Joe's thoughts on sustainability at the neighborhood craftworker level:

• think globally; act locally: when you include local craftworkers and tradespeople in your bid process you are one step closer to “fewer carbon miles” than if you cast your net widely.  Of course, you want good work for a fair price, meaning that you likely want about three bids. If you add the miles-driven criteria to your bid process, then be sure you start with the local folk who saw, trim, plumb, cut, build, wire, and what-have-you.

• poetry and loveliness of trees: I THINK that I shall never see; A poem lovely as a tree. Joe truly love trees and all living things that make our yards, both here, and even the planet.  He knows that cutting and trimming — felling, if need be — is hard. Let’s have a conversation on what you might do with the wood that comes from that tree.  For example, Joe helped a local family leave a huge portion of a beloved beech tree to rest at the bottom of her ravine-end yard.  Why?  to make habitat and to stand in memory. We made sure the log is stable.  Other families use “tree cookies” for walkways or garden edging or as habitat.

• working with local craftworkers, artisans, arborists, and tradespeople: among my colleagues are many fine workers.  Ask me for recommendations for your home care needs.