and the seventh day...

... we rested.

Welcome to Eco Sabbath! Colin Beavan's year-long experiment has been condensed into one week, and on this seventh day, we have phased out everything he phased out and are experiencing life as he did over the period of several months. Today we're asked not to plug anything in, not to go anywhere or do anything -- have a true rest from the stuff that seems to make the world go round and really experience life au naturel.

I did go out today; for me, spending time with friends or family here means going out to see them. I went to the church I found here, an English-speaking congregation; this morning it was a mass with all three parishes that celebrate in that church: the English, Italian and Filipino communities. It was pretty crowded and it was nice to be among people. I wandered through the procession happening downtown in honor of the beatification of Don Carlo Gnocchi (I have no idea why he became a saint but he was obviously a big deal), picked up an empanada in the Peruvian market crammed into an alley beside another big church downtown, San Stefano, and wandered home, where I had a much-needed nap. I consider that a fairly low-impact activity... happy eco sabbath to you, too.

Some reflections on the week are in order. I learned that while superficially, my big problem appears to be food packaging like every Italian, the hidden problem of energy and water over-consumption are much more pronounced, and this is probably true of all of us. It is really hard to gauge the amount of energy and water you use individually, but it's worth trying to track for a week if only to become cognizant of your consumption. It also made me think: If I reduce my trash, buy locally, buy unpackaged foods, take the stairs, etc etc etc etc etc, and then take a 15-minute shower, did I just undo everything I tried to accomplish? Some things measure higher on the footprint scale. Is it that easy to undo your good intentions? We need priorities.
Mor ethan a week of experimentation this felt like a week of becoming conscious. I learned so much this week due to my research and to the people I met in my forums; I am really glad I was inspired to do the reading and researching that I did. I feel a lot more in control of my actions now that I've quantified them and evaluated them against a standard (the organizers put otu a guide for the week); I also feel like I can make better choices now, being equipped with the information and resources i need to follow through.
There's nothing wrong with taking the stairs, hopping on the bus, choosing not to buy when you don't have to, carrying a hanky, handwashing your clothes. Most of these things I do already.
I am excited to buy bananas again, and eat food that came in bags (granola, here I come!), and super excited to go out for a drink this week! Some things you just don't want to live without.
And with all that said, I am going to turn off my computer and sing some music. It's nice to have a no-impact passion.
Good night!

I took action.

Today marked my first and only attempt at environmental activism.

I heard about a march in Milano in honor of 350 Day, which is basically to get world leaders to talk about climate change in Copenhagen at the summit. (350 refers to the parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that is considered liveable for Earth; we are at 385 right now.)
I showed up in Piazza de' Mercanti to find that there was another demonstration happening as well; some people were handing out flyers and denouncing Berlusconi in the name of freedom of speech and of the press. Can you believe that in a so-called democracy, such a thing occurs? Maybe it's just the Canadian in me whose sensibilities are offended. I know that people live differently the world over, but Italy is a developed, European nation with a democratic government in place; yes it's a rightist government, but its people should still be able to express their opinions of said government. No?
Anyway, I saw a mass of bicycles behind them, all with people atop them sporting cloth signs saying "NO" to various things related to oil and greenhouse gases, and they all seemed to know each other. Needless to say, the activist community in Italy is small but mighty. I went up to a girl handing out cloth banner thingies and asked if there were people walking.
Girl: No. We're all riding our bikes. But there's a march on foot at Parco Sempione in a n hour.
Me: Oh. Thanks.
So, it woul dhave been really nice if the website told me where to go for which event. I saw them off, then wandered around downtown for a while before going to the pool and then coming home to sign up for an internet chat room as a volunteer ESL teacher. It's based in Afghanistan, which is only a three-hour time difference from Italy, and I'll be chatting with Afghan women in various stages of education and emancipation and providing ESL support, international perspective, and maybe just a friendly presence on sort of a part-time basis.
It's something I've been meaning to do, and I'm comfortable putting my efforts towards this type of cause. I've never been the type to get in your face with a megaphone about any cause; I am also a terrible fundraiser. I just don't like to make my personal opinions the immediate problem of anyone else, as I don't like it happening to me, even if I happen to agree. When my help is asked for, it's a different story. When I feel my efforts actually make a tangible difference to someone else, also a different story.
Though I didn't actually participate in 350 day, I am still impressed by the website today. Many photos and videos from all over the world have been uploaded and it's heartwarming to see the variety of events, settings, nationalities and languages represented. It makes me want an elementary school class of my very own for one split second because that's the type of group that's really interested in this type of activism. The feeling passes quickly, though.

Tomorrow is an Eco-Sabbath... we also turn our clocks back tonight. Good bye, dinners in the waning light of day!

TGIF!

Well, I made it this far -- Now I HAVE to see it through!

That was my motivation today to do... well, anything really. It was another grey and dreary day, and I woke up feeling like I hadn't slept at all, which is a really awful feeling when you've slept 6 or 7 hours. Or, you thought you did.

Today was water day. We were to do everything in our power to consume as little water as possible. Did I? What do you think?

Instead, I decided to do as much as I usually do -- that is, quite a bit -- and observe where in my life I create the need for water usage indirectly, and where I can cut down or eliminate water usage.
I worked this morning and needed a hot shower to wake up. I take fast ones, but let's face it -- we could all probably take shorter, colder showers and still live to tell the tale.
I forwent the pool, which is a HUGE water-sucker. However, I don't think I'm prepared to give up swimming as my main outlet for fitness. Gyms and other public fitness locations are probably enormous sources of energy and water consumption; is there a real solution to this?
Going to a restaurant, or even just a coffee bar for a quick espresso, can generate a lot of water consumption. Think of how much water is used to cook your food and clean your plates. The amount of water used in the cleaning of my espresso cup, making of my coffee, and cleaning following the making is decidedly out of proportion to the amount of water used in the actual coffee. Perhaps it is better to have your coffee at home. I turned down a lot of social invites this week because I would either have to take a taxi home or they were out at restaurants. It was hard to do, that's for sure, and unless you and all your closest friends have made a green-living pact, it's impossible to keep up, in my opinion. The more bold among us would be pesky and push establishments that had made certain green adjustments in their energy usage or food choices, but I am definitely not a greenvangelist.
I did do my laundry today. In the end, I did the great majority by hand in the bidet (which is really the best use for it I can think of.... if you really feel the need to use the bidet for its official purpose, just bite the bullet and hop in the shower... though I am sure the tree huggers will argue me on that one). But I took one look at my jeans and bath towels, thought about squeezing them out by hand, and set the washing machine to cold and energy efficient. Sometimes you just CAN'T break the habit. We are spoiled! The washerwomen of yore must have been Amazons -- it's more work than I can imagine doing. And they'd never dry! I'm curious -- has anyone here ever grapestomped an entire load of clothes?

Tomorrow is Giving Back day. It's almost the end of this experiment. I wonder how many of the changes I made will stick.

Addendum to the last post: I forgot to mention that the article directly before Dump Berlusconi was written by a British guy and entitled, "In defense of Berlusconi". (I still don't buy it.) Gotta have that devil's advocate!

When I woke up today, it was still raining. Rain has a discernible effect on my well-being. It produces that sluggish, bluesy feeling we all experience when it's cold and damp out; I also become quite stiff and sore and decidedly self-indulgent. (Admittedly, since I've made certain changes in my diet and begun natural supplements things have improved but that doesn't mean I've kicked the self-coddling.) Needless to say, today was not a day I felt particularly strongly about my little experiment. In fact, at times I resented it and consciously performed actions that were contrary to my aims (example: I am eating spelt cookies from a non-reusable bag right now), just because I COULD. It really threw into relief just how much of a commitment a no-impact, or low-impact, lifestyle is, just like any other lifestyle commitment: a specific diet, quitting smoking, trying not to phone that bastard who stood you up on Friday but totally apologized and after all is really cute (this didn't happen). At times you couldn't care more and willingly devote all of your most positive energy to your cause, feeding off of your own success; other times you just say, "screw it", and reach for the spelt cookies. I can be an indulgent person; I guess my own personal challenge has to do with reducing the amount of times I cave, and furthermore, setting realistic goals.

Today is energy day. Instead of trying to use less energy, since that clearly wasn't going to happen, I decided to do some research on the devices I used and how much energy they really account for.
I wasn't able to find a lot of really concrete figures. But environmental blogs the world wide web over agree that using your microwave oven, especially for short periods of cooking or for small portions really does save a ton of energy once you do the math. My Chinese doctor cousin David would be having a conniption but you know what? Most of us use it anyway, and in exactly that manner; good to know it gets a green thumbs up.
The bulbs we have here are all energy-efficient. If you have not changed your bulbs to CFL's, I suggest you do so. Today, preferably.
Something I may never be able to renounce is a hot shower in the morning. I researched ways to reduce your hot water usage: installing low-flow showerheads and faucets, fixing leaks, and using the energy-efficient cycles on your dishwasher and washing machine topped every list. There is also something called On-Demand hot water, which is basically a tankless system: water is heated as required. The only downside is that you might let it run for a while before it warms up sufficiently, so I'm not sure how much you really conserve with this method. You can also just set your washer to "cold"; the clothes still get clean.
If only I had known! The Green Beanery in Toronto has a novel little gadget that makes espresso without any electricity -- it's lever operated. You still have to boil the water, though.
I could go on and on-- generally, if you are interested in lowering your energy impact through absolutely any small obscure detail of your life, there is a way. It was a useful thing to discover, and anyone can -- I amno Google master but I found a wealth of information.

Needless to say I didn't grape-stomp my clothes...

All Hail Newsweek

This article turned a few heads on the subway, as its headline was plastered across the cover of my international edition today. DUMP BERLUSCONI is pretty unequivocal even to your average non-English speaking Italian.

Il Cavaliere has just been hit with two really major court rulings, which in itself is a first. THis is, after all, the guy who rewrites laws to suit his own ends. He was ordered to pay damages as he is partially responsible for a corruption case invovled ina judge in the 90's. The second, and in my opinion more important, ruling is that the law that makes him immune from criminal prosecution as the prime minister (guess who wrote that one) has been declared unconstitutional, and rightfully so.
This author lays out the reasons for Berlusconi's early popularity (his policies in the 90's, when he first came into power, lined up really neatly with the general Italian sentiment following the "mani pulite" debaucle in which the political heavyweights were unseated on corruption charges -- he was anti-politics and against taxes), and why it just doens't work in the long run ("If he were the father of his country, he'd be feeding his children pure sugar"). He outlines Italy's current problems -- aging population, labour force dwindling (and would-be labourers from abroad are treated with hostility), economy struggling, education an embarrassment, and the prime minister is doing very little about anything except his own interests.

The truth of the matter is that there are and have been and will be terrible world leaders who behave badly or who run their countries in a questionable manner. Berlusconi is not only doing this but also driving Italy's dignity into the ground. Not too many world leaders want to sit at the table with the guy who cracks jokes about Obama's suntan, who pays for hookers for his distinguished guests, and puts his neighbour in Sardegna into Parliament to settle a personal dispute over the use of their shared land.

The problem? It's an English-language magazine. Berlusconi himself controls the TV that most Italians watch and he controls the major avenues of the press, as well. Journalists who write against them have lost their jobs. He files against those outlets not in his control regularly. We are the only ones hearing this kind of news, and we are not the people who need to hear it -- voting Italians do. But they have accepted him and the censureship that comes with him, or so it may seem.

Even so, liberal Italians have hope. The family I live with is very very leftist and they say often that the country will turn around when Berlusconi dies and another takes his place. But I personally don't think much will change.



The same issue ran an article on why Obama shouldn't have won the Nobel Peace Prize and why the Nobel Peace Prize is a big sham anyhow so it doesn't matter. It drops a few too many names but certainly outlines a strong opinion.

My school subscribes to Newsweek and though I think it's beyond most of the students' level, it's certainly nice for me to have some reading material that also keeps me up to date. Italian press is a bit skewed, due to the fact that Il Cavaliere owns it all, so sometimes I feel like I don't know what to believe. I can't imagine a world in which Berlusconi's news was my only news but that is the case for a good portion of Italians, and the scary thing is, they don't mind.

Hump Day.

Well, if I didn't cave today, I won't cave.

Today it rained. In fact, it's still raining. When it rains here it doesn't just kind of lightly sprinkle periodically, it barfs water for hours. Luckily this does not happen as often as the Milanesi would have you believe.

However it also means I just don't want to do ANYTHING. Rain is terrible like that; it takes away your will to live. I totally meant to go to the pool but didn't make it out of the house til almost 12 (though I did make soup); then the nine flights of stairs up to my English lesson nearly did me in. I was so close to taking the elevator -- it's almost automatic when you know you have to go up 9 flights. My own seven flights seemed like peanuts, on the positive side.

Another positive was that I ate my homemade yogurt this morning and nearly died because it is SO GOOD. Everyone should do this at least once. You will never go back to storebought, I swear.
And that brings me to today's topic of discussion: food. Today we had to renounce all packaged food and consume only local products.
Because life is so hard, I limited myself to things that come in reusable packages (glass, durable plastic), and only ate things from Italy. I don't think i would have eaten too much otherwise. EVERYTHING comes in a package here; at some stores, you can't pick your own fruit from the bin and must bring it home on a styrofoam tray -- even stuff like bananas (which come from Ecuador, so I can't bring thos ehome anyway). I would really like to be buying my grains and beans in bulk, and I think I have found a store at which I can do this; loose-leaf tea made from things harvested in Italy, however, or coffee, is an entirely different matter and I am not too sure I am at the point where I give up caffeinated things because they don't grow here. Individually wrapped cafeinated things -- I can probably handle that.

In short, this is definitely the hardest day, and I can't say I fully succeeded. In fact, I am not sure I ever will, since some things I don't feel I want to do without (bananas and caffeinated beverages aside -- avocado, spices like curry...) Also, I struggle with the packaging thing. There are only so many plastic bottles you want to keep around, or so many glass jars you can wash out and hang on to. The key is finding sources at which you can refill them with whatever it is-- milk, beer, wine for example -- and that can be hard in the city. Maybe this will be the start of breaking my Nutella habit??!

Tomorrow should be really interesting. I am grape-stomping my clothes in the bathtub in honor of "use as little energy as possible" day! I may or may not blog -- I am using my laptop on battery until it dies, then charging it only when I am using it so that whenever it is plugged in, it's also being used, ad when it is off, it is always unplugged. If I have juice at the end of the day, you'll hear about it -- if not, stay tuned for Friday...

Tuesday Chapter Two

Sometimes, you just don't want to walk up the stairs.
Like when it's 11.30, you're tired and have to pee, haven't really had dinner, and there are seven flights of them.
You'll all be proud to know I did it! I used my feet for the entire day, and when I needed to get somewhere fast (work), I jumped on the subway.
For this week, that's fine. But I think I wouldn't choose this particular issue to be militant about. Sometimes, it's OK to take the elevator, you know? But I stand firm on gas-guzzlers.

I saw a concert tonight -- a great little Baroque orchestra that reminded me a lot of Tafel -- the 5 euro ticket reminded me of them too -- and 3 singers, performing the two cantatas that Handel wrote in Italian. It was a long concert, about 2.5 hours, but it was really well-played. It took place in the Conservatory's massive Verdi Hall, which puts VKH and Walter Hall to shame, but not Roy Thomson -- it is acoustically excellent but a bit less comfortable than RTH, and smaller, of course. It might seat about 700. It's actually a really nice hall and I have enjoyed everything I've seen there, as the sound is always great and I am always able to find a seat with an excellent view.
Anyway, the three singers -- it was interesting to hear some very dark voices singing repertoire that we normally relegate in our singer-brains to light voices without the power to cut a bigger orchestra. Well, these voices were dark, but definitely rough around the edges and though they were all excellent artists, there were some technical problems with each of them. Isn't it funny? If you can't sing opera, sing Baroque. What a shame, that this mindset/stigma/whatever exists, however subconsciously, in singers' minds. I think this is especially true in Italy, where large, rich voices are prized.
Though the concert ran long, I enjoyed it. It was conducted from the clavicembalo and the violinists and winds stood; I think the energy this brings makes for a more intimate, engaging performance for the audience, not to mention the performers.
If you don't know Tafelmusik, you should... take a second and check them out.

Anyway, I want to tell you something else. Before this concert, I had to teach my class from hell.
Colin Beavan maintains that living no-impact makes you a happier person. Is it possible that this can rub off on other people? My class from hell was not the same class today. I couldn't believe the difference -- they acted like humans, sat still, listened, spoke English, answered questions, and did their homework. Was it because I came in with more positive energy? Maybe it was because we finally had our textbooks -- kids like structure, and they feel like they're in class with a book in front of them. I'd like to think it was the former, though.

Some things just take time, I guess.

So far, this has been a week of victories, and I am glad I can say that after being turned down for the masterclass. Everything bad can be made good; everything old, new; everything used, re-used. This is the lesson!

Oh, and I did it -- I carried my snot around today and it wasn't half bad.

Here I am in the kitchen, working on battery power, making yogurt after lugging the milk and fruit I bought up seven flights of stairs. So far, so good!

I feel amazing right now, actually. It's surprisingly empowering to reuse plastic vegetable bags and to buy only produce grown in Italy (today there is no market -- on Thursday I can re-stock with 0 km food). It seems silly. But I am beginning to see that once you have built your personal infrastructure it is easier and easier to subsist on what you already have.
I'd still like to find a solution to the problem of non 0-km ingredients for the food you make at home. As well, ingredients still come packaged, though you can buy them in larger quantities (huge bags of flour for example, versus a small bag of bread. I still haven't found milk in anything bigger than 1 L plastic bottle; maybe there is a way to get your milk containers refilled but not in the city, that's for sure. I' using old plastic bottles for water.)

Today is the day we "green" our commute. That means, for me, cutting out any automated mobility devices -- no escalators, moving sidewalks, or escalators except where stairs do not exist. It also means going home on the last subway, always, to avoid having to use cabs, and carpooling when it is socially awkward to refuse a ride somewhere. Since I don't drive here, it's relatively easy to rpomise myself to walk or take the bus; it also means that today I'm considering the possibility of never owning a car, just to think about it and what it would mean for me.

Did you take the bus today? Sometimes life is hard when you can't just drive to where you need to be. Cities are so big, and here they have the added obstacle of many spread-out villages with a city as their common centre for commercialism and industry, with many mountain roads and no train or bus infrastructure. At home, things are just so far away that sometimes it isn't practical. It's definitely something that needs to change here in Italy, though; I'm glad to see many smaller cars and hybrids, but there are still too many. There is also something called Eco-Pass, which is basically a zone of the city encompassing the downtown area where you cannot take your car unless you pass an emissions test. Milanesi say it hasn't changed much, though. In Florence you can't even drive downtown! But Milan is much bigger.

Stay tuned for more flights of stairs and how the yogurt turns out... right now it's busy multiplying on the hot-water heater...

Here I am, back in Milano after an unsuccessful attempt at La Freni's masterclass, and no, I don't want to talk about it. It wasn't a very pleasant experience, but I did learn a lot. I think I will probably do a post soon about singing teachers here and at home, and some of the observations I have made til this point.

What I want to tell you about today is my garbage can.

Yesterday I collected all of my garbage in a bag so that I could analyze it today. What was very clear to me was that the changes I need to make are few but significant.
Here are the contents of my trash bag from yesterday, admittedly an abnormal day but nonetheless --
- paper napkins and paper towels
- receipts
- an orange peel
- two yogurt cups and foil lids
- food packaging, paper and plastic
- an apple core

On the Italy group in our forum, the results showed an overwhelming amount of food packaging and that is seriously no surprise to any of us. How to avoid this? Well, you try your best but it is nearly impossible. By asking around I have learned of a bulk food store. As well, I try to buy products in one layer of packaging only, or in reusable packaging: resealable containers or bags, glass bottles, durable plastic if necessary.

At home, we separate our food garbage so I never had to think about composting. Here, I am thinking about putting a bin on the verandah or asking for a corner of the garden in the courtyard. I think it would be better to compost though, so that the family I live with could participate too.

As for paper products I have begin carrying a tea towel for hand drying and napkin usage; as for a hanky I have yet to get one and get comfortable with the idea of carrying my snot.

I started a box of scrap paper today. As a teacher I kill at least one tree a day; the least I can do is milk that tree for all it's worth. Into the box went the receipts and the train tickets.

Look! I can make my own yogurt! So can you! Kefir is easy to make too; you can purchase the starter at any health food store and then just buy milk as you need.
(Milk here comes in small cardboard containers that are not really like Tetra paks but they call them that anyway. I have yet to see milk in glass containers.)

What other ways can we reduce trash, besides reusing packaging, composting, making things instead of buying them packaged, and recycling? Any more creative ideas out there?
Maybe the freegans have some. Wow -- I am not so sure about my thoughts on humanure. Wikipedia was definitely on the right track by linking this article with "radical environmentalism".
Thoughts?

Lastly, I wanted to share the climatecounts.org pocket.sized company profile with you. It's right here so have a look and see if you're surprised at all.

Well, happy Monday! From now on, we are trying to be trashless, people!

Tomorrow we green our commutes. I am walking to work and the pool and taking the stairs everywhere I go, even at home where there are seven flights!

Day One

Today is "Stop Buying New Stuff" day.

I thought a lot yesterday and today about what's hard to give up buying and what I already don't want or need.

Consumerism has ruined us - as Colin Beavan puts it, this "keeping up with the Joneses" business. Even though I know the only reason I want any of that stuff in the store windows is because I've been conditioned to think I need it, and deep down I DON'T want it, I still struggle daily with the urge to buy.

I have always been uncomfortable buying things secondhand (except books). It's a weird trust thing -- I know for sure if the item is brand-new that I can trust its cleanliness, its ability to work and its durability (insofar as it is durable). It's something I have to get over, and maybe some fun evenings swapping clothes and other belongings -- CD's, magazines, books for those of us who don't live in second-hand bookshops like I do -- will break the ice.

Some things you just have to buy new, though. I draw the line at underwear. I've also got terrible feet and have to buy shoes new, or else I pay with days spent horizontal. In that kind of a case, what do you do? I guess you make sure your shoes go to a good home once you're done with them and suck up the one or maybe two things in your life you just need to buy.

I had to make a list of all the things that I "need" to buy this week, and figure out which I really didn't need or could make, borrow, or get second-hand.

Here is my list:
- food (you buy this new, no getting around it; try to buy with minimal packaging, or reusable packaging like glass)
- a coat and hat, if it gets much colder (researching a second-hand shop here)
- train tickets (it's a must, and you have to have a paper copy, no getting around this)

Short list, eh? Everything else I am tempted to buy, I can probably do without, can't I.

In honor of this auspicious day in which I have promised myself to try my absolute best to stop buying new stuff, I leave you with the Story of Stuff which is a really entertaining video about the effects consumerism has on our earth and what you can do in your own little way.

If you'r einterested in knowing how specific companies stack up, you can go to Climate Counts to check their carbon-output rating. Very interesting stuff!

I'm also looking into recipes for body products like soap and lotion. If you have any please leave them as comments!

That's all for now. It's bedtime here. Toronrrow I take out the trash for the "last time"!

No-Impact beginnings...

Here i am in Vignola, settled in to my hostel for the night with two very nice Spanish girls who are definitely going to think I am weird. So far, being here and gauging the situation, I think certain things will be a snap this week -- I can walk everywhere, for example -- and certain things will be impossible -- I have no control over our general energy consumption, for instance.
Before I began the week I was asked to take a survey which asked me about my general happiness: what percentage of last week I was truly happy, somewhat happy, or down; my general habits in the categories that are addressed during the week: food, energy consumption, transport, water consumption, volunteerism, and trash production; and my hypothesis for the week.
I am generally a pretty happy person, and when I am not happy it's usually related to something like money, work, or traffic jams; sometimes I am really cranky if I haven't eaten properly. Colin Beavan maintains that improving your lifestyle in a "no-impact" way makes you a happier person. At least, that is what he discovered. I think that my particular experience will prove him right; in fact, I already think he's right. In my own experience I have noted this. Take travel. Going by foot means I feel in control of my mobility, for example, and I can go as fast or as slow as I want. Having to plan my meals means I will eat well and healthily. Producing less trash means consuming less and therefore buying less; buying less stuff means spending less money; spending less money means Danielle is happier. I am generally a happier person when I am taking up less room on the planet and being less of a consumer -- this I know already, and it's partly why I am doing this experiment.
In terms of my general habits I am already pretty conscious of how I treat the resources at my disposal and how much I consume. I am a big reuser and recycler, and I don't like to use products that are not natural; I try to buy organic, and in bulk. Here, that is impossible --everything is packaged, so that has been a challenge. I already am a public transport kind of gal. The areas I could improve, I know, are water consumption and energy consumption, and I would like to give back in a small way. I don't have a ton of time to volunteer but it doesn't take much. I would also like to make nearly no trash.

What I think will be most difficult here is eating. Finding products that are not packaged is impossible as I've said, and in Vignola it might be really hard to find anything organic.
My goals are to find out if there is a farmer's market and use it; to use as little of the hostel's resources as possible (ask them to leave my towels, no cooking, only hot water with lemon in the morning as opposed to coffee); and to talk about the experiment with the other singers who are here doing the masterclass week. That last will take a lot of balls for me, since I have never really been the "converting" type. It hink of talking about environmentalism like that is a little bit like evangelism which makes me uncomfortable. I have to get over that.

Iniziamo!

Getting warmed up...

...Because it's finally chilly here! I had to buy a sweater at the travelling Chinatown in the main piazza in Cremona this morning. Funny thing is, it's just a sweater, and it sufficed; I saw ladies in winter coats and toques today!! It was really only about 12!
There is something about fall that makes me really happy. Maybe it's just the changing of the season, or maybe there is a certain brisk, joyful energy that comes from people bustling in the crisp air of a fall morning, when the sun is still shining but your cheeks get red. It makes me think people are somehow more connected .. there is more energy in the air, people smile at each other as they pass, as if to say, "Yep, it's cold, but we're in this together." It's why I love Act 2 of Bohème so much, actually. That scene isn't the same if it takes place in Australia on Christmas Eve. Or is it? Maybe I'm just Canadian to the bone.
Anyway, speaking of community and people coming together --

Ladies and Gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for ...

my NO-IMPACT PROFILE!!!!

Yes, I am taking the Huffington Post's No Impact Challenge starting October 18th. Inspired by No Impact Man Colin Beavan, it is aimed at people who either have not really thought abotu the impact they are making in their daily lives, or who have thought about it but don't know where to start making changes. It's something I think will be really interesting to try and especially here in Italy, which is not exactly the greenest country.

You can sign up , or just learn more at this link, or read the guide that I'll be following throughout the week.

I would love to have friends do this with me. There are some people in Italy doing it so I belong to that group on the networking site, but there are so few so I've created a worldwide site and there are people everywhere -- Cyprus, South Africa.. one girl from Freiburg, who says her city is an incredible hub of green energy. Something to look into.

Anyway you can follow me as I try this out. I'll be blogging nightly and posting tidbits on there. I'll always link here as well. Looking forward to your comments!

And this, ladies and gents, is why we do what we do.

If I may share something with you...

This post comes from my friend Noah, in Banff, a fellow musician (as is Bonnie his now-wife) and really all-around smart guy. He posted this in his blog after receiving it as a forward in his email and I swear it couldn't have come at a better time for me.

You have to scroll down past his news about the piano and giving a recital, but you will come to an address given to the parents of an incoming freshman class at Boston Conservatory about the importance of music and art in our crazy world. This is totally something my parents need to read!

Today's moment is brought to you by the Duomo's roof.

I had an "I live here!!!!!?!?!?!?" moment today.

I have them sometimes. They come in two forms.

One form is the type that is accompanied by a contorted grimace of revulsion or sadness and usually occurs in response to one of the following:

1. Berlusconi is on TV saying something incriminating, or having laws made to protect his dealings (actually they rules against his random law-making recently, not that it will change much).

2. I see old ladies curled up on the sidewalk with their hands outstretched. OLD LADIES. They aren't using it for drugs, that's for sure. Why are they so poor? Or, I see desperate buskers board subway trains and begin to play, badly, on a broken violin or a crap accordion, smiling in vain at the obviously annoyed passengers, as their malnourished child goes around and holds out a duct-taped coffee cup.

3. I read stuff like this. Italy's right-wing government doesn't give a ... about gay rights, until three days ago? How many young gay Italians have to conceal their physical injuries and refuse to go to hospitals when they are beaten, because they haven't come out to their parents? How many clubs have to be raided, how many have to emigrate with their partners, how may have to die before this country realizes it's living in a really warped, religion-steeped vacuum?? There was another beating in Rome this week, the homicide rate is way up, and Berlusconi is under fire for a lot of other things, so maybe it's an opportunity to score some points by pouring some of his hard-earned money into a subway ad campaign that will just get defaced by the belligerent youth for whom it is too late, who have learned too early and too well what's right and wrong. Not that I'm proposing a solution. It's a deep-seeded problem. But you might be able to tell I think it's an important one.

4. I try to do things that are green and fail because the facilities don't exist (eg, must take elevators or escalators, must throw out paper or plastic, must use 1290843 sheets of paper to properly document coursework for teaching because everything is so complicated here, must take receipt for every single purchase made because otherwise the police will question whether you stole it, nowhere to compost, too dangerous to bike here, list goes on). Stay tuned for when I try a No-Impact challenge in one of the self-admittedly least green places on earth.

Sometimes, these moments are accompanied by absolute awe and wonder, amusement, reverence, and any combination of these and other similar emotions. Today's was like this and happened on the roof of a building, which, if you're going to have an epiphany, is just as good a spot as any, really. They happen on occasions such as the following:

1. I wander around an ENORMOUS church on a Monday afternoon when I have nothing better to do, see the preserved body of a dead archbishop and numerous very lovely paintings, and then take an elevator to wander around on the ROOF of said Duomo, from which you can see the ALPS and also all the little people and pigeons in the square below, and all the cranes and church spires and wee skyscrapers of Milano around you and all the saints presiding over the cities from their perches on the church spires are at eye level. The gargoyles are fantastic close up. ANd the Madonnina really is a wee little Mary made of gold perched on the topmost spire. THe spires are backlit by the sun and everything looks cream-coloured.
I sometimes have a really hard time getting over the fact that there is so much history just strewn about the cities here, and people go about their daily modern lives as if nothing were amiss, with no air of reverence, no eggshells underfoot, no neck-craning and google eyes. It's amazing to me that I can rush across a square in a hurry to get somewhere and not even notice that the square, and its subway stop, is named after the tenth-century church that is smack in the middle of it.

2. I have chocolate for breakfast, and that's not only OK, it's advised.

3. I sit on the tram or the subway and look around, and there are Italians, Africans, probably Brits and Canadians and Americans, Filipinos, Chinese and Japanese, and I know we all have at least one thing in common: we all speak great Italian. At home I don't take it as a given that you speak English, although most people do speak it. Some speak French, and some don't have a great level of English at all. Sure, in other parts of the world, it's probably the same- in South Korea, I imagine the dominant language is Korean, for example. But this is Europe, where languages mix a lot more easily, and in Italy, the 4 big ones (French, English, German, Italian) are taught in high school. In countries like Germany, the default fall-back is English; France I would imagine too. In Sweden they practically all speak fluent English, as far as my experiences with Swedes demonstrate. Here, you can't really get by -- as a resident -- without a perfect understanding of Italian and a really good ability to speak. Most Italians have very little to no English, ditto French and German. So there is that one thing that each and every one of us on that tram has struggled with and achieved. In a weird way, it's unifying and comforting.

4. Cities are circular and orbit around a main piazza. Life takes place in outdoor open spaces. They are always crowded with people walking, talking, sitting, eating, taking pictures, on cell phones, hanging out. I love piazzas. Why don't we have enormous open public spaces in the middle of downtown where you can set up runways for outdoor fashion shows and rock concerts, and that house enormous artifacts of history called Duomo's, EVERYWHERE?
To me this is indicative of a major cultural difference. It isn't just the church thing. Intersection after intersection in Toronto or New York, laid out in grids that really go nowhere; streets in parallel, angled bunches converging periodically in hubs with bars, banks, street markets, PEOPLE, that help define neighbourhoods and city zones, help drivers easily navigate between zones via roundabouts, and provide a mental and physical resting place from GOING. Which would you rather?
Having these points of arrival along your journey makes it meaningful and somehow, easier. At home I go from point A to point B. Here I go from point A to say, G or H with all the letters in between. I see more and experience more along the way. And resting points are built in. Just like siesta. Yes, that does happen in Milano, too.

5. People have met other opera singers before and they are familiar with the major works in the canon. Most have been to see at least one, usually in their hometown's theatre, and they probably liked it. They might even know someone who could help me, or their mom is a voice teacher. Opera happens everywhere. It's on TV, it's in small towns and it's relatively cheap. Your average Joe knows the words to La donna è mobile, Largo al Factotum, Una Voce poco fa, every soprano aria written by Puccini, and of course Va Pensiero. Entire blocks of streets are named after composers.
My point is... well, do I have to make it? I still haven't gotten over the novelty that I am not a novelty.

I never said it would all be roses, and Italy is a backwards country in a lot of ways. But there are some serious payoffs.

two heads are better than one, I think.

I have weekly Friday afternoon dates with myself.
The Castello Sforzesco Museums, or Musei Civici, are free on Friday afternoons, and they are glorious. You can walk through room after room of ancient Lombardian ruins, Lombardian Renaissance sculpture, and finish at the last sculpture Michelangelo ever worked on, the Rondanini Pietà; you can wander the art gallery and take in the view of the courtyard from the windows; and right now, you can ogle photographs and prints from the original produciton of Madama Butterfly in an exhibit devoted to the opera and guarded by a 400-foot-tall, weeping Cio-Cio San (picture coming).
Or, if the mood strikes and the weather is good, you can just wander the grounds and take in the castle as a sight in itself. It is rather majestic; it's laid out in a large square and fronted by an enormous piazza. In back, Parco Sempione stretches far into the northeast of Milan; previously all that land belonged to the Sforze, who, I suppose, were rich on a Medici scale. The buildings themselves encircle a spacious courtyard and comrise several turrets, a fortress, and a large, imposing central tower.
One of these days I will post pictures. The camera saga ended with me picking up my camera and getting my dad to scour Walmart for an extremely cheap alternative. Consumerism, obsolescence and The Man: one. Danielle's social consciousness: zero.
Anyway, this particular day, I was at the museum in the art gallery alone.
Alone is something I never thought I minded until I came here. I really only mind it sometimes. In fact, I only mind it when I think too much about it.
I really enjoy being alone, so much so that I feared I wouldn't even bother trying to achieve any sort of social life while I was here; I love living alone (I don't here) and eating alone (at home), and I love going to concert, movies, and cafes by myself, and I actively seek out places like libraries and museums where I can move amongst the fixtures and lose myself in my thoughts. Sure, I look at the stuff, but it's like knitting: you occupy your mind with something gross-motor-ish to do so it can abstract itself from reality and figure crap out.
Not that that is why I go to museums -- in fact, I am an avid learner and I like to read all the panels. I really appreciate well-curated collections. But sometimes art or carpets or dead people's stuff can be useful in this way as well. I could never go to a museum and brain-knit with a companion.
Anyway, I, who normally do not mind being alone, mind it here. It's the extremely social aspect of the culture that is a painful reminder of my solitary status. Itlaians travel in packs, and tourists tend to travel in two's, usually lovey-dovey two's; I look twice when I see someone else silently wandering around, because it is so rare. I am still shy about sitting down for a coffee alone here; at home, I have no problem getting my drink at the counter and disappearing into a chair at Second Cup for an hour or two. Maybe it is the lack of anonymity in general that makes it impossible to escape from scrutiny. You have to own up to being alone, because interactions are more personal. But isn't that a good thing? Isn't that what I wanted, or at least part of it?
Also, there are no benches. Because I am too shy to plop down at a table by myself for a coffee, when I have a half hour to kill before a meeting or a concert I am forced to keep walking, walking, walking, until I find a park (few and far between) or enough time has passed. I miss roadside benches.
But you know, sometimes it's nice to be alone. I had a rough day at work and I came to the museum searching for something to evoke a reaction in me, to help the bad mood pass. I guess I wasn't too open to that today. But there is always next Friday.

Young'un Yelping

OK.

If going off my hypoallergenic diet and being attacked by hives didn't kill me, maybe living with two small children and a cat would. If that didn't kill me, maybe having the ordeal of a lifetime trying to get a 39-euro phone fixed on warranty would. If the phone war didn't kill me, maybe getting a job with a shady company and breaking my non-existent contract for a better offer and not getting paid would. Nope, that didn't either, so maybe running out of supplements and searching out viable alternatives and praying I don't have reactions to the new products would? Nope.. Not that either. OK, maybe then having about half the amount of stuff to do in a day than I am used to, and a significantly lower number of friends in Italy than at home would. Not yet but we're getting close.

Nope.

It was the 5 devil children from Hell... I mean.. uh, the class I taught at the Educandato today.
The Educandato, as it is familiarly known, is the city's foremost Italian-language private school (there are international schools as well) and they have a reputation as such. The children are rich and privileged and they know it, and it is impossible to ignore this fact when they are basically doing whatever the hell they want in your class while you try not to swear at them in English.

To make matters worse, the Director of my school decided to sit in and observe, which she did for the other classes too, but she didn't observe -- she micromanaged. She somehow failed to realize that by talking to me and giving me extremely valuable advice on my lesson plan, she was taking my attention away from them and they were wreaking more havoc than was really necessary.

So... What exactly is it that is so important to tell me while I try to control the beasts, lady? Tell me all about how they need to speak more English, please. As if I didn't know.

I don't know how people do it -- all of you out there teaching children, I salute you.

I never want kids.

A great find

A friend of a friend posted a link on Facebook, and I followed it to the 12th annual Torino Environment film festival. I was brought there from this blog, which appears to be dedicated to living green in Italy. Italy is not exactly known for being ahead of the curve in terms of eco-conscious living, but it is the home of the slow food movement, and its vineyards and olive groves are usually organic, if unoffically; people here are huge public transit users, and we recycle and separate our garbage. Their one foible is perhaps the bottled water obsession; my Sigg gets weird looks. But where I'm living we use a Brita, so there are people out there trying.
The link was posted by a guy about my age; I think probably this generation the world over is the one with eyes for anything green. However, the site for the film festival talks about a competition between green families: some have come up with some awesome initiatives, like pedal-operated washing machines (they don't use dryers here, or very seldom), gasoline-less living, and backyard/urban gardening.
I might hop on the train to Torino and try to catch a film!

In the spirit of living green in Italy..
My friend Olivia posted a Facebook group she'd joined called No Impact, and out of curiosity I followed the link here to the Huffington Post. They were so inspired by this guy, Colin Beavan, who has written a book, keeps a blog, etc etc. Turns out they are launching a communal No Impact week where you get to experiment in a guided fashion with ways to reduce and eliminate your footprint, and find out what things you really can live without. The guided week is taking place starting October 18th, so if you're interested, visit the sites and join the mailing list for information on how to participate. That happens to be the week that I will be in Vignola, which is a very small town where it is easy to walk everywhere and buy locally, but I am still going to try it. Then I will do my own week here in Milano.

Bologna, Berlusconi, Biblioteca

I was in Bologna on Tuesday for a voice lesson with Paola Molinari, which was absolutely ottimo. I met her at the audition for Mirella Freni's masterclass -- she is the long-time collaborator of La Freni and others like Ghiarov, real legends. These people are the real deal. I sang Susanna, Gilda, and Giulietta for her, and I was struck by the difference between the style she was asking for and the way we are encouraged to prepare these arias at home. I can remember one coaching I had on Giulietta with a highly respected coach in Canada, who encouraged me to take artistic liberty with the bel canto repertoire; not so with La Molinari. The bel canto style is still alive and well in Europe and there is a way to do it, to sound idiomatic. The same goes for Mozart; I have never felt so strongly that my recit sounded legitimate and natural. Sometimes you just have to hear it from the horse's mouth. Needless to say, I hope to coach with her again.

Bologna is really a beautiful city. It is seriously old. It is home to the world's oldest legitimate university (founded in the 11th century), was a hub of European activity during the Middle Ages, and in my opinion is especially notable for its liberal viewpoints in the Renaissance, during which time women were allowed to attend the University and flourish in their chosen professions.

This photo isn't mine, but I still haven't figured out how to get pictures off my phone. It's the Piazza Maggiore, which I only saw in the daytime, but really is that cool. I took a bus from La Molinari's pad to the public gardens, ate my lunch sitting on a huge outcropping of quartz-like rock overlooking the greenish pond and watched the turtles go by. I walked up through the university and back down through the town and ended up at the Piazza Maggiore before I tripped back up the central Via to the train station.
The town itself, though beautiful, failed to impress me in terms of navigability (word?). Nothing is signed and the streets are a huge circular grid-like maze. Overhead view here-- also not mine.

Compare this to Milan, where EVERY street is signed and it looks more like this.

Have I mentioned I love Milan? I have yet to do anything touristy, but I do plan on it, and soon I will write an entry that will tell you more about it.

Anyway as you can see, in Milano, you can see past buildings to the next street, around the corners, etc, whereas in Bologna, walking down one street you feel as though nothing else in the world exists but that one, because the buildings are constructed such that they block the view of anything else and the streets' curvature makes it first of all impossible to see what's ahead, and secondly impossible to know in what direction you are heading. I went down so many streets for blocks and blocks before seeing a sign and figuring out that I had to turn around!

Despite all that Bologna is seriously cute. It has extreme Renaissance flavour and a really vibrant young population due to the university. There is a lot of graffiti and urine, though, but also great shopping -- it is like a mini Milan.

Shopping in Italy is very important, as I am sure you have guessed. There are no end to the designer boutiques, but for us mere mortals, Zara, H and M, something called Pimkie, and a department store called Coin (a lot like the Bay now that the Bay has gone all designer) reign supreme. Shoes are huge, and they have Timberland and Bata here, but also a great many independent shops and yes, even in Milano and Bologna, ad hoc markets in the streets, especially near public transit. Prices are a little higher than they are at home, even without the exchange - I think things are just cheap in North America compared to the rest of the world. The styles range from hipster to extreme runway and everything in between, but there are NO lululemons, no jogging pants, no running shoes (Converse, though, yes), no hoodies, except where young teenagers are concerned. I saw one shop called Canadian Flea Market in Bologna on a side street, whose owner is probably from Vancouver, which sold Roots and down parkas, which had me giggling. Other than that, absolutely no trace of what we consider comfort wear.

Anyway, I spent the day wandering and caught a regional train back to Milano, which was only supposed to be 2.5 hours versus a very expensive hour-long direct ride on a Eurostar. I spent 30 minutes waiting in Piacenza for my connection to Milano - oh, the joy of delayed trains!! -- and got home in time for a quick dinner and an extended conversation with my "housemates" about Italian politics.

My understanding of the situation is spotty at best; Italian news is in Italian, and the politics are hard to understand even if you've lived here your whole life. But the overwhelming sense I get is that Berlusconi is a bad man, and Italy knows it, and noone can seem to do anything about it. Simply because this post would become too long I won't go into everything here, but the current complaint is one of freedom of speech: it seems this weekend there will be a demonstration against the censureship of the press, which Berlusconi achieves by bribing advertisers away from publications that speak ill of him so as to cripple them economically, not to mention by owning Italy's complement of private TV channels. THe thing is, they are really only speaking the truth-- Berlusconi did this or that, and maybe it isn't so cool (prostitutes, 18-year-old heiresses etc), and whose fault is that in the end? I think his actions in these cases -- to create laws that make whatever it is he's up to legal, to manipulate the press, etc -- really just betray an insecurity in his own choices and demonstrate a lack of moral fiber, something that I think is a serious flaw in a political leader. It has led me to reflect on Stephen Harper in a different way. If I blogged about Harper like this, he wouldn't trace me and shut me down, but it might happen if this was in Italian and had a readership. Harper isn't a terrible human being, though we may take issue with his choices. But you can't even compare the two, because at the end of the day, it's apples and oranges. Berlusconi isn't even really running a true democracy.

Enough on that, and more when I understand it better. Oh! The big news of the day is that they just passed an OFFICIAL law against illegal immigrants, so everyone is scrambling to get their papers in order. There wasn't one before...??

I finally got to the library and got some books. It's great that anyone can be a member. I didn't have to show anything with my address on it. You can have books for a month, as well, and fines weren't mentioned although I am sure they exist.
Though the libraries are small and few in number, it's nice to make use of them. I am reading one Italian book for every English book I read; the selection is not great in terms of books in English so I picked up some Ian Rankin, and The English Patient, which I have been meaning to read, as well as Carlo Levi's Christ stopped at Eboli and some Nick Hornby, both in Italian. I feel like an addict or something -- it feels amazing to be turning the pages of something again!