Aug. 8--GOLDENDALE, Wash. -- We can all do it, he says.

Truly.

Construct a garden shed out of straw bales, live off the electric grid, grow an organic garden, compost or recycle waste, buy local, turn off lights, drive less, make small changes.

It all helps.

Plus, what choice do we have? Tobiah Israel asks. "We've got to sustain the Earth."

Hence, the sustainability movement.

Sustainable living means making an effort to consume as few of the Earth's resources as possible.

Living "lite" isn't easy. But, oh, the rewards, says Israel, 62.

No mortgage, no power bill, fresh organic produce all summer long.

"It's looking at how we impact the planet -- what we're doing that's negative, and how we can change."

"The time is right," Israel insists. Not only have breakthroughs occurred in the availability of alternative power, there are more options and incentives for consumers to conserve energy, he points out.

That's true, agrees Professor Greg Brown, who directs Central Washington University's environmental studies program in Ellensburg. He explains that the sustainability movement has become popular around the state partly because of a large proliferation of wind energy sites, with solar capability lagging not too far behind.

"The political climate for sustainable energy is very good here," Brown notes. "We've also seen significant movement for alternative energy coming out of Washington, D.C.; the Obama administration backs it in a major way."

He's seeing that interest blossom at CWU, too, with the school offering a major in environmental studies for the first time last year. Brown also heads the Center for Environment there, an educational research and outreach program.

Down in Goldendale, Israel and his family -- he and his wife, Adar, have four grown children -- have put their philosophy to work, living as conscious of the environment as possible.

For them, that means living off the grid, or not being connected to electric power lines, which they've done for 25 years.

Living that way doesn't have to mean huge sacrifices, Israel maintains.

"People don't want to give up lights and appliances, and they don't have to," he explains.

He and his family didn't.

Their home on five acres in Goldendale is filled with the appurtenances you'd expect in any modern space -- computer, hair dryer, refrigerator, microwave, vacuum cleaner, telephone, table saw.

Take it from a teenager. Living off the grid "hasn't made that much of an impact on me, to be honest," says son Asa, who is 18. He plays CDs, uses a computer and talks on a cell phone.

The secret is solar power with back-up generators, which run on either gasoline or biodiesel fuel and are in use only during the low sun months, from mid-November to March.

"What we're talking about is making use of the sun. It's so practical and useful," Tobiah Israel explains.

His acreage, surrounded by oak and pine on a hill outside of town, is ideal for garnering sun power.