{"id":346,"date":"2015-07-12T21:21:20","date_gmt":"2015-07-12T21:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/?p=346"},"modified":"2015-07-12T21:21:20","modified_gmt":"2015-07-12T21:21:20","slug":"am-i-a-curmudgeon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/?p=346","title":{"rendered":"Am I a Curmudgeon?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Am I a curmudgeon? I hope not.\u00a0 I’m too young, for one thing, and for another, I actually mostly like people.<\/p>\n

But…I live in Albany, NY and have discovered several things that push my buttons and make me, perhaps, on the route to curmudgeon-ism.<\/p>\n

First – noise. I have neighbors tight behind and beside me, and luckily they all seem very nice.\u00a0 But one or two of the local homes (okay, maybe four or five) are inhabited by people who either use F^(& for every other word in a normal sentence, or tend to have arguments with their family often, at very loud volume, permeated with insults and door slamming. And then add the music for anyone and everyone hanging out in their backyard. One neighbor has a pool and uses it often, but is blissfully unaware of the effect on everyone else when his music is cranking all weekend.\u00a0\u00a0 I actually mostly like the mix (except the country and the heavy metal Chicago mixes-weird) but I usually am outside in order to enjoy outside sounds…like birds and the wind. Impossible with 90’s pop rock from one side and sad twangy country from another\u00a0and me stuck in the middle.<\/p>\n

Second – smoke.\u00a0 I can’t go anywhere without smoke in the air and in my face.\u00a0 Even running the Workplace Team Challenge race. I was so pleased to have people out cheering us on, but at a couple of bar locations we were huffing and jogging our way through a cloud of secondhand smoke.\u00a0 Glad green buildings ask for smoking to occur at least 25′ away from any entrance – this helps a lot.\"smoke\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Third – gas-powered lawn care.\u00a0 I just don’t understand gas powdered mowers and leaf blowers in the city.\u00a0 Most people around here have no more than 600 sf of backyard and I can’t figure out why they need high-powered machines for a ten minute trim.\u00a0 Or why they need grass at all when most of them never, ever use the lawn. \u00a0They mow it and complain (swearing) during their ten minute smoke break half way through their huge 1\/70th of an acre lawn.<\/p>\n

\"Our<\/a>

Our perfect tiny backyard – no lawn!<\/p><\/div>\n

Fourth – share the sidewalk.\u00a0 Seriously.\u00a0 If you’re a bicyclist get off the sidewalk.\u00a0 If you are a walker, get on the sidewalk and out of the road. If you are walking with your peeps or jogging all in a clump, make room when someone is approaching.\u00a0 And please move to the right.\u00a0 I think you should have learned the “stay to the right” thing…right?<\/p>\n

Fifth – doggie poop bags.\u00a0 It’s become okay in the last few years for people to bag the poop, then leave the bag alongside the sidewalk?! Really?<\/p>\n

So, why do I share this brief tirade on these things and what could they possibly have to do with sustainability? These are about respect, education, air quality, energy efficiency, community, complete streets, and responsible waste practices.<\/p>\n

Let me tell you, EVERTHING is about sustainability.<\/p>\n

Jodi, curmudgeon-in-training.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Am I a curmudgeon? I hope not.\u00a0 I’m too young, for one thing, and for another, I actually mostly like people. But…I live in Albany, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,7,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-personal-reflections","category-deep-green"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/curmudgeon.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p40KlT-5A","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1131,"url":"https:\/\/2bgreener.com\/?p=1131","url_meta":{"origin":346,"position":0},"title":"None of Us is an Expert.","author":"greenerjsa","date":"February 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes a moment in a video, a comment on social media, or a discussion in a team meeting is a catalyst for thought processes that helps me improve my work, my being, my perspective. 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