The Sustainability Discussion--My Take

Recycling and reducing waste, biking instead of driving, starting a community garden--individuals shared what they are doing to make a difference at a meeting to discuss sustainability in Bemidji. About two dozen people attended the forum on Wednesday and everyone agreed that we all have a role in making the community more sustainable.

Personally, I don't really think of myself as "green." I just do what makes sense and sometimes that is also sustainable. Here's a rundown of a few things that we have always done at our house that might be called "sustainable."

Recycle (of course). We sort all the paper and containers that we can.

Reusable bags. Aren't plastic bags annoying? I love shopping with green bags. The hardest part is remembering to use them for all my shopping, not just the grocery store.

Grow our own food. We are fortunate to have a large yard and two large gardens where we grow potatoes, beans, carrots, lettuce, peas, corn, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, onions, herbs, and rhubarb. We usually have enough vegetables to eat through the winter and some to give away.



We also have plum trees that are great for jelly if we can beat the deer to the plums.


Mulch. We use wood chips from the wood pile and leaves and needles from the yard to mulch our flower gardens.

Bird habitat. We have a variety of flowers, shrubs and trees in our yard that provide great habitat for birds.
Solar powered clothes dryer. I actually enjoy hanging clothes on the line. It is great exercise lugging that basket of wet laundry up from my basement laundry room and hanging it up.



Year-round composting. We put all of our yard and household organic waste in a compost pile at the rear of our lot. We use the compost for our flower and vegetable gardens. (The compost pile is not fenced, so the deer get some of it!)

Rain barrels. We have three rain barrels on the house that provide a lot of the water for my flower gardens.

If I am doing some of these easy things, others must be too. So here's my question: What can the City of Bemidji do to encourage and reward sustainable behavior? That's the question we'll ask at the next meeting. Call city hall if you want to get involved.