And so it begins again.....

Day One: Ann Arbor, MI to Chappaqua, NY

After kebabs, GP (a few too many mugs) and a last minute decision to leave a few days early, I hitched a ride with Kara to NY. Hard saying good bye to friends...
Grad school has been quite the experience thus far but I wouldn't trade a minute of it for anything. Looking back on this first year it has been full of the best things in life: learning, friends, food, great memories, new experiences, challenges, settling in (maybe even putting down some roots finally) and a lot, a lot of work!!!

But that's then and this is now.
Summer begins today.

After a rainy (but very fun!) camping trip in Kentucky, I've left Ann Arbor for the summer to do what I do best- a whole lot of traveling! The mission is 10 cities and 4 countries in 4 months.

I joke a lot in grad school when I tell people about what I've been up to the last few years (which was mostly traveling)... and that I do environmental work out of pure "carbon guilt." This summer I'm going to find out how true that really is.
I'm excited about all the destinations and fun things I have planned, but the question I want to answer by the end of the summer is "at what cost?" Was it worth it? Does my influence outweigh my impact? Am I causing more harm than good? What do I give and what do I bring back with me that makes it all worthwhile?
Sure.... I'm presenting at a conference in Vancouver about sustainability and study abroad- but at what cost?
And yeah....I'm working on a masters project in India to find creative uses for waste water- but at what cost?
Does the work I do offset the impact of getting there? and being there?

So here's the plan: to travel consciously. I'm not interested in all the minute details and fancy calculations. It would be hard, if not impossible, to know or measure the good impacts versus the bad or quantify the benefits (either personal or otherwise). But I can keep a record of what I'm up to and where I've been and maybe something will reveal itself.

If I plan to continue on this professional path, to call myself an environmentalist....it's time to reassess and at the very least, admit that I don't always get it right. I can't just get by relying on the green bubbles I've been lucky enough to call home like Athens, Berkeley, New Haven, Los Angeles and now Ann Arbor where I can shop at a farmers market year-round and ride my bike to work/school. I'm an environmentalist addicted to travel. I have an insatiable wanderlust for anywhere but here. What follows is likely to be mostly confession, a little humor, mistakes, a lesson or two and a conclusion about where to go (or not go, for that matter!) from here. So, here goes nothing.....

Day One: Ann Arbor, MI to Chappaqua, NY
Mode of transportation: Kara's lime green fiesta!
Distance: 639 Miles
CO2: 0.22 Metric Tons
Other: gas station pizza, bag of chips and a grapefruit