I talk a lot in my workshop about how to live a conscious, mindful life, and a lot of that “teaching what I’m learning” involves how to live on this planet with less impact on the environment. The more closely I look at “walking my talk” in this area, however, the more I realize how far we are from how we would ideally like to live.

A friend of mine runs a non-profit educational group called the Post Carbon Institute, based in Vancouver. When we visited him last year, I hadn’t seen him for several years. We met at a restaurant. He and his wife and baby son arrived on bicycles. It turned out they are now vegetarians, not for ethical reasons, as many are, but more for environmental/energy conservation reasons.

We had arrived via plane, had rented a car, and ate wild local salmon at the restaurant. Not bad, you say. And yet, where did the vegetables come from? Were they organically grown, or did they use chemically-derived (oil-based) fertilizer? How much water was used to wash them? How much water was used to wash the glassware and china on the table? (it takes roughly 8-10 glasses of water to wash one water glass, via conventional methods).

At home, we try to live as much according to our values as is “convenient” to us, and, I wish we did better. For example, it’s early May here, just past the prime time for us to be planting our vegetables, but not a single seed has gone into the ground yet.

I’ve realized that the way our society is set up doesn’t really encourage living lightly on, and closer to, the earth. They way our town is laid out, for example, makes it difficult to walk to stores, banks and other places of business. Riding a bike is not much better, since there are no bike lanes, and with 4 million tourists visiting a year, and the corresponding traffic, riding is a little scary. And, that’s no excuse for not doing the best we can. It just feels that the best we’re doing doesn’t feel congruent with our values about environmental impact. So we’re hypocrites.

Alisa Smith and J.B. McKinnon, in a Vancouver publication named “The Tyee” write about their “experiment” in eating only organically grown food grown within 100 miles of where they live. It brought up some surprising issues – like what to do in the winter for green vegetables, or what to use for a sweetener. They could get animal food OK, but grain was a different issue.

But, if I’m to “walk my talk”, I’m reminding myself, I’d prefer to focus on what’s possible, rather than what’s difficult, since I believe that “what we focus on expands”. My wife Kate and I were recently supported in this by reading an article in Natural Home and Garden Magazine about a family in Pasadena, California, who are growing 75 percent of their food needs from their organic garden. The surprising thing? – their entire lot, including their home, is one fifth of an acre! They’re growing three tons of food each year, with the surplus going to area restaurants who like the idea of local organic produce.

So, perhaps it’s time to stop whining, be inspired by their example, and do it ourselves.