Our Story
We started this blog as a way to share our “green and frugal” adventure with our friends, family and the world. Since early 2008, we have been taking steps (big and small) to make our lives greener and more sustainable. Along the way, we look for ways to be frugal and consume less. Some of the changes we have made have been easy, some more challenging, everything has been fun!
Why the Yuppie Environmentalist? I once heard a young man who lives in Oakland, California refer to the people who shopped at his beloved farmers’ market on Saturdays as “those darn yuppies.” As in, “those darn yuppies…they think they are so cool shopping at MY market, I shop here all the time and they only care enough to come on the weekends!” His disdain for these folks that supported their local farmers’ market in their own way really bothered me. Do the farmers really care who they sell their lettuce, oranges and pistachio nuts to? Customers mean cash and cash means financial stability and food on the table for those farmers at the market. As I see it, my young Californian friend should have been happy to see all of the extra business that his market gets on the weekends. And it made me think about how important it is for everyone to do what they can to make a difference in this world. Yuppies included. A yuppie, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary is a young, college educated adult who is employed in a well-paying profession and who lives and works in or near a large city. Bryan and I don’t exactly fit this definition, but we know quite a few wonderful, compassionate people who do. We liked the idea behind the title-Yuppie Environmentalist. Anyone can lead a more environmentally friendly life. Anyone can make small (and large) changes to help make the world a healthier, safer and more sustainable place. Grandparents, young people from California suburbs, teachers, artists, computer programmers and even Yuppies!
In early January 2008, Bryan and I read a couple of very interesting books. (Actually, for me, it all started after I finished reading Harvest for Hope by Jane Goodall in the fall of 2006.) One of them was Wake Up and Smell the Planet by Grist Magazine and the other was Living Like Ed by Ed Begley Jr. Both books were short, simple and spoke of easy things that anyone could do to start making a positive impact on the earth. We had fun talking about the books and we decided to make some changes. We started switching our lightbulbs and sorting our recycling.
Then in February, after returning from a trip to visit our favorite “cousins,” Phil and Nancy in Florida, we were inspired to try to consume less and enjoy life more. See, Phil and Nancy are sort of our “frugality heros” and they are the inspiration behind many of our better ideas. They remind us how important it is to be able to spend time together and how unimportant it is to have the latest designer jeans. They use their local library, shop at garage sales and spend time with their neighbors (who are more entertaining than a trip to the movies any day)!
And that is when the idea really took shape. We wanted to create less waste, recycle everything that we could, eat as much organic/whole food as possible, reduce our carbon footprint, have time to garden, support more local non-profits, save the world and oh yeah… still have some money left over to build a house, send kids to college and retire as soon as possible.
It’s a work in progress and it’s an adventure. Come and join us!