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In this video “Rob Greenfield on Money, Health Insurance, Age and Death,” Rob Greenfield brings up the “big usual questions” regarding finance, old-age security, health insurance, etc. The questions that a lot of us hear, when we embark on alternative lifestyle paths. I’m a longtime fan of Rob’s work and have often mentioned him in my talks and writings.

Rob’s answers to these questions — how he has deliberately addressed these topics in the design of his life — are the closest I’ve heard anyone express to my own philosophy and the resulting solutions I’ve chosen.

No two lives are alike, and Rob has always, throughout his writings and talks, emphasized that he’s not trying to tell us we all should adopt his same lifestyle choices.

Myself, for example, at this stage of my life I have chosen to own a house and live in a fixed location and have a bank account. BUT in the bigger-picture sense, I have adopted an approach that is very similar to his in terms of deliberately chosen income level, occupation, property-sharing, health, and old-age security. (I’ll be writing another blog post soon about what these choices look like in my life, and will share the link here when I do.) Update: Here is the link to Part 2 of this post. http://www.jennynazak.com/2022/04/04/alt-lifestyle-answers-to-the-big-questions-on-health-insurance-old-age-security-and-more-part-2/ (If you get an “invalid link” message, I apologize! Just try pasting the link into your browser window. Or, you can simply reach the Part 2,post by scrolling; it’s just the second entry after this one.)

Rob’s point is that we should live deliberately and not feel hamstrung by the default settings of mainstream “rich industrialized middle-class” society. A lot of the default settings are very destructive to people and ecosystems all over the world. We can and must feel free to create our own lives! Not only for the greater good of all beings, but for our own benefit as well.

Important note: When someone chooses a lifestyle that departs from the mainstream in certain ways (particularly in terms of conventional middle-class notions of “security”), some people’s reaction is to get defensive and try to shame the person, poke holes in that person’s choices. My advice if you feel tempted to do that is to look at the big picture and really see how sane and honorable Rob’s stance is. And see how you might benefit from translating some of his ideas into your own life, goals, needs, & circumstances.

Based on the comments to this YouTube video, a LOT of people are ready to question society’s default settings and participate more deliberately in the design of their own lives. Thank you to Rob for being such an inspiring example!

PS. Rob has tons of videos & podcasts so if you like this one, there’s lots more where that came from.

PPS. If regenerative finance, community, and true security beyond money interests you, I would be remiss in not also mentioning my friend and fellow Florida permie Laura Oldanie, Rich & Resilient Living. She’s an outstanding thinker and writer, and offers a treasure trove of links to many other thinkers & writers on this subject. Here’s her blog! https://www.richandresilientliving.com — and I recommend her TikTok channel too. Today she put out this TikTok video that gives some helpful pointers about the power of our bank accounts.

Rambling post of scrip-scraps, will be added to as time permits and/or reader interest indicates. BTW I have finally at a late age realized that I write because I am a writer whose words might help someone someday, not necessarily because I have an immediate audience. Very liberating to realize this. I may be writing off into empty space for all I know, but someone someday somewhere may be helped (as I have, by the writings of people decades or even centuries or millennia before me), so there you have it.

This post sets out to address a white culture norm (WASP; colonizer culture norm) that I might describe as “morbid aversion to confrontation.” A fellow permie shared about this today. Her original post was limited-audience so I will not share it here. But the posts she referenced are public so I will share snippets of those.

Morbid aversion to confrontation. At all costs. It is a huge topic for me.

To quote from a few of the screenshots of public posts (from Marco Rogers @polotek on Twitter; great stuff, I am now following him). And Laura Bridgewater @knit1write2 on Twitter; great stuff, now following her too). Stand by; some posts are old and I have to just retype from screenshots rather than copy-paste.

• Marco Rogers, 1/25/21: “Did y’all know that a lot of white people don’t have the cultural concept of ‘real talk’? You know where you stop saying the diplomatic thing and tell people what’s really going on. They just don’t have it. You try to have a moment of ‘real talk’ and they freak the fuck out.”

• Laura Bridgewater, 1/25/21: “WASPs never discuss anything directly, but they’ll come at it sideways with a glass knife. Seemingly innocuous phrases are actually put downs, insults, or object lessons. People are left out in the cold with little/no warning. Grudges are epic.”

And my comments:

People are left out in the cold with little/no warning. Grudges are epic.” Totally!! And it’s just one example of how whitey-titey culture is bad for everyone on the whole planet.

So for any of my fellow white people who don’t feel motivated to try to detoxify whitey-titey culture for the sake of the people it has harmed the most (BIPOC), then care about it for your own sake because it harms everything and everyone including our own privileged white selves.

BTW I learned a phrase the other day. It’s from British culture. “Being sent to Coventry.” It means being shunned, shut out, getting the silent treatment with no explanation. I’ve seen WASP families (and WASP-wannabe families, such as immigrants trying to “fit in”) do this for generations. And the consequences ripple outward and downward, like a cold toxic spill, worse than any hot argument or fight I’ve ever been in.

There can be different shades of shunning; it isn’t necessarily total silence. Sometimes the shunner will maintain some minimal interaction with the shun-ee in front of other people (whose opinions count), to preserve appearances. So the shunning flies under the radar to the public eye. But the vibe is unmistakeable to the one being targeted.

Personally as a white person I feel it’s part of my job to fix the damage caused by the culture I was born into. And to reformat or redesign the aspects such as glorifying silence, discouraging confrontation. Not that I’m into confrontation for its own sake of course. But jeez, we have gone way to the other extreme and I’m pretty sure people have died of it. OF it, not just WITH it.

And:

So sad isn’t it. All we can do is try to move forward & make things better for those still living. It is very sad sometimes tho, knowing the relationships & connections so many people missed out on because the imagined reason for the freeze-grudge was more important.

Dysfunctional communication patterns increase the amount of waste and suffering on the planet. By each doing what we can to create open, flexible channels of communication with the people around us, we can make a more just and sustainable world.

In a subsequent post I’ll offer some ways to constructively deal with the silent treatment and its less-obvious variants.

NOTE: Sometimes there are very valid reasons why people cut off communication with someone. None of the above is meant to deny that reality, or to shame anyone who needs to shut down a connection that’s toxic or dangerous.

Further Exploration:

• “Coventry” by Rachel Cusk; Granta. “Like coldness the silence advances, making itself known not by presence but by absence, by disturbances of expectation so small that they are registered only half-consciously and instead mount up, so that one only becomes truly aware of it once its progress is complete. It takes patience to send someone to Coventry: it’s not a game for those who require instant satisfaction. If you don’t live with your victim or see them every day, it might be a while before they even notice they’ve been sent there. All the same, there’s no mistaking this for anything less deliberate than punishment. It is the attempt to recover power through withdrawal …”

Like a lot of other people in the USA, I have used large amounts of running water to clean soiled objects (dishes, coolers, outdoor furniture and more). I have also used huge wads of paper towels to wipe up spills.

In each case, I wasn’t thinking about the energy it took to produce these commodities. I didn’t have to think about it. In the wealthy industrialized nations, running water is cheap, as are paper towels. This reflects the artificially cheap price of the embodied fossil energy and other resources that go into bringing us these conveniences.

Running water from the water utility provider costs money, as do paper towels. But based on how profligately I’ve seen people (including myself) use these things, they’re not priced high enough to deter waste. And so, using large amounts of both has become an unquestioned practice. For example: People hose down outdoor furniture or a cooler to push the dirt off of it with large amounts of flowing water, instead of just wiping it down with a rag.

Still, there may come a time when these things become expensive or even unavailable. We’ll have to use manual pressure and a cloth to clean dirty objects; a rag to wipe up spills.

When I started noticing how I was using water pressure from faucets as a substitute for elbow-grease, I switched to using cloth dishrags and wipe-rags plus manual pressure.

Same with paper towels; I just stopped buying them when I realized cloth rags absorb spills much better.

The amount of money I save is trivial. But I love not having “paper towels” on the list of things I have to buy. Similarly, even though running water is priced relatively cheap, I hate being dependent on the availability of a certain amount of water pressure. It’s great just being able to use rainwater collected in a tub if needed.

Tips:

• When cleaning an item such as outdoor furniture, I put water into a small pot or other small container to keep track of how much I’m using. It’s fun to see how little I really need to get the job done. Sometimes I can get away with just a dampened rag; sometimes I can even get most of the job done with a dry rag and then finish with a dampened rag.

• Definitely I’m a big fan of scraping dishes before washing them! After eating, I scrape the food particles off the dishes and into the yard, compost pile etc. This is super obvious and you might not think it needs mentioning but I’ve been surprised to see that a lot of people don’t scrape their dishes well, so they end up being a lot messier to wash and require a lot more water & soap to wash.

• I wash things outdoors, with mild soap in the minimum quantity needed, and use the leftover water to water shrubs, trees, mulch areas etc.

• When washing the cloth rags, I group similarly purposed rags together. For example, if a rag has been used to wipe the floor or clean a bunch of grime off an outdoor chair, I won’t wash it in the same little batch as a dishrag or kitchen-countertop rag.

• Speaking of water pressure, a big thing these days in the rich industrialized world is pressure-washing: using a thin stream of highly pressurized water to clean sidewalks and patios and such. While I’d rather that pressure-washing didn’t exist (it’s hideously noisy, on top of enabling people to get really obsessive about cleaning the entire great outdoors), I doubt I’ll talk anyone who loves it out of loving it. But, I like to think that by leaving outdoor surfaces to develop a natural “patina,” at least I’m doing my part to avoid feeding the modern-day “cleanliness inflation” enabled by the easy availability of pressurized water. (I have, on occasion, used a bit of water plus vinegar and baking soda to scrub off a section of patio that was becoming actually slippery with mold. And I was happy to see that a hand-brush produced perfectly fine results very quickly.)

Another example along similar lines occurred to me: leaf-blowers. Harnessing the abundant availability of artificially cheap fossil fuel to mobilize large amounts of air, blown at tornado velocity, to push leaves, sand, and other stuff around. I much prefer a combination of using a broom, plus not having unrealistic standards of neatness for the great outdoors. If you’re protesting “But a broom takes too long,” well, there’s a perfect excuse for us all to lower our standards of neatness! Surely we all have more fun and interesting things to do. And anyway, leafblowers actually don’t get the job done all that much faster, as anyone who’s ever watched a neatness-crazed neighbor use one of these appliances to spend an hour chasing two leaves around the driveway can attest.

Can you think of any other examples? As always, feel free to share your thoughts and successes on this or any other topics. I always enjoy hearing from you!

Some people still think (wish) that all we have to do is just “switch over” to renewables. But we need renewables PLUS conservation. Extreme reduction will be key. Those of us who have learned how to radically reduce our consumption (of fuel directly; and also indirectly by minimizing consumption of “stuff” to the extent that we are able) — because pretty much all “stuff” in our world contains embodied energy of fossil fuels — can do a great service by sharing what we have learned.

The IEA is urging people to save fuel, drive less amid Russia crisis (Time.com). I say we need to make the cutbacks permanent (all of us who are able and willing, that is).

From the article: “Advanced economies could reduce their daily oil demand by 2.7 million barrels within four months by following a 10-step plan, the IEA said. That would significantly ease looming supply strains by almost offsetting the 3 million barrel-a-day loss of Russian production the agency anticipates for April. … The IEA’s plan to curtail oil demand includes lower speed limits for cars, urging people to work from home, placing occasional limits on car access to city centers, making public transport cheaper, encouraging carpooling, and greater use of high-speed rail and virtual meetings instead of air travel.”

Sounds like the unfortunate determination of some “leaders” to get the world into a big war is handing us a golden opportunity.

Sort of like the pandemic shutdown handed us a golden opportunity. Hmm …

On a relevant note, Finland and the Baltic countries are taking a bold stance on the energy aspect of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, even though it will mean considerable sacrifice.

“‘As long as we are purchasing energy from Russia, we are financing the war, and this is the big problem that we have,’ Finland Prime Minister Sanna Marin said. She was joined by Baltic leaders in demanding swift action. We have to continue to isolate Putin’s economy – Russia’s economy – to stop the money flowing into the war machine,’ Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins told reporters. ‘The most logical place to move forward is in oil and coal.’ … Karins said the Ukraine war was a prime example where morals should trump money. Despite Latvia’s “high dependency on Russian oil and gas,” businesses support a halt to trade in these goods, he said. … Greenpeace has accused the European Union of bankrolling Russia’s war by continuing to purchase its energy supplies. ‘Fossil fuels have a history of being connected with conflict and war – wherever they come from, governments must phase them out as quickly as possible, not look for new suppliers,’ Greenpeace EU director Jorgo Riss said.” (EU agrees on Russia sanctions so far, but energy divides it
Belgian PM: ‘We are not at war with ourselves’; Raf Casert and Samuel Petrequin, ASSOCIATED PRESS; in Daytona Beach News-Journal, March 25, 2022).

For people seeking to live more gently on the earth, carbon emissions provide a handy benchmark. Reducing one’s carbon footprint” gives us numbers to aim for. Carbon footprint is not everything, though.

Carbon emissions are just one of a whole constellation of factors jeopardizing the planetary biosphere that our life depends on. These other factors include overconsumption; inequity; broken water-cycles; eutrophication; biodiversity loss; soil degradation.

That said, carbon emissions are a decent metric if you only have one metric available. There’s significant overlap between carbon emissions and a lot of the other variables such as overconsumption; soil degradation; biodiversity loss.

By way of seeking to focus my efforts more directly on the root issue, one concept and movement I’ve stumbled on in the past couple of years is “de-growth.” (A group I’m finding very helpful is Degrowth – join the revolution. Also the Non-Consumer Advocate.)

The “forever growth” paradigm which defines society and economy in the USA and other wealthy industrial nations might just be the “umbrella problem” that covers all of the symptoms we are trying to address. Degrowth offers a way out of that death spiral. Note – degrowth is only for the rich consumerist nations; we recognize that in some parts of the world, large numbers of people still need some GROWTH in order to simply get their basic needs met such as safe cooking technology, safe drinking water, health care. Even here in the USA, there are many people who still need some of that basic growth in order to catch up to a humane standard of living.

This “Carbon Tunnel Vision” graphic (shared by Frenchie Powell; based on graphic by Jan Konietzka) is useful to keep in mind.

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, besides footprint there’s also your handprint to consider: the positive impact you have on people and the planet. If you’re having trouble making further reductions in your footprint, don’t beat yourself up. You can probably find ways of increasing your handprint.

Further Exploration:

• Another concept besides degrowth that I find helpful is the idea of a “steady-state economy” (Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy, CASSE, steadystate.org). “A steady state economy is an economy of stable or mildly fluctuating size. The term typically refers to a national economy, but it can also be applied to a local, regional, or global economy. An economy can reach a steady state after a period of growth or degrowth. To be sustainable, a steady state economy may not exceed ecological limits. A steady state economy entails stabilized population and per capita consumption. Birth rates equal death rates, and production rates equal depreciation rates. Minimizing waste allows for a steady state economy at higher levels of production and consumption.” (Visit the link to learn more.)

Sometimes I’ll find myself awake before dawn and it’s close enough to dawn that I could decide to go ahead and get up and start my day, but something makes me decide to stay in bed and try to grab some extra sleep. A lot of those times are when I end up having super crazy or vivid dreams.

Dream descriptions tend to be tedious so I’ll spare you details.

Just: In one of the dreams, some angry woman (who I didn’t know but who looked familiar) had bashed my door down because I owed her money. She was calling me names and carrying signs with my likeness on them. Turns out all I owed her was two dollars. I went and got it for her (actually had to borrow it from a friend because I didn’t have it on hand), handed it to her, and suddenly all was good. Her friend even wanted to take a picture of us to post on Facebook, standing with our arms around each other.

With all the horrors going on in the world, there seems little point in sharing such fragments. But you never know, they might help someone. Thought for the day: Share your fragments if you’ve got ’em. You never know who those little scraps might reach and help. Reuse, repurpose, recycle!

The other day, the mayor of my city shared on his Facebook page a quote I’ve heard before that always grabs me: “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” (I really love our mayor, Derrick Henry; he puts himself out there; brings forth what is within him.)

This quote always grabs me because I have been and am a hoarder in many ways. Mainly a hoarder of experiences. I hoard them in little scraps, not sure where to put them. Finally it feels like maybe I just need to put them out there where they’ll at least stand a chance of reaching someone who might find them useful.

“These fragments I have shored against my ruins.” (From one of my favorite poems, The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot.) (Here’s an informative brief article about Eliot and the poem, on medium.com by Christopher P. Jones. It includes a link to the full text of the poem.)

Postcard from my neighborhood today:

There is a vacant lot near me where, at this time of year, I routinely find delicious & nutritious edible wild greens. At this time of year there are so many free wild vegetables growing that I could live off that lot for 100% of my greens if I had to. While still leaving the majority for the pollinators & other species.

The lot is pretty, like a meadow. The plants never get very tall, as the lot gets mowed periodically.

Whenever it gets mowed and edged (the latter a murderous noise as loud as a chainsaw), the scalped lot looks so sad. And it feels almost like watching a free health-food pantry get doused with gasoline!!

There is nothing INHERENTLY “nicer” about a buzzcut lawn than a wildflower meadow lawn. It’s all in our cultural definition. And given the amount of food & medicine, and pollinator bonanza, that gets shaved away with each mowing, it seems all the more warped! Plus, wildflowers are pretty — when did such a large swathe of the population stop noticing that?

Of course we live in a country where, despite reports of food shortages and more to come, homeowners are still cutting down fruit trees “because they’re messy,” so I guess it’s to be expected.

For the antidote, join forces with your local foragers and food-gardeners and native-plant advocates! We are numerous, and we are everywhere!! Don’t let the ubiquitous soul-sucking vacuum-cleaner whine of leafblowers trying to “clean up” the great outdoors lead you to believe you are alone. We who love nature, and love fresh wild edible & medicinal plants, are numerous! Reach out!!

Things to google: foraging; weed walks; wild edible plants; native plant society; permaculture guild; (+ name of your city/region)