There are so many easy things we can do to be more sustainable that increase the quality of our lives. The obvious is riding a bike, carpooling, or making meal at home with friends instead of going out for dinner. My big experiment for the year is to not take on any more plastic bags. Two years ago while traveling in Ladakh, India and Dharamsala, I noticed that plastic bags had been banned and there were no plastic bags littering the landscape the way they do in Montana, the Dakotas and other windy places. I have always been very conscientious about my garbage because I've always lived in places where I have to go to the landfill and throw my garbage on the ground. This year I have yet to accept a plastic bag. Instead after shopping I leave the cloth bags next to the front door where I can't miss then on the way out and if I happen to make it into the store without them, I promised myself to go back to the car even if it's inconvenient and get it. It's very easy and I wish all plastic bags were banned here.

Also when traveling for expeditions, I try to get as much local food as possible instead of bringing it from home. Not only is it fresher and healthier but it saves tons of money with the new airline baggage restrictions. Plus by shopping in the local markets, it's much more possible to buy in bulk without any packaging and I'll take fresh fruits and nuts over packaged energy bars that taste like cardboard and digest equivalently any day. And by shopping in local markets and bargaining with the culture, you gain much more than the color of the food. You make friends and share your culture with another part of the world.

I've just heard this term "staycation", a vacation spent at home! One of my best trips ever was at home. My husband and I were ski patrolling in Montana at Bridger Bowl and we were waiting for it to snow to open, it could happen any day so we were on standby. We wanted to make the most of our time off and go climbing but couldn't get too far away from home and the closest in season rock climbing was 13 hours away. So we spent 10 days on an ice climbing trip at home, in all ways treating it like a vacation. We didn't check email or tend to other things, instead every day we just did it over again.. looked for new ice to climb in hidden canyons, returning home exhilarated and tired, drying ropes by the fire while we cooked a big meal, flopping into bed to wake up and do it all over again. That was by far the best ice climbing trip we've ever been on and we didn't even have to plan it! I'm looking forward to more of these "staycations"