About the author

I moved to Chicago in August 2007 to begin graduate school at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). I live in Pilsen, a neighborhood just south of UIC on the lower west side, with my partner and fiance Matt in a two-bedroom apartment (I haven't calculated the square footage but I think it is 800-900 square feet). Neither one of us owns a car. Shortly after we moved to Chicago, we both purchased bikes from Working Bikes and became commuter cyclists. I bike barely over a mile to get to UIC each day, but I do bike every day, even in the zero degree winter with negative windchill as long as the roads are clear. I'm still kind of intimidated by biking in the city, especially downtown, so if I have to go more than a few miles I take CTA buses or trains.

We try to get things second hand when at all possible, and are serious fans of craigslist for that purpose. We generally eat low on the food chain (I'm vegetarian) and just recently started bokashi and vermicomposting our food waste (more on this later). We eat some organic and some local food but it isn't a majority of our diet. This summer I'm really looking forward to planting some window boxes with flowers, herbs, and hopefully a few vegetables. We have no unpaved ground whatsoever around our apartment, so container gardening is the only option.

My interest in environmental issues and my personal environmental impact started in childhood as a passion for nature, animals, and the outdoors. I read 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Save the Planet when I was about 10 and I've been trying to do more ever since. I love reading about other people's journeys towards sustainability and the choices they make, so I thought I'd share my own.