegetables to bring to sell at the UFM.

9:00- Set up begins in the NUSC event space that houses our weekly market. I arrive before volunteers and prepare the space for vendors to arrive. Set up may seem similar every week but behind the scenes a complicated game of Tetris is happening with vendors preferred spaces, last minute cancellations and purposeful placement of each type of goods fighting it out with weekly special events for the ideal space.

The Market Before Vendors Arrive

10:00- As volunteers arrives to help we meet vendors at the loading docks and load their goods onto carts. Volunteers then head to the market and I assign them their table for the day.
As I learnt from our first market we need to carefully map out who is using which outlet to make sure we don't lose power, which happens more often then you'd think.

11:00- The Market opens to the public! As eager customers begin to trickle in last minute set up is still going on. There are always a few late arriver's that need a bit of help getting going and I rush around the room to ensure vendors have every thing they need to get through their day, be it small change, an extra chair or even a coffee.

Market Time 

12:00- The rush hour is on and we see a few hundred people through the market during the busy lunch hour. I make sure there is enough change for jams and kale and answer questions to people coming through. As it is my third year at the market there are a lot of familiar faces and I always try to say hello to everyone.

13:00- As the peak traffic time ends a slower paced market atmosphere emerges and more people lounge in the chairs and chat with vendors. I take this opportunity to visit each vendor to collect weekly table fees and do my personal shopping at the same time.

14:00- If it is quiet enough and everything seems to be running smoothly I indulge in a 10 minute back rub from Kathy at Relax-in-chair. A guilty pleasure, which I have never regretted.

15:00- The second the clock strikes three the mad dash for carts to leave begins. Unlike the morning as vendors trickle in over an hour the exit is much more instantaneous. Volunteers struggle to get carts fast enough to meet vendor itching to get back to the farm or pick up their kids.

Crunchette the UFM Mascot

Oh no! We find a cooler with sausages left behind by a vendor and call them straight away to let them know we have them and arranging pick up for the next morning. Sometimes if we are lucky someone leaves a sweet treat for volunteers to thank them for their much needed hard work that day. Other times I buy cookies to show them how much we love having them around!

16:00- Accounting is finished and we deposit revenues for the day at finance before they close at 16:30. Clean up finishes and we make it so it looks like the market had never happened.

17:00- At the end of a busy day I am always thankful the Thirsty Moose Pub is our neighbour (and another job of mine). Once everything is tidied and the last of the tables are taken down I grab a chair at the bar and sip a local brew to finish out the day.


As you can see it is a busy day full of challenges and there is never a dull moment. It is a happy place to work, a place full of good food, homemade crafts and lovely people. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

See you on Tuesday,

Melanie

"What makes the farmers market such a special place is that you're actually creating community around food." -Bryant Terry