1. What was your wake up call to follow a sustainable living lifestyle?

I would say during my life I have had a series of wake-up calls. I was a young child during the severe droughts in California during the 1970s. Water conservation was a big deal in our lives at the time - we took much fewer baths, and all four of us used the same bath water which we then kept to flush the toilets, and we conserved water in many other ways. During that time, we had a family friend over for dinner one night. He was staying in a hotel in San Francisco and had no idea there was a drought. That morning he'd taken a 20-minute shower! The disconnect was horrifying to my whole family.

The drought occurred at the same time as the gas crises in the 70s, where I remember sitting in line for hours at a time, my mom fretting that the gas station would run out of gas before we got to the front of the line. We had to plan our car trips carefully because we could only buy gas on certain days of the week, and it was very expensive.

These two experiences made me a lot more open to learning about the human effects of climate change and resource depletion in college several years later. I had gone to college knowing I wanted to "change the world," and one of the first classes I took happened to be an environmental studies class. It changed my life. That year I became a vegetarian, became involved in the environmental movement, and thereafter sought the best way to create awareness about resource depletion. This brought me first to New York as an artist, and then to LA where I worked in the film industry for 10 years.

In the last 20 years, it has become clear that our climate and environment is changing much more quickly than we'd thought back in college, so I continue to devote my life to projects that create awareness, but also projects that provoke people to act, do and change their own lifestyles. Awareness just isn't enough anymore.

2. How challenging has been the adaptation process to living sustainably?

For me, the process of living sustainably is all about slowly "redefining normal." I have asthma and severe skin sensitivity, so the first things I changed in my life were related to foods and body products. I found soaps that didn't give my skin a rash - which happened to be organic, locally made soaps. Then came shampoo, foods without additives, and non-toxic cleaners. My health improved substantially so it was easy to redefine normal at that point!

But two years ago my husband and I moved into the country to live self-sufficiently. We reduced our carbon footprint to 90% less than the average American's. We lived off the land in our backyard, I learned to sew and preserve and all sorts of things. But it was a really tough lifestyle, very isolating, very time consuming, and I didn't have time to do any work to change the world! That was when I started my blog, so I did have that, but it wasn't enough for me at the time.

At the same time this self-sufficient lifestyle wasn't working for us economically or emotionally, our cat nearly died from pesticides being sprayed on the vineyard just feet from our organic garden. And we realized we just weren't in the right place. So we did a lot of research to find the most sustainable area in the world. It happened to be NOT a rural place at all, but a medium-sized urban area: my hometown of Seattle.

Here we have a carbon footprint that is about 80% less than the average American's, but I also started a business helping amazing organizations to change the world in big ways, I am able to devote more time to my blog - which has grown substantially - and I am surrounded by other supportive people with similar lifestyles.

All that is to say you have to create a sustainable life for yourself, one that makes you happy and works with your needs.  It might take some time, but you'll find it if you keep looking.  And as you go along the path, slowly allow yourself to redefine normal.

3. How is organic gardening different from pesticide-oriented gardening?

A lot of my organic gardening philosophy is about letting yourself be a bit lazy, allowing a few weeds to come into your garden without freaking out (reality check: what are a few weeds really going to do?), and having the discipline to just "let it be."

I had a huge aphid problem in my garden a few years ago, and it was icky and my cole crops looked terrible. But I experimented, and just let it be, to see what would happen. Weeks went by and then I found a ladybug. And then a couple of days later, a few more ladybugs. And soon enough, the aphid population subsided, and the ladybugs and aphids found an equilibrium in the garden.

Organic gardening is often about being ok with a little unkempt-ness:  if you plant several rows of one crop, you have a good chance of having the whole crop be eaten by a pest. But if you put a little here, a little there, and mix several crops together, suddenly you're confusing the heck out of bad bugs and creating an environment that is much more like the real world, where nature can find its equilibrium.

4. Living sustainably to the letter of the definition must be hard. What drawbacks do the social systems of the modern times cause to your lifestyle?

I think the most difficult part about living sustainably is the disconnect that can happen between your carefully cultivated sustainable lifestyle at home and the everyday happenings outside the home - work, school, the gym, sports, supermarkets, shopping malls, and so on. Oh and all the stuff you see on TV!

We don't watch television - we have streaming Netflix, so we do watch movies on occasion. But not watching TV really helps us alleviate the disconnected feeling. We also spend time with like-minded people, join local organizations and groups, and participate in events that support us and our lifestyles.

Here and there, there are things that you just don't fight. For instance, I work in a company that is almost as green as it could possibly be, but we work a lot with technology. That means I have a big powerful computer that sucks a lot of electricity, plus an iPhone stuck to my hip every second. And sometimes we have to work with clients that just need every bit of work we do for them printed and bound. For the greater good, we do that and it's ok.

You do everything you can within reason - but I believe you can stop just shy of 100% all in if it means you'll ultimately be a more productive member of society. In other words, if I can regularly reduce my carbon footprint to just 10-20% of the average American's footprint, I feel pretty good. Going another 10% lower is so much more difficult and time consuming, that it would keep me from blogging (among other things). But when I blog, I help thousands of other people reduce their carbon footprints, which in turn considerably reduces the overall human footprint. That makes my time spent blogging much more powerful.

5. Does living sustainably involve not using any modern electrical appliances like refrigerators, washing machines and televisions?

It depends on your definition of sustainable. I think each person creates their own definition of sustainable. While I have tried cutting out washing machines, refrigerators, and television entirely, I'd say the benefits don't outweigh the hardships. Instead I recommend buying super energy efficient appliances and reducing how often you use them.  Then take the time you would have spent hand washing your clothes and spend it on helping other people live more sustainably. Create a blog, get neighbors together to garden, join a local knitting club, do something inspiring!

6. What types of activities do your community building efforts entail?

Lately a lot of my community building activities revolve around helping other organizations to more effectively come together as communities - so that they can do more work that makes an impact and is world changing. I recently started a business called Re-Vision Labs, which creates online and offline community-building strategies for values-driven organizations.

Additionally, I have formed a wonderful community at One Green Generation and contribute to the Simple Green Frugal Co-op  and The Lab communities online. And offline, I am an active member of our neighborhood community vegetable garden, I write columns in the city gardening newsletter, I am a member of our sustainable neighborhood organization, I joined a book club formed by a high school friend, I go to lots of local green events, and I frequent local businesses and farmer's markets as much as possible.

7. How welcoming are people about adapting the sustainable living lifestyle?

I think people are most excited to adopt lifestyle changes that affect them on a personal level. That means eating healthier foods as a family (gardening and cooking), getting more exercise (biking or walking short distances, instead of driving), and having a healthier home (soaps and cleaning products that don't make you prone to cancer or make you otherwise sick).

People are also more apt to adapt if they can save money by making the changes, particularly in this more difficult economy. Truthfully, most of the sustainable changes I've made have saved me money. And lastly, if it's more fun people are more likely to change their lifestyle.  Because why not live a sustainable lifestyle, if you're healthier, saving money, and having fun too?