More Than Mud
A guide to simple sustainability
A little about me & this blog
Russell Sandvold is my name and sustainability is one of my passions, as well as running long distances, cooking, trying new foods and drinks and catch and release fishing. I created this blog as a simple guide for the ordinary person, especially someone on a low budget (such as myself), can use to make a major difference in their fight to improve sustainability and protect the world we live on. Many of the messages we recieve in education and through the media discourage us by providing statistics which show that changes in an individuals behavior cannot create any significant change, so sometimes we feel as if our efforts are wasted. These messages are far from the truth and I hope that through this blog I will restore your belief in the power of an individual in creating real change towards a more sustainable and healthy planet.
The name "More Than Mud" derives from Mud Lake, which is pictured on the background of the home page. Mud Lake is small, more of a large pond, located about a quarter mile deep into the wetland forest territory behind the house in which I was raised, in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. Many of my fondest childhood memories took place in these wetlands and fishing on the lake in the leaky row boat I inherited from my childhood best friend when his father bought him his first fishing boat. The lake was near pristene and left undisturbed when me and my family moved to Oconomowoc during the summer of 2000, but every year since then, it has fallen victim to overfishing and increasing pollution from visitors. My family and I have combated this pollution by picking up as much trash as we can fit into our bags every trip we take to the lake, but it has since reached the point where we are not capable of carrying enough back to keep the lake and shore pollution free. Many of Mud Lakes visitors do not see this place in the same way I do, they simply see it for it's potential to provide them their trophy fish or a place to go drink with friends, but to me it's much more than that. The frustration I felt because of the harm being done to the place I felt was so special is what drove me to be passionate about protecting the environment and about sustainability. I believe that everyone has a "Mud Lake" and I believe that if people start to view all the places they visit as someones "Mud Lake" and view the way they live their lives as a way to either protect or harm these places that are so special to us, we will be much more inclined to live as sustainably as possible.
