Greg Hum and Nathan Phillips at Park(ing) Day 2009
The Core takes pride in the people who help keep the program running. One of those people is Professor Nathan Phillips, a course coordinator for CC106: Biodiversity. As part of an ongoing series on going green, BU Today offers a look into his almost completely off-the-grid lifestyle:
Nathan Phillips, a College of Arts & Sciences associate professor of geography and environment, is a somewhat reluctant poster boy for green living.
“I don’t claim to be fully free of all energy sources in the office at all times,” he says. His office’s heating and cooling are of course regulated building-wide.
But Phillips, who is also director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, is a model for those who aspire to a lifestyle that takes less and gives more back to the Earth. Even though he and his wife have two school-age children, they downsized their automobile stable from two cars to one, joined Zipcar, and made a commitment to bike to bikable destinations. The family grows herbs, tomatoes, raspberries, and Concord grapes in raised beds and tosses organic waste in a compost bin in the backyard.
You can read the full story and watch a short video supplement on the BU Today website. He manages to make green living seem perfectly doable, and even advantageous! Discuss what small steps you take to increase sustainability on the EnCore facebook group.
Related links:
- Boston Scenarios Project, website for a Boston based group concerned with practical sustainability
- Basic information on the idea of a sustainable culture
- Why to go Green—Planet Green
- Video: Al Gore explains Global Warming in 10 minutes
