In movies, magazines, memes, etc show an Earth Mom/mama/mum character they always show someone living way out in the sticks surrounded by animals, an unkempt garden, and hoards of children.
I grew up mostly in the suburbs but, as an adult have always gravitated towards the city. I find it easier to live a simpler, greener life in the city. I get so much exercise because I can walk to pretty much everything which saves me a ton on gas. I think I fill the car up once a month at most which is nice now that I don’t live in New Jersey and actually have to pump my own gas (still not used to that).
I work from home and only drive on the weekend. I could even get away with only driving once a month if I got really organized with food. At that point, I would probably switch to a car subscription service which would further lower my environmental footprint. I would find it hard to use such a service living in the suburbs.
There are lots of museums and parks to visit close by that I can walk to.
I grow herbs in pots in the apartment and in the little courtyard outside.
Buying locally grown vegetables is actually easy in the city even though I live in an area that is close to being a food desert. There is a farmer’s market 15 minutes walk from my apartment and a CSA a couple of miles beyond that.
There is a composting service in most cities these days or you can compost at home using a worm bin or an electric food recycler. Yes, it’s electric but keeping food out of landfills reduces methane. Urban farms are popping up all over and some will collect your food scraps and give you back a bag of compost at the end of the year. The local foodbank here has a composting service. They use the compost to grow fresh veggies for the people they serve.
Recycling is a challenge though but I have found it challenging in cities, burbs, and the country. Americans just don’t seem to care about recycling and will happily contaminate their bin with trash no matter where they live. You only see that so much when you share a big recycling dumpster with 100 other people.
There are lots of ways to live like an Earth Mom in the city!