We'd only been living in Kitsilano for a few months when my children sought out the most environmentally conscious family in the known universe and made them their best friends. I will call this family "the Greens" because they are the pinnacle of greenness, against which all other families are measured.
The Queen of Green (let's call her Valerie) is a single mother of three children. Now, if I were in her shoes, I would cut myself some slack. I'd probably feed my kids a lot of frozen pizza and send them to school with those prepackaged Lunchables. Okay, maybe I wouldn't go that far, but I would be tempted to cut a few environmental corners.
But Valerie Green is committed to doing her best for the Earth, and she's not taking the easy way out. Most significantly, the Greens do not own a car. Valerie does all the grocery shopping (organic, of course) using a bike and trailer. All three kids play two musical instruments each and have a number of lessons throughout the week. Valerie shuttles the children and instruments to their lessons by bike and trailer or, in extremely inclement weather (like a blizzard), by bus. Did I mention that one of those instruments is a cello? Yes, a cello.
While I become exhausted just watching her, Valerie never complains. She hauls her kids to 8 a.m. dentist appointments by bike. To birthday parties and crosstown dance classes. In the rain! At night! She broke her foot last year and still, she never asked anyone for a ride. She never took a cab!
And the Greens eat all organic food. I'm not just talking about meat and vegetables here. I'm talking organic flour, organic spices and even organic dairy (which costs about the same as Beluga caviar). Most of their diet is locally grown, too.
Valerie has personal relationships with many of the farmers in the area.
The Greens are socially conscious, as well. The children know a lot about supporting local industry and farming practices and fair-trade goods. Frankly, I don't think it's normal for children that young to be that well-informed, but maybe that's just me. My daughter had the Green girls over one day and was showing them the new shirt we'd bought for the start of the school year.
"I got this new shirt for school," Tegan said cheerfully. "It has stripes and I really like stripes."
The Green girls stared at the garment in silence. Finally, one of them said, "That shirt was made by child labour."
As my daughter's face fell, I had to intervene. "No, it wasn't," I soothed, while secretly wondering: Was it? It was awfully cheap. Was some five-year-old being paid 10 cents a day to sew Tegan's cute striped shirt? But could I afford to buy clothes that were made by an adult? A wave of guilt washed over me. Why hadn't I done some research into the store's manufacturing practices? I didn't deserve to live in this neighbourhood. On this planet!
***
Valerie Green is far too nice to overtly judge me, but I know I'm not living up to her standards. And she is not the only one. Despite my best efforts, Kitsilano is crawling with people who are so committed to the Earth that they make me feel like a property developer in comparison. We live near Broadway, a beautiful street lined with vegetable markets, Greek bakeries and old, leafy trees. Unfortunately, because of poor sidewalk construction, the sprawling roots of these old, leafy trees were buckling the pavement. The Broadway sidewalks had become like some kind of treacherous urban mountain range. One day, I'd seen an elderly woman trip on a jutting piece of concrete and fall to the ground. Another time, a woman who dared to wear a bit of a heel on her shoe was felled, as well.
