This interview was posted on Neo Ueda's wonderful blog, GreenAR by the Day, http://greenarbytheday.wordpress.com - check it out!


Meet Local Green Peeps!
February 11, 2009


Chances are, if you are reading this blog, you support green causes. You go to meetings, you visit local farmers’ markets, and soon you start running into familiar faces. You know their names, but have you ever wondered what they do to be GreenAR? Well, Meet Local Green Peeps! hopes to satisfy your curiosity about area green people and what they do to be GreenAR in the Natural State. So, without further ado, let’s get started!

Vital Statistics (Name & Location):

Pamela Mosley
1260 Hunter Street
Conway, AR 72032
(501)450-9097 (501)450-9097
www.truetothelightwithin.com
www.ournaturalstate.com
www.fcssc.net

What Do You Do? I co-create with the flow of Life! I hold a vision, nurture seeds, encourage, empower, help people remember who they are, and help see a new era into being. I do that as an Attunement practitioner and sustainability activist.

Steps Taken to be GreenAR:

Spending time outside relating to my natural environment, like walking and biking around town (my bike has 4 baskets now, so I can even grocery shop), hanging clothes to dry, tending to the growing things (I’m a new raised-bed gardener!), watching nature happen.

I generally buy thrift, local, recycled, organic, fair-trade, nontoxic, or long-lasting, high quality. Or I don’t buy at all. I’ve found our county library to be very receptive to new book suggestions, the local resale shops and “free” listings in the classifieds are great, and we love supporting our local farmers through Conway Locally Grown and the Conway Basket-a-Month program. We’ve found great used building materials, including stained-glass doors for my backyard Sanctuary!

At home, we’re always finding more ways to be energy efficient. When we needed a new roof, we vented it, and when we needed a new refrigerator, we found one with a high energy-star rating. We replaced our ancient water heater with an on-demand model that heats water in a small tank as it’s needed. We’ve been experimenting with a new (used) wood-burning stove, and, with the federal subsidy help, we’ve got 5 solar panels tied in to Conway Corp’s energy grid. We watch the thermostat, heat and cool rooms as needed, use electric powerstrips and low-energy lights, and wash laundry cold.

We consolidate errands that need a car-trip and share the ride to glass-recycling in Maumelle with a neighbor. (Fortunately, Conway offers curb-side recycling pick-up for most everything else, which now also including styrofoam, #1-7 plastics and even old clothes.) I’ve been eating less meat and not ordering meat at restaurants that don’t buy organic. We compost our leaves and kitchen scraps in our backyard compost bin and keep re-usable bags handy for groceries.

In the last year or so, I’ve chosen to travel by bus and have made trips to Iowa, Minnesota, and Virginia on the Jefferson and Greyhound lines. I look forward to continued improvements in the bus system and/or when megabus.com makes it to Arkansas!

I support events like Arkansas Earth Day and the Faulkner County Sustainability Forums, publications like Natural Awakenings and YES! Magazine, and networking opportunities like Conway Green Drinks and SustainAR.org. I’ve been communicating with my elected officials about things like the proposed coal-burning power plant, “Green for All” ideas, and the sale of raw milk.

And I’m getting better at not “shoulding” on myself and others! So beyond the 3 R’s of reduce, reuse and recycle, I enjoy retreat, relinquish, re-envision, reconnect, restore, relax, and reclaim!

Hard-to-Take Steps:

I enjoy engaging in a multitude of creative endeavors and can be challenged to do that at a level and pace that remains energizing! I would do well to have computer-free days, more art time, and Clean and Repair Parties.

I’ve been intending to take reusable containers to restaurants for carry-out and haven’t remembered yet.

I love very full, very hot baths, even in a drought.

I gave up on ink cartridge refills for my computer because of some messy trials a few years ago. Maybe it’s time to try that again.

I’d like to be a better steward of summertime vegetables and learn to “put food by”, but I’ve been saying that for many years now.

Email is great AND I still like to actually send things in the mail, sometimes big things… sometimes just for fun.

Future Steps to be GreenAR:

I’m so interested in a water catchment system at our house and have started gathering information about that. We’re slowly turning our front yard into a front garden space, and I plan to keep replacing grass with natives and edibles with curb appeal.

When it comes time to replace our ’91 Toyota, we’ll be on the lookout for a hybrid or electric. And maybe we can share a vehicle with another household.

In fact, I’m envisioning some type of co-housing arrangement where we can share meals, resources, and lives. I want to support a storefront food co-op in Conway, maybe also serving as a community meeting/sharing/learning space that will help us discover and communicate about more harmonious ways of living. I wonder about a community barter system and/or a local currency.

And I want to try cooking and baking in a solar oven.

Favorite AR Produce, Businesses & Groups:

We love anything that Sue and Rusty Nuffer grow, and we love that we can order it easily through http://conway.locallygrown.net. Favorite chickens and eggs are from Falling Sky Farm. We like the fun and healthy surprises in our All Arkansas baskets. Our own dear pecan trees were so wonderful to us and to the neighborhood squirrels this year. And sourdough spelt bread from a wood-fired oven at Serenity Farm is an all-time favorite.

Penny Rudder’s Clean Plate Club has been a great service. She’s in Little Rock, and every week she emails recipes and meal ideas for the local foods in season. She’s at www.naturalfoodscooking.com.

Liz’s Health Market on Oak Street in Conway has been so receptive to special ordering items not in stock, making it easier for me to shop local.

Companions Thrift Store on Washington Street in Conway seems to always have quality goods at great prices, and with all the proceeds going to the Humane Society, I can imagine my shopping as community service!

I’ve met some great people through Arkansas Earth Institute’s discussion courses and look forward to taking more.

If You Can Do One Thing to Make the Natural State Even More Natural, What Would You Do? I would give everyone the opportunity to slow down and deeply experience the absolute awe of the amazing, beautiful and interconnected web of life. Then, our choices might shift from the present artificial, conventional, unsustainable ways toward brand new choices in accordance with nature and with what is natural to each of us and the unfolding of life.