Hello friends!

In the spirit of consistency I wrote this post despite the fact that I have been behaving in a not very solarpunk way at all. Basically, I went on a road trip. It was for legitimate reasons (visiting my parents, who I haven’t seen for six months), but altogether the 800-mile round trip in my partner’s 2012 Volkswagen Jetta created about 0.35 tons of CO2. It also cost about $140 for 2 tanks of gas and probably about $50 for the maintenance costs it added to the car. This was way cheaper and more carbon-efficient than flying, which would have produced about 0.62 tons of CO2 and would've cost at least $400.

Taking the Amtrak or the Greyhound would’ve definitely been more carbon-efficient options; while the Greyhound isn’t preferable (not from prejudice, as someone who is both deeply grateful to and pretty experienced with Greyhounds, Flix Busses, and other long-distance bus carriers, but because the route includes a connection with a very short time window, and Greyhound timetables are NOT TO BE TRUSTED) I would love to take the Amtrak! It would’ve been about as expensive as driving; the huge downside is that departures and arrivals both board after midnight in my hometown, and while I don’t mind hanging out in Greyhound stations (which is where the Amtrak is) during the small hours of the night, it would take a LOT of convincing to get my partner on board (hah!).

Anyways, it’s been a pretty rough couple of weeks so I want to at least document some small wins (the only wins happening tbh):

• Dug up my old mp3 player I got when I was 12 and started using it. My phone’s charger socket is busted so no dongle for me and i REFUSE to buy bluetooth headphones or earbuds (mostly they hurt my ears and I already have headphones, why would I need to buy another pair). So far it’s been great! I had surprisingly good music taste at that age (ignoring the metric fuckton of kpop, which is fine but is not my bag anymore); unfortunately I can’t upload music from my laptop (curse you, Apple and your refusal to continue using PERFECTLY GOOD usb technology) but I think I can use my partner’s computer. W for owning media instead of streaming it and W for using something old instead of buying something new
• Had a foraging success! my partner and I have been trying to forage ANY edible mushrooms and we finally (well, he) managed to find an oyster mushroom! we fried up that thang and ate it! W
• Still doing pretty good on the ecobricking and eating leftovers and all that stuff! Anyways not much backsliding, which is still a W

Anyways thats all folks! Hopefully next update will be less excusey and depressing (or anyways I am depressed)! till next time!