As far as vetoing, I say harumph. If you have a little bit of hobby time, who can stop you from planting a strip of lettuce seed? Lettuce is my favourite thing to grow because it’s so prolific and oh-so-satisfying to eat!

Good luck!

Are there really places to buy locally grown veggies?? My husband has vetoed me from starting a garden this year since we have so much else to do with the house and such. sigh….

I forgot to mention that while Michael and I are very much about muscle-powered pastimes (canoeing, kicksledding, snowshoeing) there is definitely a large contingent of Yukoners who like their big “toys”: skidoos, boats, RVs, 4-wheelers. So, not to throw a damper on your hope, but I’m trying to be balanced, and I admit that’s a strike against us…

I would think that the very easiest place to live a low impact life would be BC. Milder climates mean less heating fuel and more locally-grown produce available. And being the “tree hugger” province that it is, there is no doubt a lot of organic farming there.

You can bike all over Whitehorse — some folks even do it in winter — but getting in and out of the territory would certainly be a challenge if you don’t fly or drive. I mean, you *can* bike, but it takes an awful long time to get anywhere!

MommyTime,

Michael would tell you that he’d be happier living someplace smaller, but not bigger. For my part, I really enjoyed living in Fort Liard (population 600), but I can’t imagine going back to that at this point, especially with all the cultural stuff going on here, and with my musical world expanding as it is. I wouldn’t be unhappy in a bigger city as long as I could get out of it once in a while, but Michael would never go there! I do love the sense of community here; I find that in bigger cities, it’s actually easier to be isolated, despite being surrounded by people. Ironic, isn’t it?

Career-wise, Michael is very much rooted in the north because of the clients he serves. That’s not to say he couldn’t take his skills elsewhere, but he’s developed such strong relationships with the people here. As for me, I’m not really “set” in a career. I work, but it’s not my dream job and I’m still figuring out what I really want to be when I grow up. So it seems that Whitehorse is a great place for us to be for now. What might come down the road? Who knows…?

You see, I almost moved to the Yukon 10 years ago but ended up in NW BC instead, which was great as I met my spouse there. I took him away from his hometown and we’re now in Ottawa. We’d like to move to a smaller town and probably will in the not so far future but increasingly, I keep wondering how could I maintain my really low impact life in a not so urban area?

I poked around the net and couldn’t find much about sustainable living or the impact of peak oil in the Yukon.

The area that seems the most problematic is transportation. We sold our only car, if we can’t walk or bike someplace we probably don’t need to go, I have been able to talk my way out of flying anywhere. We also buy almost everything second hand and locally so things don’t have to be manufactured and trucked over just for me, and there is no packaging. Food is as local as possible.

But you’ve given me hope, I knew that some people gardened but having several organic vegetable farms is great. I hadn’t thought of the angle: “people who move here for the lifestyle do what they can to preserve it”. That’s very important.

Climate change and peak oil are happening much faster than anyone ever expected, it can be overwhelming at times. I’m feeling overwhelmed trying to articulate my thoughts now and I’m the one who brought the topic up!