Author: jennynazak

Temp 56 degrees F this morn, 60 now, but the livingroom is nicely heated by the sun. In summer we always keep the curtains drawn, but today the curtain goes UP! Probably for the first time since April or May. The room is warm even though the windows are still open.

Today, October 30, was our “curtains up day 1” for 2025. I love the lighting in this room, and the beauty from the sun & wind making shadows on the walls.

Beautiful warm sunshine, natural light. We don’t use very much artificial light in the house (not even at night — because we go to sleep pretty early, or we just watch / listen to things on our phones and we don’t need light for that).

The room feels so warm and cozy right now even though we still have the windows open. The windows of this house are generally open for all but a very few of the coldest days of the year.

The beautiful free heat and light are examples of what’s known as “passive solar energy.”

See photos here on my deep green Facebook page.

Oh my gosh, thank you! All the people who were suggesting that Jamaicans hop on a plane to evac Melissa. [Sound of eyes rolling loudly in head.] Stacey Patton’s post on this topic is spot-on, as her posts always are.

As if the entire population of Jamaica could even do that. But then also, even if they could, they would then be away from their home country, in some foreign country — something likely to leave them even more vulnerable than the hurricane itself.

(I say this even while thinking of our home as a potential evac spot for refugees of various kinds of disasters, from various places. And planning our home protocols accordingly. If our humble central Florida house can accommodate 11 Bike Week festival tourists and itinerant workers, which we did in March 2018 before the ink was dry on the title, we can certainly accommodate at least as many refugees!)

Another thing that really struck me, in the comments on various weather channel posts, was how many of us USA white ppl were making comments along the lines of, “What I’m really worried about is the animals.” Ummm, what???? Really, not the humans?

I’m not going to say I was surprised, because we EA’s as a group have a track record of worrying more about pets and other animals than about our fellow humans. (Fun fact: the ASPCC was founded after the ASPCA, when people noticed that animals were being treated better than children.)

I say this even as somebody who cherished a sweet feline companion for her 16-year life, and in one hurricane of 2017 evac’d on my bicycle with my beloved Starshine in a carrier on the back. (Fortunately we were just going a few blocks away, not to another country.)

But I would not have faulted anyone who just needed to escape the horrific Cat 5 storm in Jamaica with their own lives and could not take the animals. (And you know that would’ve been a devastating loss for the storm-afflicted Jamaicans as well, since the loss of animals likely would’ve included many animals on which their livelihoods depend.) Also, it’s possible that a lot of evac shelters don’t necessarily take livestock, pets, or other animals.

Quote from Stacey Patton’s post: “Evacuation isn’t just geography. It’s economics. It’s class. It’s colonial inheritance. The ability to flee disaster is a privilege that is built on wealth, mobility, and citizenship.”

Also please be sure and read the comment section on the OP. A lot of very important points, including how hard it is even within a country for people to evacuate.

BTW re animals — If you are one of those people who feel that humans suck, and only animals are lovable, that doesn’t mean you’re not a good person. But just recognize that if you feel that way, it’s because of the culture we’re steeped in. Supremacy culture is what sucks and needs to go. *Humans* do not inherently suck.

Supremacy culture, a.k.a. colonizer culture, not only doesn’t punish us for being shitty to each other and to the planet; it oftentimes actually rewards us for being mean, self-centered, and numbing-out our empathy.

(Some of us keep trying to tell this to our fellow Anglo/Euros in the doomer / prepper / collapse groups etc. We need each other. Humans are not inherently bad.)

PS. AND – Please watch this TikTok video from JadeThaGemini https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTM48nWQ6/

Some of my takeaways:

• Disaster-preparedness is a way of life in the Caribbean.
• Caring and community are a way of life. People come together and take care of each other there, unlike here where people fight each other over toilet paper etc.
• A lot of American people’s comments come across as disaster porn, morbid glee, performative fake caring, etc.

As she says: “Please watch your mouth when you’re talking about the Jamaicans.”

(This will only seem like a novel approach if you are steeped in the norms and values of a hyperindividualistic culture. Which I am, and which you probably are too if you are reading this.)

Oftentimes in the hyperindividualistic (western, industrialized, capitalist, supremacy) culture, we base our decisions on the perceived level of risk to ourselves.

My “novel approach” instead prioritizes assessing the risk to others.

So, for example, I don’t drive at night. The primary reason is because a car is the mode of transportation that’s most likely to hurt or kill people. (Of course, by not driving at night, I’m also safer myself.)

But what about that personal danger? Obviously we don’t want to deliberately put ourselves in danger. So how do I justify walking at night? For many people, that’s considered a very risky choice. But there are ways to mitigate that risk, and that’s what I want everyone to think about regarding their own choices.

I walk at night only in areas that I am deeply familiar with. Also, I refrain from using headphones while walking at night. Although the risk is not zero, the many benefits outweigh the risk.

Beautiful moonrises; fresh breezes; ocean and river views; spontaneous little detours to see friends (including certain trees); getting exercise without being under the blistering sun.

(That is, the benefits outweigh the risks for me. Your calculation may vary. This is just an example of a decision procedure for mapping out personal choices.)

There are other examples; I’ll come back and write them as they pop into my mind. In the meantime, you can probably think of some examples from your own life!

OK, here’s another one I just thought of as I was running errands on foot and dealing with a bunch of plastic packaging in the course of grocery shopping.

Many eco-minded people try to avoid single-use plastic because it’s bad for the oceans, harmful to living creatures, has a high eco-footprint. And in addition to doing our best to avoid single-use plastic packaging – an admittedly almost impossible task in the USA — we also communicate with government and corporations in various ways to try to reduce the volume of plastic in the world. In the course of avoiding plastic “for the sake of the overall planet,” we also reduce our own exposure to the harmful effects of micro plastics. Thus we gain a personal benefit in addition to the planetary benefit.

Then again, there are some eco-minded people who avoid plastic simply because of the danger to their own health. Nothing wrong with that, but if all we do is avoid plastic for ourselves without also working to shift the mainstream reality, we’re not helping other species and ecosystems. And as long as the mainstream status quo doesn’t change, it’s getting harder and harder for an individual to avoid single-use plastic.

It just seems to work better for me if I try to base my decisions on the collective good, and then let the personal good come along with that. Let me know how it goes for you!

Sharon has a post about the movement for a general strike in 2028. I had no idea this was even a thing. I agree with her, we should be able to plan and organize this in months, not years.

The time to strike is ongoing — now and now and now. Every day from now on, each to the best of our ability. Buy as little as possible except local community; work as little as you can manage. And help those who can’t.

Check out Sharon’s post, always worth reading, including comments section.

Even in doomer / prepper / collapse-aware circles, we still all too often find ourselves falling into thinking in terms of “… when collapse happens” — instead of recognizing that it is already happening. (How does the saying go? — The future is here; it’s just unevenly distributed.)

For about 20 years I’ve been noticing this pattern. I call it the “trying to keep one foot on the pier while the other foot is stepping onto the boat.”

Granted, it can be scary to contemplate disengaging from the extractive/exploitative/hoarding economy, with all the “goodies” it provides. Financially daunting, and also daunting in terms of interpersonal consequences.

But be assured, there is lots of support out there. I’ve noticed that more of us are on this path than we might think. Our safety lies with sharing and cooperating.

Sharon’s article (link below) encourages us to fully recognize that collapse is something that is happening right now, as we speak, and not at some hypothetical point in the future when a certain critical mass of boxes are ticked.

For me one of the most challenging aspects of navigating collapse is recognizing that the very highly funded authoritarian entities and social norms will, collapse notwithstanding, very likely continue to extend their tentacles into every area of our lives for the foreseeable future.

Collapse is not some anarchist paradise where we suddenly get left in peace to build our own infrastructure, parallel systems etc. Nope, we’ve just got to set about doing that under the current conditions, wherever we are at, right now.

Don’t expect any reduction in resources dedicated to criminalization: punishment of the homeless population; spraying of herbicides on wild plants; shutdown of your unofficial neighborhood survival enterprises such as the guy repairing bicycles out of his basement; persistence of harsh and excessive street-lighting.

So, for example, while we are turning our yards into food forest and native plant paradise, we’re still going to have to deal with code enforcement. Instead of trying to escape to “somewhere easier,” or backing down, now is the time to step it up: roll up our sleeves, practice courage, exercise creativity. Actually the time was yesterday or last year or 20 years ago, but the next-best time is now.

Further Exploration:

• “Paying Rent in the Apocalypse,” by Sharon Astyk. https://ko-fi.com/post/Paying-Rent-In-The-Apocalypse-O5O81MEJ17

A recent post on Upworthy highlighted an incident at Trader Joe’s that apparently sparked quite a debate! A customer didn’t know that washing reusable bags was a thing, and when the cashier complimented her on her reusable bags, saying she likes this type of bag and it washes so well too, the customer got confused.

Myself, for sure I wash my reusable bags. I am really not a neat freak at all, but when shopping for produce and so on, especially since I try never to accept any produce that’s packaged in plastic bags, inevitably at least some food residue might get on the inside of a bag. So yes I wash them periodically. Just a quick swish, maybe a smidge of dish liquid or baking soda, rinse and turn inside-out and dry on the line.

Even if I don’t think they need washing, I turn them inside-out regularly and air them in the sun.

But also, come to think of it reading this post, I never expect or never actually even WANT the cashier to have to touch my reusable bag either. It just seems like common sense that I would bag my own groceries. Especially in today’s germ-conscious world, where people don’t really want to touch other people’s personal items unless absolutely necessary.

Still, even though I actually prefer for the cashier not to be compelled to touch my bags (and also am frankly very fussy about how I bag my groceries so prefer to do it myself), I don’t want the bag to be dirty and then set it down on a shop counter or something. Leaving dirty residue on the counter.

Consideration for others generally seems to encourage smart practices of various kinds.

Sidenote: Those of us who are into all things eco, reuse, and so on, we get a bad rap from mainstream society for being grungy and dirty. And to some extent we probably may never live that down. But we can do our best to maintain considerate hygiene.

Also another thought regarding the fact that we get a bad rap: I think the society that believes in constant throwaway everything in the name of “cleanliness” and “neatness” should be getting the bad rap. Because look what that apparent “cleanliness” and “neatness” costs on the back end. Pacific trash gyre; villages on the other side of the world drowning in our global north debris (and choking on the fumes from burning it down to recover some scrap and eke a livelihood), etc.

So yeah if it were up to me, our fussbudget obsessive hyper-packaged society would be the one getting the bad rap. Alas, I’m not the queen of raps. (Last time I checked, anyway … )

Still, each of us can help shape the public consciousness. Whenever you see something with layers and layers of packaging and assorted fussbudget gobbledegook, make a skeptical face and ask aloud, “I wonder what the BACK end of this looks like?” Or some version of this question that suits your communication style. Even if it seems like you’re alone with no people standing around you, you never know who might be listening.

Here’s the Upworthy thread, shared on my DEEP GREEN page. (Visit the OP to read the full comment section.)

TRIGGER WARNING: Female body stuff! Old people stuff! Medical stuff! — In case the title didn’t give it away lol.

A friend, community superstar, and fellow activist posted on her page asking for advice from women over 50. Regarding symptoms of perimenopause and menopause.

A lot of people on the thread mentioned hormone replacement therapy.

What I’ll share here about my approach is heavily influenced by the fact that I tend to avoid conventional medical approaches and “regular” Western medicine doctors except in cases of acute emergency. (Other than going to the dentist for routine teeth cleanings, and the optometrist for routine eye exams — those things I am very steady about, and have doctors I trust and am willing to pay out of pocket.)

My list (I may think of more):

prayer; ritual; mindfulness; acceptance; forgiveness (self & others); core strengthening/balancing exercises; simplify life, prioritize; step back from relationships/ppl that are draining; accepting significantly heavier body weight and learning to work with it; just paying more attention to my body in general, listening to body; putting more effort into making sure i get plenty of fresh local vegetables & fruit (not always easy or convenient but worth prioritizing)

AND, in a Permaculture Design spirit, seeing beyond the problem and noticing assets:

Also appreciating the benefits that come with the natural midlife hormonal drop. The physical symptoms are not fun but I seem to notice many emotional & spiritual benefits. A sadly huge part of my life used to be given over to man drama and the beauty treadmill. Now I have reclaimed that space & energy for creative pursuits; community service; and just enjoying BEING.

Also there could be a wisdom component w midlife change; I was attributing it entirely to downloads from ancestors & recently departed loved ones, but also, it occurs to me that the natural midlife female hormonal drop could be providing some of the heightened clarity, discernment, boost in BS-detection powers (I’ve always had a good BS radar but it has gotten a quantum boost).

One of the hidden benefits of midlife change is suddenly understanding certain great mysteries of life that used to be so perplexing to me, such as why old people always seem so obsessed with digestion. ROTFL!!! in my 60s i have become a zealous convert to Team Digestion!! i am VERRRRY keenly tuned into the foods & drinks that mess with any point of my digestive tract, and I happily avoid them! Or just enjoy them as very occasional treats, which doesn’t seem to trigger problems.

More info about me: I went through full menopause at age 43, after experiencing mild perimenopausal symptoms for a few years (an irregular period here and there, mood swings etc. — though not sure if the mood swings were perimenopause or just part of the lifelong anxiety & depression for which i had not yet found all the resources i needed). When my period stopped, I started waiting for the other shoe to drop, symptom-wise, but it never really seemed to happen. I got warm flashes as opposed to hot flashes. But I didn’t get skin changes, deepening voice, loss of physical strength, or other symptoms I had been taught were coming with menopause.

I did gain a chunk of weight starting in my mid 50s. For pretty much my entire life I had been a string bean. Somehow almost 40 pounds snuck up on me! So, from like 127 to like 167! I still do consider myself a healthy weight (I was seriously skinny at 127, though I always have been a hearty eater), but the extra weight is something for my joints and muscles to contend with, and I have to take a bit of extra caution. I don’t do impact exercise such as long-distance running anymore. Walking and cycling for transportation, and working in the yard, provide low-impact exercise plus vitamin D etc. Hauling water is great exercise!

I am now 63. It was only around age 61 that I started to experience things like joint stiffness, knees & shoulders & back suddenly taking turns getting injured and me having to rehab (fortunately I found an excellent core exercise class online, and it has been literally a core mainstay over the years), skin rashes / heat rashes from the weight gain (for my whole prior life when i was skinnymini, I mostly didn’t ever experience skin rubbing against other skin – wow what a revelation), more pronounced heat sensitivity, some loss of physical strength, etc.

My sleeping hours seem to have been reduced as well, although I was never a big “sleep through the night” person anyway.

The shoulder injury was the worst. Especially since it was my right shoulder, the dominant arm. I was incapacitated to a degree, and had to find alternative ways to put a shirt on etc. It was seriously to the point where if it continued, I was starting to wonder if I could live independently — which was a crazy feeling. (I share my home with other people, but they are not my family members or intimate partners, and it’s not part of my plan that my housemates would assist me with certain sensitive everyday tasks.)

It’s possible that if I had steady access to the conventional healthcare system, doctors would’ve recommended medication or even surgery. Fortunately, in my particular case (I don’t recommend this to everyone, and your situation may vary), various exercises I found online worked excellently, as long as I did them steadily. And I needed to be very slow and patient with the progress.

Given my occupation as a sustainability educator/community educator, I took my injuries as research experience that can be used to help others.

The other injuries too, I brought into my transportation activism. Transportation infrastructure needs to be accessible to the most vulnerable of us: people in wheelchairs, blind people, deaf people, elderly people, and so on. I now speak up in local government meetings regarding the importance of accessibility. Sometimes it takes personal experience to realize that a place can easily become unlivable to the elderly. And that if we address the needs of the most vulnerable, the place will become a truly enjoyable and livable place for all.

Regarding menopause symptoms, I am also in the past year or so noticing a change in my voice, which I consider a genuinely charming aspect of becoming an elder woman. Also I am getting more white hair, which I think is pretty cool also. My neck started getting wrinkly a couple years ago and at first I was a little bit weirded out, but I figure it’s just part of life and I’m good with it. It doesn’t mean I love to be on video, but then again I never have loved to be on video. But it’s still part of my work sometimes, so when I have to be on video I just go with it.

Skin care note: For what it’s worth, I haven’t worn any makeup for some years now. And I keep a simple routine. I use an oil-based moisturizer (made locally, from natural ingredients, by a local Black woman-owned business — see product info at end of post).

And I am a lifelong advocate of drinking lots of water, have always done that.

I enjoy a wide variety of foods, and don’t try to force myself to abstain from so-called unhealthy foods. Rather than the “antibiotic approach” of trying to eliminate all the “bad stuff,” I go for a “probiotic approach” of simply adding in more fresh fruits and vegetables, and the rest gets sorted out. Food, including high-calorie treats, is one of my great enjoyments in life.

I also enjoy beer, wine, and cocktails, although I seem to have naturally reduced my volume & frequency of alcoholic beverages. A little goes a long way!

And I enjoy coffee. Generally just have it in the morning.

But wait, there’s more!

As often happens with a blog post, things percolate on a deeper level, more layers come.

It occurs to me to wonder if there are things I have done throughout my life, as life habits, that have just happened to also be of help in alleviating/heading off the more severe symptoms of menopause.

For example, I’ve been working from home for decades. This has allowed me to minimize my exposure to artificial lighting. It is also allowed me to spend plenty of time outdoors. Artificial lighting does affect the hormones, sleep patterns, and so on.

Also, for the past 25 years, I have lived within walking or cycling distance of a swimmable natural body of water. In Austin it was Barton Springs; here in Daytona Beach it’s the ocean. That has always felt very nurturing and healthy to me. And may have an effect on hormones.

Speaking of hormones, the “female” hormones aren’t the whole story. There’s also cortisol and adrenaline and neurotransmitters and a bunch of other components of our biochemistry, which when out of balance can plague us at any stage of life but might bother a menopausal woman even more, kicking symptoms up a notch. Accordingly, anything we can do to address stress will surely help alleviate the female symptom stuff.

Some of the best methods I know to alleviate stress (and sometimes even avoid it entirely) are getting out in nature (even in your own neighborhood, even in the heart of the city), doing some kind of mindfulness practice, having a spiritual/religious faith, getting physical exercise, having friends and other community close by, exploring our creative side, and feeling like part of something bigger than ourselves. I’ve always been fortunate to be able to have or arrange those things. And I want everyone to have those things, and the other things that make life meaningful and nourishing for them.

As seems to happen with so many of my other posts, I come around to one core idea: Oftentimes it seems the things that truly benefit our bodies and minds are also beneficial to the whole rest of the planet, including the people around us.

That’s all for now. But probably more things will pop into my mind — because that’s how it usually goes — and when they do I will come back and write them here for you. Peace and love to you all!

PS. Some more thoughts … Our grandmothers managed. How did they?

Is it because the food system and water was cleaner, less poisoned?

Is it because life was a bit more open-air, less sealed indoors?

Is it because they lived in more close and secure and nurturing community? Including, probably, longtime membership in churches, women’s mutual-aid societies, sewing and quilting clubs, and what have you.

Or were they really having super horrific symptoms but just being stoic?

Or, were they having the basic grumble-inducing symptoms (achy joints etc.) but nothing too horrible, and also they were allowed to slow down and sit on the porch talking, and just be old people as opposed to being expected to run around doing marathons and being the pickleball champion of their HOA, and constantly hopping on planes and stuff. (Of course some of the incessant plane-hopping is probably because the grandkids are so far away nowadays. We are a very scattered society. I think it has affected our health as a whole.)

*Moisturizer details: My Organic Secret Body Oil Mist. Her 4-oz size lasts me a year if i use just on my face, neck, collarbone area. I first found this lovely product being sold by its maker at Juneteenth Festival 2024. And I carefully made the beautiful little brown glass spray-bottle of skin-pampering elixir last until Juneteenth 2025. I didn’t see my instant-favorite local moisturizer artisan at the Juneteenth Festival this year, but thankfully was able to look up her website (YAY!) and order by mail.

And that website is: https://myorganicsecretskin.com

She makes other products as well, such as body butter.

(For my arms, legs, etc. I tend to just moisturize with a plain food-grade oil such as olive or coconut. Same as face oil, I apply immediately after shower/bath while skin is in a super hydrated state.)