After college, I worked for The Alliance for Florida’s National Parks and NOAA Fisheries, which cemented my belief that fighting climate change should be a top priority for everyone, given the fact that it is now affecting everyone, globally.

Living Sustainably as a Family

Since becoming a mom, I am constantly looking ahead to the future and the world I imagine for my kids. With that in mind, it’s been much easier to commit to sustainable practices at home.

• I get a lot of kids’ clothes secondhand—they grow so fast that it’s easy to find great quality clothes that still have lots of life in them.
• I get and give a lot of baby/kid stuff on the Westport Gift Economy and Buy Nothing Facebook groups. This also keeps a lot of clutter out of my home!
• I’ve fallen in love with vintage and antique shopping; there are so many cool items with great history behind them.

Everyday Actions That Add Up

When we moved here, I signed up for a food scrap composting service I found through the Westport Farmers’ Market—my family fills up two 5-gallon buckets each week with food scraps. My kids have grown up with the practice, so it’s just part of our kitchen clean-up routine, and they’ve both gotten the ‘rules’ down quickly.

We get bags of compost in the spring, and the kids help me add it to the garden and flower beds while I explain where it came from.

We also make recycling a game — having them guess what’s garbage and what’s recyclable. I’ve learned a lot of tips from Sustainable Westport’s Trash Talk Thursdays! My husband saves up aluminum cans, and when the box is full, he takes the kids to the store to recycle them—they get to add the money to their piggy banks.

Other sustainable choices we’ve made:

• All-electric landscaping company for our lawn care, with minimal herbicides/insecticides
• Driving a hybrid
• Installing a heat pump and saving up for solar panels

A lot of sustainable practices can carry a high cost. When I was first learning about them, it was hard to remember that I couldn’t do everything at once. Now my motto is: Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

“Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.”

I also vote for candidates with sustainability in mind. I have to focus on the choices I can make for my family, because the choices being made by leaders are not enough to blunt the impacts of climate change—and it can get overwhelming.

Finding Joy in Nature and Community

As a family, we really enjoy spending time in nature, usually in our backyard, Compo, or Earthplace. Even when we’re just poking around the flower beds at home, there’s usually something to talk about that’s related to sustainability—an invasive bug or plant, trash on the ground, or an interesting animal.

My husband and I are always having conversations about how being a helpful member of our community and volunteering our time is important. I’m so glad we found yet another like-minded community in Sustainable Westport!

THANK YOU to Tiffany Weitzer for being a Sustainable Westport Superstar!