Tiny Choices Survey: Marisa!
By tinychoices | June 5, 2009
Vital statistics (name, age, location, link to website/blog)?
Marisa McClellan, 30, Philadelphia, PA; www.foodinjars.com, www.apartment2024.com, and www.forkyou.tv.
How do you reside (apartment or house, roommates)?
I live in a two-bedroom apartment with my fiance.
Are your housing decisions dictated by choice or necessity? Please explain.
My housing situation was dictated by fate and inheritance more than anything else. We live in an apartment in Center City Philadelphia that my grandfather bought in 1966. My grandmother died in 2002, shortly after I moved to Philly. I was the only family member in the area and so I was the one to inherit the apartment.
It’s a wonderful space in an amazing location, but the fact that there’s no outdoor space sometimes starts to make me itchy for a home that’s not on the 20th floor of a high rise. However a move would be expensive and would no doubt expand our carbon footprint.
How do you travel (transit, car, etc)? Are your travel decisions dictated by choice or necessity? Please explain.
I live a block and a half from my office, so I walk to and from work (often going home for lunch). I also ride my bike to run errands or go to the farmers market. I do have a car, an old Subaru station wagon that I use mostly on weekends. It’s 17 years old, so I figure when it eventually dies, I just won’t replace it.
Tell us about a Tiny Choice you’ve made in your life.
Most of my tiny choices have to do with food and how I participate in that marketplace. About a year ago, I joined a buying club that sells grass-finished and locally raised meat and poultry. I shop for produce at farmers’ markets or the Fair Food Farmstand at Reading Terminal Market. I’ve also purchased a share in a CSA, but it hasn’t started quite yet, so it has yet to make an impact on my actual food buying habits. When it comes to grains, I try to buy in bulk. I also do a fair amount of canning, preserving all that great New Jersey produce. My goal for this year is to can enough tomatoes to last me through the fall and winter.
Last year I bought an indoor composter, hoping that I’d be able to stop throwing away all my vegetal material. Unfortunately, the only place I could find room for it was in the living room. After six months of having decomposing apple cores next to the sofa, I determined that I wasn’t quite that devoted and gave it to a friend who had a bit more space. He’s still using and enjoying it. I’ll compost again someday when I live in a larger space.
What is the one environmental dilemma you personally struggle the most with?
I really struggle with the fact that I still own a car (especially one that is so old), because I can see objectively that I really don’t need it. Philadelphia has a terrific car sharing organization and I can get to everything I need on foot, public transportation or bike. However, I love my car and so haven’t been able to let go of the freedom it provides. One good thing is that my fiancé doesn’t drive, so at least there’s only one car between the two of us.
What is one Tiny Choice you can make in that direction?
Each time I think about taking the car out, I try to stop and look at the situation and judge whether I really need to drive or not.
What is the one environmental Tiny Choice you make that people question (in either a positive educational or a negative hassle way) you the most about?
I use glass canning jars for everything these days. I use one to carry my morning coffee to work, and another to hold my oatmeal. I have a fairly vast collection in a number of different sizes and feel that they are better and cleaner than just about any other food storage system. However, my fiance, friends and co-workers think it’s a little strange that I have such an intimate relationship with the canning jar.
What is the one environmental Tiny Choice you would like every single person to adopt?
Use a travel mug. Either fill it with coffee or tea at home, or take it with you to the coffee shop. It’s so easy to carry a mug (or a jar!) along with you and it prevents so much waste, even over the course of one week. Also, wash and reuse your produce bags. They’re far sturdier than we give them credit for.
Do you feel like you make sacrifices for environmentalism? Please explain.
I don’t think I’m sacrificing anything, but I also don’t always take it as far as some people. It has been a struggle to become less of a consumer though. Sometimes, I just want the stuff and so have to talk myself down from a consumeristic frenzy that might otherwise have me making unnecessary purchases.
Are you generally: optimistic, pessimistic, neutral about environmentalism and the future?
I’m fairly optimistic, although I do think that people need to see that it’s action and personal choice that will help redeem the planet. I worry that too many people think that the key to environmental salvation is simply to buy different stuff.
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Yay - Marisa! If you haven’t visited her Food in Jars site, you should. It has mouth-watering photos of delicious home-canned foods.
I want to know the story behind the cool bottle/jar in the photo. Is that a drinking top and did it come that way?
Hey Marisa, I love your survey, thanks so much for taking it! :)
Question for you– I have old wire bale canning jars and need new gaskets for them– any tips on where I can find those?