Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy.

Hey out there!

This past week, I decided to take a close look at what I was doing with my life – concerning sustainability. The biggest things that I’ve realized are:

1.       That I eat out at restaurants/fast food places WAY too much, and

2.       I also tend to waste the food that I buy because I don’t eat it fast enough.

This week, I’m going to try my hardest to not eat out AT ALL; to eat the food that I have left for my time here at ISU before summer break; and to eat less meat!

I don’t generally eat a lot of meat, mostly because I just don’t enjoy it that much, I even tried to be a vegetarian for awhile, but I just couldn’t cut it. But, did you know…”if you cut out one meal of chicken every week for a year and replaced it with vegetarian food, it would be equivalent to taking half a million cars off the road?” (6 Ways to Live a Sustainable Lifestyle). This is something I can easily do, since I already don’t eat a lot of meat!

I’m also going to go buy some locally grown food to enjoy this week! If you are interested in finding locally grown foods/local food places in the Bloomington/Normal area, you can visit -- http://hlfn.org/BFBL%20DIRECTORY%202010%20Bloomington%20Web%20PDF.pdf

I hope this will help in my fight to be a more sustainable person!

I also found that I have been doing some good things:

1.       I recycle at home, and I try to recycle often at school.

2.       I use power strips for many of the outlets in my apartment – which means I’m able to cut off the energy used! I learned that even if an appliance is off, it can still use electricity from your wall, so using power strips is superb because it cuts off the energy completely!

I will definitely keep up with these two, easy ways to live sustainably!

Also, I wrote in my last entry that I was going to visit the Food Co-Op in Champaign (my hometown), I unfortunately was unable to make it because of my crazy Easter weekend, BUT I did happen to make my way into The Blind Pig Brewery. My sister had the American Pale Ale and my sister’s fiancé had the Hard Cider. I must say, although I’m not a huge beer drinker, the Hard Cider was pretty delicious!

Anyways, how does The Blind Pig Brewery factor into sustainability? Well, I’ll explain how!

Home brewing beer can be incredibly sustainable. While perusing the internet, I stumbled across a blog called “Brewess: The Blog for Women Who Brew Beer” and found an article about a man named Chris O’Brien, who is the sustainability director at American U. The article states, “… the craft-beer movement has exploded, and beers of that kind often support pillars of sustainability ethics: reliance on local ingredients and labor, a regard for community values, and a love of the artistry and authenticity of the brewing process” (http://brewess.wordpress.com/category/sustainable-brewing/)

In class, we talked about home-brewing beer with Chef Keith, and the sustainability aspect of it, so if you think about it…it can be a win-win situation! You’ll have beer AND you’ll have done it in a more sustainable fashion.

Have a wonderful, healthy week!

-Julia