Veggie Voyage

I found the following story from the most recent Plenty Magazine e-news very inspiring. It's nice to know that in today's age of consumerism and "keeping up with the Jones-es," that some are making a conscious effort to simplify their lives and discovering they are much happier in the process, and also sending a message on how we can live in harmony with the planet. I plan on keeping up with their Live Lightly Tour web page, which also features a blog, photos, resources, and other interesting elements.


Matt and Sara Janssen know a thing or two about living simply. Thanks to a long-term business trip to Coralville, Iowa in 2005, the twosome realized they could happily survive on fewer material items than they owned. They slowly began to downsize their life, eventually selling their 1,600 square-foot home and resettling in a 385 square-foot apartment. Currently, 30-year-old Sara, 29-year-old Matt, and their 3-year-old daughter, Bella, are traveling around the country in an RV powered by corn oil for what they’ve termed, their Live Lightly Tour. Plenty caught up with Sara to discuss her new lifestyle, her plans, and her RV.

What was the biggest change you noticed when you simplified?

Whenever we’d go into our big house, all we’d see is everything that needs to be done—the lawn needs to be mowed, this needs to be fixed and cleaned. It was just overwhelming. We didn’t have a lot of time because we were working so much, so it just added to our stress. Once we moved into a small apartment, all those things went away and we had time to focus on family, hobbies, and Bella.

Why go through this entire transformation of simplifying?

The culture of America is to buy and consume. That’s what you see. If you go anywhere, [the impulse] is to buy, buy, buy. For us, simplifying is a matter of sanity. Getting back to not having a TV on at night meant we had more time to spend with Bella, and it made us go outside our house more. We spent more time at coffee shops chatting with friends, and at fountains with family. It just totally changes your perspective on life when you don’t have so much chaos around you.

How long will you be gone?

We’re planning on a year, but we don’t really have a time frame, and that’s the exciting part. It’s open. If we find something along the way that interests us, maybe we’ll come back to it.

Why are you doing the tour?

Our goal for the tour is to bring awareness to sustainable living, show people a veggie-oil system, and show them transportation alternatives. Within the green-living realm, transportation is a huge question; what are you doing to help the earth because gas is nasty and expensive?

How do you get the oil to power the RV?

We go to restaurants and knock on the back door, talk to the managers and say, “Hey, we have an RV that runs on veggie oil. Can we come in and fill up on it?” They often look at us strangely and it’s clear they don’t understand. Then they come out, look at it, and usually say yes. We have an on-board gathering and filtering system and we just fill up. It is like an elephant with a hose out of the front.

What do you think stops people from simplifying their lives like you did?

Part of it is fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of getting rid of stuff they might need someday. A lot of people find comfort in their material possessions. It is so deep-rooted that they don’t realize attachments they have to possessions, the stability of a full-time job, a house that their parents expect them to have, the car that their friends expect them to drive. There’s a fear of not impressing people, or a fear of failure. I always ask people: “If you want to do it, if you have a desire in your heart, if you want to travel one day, then why don’t you do it right now?” What’s holding them back is that they might fail. I say, “So what, then you go back to your nine to five job.”

A Better "Live Earth"

I was thinking about the "eco landmarks" of the summer of 2007, and of course, "Live Earth" came to mind. Like many, I logged onto the web site and signed off on my "pledge" to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Like many, I tuned in to watch performers do their thing, from a rather subdued Keith Urban, to a nearly out of control Melissa Etheridge, who sang, talked, and ranted on and on about everything from women's rights to the president. I got my share of public service announcements from Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and I got my post concert e-mail thank you's from the powers that be. There have been some rather dull and disappointing follow up e- mails about growing tomatoes and being sure to watch Leonardo DiCaprio's new film "11th Hour," but not the calls to action one would think. But herein lies the rub. There's a big difference between saying and doing. There's a big difference between signing a pledge with the incentive of seeing your name highlighted on television, and making sure to unplug your cell phone at night to reduce carbon emissions. There's a big difference between rocking out to Shakira, and buying a hybrid vehicle. Life Earth, with all its glitz and glamour, was exactly that: too much glitz and glamour, while the all important message got lost. It's nice to see celebrities try to set an example, but the truth is many of them are about as far from "eco" as you can get, and everyone knows it. What kind of message does this send to today's young people? Fake it until you make it? Even Al Gore himself has been criticized for his luxury mansion which does about as much for the carbon footprint as a pair of stillettos. An excellent Newsweek article "How Green was Live Earth?" by Mathhew Phillips speaks to the "disconnect" between saying and doing. He writes: "...more than a few event staffers were seen carrying around Fiji brand water bottles—an ironic illustration of the vast difference between talking about going green and the difficulty in actually doing it....In the weeks leading up to the event, audience members were sent emails and text messages encouraging them to use mass transportation or to carpool. But the only mass transit available directly to the Meadowlands was New Jersey Transit Authority buses coming from midtown Manhattan. “I would’ve taken the bus, but I wasn’t going to drive all the way into Manhattan just to do it,” said Michael Frank, who drove 30 minutes from his home in Short Hills, New Jersey in his Mercedes-Benz. “That’s the problem with the Meadowlands,” he said. “No trains, no metro stops. You’ve got to drive to get here. You have no choice.”
Next time, I'd like to see an event that doesn't lose itself in the celebrity shuffle, but focuses its message on clear calls to action and yes, raising money, and yes, better follow-up from the messengers. Real change involved doing the hard things, not just the trendy and easy ones. Cute little carbon calculators on the Live Earth home page are not enough to save our planet.