Sustaining in Pittsburgh
An Interview with Morgan Cahn
One of the most creative and ambitious people I know, Morgan has been endeavoring to make her life more sustainable, especially in the realms of food (production, acquisition and consumption) and in how resources are used in her house.
"What's one thing you have to do every day?" she asks. "You have to eat. So, if you care about being sustainable, then you have to care about what you eat..."
MD: What does the phrase "sustainable eating" mean to you?
MC: Sustainable eating is a way in which Éthe food you eat every day, the way that it is produced and brought to you, is as low impact on the earth as possible, from farming practices, like not using pesticides and using non-genetically engineered food to trying to get your food as close to where it's picked as possible so that less gas is used.
It's also important to try to eat healthily because that's good for you to sustain your own health, physical and mental. Further, people who are involved in all the processes of farming or transporting [food] should have a good working space and feel like the environment they're in is positive and that they get paid enough to live.
Sustainable eating is kind of intense as compared to traditional ways of producing and consuming food; it is a bit of a change from the norm.
MD: In what ways do you practice sustainable eating?
MC: I am lucky to have a garden in my backyard, which my girlfriend, Jen, and I put together by taking out the grass, using composted materials and top soil, and we get a lot of vegetables from there. I do work at a corporate grocery store, but it has organic food options, and I am also vegan — I don't eat animal products.
For my day-to-day choices, I try to get organic foods. I've decided that for my own food, if I get slightly better quality but just don't buy as much, I'm okay with that because I can still afford to feed myself regularly and I get a discount. For me, that's part of the sustainableÉI used to just buy food if it was cheap and it would fill me up, but wasn't that healthy. So now I focus on quality over quantity, but that's not always available.
I also try to buy as much local food as possible, and I bicycle, so I try to transport [my food] in a non-harmful way. I re-use bags, I try not to get plastic bagsÉnobody's perfect, but that's how I try.
MD: How do you think the rain barrels you recently bought will contribute to sustainable eating?
MC: I got some rain barrels, two of them because I have two roofs. The gutter that would normally drain into a pipe underground or the sewer now drains into two large plastic barrels that have two filters. One's a bigger filter, one is a small filter to reduce anything like mosquitos growing to keep the water clean. I can use that water to water the backyard garden.
I think this is really great for multiple reasons: First, I'm saving money, which is always good; second, the rain is being used, so I'm saving water from getting into the sewage system. The reason that's important is because [in] Pittsburgh, with the three rivers, there are issues where some of the old pipes are combined so that sewage and rainwater go together. When it rains, so much water gets into the system that it can't handle it, and it gets diverted into the rivers. So, it's beyond just me; it's for river sanitation, and that goes to all the different ecosystems, and I just think it's a good idea.
It was definitely an investment, and unfortunately, I had to get the barrels from a place in Canada because they made the best I could find. So it was kind of a hassle getting them over here, but hopefully there will be better rain barrels produced in the States or in the northeast soon.
MD: What made you decide to plant a garden this year?
MC: I've always wanted to have a garden. When I was a kid, we planted a few things like carrots and strawberries in the garden. It was really fun to put it in there and watch and then, wow, amazing — food! It just shows up. With supermarkets now, you see everything all the time. It's so much more fun to grow your own food and then when you eat it, it tastes better. Even if it's completely psychological, you're just like, "Wow, somehow I got this to grow."
I bought my house three years ago, and one of the stipulations was I wanted to be close to a main area where I can catch a bus because I don't drive. And I wanted to have a backyard with trees and an area where I could have a garden. It's nice because the backyard is set up into three parts because of the way there's some pine trees. There's one area that's the sitting, hang out area, lie on the grass, watch the clouds. Then the whole middle part is for the garden, and the back is where I have the compost and where we keep the trash. So that was one of the deciding factors of where I wanted to live.
But I know a lot of people who have just set up a plant or something — you don't have to have a lot if you're living in a little apartment. You can always grow an herb garden on the windowsill. I love the city, but I wanted a garden.
MD: You're originally from Seattle. How long have you been in Pittsburgh?
MC: Approximately four years.
MD: What difference do you see between Seattle and Pittsburgh as far as sustainable food is concerned?
MC: I find that Seattle and Pittsburgh are not complete opposites — they're both hilly, I like both of them, but, luckily, Pittsburgh has a much lower cost of living. The west coast tends to be a little more liberal or ecologically forward, as far as programs, tax breaks,and stuff like that, and in having access to a lot of stuff. But I just found out that Pennsylvania and some neighboring states have a very high percentage of local small farmers.
In the west, like in California, [most of]the smaller farmers have been wiped out, so there are these big huge industrial growing farms. So, it's kind of cool because even though people don't think as much about buying local or organic yet because it's newer to here, there's more opportunity to support smaller businesses and smaller farms and get the stuff locally. Like on Saturdays in the Strip District, there's an organic farmers market, so I feel like the access is coming around and that's great. Not to mention the more urban farms like Mildred's Daughters, in the city. I really don't recall that happening in Seattle because it's so developed.
MD: There are farms in the city here?
MC: Yeah. There's the Hillcrest Farm, just up in Stanton Heights, and Mildred's Daughters is somewhere in the city. Also, the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank has a farm you can volunteer at, and that's 45 minutes away.
MD: So those are all within the city limits?
MC: Yeah, so that's really neat. Hopefully, they'll get a lot of support and be really good.
MD: Do you think that locally-grown sustainable foods are readily available throughout the year in Pittsburgh?
MC: I feel like the local co-op, The East End Food Co-Op, tends to have local and organic food all through the year. So it is available, but it's a little costly. I work at a grocery store, so if I want to go to the co-op, that's a whole other trip instead of just being where I am. So, of course, there's the convenience factor. If you have money, though, it's always available. But even the co-op isn't a great co-op, and that sucks. It's like a corporation. The way they treat their workersÉthere's been a union-busting technique they've been using for years. But that's a whole other storyÉ
I do think there's some locally-grown, sustainable foods available year-round, but they're not that accessible for most people. Especially if you have a bunch of kids and you have a job and you don't have time — there's no way you're gonna go to three or four different places to find local, organic food and then spend more.
MD: During the summer, though, I think there are more choices.
MC: In summer, there's way more. And in fall. I think also that the Giant Eagle (western PA supermarket chain started in Pittsburgh) is attempting to compete with Whole Foods and I know Pittsburgh's bringing in a Trader Joe's. I think that will bring more organic food in. People will see it and wonder, "What the heck is that? What's organic? What's it even matter?"
MD: Right. They'll start questioning it at least.
MC: It will be in their peripheryÉsomeday they'll notice.
MD: Why did you become vegan?
MC: I became vegetarian because I didn't like the way the animals were being treated. I don't need to eat meat — it uses a lot of resources and I just didn't want to do it. I felt like [giving up meat] was something easy; it was not a really big deal. But I didn't realize the impact of dairy and cheese and eggs — it wasn't on my radar for a while.
Then I read that book "Fast Food Nation" and realized how horribly the animals and the workers and the environment are being treated, and I just said I don't wanna put my money into that. I feel like a very easy way to express yourself to these corporations that would never listen to you as a person is just don't give them your money; that's what they run on.
If you make the effort to ensure that you're getting the right nutrients, that you're getting all your B-12s and your Omegas, which are all available through plant sources, then it's not an issue of health. It's not gonna hurt your well-being; it will just allow you to express yourself and not have the ties to those companies or practices.
I always get questions like, "What if you were in some other country?" Éit's like of course, if I go over there, I'm not gonna refuse to have milk or cheese if their whole livelihood was based around a cow or some kind of animal. I mean, it's important to realize why you're doing something and not be completely unilateral because you can't have just a line in life. You have to have internal values and in each situationÉyou have to decide. I think it's important for people to make their own decisions.
Luckily, where I'm at now, it's very easy for me to find processed soy products that are high in protein. I have access to a lot of vegan options.
MD: Do you always eat organic foods?
MC: I try to. One of my issues is I think organic farming is really important. But if I'm buying organic food from California that's been driven all the way across the country, I'd rather buy a local variety of the same food, because it's that much closer and you're supporting the local economy.
MD: Even if it's not organic?
MC: Even if it's not organic.But if it's completely horribly sprayed or awful GMO or whatever, I wouldn't. I mean, you kind of have to make a decision. I try to buy organic if I can. I try to do farmers markets if I can,, and I guess the optimal scenario would be the local organic farmers market.
I've recently also decided that eating in season is the best way to go because it tastes really good, and a lot of times it's cheaper because there's a huge abundance. Trying to eat a lot in season, I feel like it's easier for me to eat organic because it's cheaper. I'm trying to eat more fruits and vegetables anyway. It's easy when you're in the high-paced city life to feel like you don't have any time and feel like you're eating on the go and it's just a way to get sustenance and not really think about what you're doing.
MD: Right. I do that.
MC: I do that a lot. I think almost everybody does.
MD: Is there anything that you would like to add?
MC: To me, it's really important. I'm fortunate in my family finding food important and also, as a kid, I could get my hands dirty in the yard and the garden. We never had a lawn; we always had herbs and different flowers growing there. So I had a head-start in appreciating all these things.
What's one thing you have to do every day? You have to eat. So, if you care about being sustainable, then you have to care about what you eat.... you have to care about your food being sustainable because that's just a basic thing. Food, water, air, shelter, education — you got it all!