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A week or so ago I tried logging onto the app of one of my banks to do a transaction, only to find the app won’t work anymore unless I download a new version. I tend to be a slacker about such upgrades so it’s normal for me to wait til I’m forced. Sheer laziness really, more than ideology or anything like that.

I went to the app store to download the latest version onto my smartphone … only to be confronted with more of a stopper: In order to download the current version of the app, I would need to upgrade my phone’s operating system. Now that is something I’m really lazy about. Compounded by the fact that it’s a process so fraught with uncertainty.

So I skipped over that and tried the app to my other bank account. Same deal — upgrade required; and could not download the upgrade unless I upgraded my phone’s operating system.

That particular day, I was able to transact all my business by visiting the websites of my banks. But if I want to deposit checks (a thing I need to do on occasion), I will need the apps so I can have the convenience of being able to deposit the checks electronically.

So yesterday I decided to live dangerously, bite the bullet and try upgrading the phone’s operating system. I clicked on the upgrade option and waited. Nothing seemed to happen. Admittedly, I didn’t give it that much time. But the truth is, my phone might be too old to accept the upgrade! The phone was used when I bought it several years ago (I buy my phones used when possible, for both environmental and financial reasons), so it just might not be up to the new OS.

For the moment, therefore, I am an upgrade renegade, though I did not plan it this way. I find myself getting excited to see how far I can go without upgrading my phone to the new OS.

This afternoon, another twist of fate put my “upgrade renegade” status to the test. Actually it was a twist of clumsiness: I dropped my phone and it landed flat on its face. Since I was not able to buy a replacement otter box or screen protector the last time I got a broken screen fixed (the repair place didn’t have any in stock, and I’m leery of shopping online for such items because it’s hard to tell if what I’m ordering will fit my phone), my phone has been “going naked” for over a year now. I’ve dropped it a time or two but never dropped it on its face til today. As of today, the screen is now filled with cracks.

Now I’ve done it, I thought. I really need a new screen. I called my go-to repair shop, they are closed til Monday. Looked up a couple other repair shops nearby — not answering their phones; or phones out of service.

My screen is so cracked that if I didn’t do something immediately, shards of glass could potentially come loose, causing a hazard.

Caught between a screen and a hard place, I reached into my office-supply drawer for the clear packing tape. I had little hope it’d work; figured the tape would block the screen’s sensitivity. But nope! I am typing through a layer of tape right now!

And so, for the moment, I remain … an upgrade renegade! Although my immediate response was to connect with the repair shop, I wasn’t entirely disappointed to not be able to reach one right away, as it prodded me to try to improvise what I could in the moment.

By the way: My smartphone is my main work tool; I do most of my blog posts this way, and also pretty much all my social-media sharing, and virtual meetings and conferences, and non-in-person speaking gigs, and classes as well (both the classes I teach and the classes I take). And even with the latest accident, all of that functioning continues unimpeded.

Maybe I’ll be crying for mercy by Monday and call my favorite repair place as soon as they open. (The cracks do impede visibility a bit.) But who knows? It’ll be interesting to see. And regarding banking, a physical branch of my main bank is located just a short walk from my house, so not being able to deposit checks electronically is not that big a deal.

Update a few hours after I first made this post: Some people have offered the viewpoint that app updates and operating-system upgrades are needed because they address security holes and other bugs. I allow that this is probably true in some cases. But I have also heard a lot of tech experts talk about updates that are an unnecessary hassle. And I have tended to perceive updates and upgrades as an annoying attention-suck, and a form of forced obsolescence that’s more about corporate control than it is about the wellbeing of the user.

In cases where an older app version is only “not secure” because the company has chosen to no longer support it, rather than because of any inherent security bugs, that raises a big red flag for me. And, in general, I am in favor of all of us building enough redundancy into our creative and occupational mix so that even when “mission-critical” electronic devices break down, we can continue to go happily and steadily about our missions and have enough income streams to thrive.

And, when the relentless device update/upgrade parade leads to having to purchase a new device, it is a forced consumerism. And it is part of a system that exerts environmentally damaging undesirable impacts on people and ecosystems (because of the mining required for new materials, and the various hazards associated with disposal of obsolete devices and old materials).

P.S. The word “renegade” I am using tongue-in-cheek. I’m not glamorizing myself as some wild rebel, and I’m not trying to “stick it to” anyone. Rather, I’m wryly highlighting the societal judgment that tends to fall on anyone who dares to push back against the cherished norms of consumerist society. The cardinal one being “new is necessary” or “new is best.” When a destructive society keeps saying “Do what you’re told, consumers,” I do tend to look for work-arounds, and find some satisfaction in doing so. Not because I’m trying to stick it to anyone but because I want to stick up for people and the planet (and my own wallet).

Some people in an eco-minded group where I posted this story actually seemed contemptuous or even offended at my failure to go along with upgrades. It was kind of weird to see the backlash, and to notice how many people didn’t see how my choice was in any way relevant to pushing back against consumerism.

Update March 4: Almost a month later to the day, I still haven’t gotten my cracked screen fixed (though I do plan at some point to do so). And re the app non-update thing: Honestly, things have been fine — almost anticlimactically so! I’ve been logging onto banks and such via my browser, no problem.

Update May 18, 2022: Three months later, still with the same phone, taped screen and all. I have found workarounds for pretty much all my daily tasks that supposedly had to have the new version or operating system.

Update November 2022: Last month I finally bought a new phone. Never did get around to getting the cracked screen fixed on my old one all that time! What made me break down and finally replace it was a combination of keypad gone wonky, and just too many apps unusable in my old OS. I love having a new phone but I will always strive to maximally stretch the time between phone replacements. If we all maximized replacement intervals it’d surely make a ripple in the industry. BTW this is my first new smartphone; all my previous ones have been refurbs (and they have been great). This is the fourth phone I have owned since 2009, when I first started having a smartphone. Averaging about 4.66 years per phone isn’t bad considering that the first three were refurbs. It would be great to see even more longevity though.

Further Exploration:

• “The Story of Electronics” video by Annie Leonard. This is part of her extremely popular series that started with “The Story of Stuff.”) “Host Annie Leonard takes viewers from the mines and factories where our gadgets begin to the horrific backyard recycling shops in China where many end up.” How companies “design for the dump”; and how villages pay with the loss of their clean drinking water among other things. You can access these videos both on YouTube and on the StoryOfStuff.org website linked above.)

• There is a case for biting the bullet and submitting to software upgrades, especially if you’re like me and rely heavily on a smartphone, tablet, or other device for your work or other essential tasks. You can at least sort of do it on your own time if you plan carefully. David Gewirtz, writing on zdnet.com, expresses it well.

“Learn from History.” Whitewashing history education in public schools (which the lawmakers of many states in the USA, including my home state of Florida, are trying to do) is a really bad idea. Quote of the week:

“Shouldn’t people feel something when they learn how we have a history of freedom for most, but not all in this country? Shouldn’t they know that at one point in our history, women and blacks couldn’t vote? That early versions of the Constitution said the blacks were 3/5ths of a person? That we herded native Americans into reservations by force so we could take their land. That we rounded up people born in America during World War II solely because their parents were Japanese?

“Learning from our past is part of the human experience. I changed as a child and later as an adult when I found out about some of our history. It upset me, but also gave me a better understanding of people who are different from me. I became a more well-rounded person. We shouldn’t deny our children that opportunity.”

(Quoted from a letter to the editor in Sun 1/30/22 edition of Daytona Beach News-Journal. It’s the first one on the page. Titled “Learn from History.”)

I’ve heard some people say they don’t want kids being taught to hate themselves, or being taught to hate America. But facing up to the wrongs of our past isn’t teaching hate. If anything, it’s the ultimate act of love and regard for ourself: Owning all of our parts, in order to change what we need to change.

I see a parallel between society choosing to evolve, and individuals choosing to evolve. When I was a young adult, I got on a path of antisocial behavior and even some criminal behavior (shoplifting, vandalism, doing illegal drugs, and driving under the influence of substances). Finally the pain I felt inside brought me to a recovery program. At first I was only there to try to erase my pain, not to try to become a better person. But I found myself drawn in. Although doing an in-depth moral inventory and making amends wasn’t easy, I was amazed to find how much relief, peace, and deep happiness lay on the other side of the confessions and amends — or even while doing them! Rather than hate myself when I faced my wrongs, I came to like and respect myself, and find myself worth saving. It came hand in hand with a newfound ability to truly love and care about other people as opposed to just using them for my own ends. Ongoing self-reflection and amends have been a steady part of my life ever since.

I have no doubt that the same kind of transformation can happen when a country chooses to engage in honest self-reflection and amends.

Further Reading:

• “Reflect on the legacy of slavery at the White House” (Anti-Racism Daily the-ard.com). “Today is Presidents Day, a holiday honoring George Washington, who forced hundreds of enslaved men, women, and children to work from sunrise to sunset, six days a week, for the duration of their lives. Some states also use the day to celebrate Thomas Jefferson, who impregnated a 14-year-old girl he legally owned, and Abraham Lincoln, who ordered 38 Dakota men killed for resisting genocide in the largest mass execution in U.S. history. Today’s newsletter explores the white supremacy baked into even the most iconic buildings of this nation.” (By Andrew; editor’s note in ARD’s email newsletter.) And: “Many cultural institutions in D.C. were built by enslaved people, including the White House. President George Washington initially planned to import workers from Europe to complete the ambitious project but had trouble recruiting staff. Instead, they decided to “contract” enslaved laborers from neighboring communities. The government paid the owners, not the enslaved people, for their labor (White House Historical Association). Often, owners would rent out the people they enslaved for extra money. The enslaved person would provide the labor, while the contract holder would pay a wage directly to the owner. … Enslaved people did the bulk of the construction work, from creating the raw materials needed for the project to leveling the ground and building it.” (By Nicole Cardoza, from the main article.)

Lately the universe’s great, overarching, profound message to me appears to be … “USE YOUR WORDS, JENNY!” — Well, OK, I confess: By “lately,” I mean, like, pretty much just about my entire life!

LOL, you might think that wouldn’t be so hard for someone who majored in English literature and who has made her living at various occupations that required significant verbal communication skills … You might THINK that it would not be so difficult for said person to use her words, but in many cases you would be surprised!!! 😉

This past week I have been engaging in some in-depth study and practice to grow beyond my pattern of “not speaking up.” It seemed safe and protective at one point in my life, but it has really never served me or anyone else.

Posting this in case anyone else needs to hear this reminder too. Use your words! Speak up! Your input is needed!

Brrrr!! A lot of places are getting super-cold weather this winter. Even here in my mild coastal climate in Florida, we’re seeing some near-freezing temps — and I’m hearing from a lot of people elsewhere in the USA and world where temps are waaaaay below zero (whether Celsius or Fahrenheit)!

In my book and elsewhere on this blog, I share some DIY tips for keeping warm in winter. The overall best advice I can give is that it’s easier and more efficient to try to first warm your own body as much as possible (using hats, sweaters, etc.), and help other household members do the same, than to just try to heat all the air in your dwelling to a super-warm temperature. Another useful strategy, especially if your bills are high, is to just pick one main area of the house or apartment to heat, and close off other rooms if possible.

Also: Make use of electric blankets, heating pads, and other radiant heat sources, which use less energy and therefore tend to cost less than trying to heat all the air in your place. They can also provide a lot more warmth because it’s right there next to your body.

Note for people living in cold climates: At the time I wrote my book, I hadn’t yet learned much about high-efficiency woodstoves. I’ve since read quite a bit, and heard first-hand from people who live in very cold climates and successfully heat with wood. In general, I think wood can be the best option for sustainable heating in cold climates, for people living in houses. And, the growing, harvesting, transport, and sale of firewood can create a whole fleet of local cottage industries, offering steady work year-round to independent local businesses, with minimal capital investment required.

Furthermore, by choosing coppiceable trees, we can have our cake and eat it too: Grow trees for heat mitigation, erosion control, and stormwater uptake, while continuously cutting branches for firewood.

To get some current info regarding energy-efficient woodstoves from actual users, I encourage you to check out some realtime testimonials from this thread I just started on Transformative Adventures, asking people in cold climates to share how they heat their homes. People in this thread are sharing all sorts of great information about the various combinations of methods they use: heat pumps, woodstoves (both regular wood and pellet-fueled type), regular ol’ grid-tied electric, solar, and more. Some people commenting on this thread are including information on the monetary cost and amount of fuel they are using to heat their homes. And, several people have posted pics of some really amazing woodstoves they’re using!

My house, built in 1950, used to have a fireplace but some previous owner converted that space into a closet (the brick chimney is still standing, as are the chimneys of many other houses in my historic neighborhood — some still with working fireplaces intact)!

For milder climates like mine, the first low-hanging fruit is generally to insulate the attic or roof. (This also helps keep a home cooler in summer.) My attic has some insulation but can use more. I might someday get the sprayed-in recycled newspaper stuff, which, as a bonus, is mixed with boric acid (good for keeping termite populations down without spraying a bunch of poison in and around the house).

At some point, especially if global weather-weirding starts sending us super-intense winters, I may bring my chimney back into use — probably with a compact wood-burning stove rather than a fireplace, because the stove could be used for cooking as well as heating.

Further Reading:

• “Extreme Cold.” A post I wrote last winter when my friends in Texas were dealing with that deadly deep freeze and the accompanying power outages. Tips on how to dress for maximum warmth, how to create a “room within a room” that can be heated by your body heat and maybe a small candle, etc.

• Living without heat: I have written a lot about my experiment in living without heat but can’t seem to find the posts. Once I find the links I will post them for you. Nutshell: No one should have to live without heat. And cold can kill. But, I have voluntarily done without fossil-powered heat for I think it’s 15 winters now, and I will say it has made me feel a lot less vulnerable as well as saving me hundreds of dollars a year. I do live in a mild climate, but have read articles about people voluntarily doing without heat in very cold climates (artists living in warehouses in NYC or in an old farmhouse in upstate New York, for example), primarily to save money. And unfortunately, a lot of people are forced to live with inadequate heating, be it because of negligent landlords, leaky old buildings, the high cost of fuel, or what have you. Knowing how to layer clothing to trap air, how to create a room in a room, and so on can make the difference between misery and comfort. If you or anyone you know is stuck in a situation with inadequate heating, some of the tips I’ve shared might be helpful.

One of the groups I often mention in here as one of my “go-to’s” is Deep Adaptation. I visit this Facebook group regularly, get a lot out of the discussions and do my best to contribute.

Several worldwide Zoom events are coming up; visit deepadaptation.info/events to get the links to each event and find out more. As the DA organizers state at the top of the event page, “These events are intended for people who are already ‘collapse-aware’: who recognize the possibility of societal collapse from climate change and environmental degradation.”

Mon. Jan. 24, 6:30 – 8:00 pm UTC: DA Welcoming Circle – you are welcome to come!

Tues. Jan. 25, 10:00 – 11:00 am UTC: Deep Adaptation Q&A with Stephen G Wright

Tues. Jan. 25, 5:30 – 7:30 pm UTC: Well at the End of the World

Tues. Jan. 25, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm UTC: NVC and Diversity – Experiments in Connecting across Differences

Wed. Jan. 26, 5:00 – 7:00 pm UTC: Deep Relating (Eu/Americas)

Thurs. Jan. 27, 5:00 – 7:00 pm UTC: DA Volunteer Community Call

Fri. Jan. 28, 2:30 – 3:00 pm UTC: Songs of One Breath

Fri. Jan. 28, 5:30 – 7:00 pm UTC: Earth Listening

Sat. Jan. 29, 7:00 – 9:00 pm UTC: DA Education Group Meeting

Sun. Jan. 30, 6:30 – 8:00 pm UTC: Wider Embraces (EU-Americas)

In mainstream society in the wealthy industrialized nations, it can be extremely challenging and sometimes exhausting to choose a lifestyle that goes against the consumerist current. This is my short list of my go-to groups for tips, emotional support, and camaraderie. I hope you find some or all of these groups helpful along with my book and this blog.

As I write this, my local paper is relentlessly publishing articles promoting irresponsible consumerism “to bring back the economy.” Fly fly fly, buy buy buy! If you want an antidote, check out the following groups. Even if some of the discussion can be grim, I find there’s a refreshing quality to facing what’s going on, with similarly minded folks.

Each group has a slightly different focus. Some are more nuts and bolts tips (what to do with so many glass jars you don’t want to throw away) whereas others (like Deep Adaptation) get into deep existential questions and often bring up parallels between facing societal collapse and biospheric collapse and facing our own deaths. And the Transformative Adventures one has a focus on creativity and finding one’s right livelihood amid the dysfunctional mainstream society. Hope you find these as lifesaving as I do! Most of us can’t go it alone. There is power in numbers; these groups link tens of thousands of people around the world. Together we boost our creativity and make a difference.

• Zero Waste, Zero Judgement Facebook group

• The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group

• Degrowth – join the revolution Facebook group

• Deep Adaptation Facebook group

• Permaculture in Action: Transformative Adventures! Facebook group

(I wrote the above post this morning after seeing yet another rah-rah consumerist article in my local paper. They run nationwide stuff from the wire services, so the trend might be reaching your local paper too. Here is the rant I wrote in the wee hours this morn when I couldn’t sleep after reading today’s paper on my phone):

(Warning, rant ahead). I can’t believe the consumerist nonsense Daytona Beach News-Journal keeps churning out. Spend, spend, spend! Fly, fly, fly! I guess on some people’s imaginary planet there is no climate crisis. Sorry, I have generally been supportive of our local paper but they are promoting a lot of heavy consumerism these days. We need a new basis for the economy other than people buying mountains of consumer goods and flying all over the place to escape their humdrum and/or rat-race lives. What if the press were to start running articles on how people could build lives they don’t have to escape from.

Oh, and also (general note, not related to anything I’ve seen today or this week, but just a lot in general) — the gardening section of the paper needs to stop promoting ecologically damaging practices like loading our yards with fancy exotics, and instead start running more articles from Florida-based experts. Now more than ever, we need to be promoting native landscaping, food gardening, heat mitigation, and restoration of the water cycle.

Oh, on that note I do always really appreciate “The Darwinian Gardener” column by Mark Lane; one of the most ecologically sound things we can do as everyday people is ease up on the fussbudget landscaping. Mark’s column always makes a good case for common sense, while being very entertaining.

Rant over (for now).

And, for further reading, this absolute gem of a post by David at Raptitude — one of my longtime favorite writers on the various daily aspects of human mind, human existence. As David astutely observes in this latest post on his blog, “Everything Must Be Paid For Twice.”

I get various versions of a question that boils down to: Will electric cars fix everything and give us a clean green future? Short answer: No. A switch from gas-powered to electric might help reduce carbon emissions but it’ll also bring a host of environmental issues, while retaining the social problems associated with a car-dependent society.

It’s not that I’m totally anti electric car; just that they are not a magic fix.

The materials used to make the batteries come with serious environmental consequences.

Also, switching from gas-powered to electric cars doesn’t fix the deeper problems caused by our society’s excessive automobile-dependence. (Obesity and other health problems; social problems such as lack of neighborhood cohesion; traffic congestion; injuries and fatalities from car crashes.)

We still need to diversify our transportation options; make it easier for people to get around without having to own a car. Being stuck with a car payment is still being stuck with a car payment, whether the car is powered by electricity or gas.

Also, it’ll be no more safe for kids to play outside if the traffic speeding down their street is electric-powered than if it’s gas-powered.

And for grownups, sitting in traffic is still sitting in traffic, regardless of how the cars are powered.

Roads and parking infrastructure themselves have a high eco footprint as well as making places hotter and less pleasant. Think about the places in the world that you dream of visiting or retiring to. I bet the places most of us dream about have lots of natural beauty, and charming narrow streets with cute little pubs and shops, and not a lot of roaring traffic and big-box sprawl as we have here in Everytown, USA. What if we could make our own streetscapes more charming and inviting, and our everyday lives less hectic with long-distance commutes and sitting in traffic. Then maybe we wouldn’t feel so much need to “escape” our everyday lives. (I’m lucky; I already live in a beautiful place where I love to be. We still do have a lot of issues related to car-dependency here too though, and I’m trying to promote a shift to make our area more walkable, bikeable, and served by buses and maybe a cute little trolley.)

The easiest and cheapest way to make a car instantly more green is to put more people in it! In other words: carpool, get by with one car for the whole household if you can, and so on.

Further Reading:

• “Developing countries pay environmental cost of electric car batteries” (unctad.org): “Growth in electric car sales is great news for the fight against climate change, but the mining of the minerals used in their batteries poses serious risks for the environment.”

• “The curse of ‘white oil’: Electric vehicles’ dirty secret” (theguardian.com): “The race is on to find a steady source of lithium, a key component in rechargeable electric car batteries. But while the EU focuses on emissions, the lithium gold rush threatens environmental damage on an industrial scale.” But, as they describe in the article, not only the mining companies but also some everyday people are benefiting economically from the boom, so fixing this is not going to be simple. The article mentions a livestock farmer in a mountainous area of northern Portugal, who’s now making good money from mining lithium on his land. People have struggled to live off the land and in fact all of his friends have gone overseas in search of better-paying work. Echoes of the former coal boom in another poor mountainous region, Appalachia, which blew off mountaintops and destroyed rivers but people are still fighting for coal jobs because they put food on the table.

• Some cities are actually looking at reducing large areas of asphalt. For example, Minneapolis is looking at shrinking its segment of interstate to a boulevard.