The New York City Council passed several recommendations yesterday, preparing the way for more green building. The addition of “the environment” to the purpose of the building code was a large step for members of the Green Codes Task Force.

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The “Ground Zero Mosque,” as it is being called, is a controversial development in New York, near the site of the 9/11 attacks. The project will be seeking LEED certification, if it gets off the ground.

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Zachary Shahan has been interested in (and living) some form of a sustainable life as long as he can remember…and beyond! From growing up a vegetarian to making green living work in various locations around the world, Zach is taking his experiences and spreading word to anyone who will listen. And, he took a few moments out of his busy schedule as a writer for some of the top green websites and answered a few questions for us. Here’s a little advice in his own words…

1) When did you realize the greener lifestyle was right for you?

Hmm, hard to say, but I should have to answer this question since I had 7 Green Bloggers struggle to answer it a month ago on Planetsave.

I vividly remember Earth Day when I must have been somewhere between 7 & 9 years old. Went to a Montessori school during that time that had a strong focus on the environment. I remember an Earth Day event there where I learned more about environmental problems, recycling, and so on than I ever had. Actually, the school was connected with an organic farm. So, we occasionally did some organic farming at school. That probably had a strong effect on me as well.

Although, I think living a greener lifestyle really kicked in for me at the end of high school and beginning of college. That’s when the enormity of the problems we face hit me.

Also, should say that my parents are very environmentally conscious, so certain environmentally friendly habits and thinking were a part of my upbringing and subconsciously infiltrated my being from as long as I was learning anything probably.

2) How long have you been vegan/vegetarian, and what benefits have you noticed with the change in your diet?

Well, have to be honest here,.. I’m not entirely vegan. I was for about a year and a half at one point, but somehow slipped out of it (local goat milk in Ithaca, NY got it started). I have been a vegetarian since birth (or earlier, I guess), don’t eat anything from eggs on up. I’m thinking about doing full-scale veganism again, but a bit difficult for me here in Poland.

When I was vegan, I did feel quite a bit healthier and didn’t have a problem with being vegan the whole time (until I found that local goat milk in Ithaca — saw no harm in using it, but then sort of slipped out of veganism slowly, so I guess the ‘gateway drug’ wasn’t so harmless after all).

3) With all the locations you’ve lived, how do attitudes toward green living differ? What city/area embraces it the best, in your opinion?

It’s an interesting question, because some of the greenest places I’ve lived don’t have a lot of people with “green” attitudes, per say. They live greener lifestyles for other reasons, it seems.

For example, in the Netherlands, people live extremely green lifestyles, but it was actually difficult to find people with any special concern for the environment there. In Poland, where I live now, people live in quite environmentally friendly ways, but environmental concern and activism is clearly lower than in the places I lived in the US. For more on this, I wrote an article on sustainablog titled 7 Environmental Lessons from Living in Europe where I discuss some of these lifestyle differences in a little more depth. Could go on for pages about it here, but probably best to cut myself off.

In the US, the Bay Area definitely had a great green culture. Love it. College towns like Chapel Hill/Carrboro (NC) and Ithaca (NY) were also very green, naturally, but actually seemed a bit more pervasive out in the Bay Area (but that’s just my subjective opinion).

4) You write for a number of green and clean energy websites. What are the benefits each offers and how can readers take each as a benefit in their own lives?

I like this question. Well, I like all of them, but this is something that I think about a lot but hardly have the chance to discuss.

It’s a little overwhelming trying to cover news and provide my own (hopefully helpful) thoughts in such a variety of sectors — food, energy, environment, the oceans, climate — but it also makes me keep a wider perspective and not get too locked into one topic. I think we live in a little too much of a specialized way these days and like the idea of being a bit of a ‘Renaissance Man’. But, back to your question, this is my opinion on the benefits of each site:

• Planetsave: We cover climate change and other environmental science news pretty thoroughly here — and trying to up our coverage every month. If you want the latest news on those topics, it’s a great place to go. Also, we really try to add steps you can take in your daily life or specific activism opportunities you can get engaged in as much as possible. The site is about more than news — it’s about being a positive force for change, empowering people to makes changes and get involved in their own lives.
• Eat.Drink… Better: Similar to Planetsave, but on the topic of food, we try to help people keep up to date with the latest food and health news but also offer a lot of encouragement and stimulus for taking that news and incorporating it into your life. All kinds of great, fun recipes on there as well.
• Cleantechnica: Basically, all the news on clean tech (especially solar energy, wind energy, wave energy, and the smart grid) you could want. Additionally, we bring in some news on climate change from time to time and get quite political on this site as well (ok, pretty often).
• Green Living Ideas: Like on Planetsave, this site focuses a lot on what you can do in your personal life. It’s about empowerment and bringing innovative green living ideas to more people.
• Blue Living Ideas: This is about the same thing as Green Living Ideas but for ‘blue’ issues. It is also a source of big news regarding the oceans, water, and climate change. A lot of stuff on here that is under the radar but very critical to a high quality of life for our children or even ourselves.
• Earth & Industry: Focusing on the nexus between the environment and business, this site brings you a lot of news and green business tips you couldn’t find on a general ‘green’ site (or even anywhere else on the internet). Some great, original journalism and commentary on this site.
• Ecopolitology: Where environmental issues and politics meet. This site includes very original, critical commentary and news on the biggest eco-political topics and also includes a lot of fun and controversial pieces that you can’t find anywhere else — if you’re working in the enviro-politics field, controversy is a given and you have to lighten things up from time to time to survive the tragedies.
• Sustainablog and EcoLocalizer: These are two sites I don’t regularly contribute to anymore, but which contain a lot of my earlier articles. Sustainablog has a good mixture of articles on large-scale environmental topics and original pieces on integrating green solutions into your own life. For the latter, sustainablog is certainly a leader on the web and that is what I focused on there myself. Ecolocalizer, as you might guess, covers big green news from specific cities, regions, and countries around the world.

5) Any parting advice for people looking to start living greener?

The biggest specific actions you can take are: 1: switch to a vegan or vegetarian diet (new study shows vegetarians are happier, too); 2. give away your car (look into carsharing or just renting a car when you need one from time to time); and 3: put solar panels on your house.

To get the motivation and courage to do these things, surround yourself with green people — in the ‘real world’ or just on the web.

Ready to learn more about living green? You can follow Zachary at any of the above websites or via social media: @zshahan3, Google Buzz, StumbleUpon, or on his personal site.

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