Author: jennynazak

When you have the strongest back that you know of in your neighborhood, and it still isn’t strong enough to ethically comply with the requirements of capitalist, colonialist structures.

A straight edge is being asked for, but at the rate I’m going right now to help my neighbor get into compliance so that code enforcement will have less attention on our corner, I could do about 6 inches every two hours and would still need frequent breaks.

No worries, I will think of something such as maybe asking the community for help, although I don’t really usually have much luck with that. People will tell me to hire someone, or purchase some expensive and (for us) unethical tools etc.

but again, no worries. I will figure it out. We will work it out together because we help each other in this neighborhood. I’m just posting this as an illustration of how our ethics, tools, and body strength can be in opposition to the requirements of capitalist colonialist structures. Including both government edict and social norms.

More thoughts:

I’m strong for a 63 year old woman, but the fact that other’s (including male and younger than me) backs are less strong is a reflection of a combination of them enduring a lifetime of hard, low-paid labor; and inadequate nutrition; and probably Lack of access to health care as well.

I have experienced all those things too, but it was only starting in my 40s through age 55. And it only happened because I chose to drop out of the white collar/office professional track that I had been raised to pursue. Stepping away from this path to pursue my calling as an activist and artist was a decision I had the privilege to be able to choose, unlike other people who don’t always have a choice.

Another thing I have the privilege to be able to choose is to insist on adhering to my ecological ethics. Not everyone has that luxury. People in historically marginalized/decentered groups don’t necessarily have the option to be able to refuse to use heavy mechanized equipment to hurry up and get/stay in compliance with the mainstream social norms & regs. It might sound like a bizarre paradox, but using hand tools and insisting on the slow nonviolent approach can actually be a luxury and a privilege.

It shouldn’t be that way. The design principles and ethics of my profession (permaculture) rightfully advocate a focus on small-scale, minimally intrusive approach, and the use of hand tools rather than mechanized equipment.

The use of mechanized equipment can sometimes be a reasonable/valid choice, like when it’s a one-time use to dig a swale or other earthwork that will then be regenerative. As in, offering ongoing and multiplying benefits. With little or no additional energy input, either human or fossil.

As opposed to a repeated, never-ending maintenance treadmill requiring that loud, fumey, violent mechanized equipment every week or every month. (But even within the permaculture world, I think people too quickly go to mechanized equipment.)

THE BIGGER PICTURE

The bigger picture of what we are trying to do here:

• De-normalize noisy landscaping. There is no reason why maintaining an edge of grass should require equipment that is as loud as a chainsaw or a jackhammer. And yet, it is a suprisingly laborious operation.
• Normalize clean air and quiet landscaping as the standard.
• Via experimentation, put together an effective toolkit of small hand-tools, as few as possible, that can be easily purchased and owned by anyone, even someone who can’t afford a fancy truck, a ride-on mower, etc. This accessibility is important for many populations, including teenagers, seniors, and returning felons and other people who may have lost their drivers’ licenses. Micro landscaping business based in the neighborhood is a way to build community while earning cash (or bartering). (An effective toolkit for the most arduous grass-tasks might include old-time tools, as well as tools that don’t quite exist yet.)

See photos here on my deep green page Facebook post.

PS. The comments section in the Facebook post has gotten quite lively. To the point that I added a note saying the purpose of the post is to highlight a societal pattern, not seek advice on tools. And I asked ppl who are tempted to give advice on tools & methods to read the entire comment section first. I also responded to a person (fellow middle-aged white woman, but higher-caste than me) who talked down to me about the importance of maintaining the fitness of my aging body.

I’m sharing this post for 2 reasons:

1) Because it might be a nice work-live situation for someone. Located in Florida.

And

2) I’m also sharing this as one example of a general trend. There are lots of people all over the country who have land and are looking for help, and there are lots of people who don’t have a place to live who are looking for a place to live.

Situations vary widely. Some you can live in your van or a bus or tent; some there are indoor accommodations. Some charge rent, some are entirely work-trade.

Note, just because a situation is rent-free or only asks a minimal money contribution, does not mean it is free of exploitation. Do your homework accordingly and make sure a situation is a fit for you and your skills/offerings.

Also: Many of us refrain from using the word “homestead,” because of its racist / colonizer associations. Many of us prefer to simply say farm, ranch, smallholding, or even just household.

That said, the Facebook group linked has almost 100,000 people, and a great variety of living situations being offered and being asked for. It’s a good place to get an overview of the lay of the land, societal-trendly speaking.

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