Iris Ushizima Sabino

I carpool to school every other week. I try to carpool to extracurriculars, but when that's not possible, I always take a shared uber ride.

This is the first time I've heard of silvopasture! I think the biggest advantage is the minimum waste produced in this interconnected system, but another huge advantage is the amount of food you can sustainably produce on such a limited amount of land.

Humane farming practices! Incredible returns on investment! Personal relationship with the soil, the plants, the animals, etc.! Feeding the soil, allowing it to produce more and more food each year instead of the inverse! Toppling herbicide, pesticide, and fertilizer monoliths that make money off of pretending their products don't cause cancer and other terminal illnesses (which they do!) !

A sustainable community should be self-sustaining (or at least 90% self-sustaining) in terms of food and resources, and ideally 100% self-sustaining in terms of energy. A sustainable community should aim to incorporate green roofs, vertical gardens, and other forms of plants/planting into urban/suburban areas. Finally, everyone should share the common value that the earth is our second mother, and we should care for her as we would our own mother.
Mainly, we need a change in mindset for this vision to become reality. People prioritize money over sustainability and that's kind of a sick societal side effect of capitalism. Not that capitalism is all bad, but there's a way to live in a capitalist system such that our livelihood isn't compromised.

I feel very productive pondering how to incorporate "reduce-reuse-recycle" into my life, as if I were getting something done that I, as an inhabitant of this earth, am obliged to do. Like filing eco-taxes.
I do a lot to recycle, including preferring things packaged in cardboard, paper, glass, and aluminum. When given the option, I purchase sodas in cans or glass bottles as opposed to plastic bottles. Another instance: we buy Straus Family Farms milk which comes in glass bottles that we return to the supermarket for 50¢ so the farm can bottle more milk in the same bottle.
Reusing is something I've been moving towards. I shop primarily at second-hand stores (my mom recently watched a documentary about the pollution produced when manufacturing clothes), and instead of throwing out plastic produce bags (the ones you get when you shop for carrots and broccoli and stuff), I keep them in a bigger bag to use as makeshift lunchboxes, dirty laundry bags, and bags to hold wet clothes when I travel.
"Refuse" is something I should do more. A lot of places just give you straws without asking (yikes!) and I'm always afraid to stop them because I don't want to seem rude. It's time to be rude in the name of eco-friendliness, I guess...

Plugging up the sink when washing dishes with running water helps reduce water waste. The low-flow shower head also helps. Reusing boiling water to steam/cook several different foods also works (I've been known to do this... each food item leaves its little flavor on the next one to use the water but it actually tastes pretty good).

Food consumption is sometimes a function of economics. Meat is expensive! North America is a relatively rich continent, so more people can afford the luxury to eat meat. In other countries, meat is rare, costly, and viewed as a delicacy more so than an everyday thing. We take it for granted that meat *can* be such a big part of our diets.