Beloved Reader,
Since 2017, when I first published this book, the personal motivations for practicing a thrifty low-footprint lifestyle have increased, as extreme weather and economic precarity are hitting more & more of us.
And, the planetary benefits of reducing our (collective) footprint were demonstrated (though accidentally) via the sharp reduction in consumption during the Covid shutdowns.
Over time, it’s become more and more clear that what we do to benefit the planet and fellow beings, benefits ourselves as well.
Onward, fellow DEEP GREEN citizens!
PS. By the way, disaster forced 2.5 million Americans from their homes last year. (Aidan Gardiner; New York Times, Feb 22, 2024.) “Many of those displaced also reported food shortages and predatory scams, according to new data from the Census Bureau.”
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other jottings:
The past few years have increased the need for a low-footprint lifestyle, and the past few years have validated its effectiveness. Increase the need, as in increasingly severe weather and severe financial inequality. Validated, as in the Covid shut down saw various indexes of climate health improve as humans stayed home and reduce their consumption.
Both encouraging and discouraging factors have increased since I wrote this book back in 2017.
On the one hand, intensifying natural disasters and extreme weather have made the stakes higher. As have the intensifying financial inequality, income inequality to make a low footprint lifestyle. Extreme weather events of the past have become more routine.
On the other hand, we had evidence during the Covid shut downs that reduced human activity in the consumer sector could have a market effect on climate factors admissions. We were nowhere near 10% of the US average, my ballpark guess I would say maybe our footprint in the USA dropped to about 50-60% of our typical average as manufacturing and commuting decreased. And yet we had market improvements in emissions indicators.