Doing my sustainable best

I’ve been on a pretty exciting and wild ride of sustainability this past year and a half as the coordinator of Iron Range Earth Fest, (held this year on April 17 in Mt. Iron) and project manager for the Virginia Sustainability Task Force.

Sixteen months ago I couldn’t even define the word sustainability, and today through a series of wonderfully synchronistic opportunities I’ve become a bit of a go to person in our area. I regularly get out of the blue phone calls from businesses, organizations and state agencies that want to network with us “Rangers” regarding a wide variety of sustainability issues. Who would have thought it - a sustainability movement on the Iron Range - with me in the middle of it?

Here’s what I’ve learned about that mysterious word sustainability; you can view it like a threelegged stool: our communities, our economy and our environment. They all have to exist in a healthy, holistic relationship – or, just like a stool with one leg too long or too short, it becomes unstable. If we don’t have a balance between the three elements of sustainability we won’t have a healthy sustainable Iron Range, state of Minnesota, USA, or world. A sustainable community has good schools, good health care, opportunities to recreate and appreciate the arts, a healthy faith-based community and active citizens. A sustainable economy produces, delivers and consumes goods and services in ways that will allow our kids and grandkids the same opportunities we have today. A sustainable environment means wisely using our soil, water, air, wood, water, plants and wildlife so all of that will be around for those future generations too. You don’t have to be a “tree-hugger” to believe in and practice sustainability; it starts by just caring about your home, your family, your friends and your community.

Sustainability doesn’t have to be flashy and it doesn’t have to be expensive, it can start as a grassroots movement, and it CAN happen on the Iron Range. Our ancestors lived sustainable lives, only they called it survival. My grandmother had a garden in Pike-Sandy, she canned and froze most of her vegetables and made her own sauerkraut (she was a good German) - that was sustainability. My hubby has been employed at Natural Harvest Food Co-op for many years, so for a long time we’ve reused those paper grocery bags or used cloth bags, we buy locally produced eggs and veggies at the Co-op, and by buying most of our food in bulk we eliminate a lot of extra packaging - that’s sustainability. We are pretty diligent about recycling, and have a small garden at our home in Virginia - that’s sustainability. While I love learning about wind and solar energies, we don’t live off the grid - a system like that is beyond our budget. So we keep our thermostat low (one positive to having reached the age of menopause) and put plastic on our windows in the winter - that’s sustainability. We don’t own a hybrid car, but I do drive a little Ford Focus (my father the Ford mechanic is proud), and it gets pretty good mileage - that’s sustainability. When the kids come to our door for Little League or the high school hockey team, we give them a couple of bucks - that’s sustainability.

We can have a few folks doing those big flashy things like living off the grid by installing wind and solar systems in their homes - that’s awesome, and I admire their passion and enthusiasm. But we can also have a huge impact collectively by doing a lot of small things like changing to CLF light bulbs, picking up a compost bin from St Louis County this spring and putting it up your backyard, brushing up on your recycling (what more can you put out on the curb instead of in the landfill), OR come to Iron Range Earth Fest on April 17, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Mt Iron, and learn more about what you can do and what others are doing. It’ll be a fun day filled with food, music, friends, an appreciation of the Iron Range, and lots of opportunities to learn. Check us out at www.ironrangeearthfest.org or call Connie at 218-742-9504.

Ardy Nurmi-Wilberg is the Organizational Consultant and Coordinator of Iron Range Earth Fest 2010.