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Laura Thieme

Bizresearch President – 10 years - 2007

Fisher College of Business Lecturer on Search Marketing

OSU Russian Studies Grad – 1993

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6th May 2007

Sustainable Living - Eco-Friendly Lifestyle

Sustainable Living in Worthington, Ohio - Eco-Friendly Lifestyle

I work in Worthington, Ohio, just a few minutes north of Columbus.  I live a few miles from Worthington, within biking distance of my office.  The only challenge with biking to work in Worthington, from my house, is a lack of bike-friendly routes.  There is a bike path halfway, but it kinda defeats the purpose of biking to support sustainable living, if I’m driving halfway, just so I can bike the other half.  There is a need for more bike-friendly routes in Columbus. 

I shop at Whole Foods, although I’m not sure that sustainable living groups would agree that Whole Foods is a local farmer’s market by any means.  I’m not really into the Sunflower Market, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t be.  Part of what attracts me to Whole Foods is the “experience”, the merchandising, the people, and the essence of it all.  Sunflower Markets is a bare minimum approach to the organic, local farmers, sustainable living lifestyle.  I have one down the street from me.  In fact, on a pretty day, I could easily walk there.  Now, granted, I would garner strange looks from passersby as I carry my bags of groceries.  That’s the problem with sustainable living.  Even when you want to do something good for the environment, like shop local and walk back home, people look at you in a strange way.  I wonder why she’s walking?  Does she not have a car?  Lost her license?  We joke about how Columbus, Ohioans don’t like to walk anywhere - in fact there are some serious competitions over the “closest” car parking space possible to any location on even the nicest day.  I pride myself in taking a spot further out, just to enjoy some walking.

That’s what I like about Worthington.  It would not strike me as strange at all to see someone walking from a local farmer’s market back to their home.  It’s that kind of community.  Although they did take away the local grocery store - slightly defeating the concept of sustainable lifestyle as it lacks a local grocery store.  In the summer, however, there is a great Farmer’s Market in downtown Worthington.  You can make a day out of downtown Worthington, by having breakfast at La Chatelaine, a favorite French bistro restaurant, and shopping at the local farmers’ kiosks.  There are art shows twice a year, or perhaps more.  There are local musicians who play at the corner of High and 161 on Sunday evenings.   Click here for a Worthington Ohio Summer Concert Series PDF - loads in Acrobat.  Worthington is a very dog-friendly community.  Scotty MacBeans allows dogs inside their coffee shop.  Graeter’s and dogs get along great.  And Old Bag of Nails will not only allow dogs outside on the patio, they’ll even bring you a bucket of water for Cody (my dog).

I recently joined Sustainable Living in Worthington through Google Groups.  Here are some links they’ve put together on their document that I thought would be of interest. 

www.simplyliving.com

www.columbusrewired.org - American Institute of Design

www.greenenergyohio.org - Green Energy Ohio

www.cobac.org - Central Ohio Bicycle Advocacy Coalition

Upcoming Sustainable Living Meetings in Worthington:

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