Tools

Promoting clean energy, growing green jobs and advocating for comprehensive climate and energy legislation through grassroots efforts – it’s a typical day at the office for Nao Ueda. The outreach coordinator for Audubon Arkansas, Ueda makes a living off environmental issues. But it’s her way of living that makes her an eco-hero.

At home, Ueda doesn’t just recycle, compost and conserve energy and water. She raises chickens and honey bees, grows more than 100 different vegetables, herbs and fruits, captures runoff water in her rain garden, practices urban foraging for a mushrooms and more, and bikes and walks to ensure five car-free days a week – and that’s just a few highlights. 

The Japanese-born Little Rockian said eight years in Japan implanted sustainable habits into her family’s way of life. “After moving to the States, we were surprised by the differences,” she said. In Japan, recycling is mandatory and most walk, bike or take public transit because gas costs about $2 per liter. “[Growing up,] my mother cooked from scratch using locally grown produce; she recycled and we walked and biked to places.” Nowadays, Ueda follows her mother’s lead and then some.

“My interest in sustainability was further fueled by lack of fresh locally-grown food in the U.S.,” said Ueda, who co-founded the Arkansas Sustainability Network (ASN), which aims to make the state more sustainable through education, innovation, collaboration and programs such as the ASN Local Food Club and former Natural State Expo. Although Ueda stopped working with ASN in 2007, she remained an advocate, initiating a majority of her green practices in her newfound spare time. “I decided to retreat to see how far I can go on this ‘green living’ experiment,” she said.

Despite the incredible effort already put forth – like carrying washcloths to avoid using paper towels and hand dryers at restrooms – there’s still more on her to-do list. Future plans include switching to solar-powered mechanisms, installing a metal roof, cob oven and wood stove, and taking up sewing, quilting, carpentry, and soap-, wine- and mead-making. A composting toilet and house-wide rainwater and greywater harvesting system make her list, too.

When she’s not retrofitting her home with eco-friendly appliances or collecting hundreds of signatures to urge the U.S. Senate to support clean energy policies, Ueda is chronicling all of her environmental efforts on her blog, GreenARByTheDay.com, which records her journey to become as self-sufficient as possible in a downtown, urban environment.

“Policies are slow to change, but I can take action right now on an individual level to reduce my environmental footprint,” Ueda said. “Women gained the right to vote 144 years after the American Independence. The Civil Rights Bill passed 99 years after the end of Civil War. By the time politicians pass clean energy policies, the Earth’s temperature may have risen to the point of no return. That’s why I do what I do.”