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People tend to look to “the government” as the entity that has the power to create a sustainable culture, by enacting laws and policies.

In fact, however, it is we the everyday people who hold most of the power to shape our culture. How? Through aesthetics. We the people define what’s considered cool and beautiful! And that’s a force stronger than any government policy can ever be.

No, none of us can singlehandedly do this (unless maybe you’re a YouTube influencer with like a kajillion followers), but all of us participate in creating and reinforcing the aesthetic standards of the world around us.

One of my favorite permaculture design teachers and systems-thinkers, Mike Hoag of Transformative Adventures, made a great post today about the power of aesthetics.

Mike writes:

“Looking at the world today it is still aesthetic sensibility which most shapes society. Why do people drive gas-guzzling SUVs? An aesthetic sensibility. Why do we own cars in the first place instead of just using public transportation? Aesthetic sensibility. Why do we live in ever-growing sprawling houses made of cheap energy-intensive materials that contribute to climate change? Aesthetic sensibility. Why do we buy a never ending stream of made-for-the-landfill corporate junk we don’t need? Aesthetic sensibility. Pollute the oceans with 7 layers of packaging on everything we buy? No reason other than appearances.”

Go here to see the full text of Mike’s post, as well as the excellent graphic that accompanies it. Mike’s graphic is adapted from one of my favorite books, Thinking in Systems: A Primer, by the late Donella Meadows (another of my alltime favorite systems-thinkers). Mike’s post reveals at a quick glance why so many of our social-change efforts fall short. And how we can be much, much more effective!

Further Reading:

• Thinking in Systems: A Primer, by Donella Meadows; Chelsea Green Publishing.

• Donella Meadows website (donellameadows.org) — a vast wealth of information. It was Ms. Meadows’ writings that introduced me to the invaluable concept of “leverage points”: places to intervene in a system for maximum effectiveness.

Climate change report from IPCC a “code red for humanity,” United Nations chief warns (Michael Slezak & Penny Timms; abc.net.au)

“Key points:

• Global warming would likely increase to 1.5C by about 2030, the IPCC report says, based on our current trajectory

• The effects of rising temperatures include rising sea levels, longer fire seasons and worse droughts

• In 2015, as part of the Paris Agreement, all governments had agreed to try to stop warming at 1.5C”

And UN Report on Climate Change Gives Warning (Doyle Rice, USA Today; published in Daytona Beach News-Journal Aug 10, 2021):

“Calling it ‘code red for humanity,’ the landmark report was released in Geneva by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

“Many of the changes seen in the world’s climate are unprecedented in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of years, and some of the changes already set in motion – such as a rise in sea levels – are irreversible over hundreds to thousands of years, according to the report.

“Wild weather events, such as storms and heat waves, are expected to worsen and become more frequent. …

“‘If this IPCC report doesn’t shock you into action, it should,’ said Helen Mountford of the World Resources Institute, a research nonprofit organization. ‘The report paints a very sobering picture of the unforgiving, unimaginable world we have in store if our addiction to burning fossil fuels and destroying forests continues. One of the most striking takeaways is that we may reach 1.5°C of warming a decade earlier than the IPCC had previously found.'”

According to Doyle in the article I quoted above, the International Panel on Climate Change report is 3,000 pages long and was prepared by 234 scientists.

Here is the page on IPCC’s website where you can view summaries and download the full report.

Dr. Jenny (Jenny Lloyd Strovas of NatureMattersAcademy.com) had a very interesting guest and topic on her “Nature Wednesdays” podcast yesterday: Jason Kolaczkowski talked about “Letting Nature Teach Us To Take Calculated Risks.”

Jason’s advice focused on helping kids (specifically, “gifted and talented” kids) to develop resilience by taking them outdoors and supporting them in taking calculated risks.

On this topic, Jason (an outdoor instructor and the father of twin 6-year-olds) writes:

“Resilience has been well documented as a key contributor to physical and emotional development, self-actualization, and even more traditional notions of success. Yet, gifted and talented children are uniquely at risk for under-developing resilience. Gifted and talented children are far more prone to be perfectionists and perfectionists are far more prone to avoid failure. This can manifest as task avoidance and fall into destructive feedback loops due to the positive reinforcement gifted and talented children receive in other, less challenging spheres of activity. Through his own upbringing, Jason had seen various gifted and talented children have widely divergent experiences, with he and some of his peers excelling academically and socially while others floundered until much later in life (or are still floundering). Jason chalks up a primary cause of the difference in outcomes to those who sought challenges and came to terms with failure and those who did not.”

Reading Jason’s words struck a deep chord in me (as did the title of the event itself — which is why I signed up). Some of my thoughts:

• This so describes me. Not just as a kid, but as an adult. “Task-avoidance.” I never heard it put that way before, but I don’t think there’s a better description of my tendency to hang back from my goals of writing books, and making art, and planting plants, and organizing good stuff in my community. I really have to prod myself to do these and other “active” things. My natural inclination is to sit around reading novels all the time. Or finding a cabinet to de-clutter, or a floor to sweep. Or (the professional version) reading yet another article or attending yet another webinar related to climate change, stormwater management, urban revitalization, etc. Of course it’s good to keep up with developments in one’s occupational sphere. As a sustainability educator, I do need to, well, educate myself about sustainability! And that is a never-ending thing. But there’s a point where I can feel myself erring on the side of just consuming knowledge and then sort of sitting on it, rather than going out in the world and applying it to help solve the problems I want to help solve. After my Mom passed, one of the things I inherited was all of my old report cards. A teacher back when I was 8 or 9 wrote something along the lines of, “It’s great that Jennifer likes to read stories so much. I would like to see her write more.” (Over the years, fortunately, I have built up a sort of “energizer and motivational toolkit” for myself, thanks to many great thinkers and teachers, most definitely including Nature herself. So I have made progress in this regard. I think I never could have come so far if my parents had not gotten me (and my siblings) out in nature from the time we were very little.)

• While under-developed resilience, and task-avoidance, may be more characteristic of kids labeled “gifted and talented” than of kids not thus labeled, I think any child can fall prey to these dangers. And any adult! Particularly in our affluent, risk-averse society.

• In fact, I feel that “under-developed resilience” and “task-avoidance” are widespread in our society (mainstream, modern, industrial-colonialist-consumerist society). We have a risk-averse, and in many ways not-very-resilient society. I suspect that those attributes are strongly correlated with our disconnect from nature.

• Could obsessively neat lawns, pressure-washed driveways, and other excessive neatness be a manifestation of task-avoidance? As in, by engaging in a constant whirlwind of fussbudget busywork, we get to avoid the harder, failure-prone work that really needs to get done (such as putting our creative heads together to solve deep problems in our communities and the world)?

• Given the well-documented reality that our society suffers from disconnect from nature (I would even go so far as to say is characterized by disconnect from nature), the obvious “medicine” for people of all ages is to get out in nature more and let nature teach us to take calculated risks.

• Many of us adults need schooling, unschooling, re-schooling. I talk a lot about “Mother Earth’s Homeschool Planet.” We need to get out and let ourselves make small, low-risk actions out in nature, and learn from our mistakes (be they in a city park, a wilderness park, or in our own yard). It’ll make us more resilient to face and deal with the consequences of our (collective) very large mistakes. And will better equip us to nurture resilience in our kids (grandkids, surrogate kids, etc. etc.).

One of my main takeaways from Jason’s talk is the idea of pursuing activities with no determinant end point or point of “mastery.” And activities you don’t know for sure you’ll succeed at, but that it’s realistic to attempt.

A mini hike can ramp up to a longer hike. An overnight camping trip could be next, and a multi-night camping trip at some point after that. Although his mileu of choice is mountains and technical climbing, Jason emphasizes that we can find and create challenges anywhere.

He also talks about how parents can customize adventures for kids of differing temperaments. For example, if one of your kids likes to sit back and observe and know as much as possible in advance before trying something new, and the other kid likes to jump right into new things, no problem — let the second kid jump right in while the first kid watches.

You can check out the podcast and other related content at the links below. I hope you enjoy Jason Kolaczkowski’s chat with Dr. Jenny, and that it inspires you to take your kids (and yourself) on a mini adventure that stretches you.

One simple example for me would be taking the plunge and planting more fruit trees or native plants in my yard. While I hate it when something I plant dies (as happens!), at least the consequence of my “failure” at this point would not be actual starvation in my household or community. And the knowledge and experience I gain will boost my household and community’s resilience, as well as my own personal inner resilience.

Another example would be learning some more of my local wild edible plants. I know a few, but there’s always more to learn! (Note: “Calculated risk” in this case does NOT mean randomly tasting plants I don’t know!! I always consult local plant experts to learn about wild edibles.)

What about you? What are some calculated risks in nature that you might take to boost your resilience?

Update Aug 9 — additional thoughts:

• What if at least some of our collective addiction to “adventure” games and other electronic entertainment, might actually reflect a deficiency of meaningful calculated risk-taking and growth in our lives?

• Same with our addictive behavior with drugs, alcohol, junk food, and other substances. They provide an accessible and (seemingly) “safe” high, and don’t require as much effort as going out into the world and taking calculated risks.

• And could it be that we know on some level that the canned entertainment and “easy highs” are just a pale consolation prize for meaningful adventure?

Further Exploration:

• Jason’s family has a YouTube channel, Short Guys Beta Works, “where subscribers and the public get a weekly dose of outdoors experiences and education to help us all ‘get more out of that big outside!'” And the Short Guys Beta Works Facebook page is here.

• To follow Dr. Jenny’s podcasts and other content, join her Facebook group Help Your Smart & Gifted Kid Regulate & Learn STEM (in Nature) – w/Dr. Jenny. There, you can check out her past shows, including yesterday’s excellent interview with Jason Kolaczkowski.

In my talk this past Sunday for the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of New Smyrna Beach (love love LOVE that bunch of people), I pointed out that one of the hardest things about pursuing a low-footprint life is having to continuously go against the mainstream social norms. Most of us, even those who are seemingly bold renegades, care what people think of us. Ridicule, contempt, being labeled “weird” or worse, are painful for most of us and we tend to try to avoid provoking those reactions. We are social animals.

Fortunately, mainstream culture isn’t the only culture. And there are some very strong cells of green subculture. Some people even find that they have a little pocket of green-minded folks right in their own neighborhood. Or, can help create such a pocket. Even a simple post on NextDoor, or an announcement in your neighborhood meeting, can bring out likeminded people. (Posts on NextDoor offering to share native or edible plants, or asking if others have any to share, are great for that.)

Another things that helps is to remind ourselves that the norms of our consumerist culture are far from universal. Many other cultures from around the world and throughout history (including our own culture at an earlier time) have strong norms of thrift and resource-awareness. We can look to them for inspiration.

On the subject of green subculture, I’ve gathered a short list of some of the top online groups that I consider to be part of the grassroots green mobilization. turn to for tips, inspiration, and moral support. There are many many more than I’ve listed here or mentioned on this blog, but these are the ones I rely on most.

• Riot for Austerity (90 Percent Reduction): The movement that inspired my book and this blog. Community of people setting out to reduce their footprint to 10% of the USA average. This Facebook group is small and not very active, but there’s good info there.

• Zero Waste, Zero Judgement: 35k members worldwide. Use the search feature to find tips on any subject you can possibly imagine, from finding a previously used diamond ring to how to do laundry in an eco-friendly way, to eco-conscious investing, to pushing back against single-use plastic at your workplace or your kid’s school, and much more.

• The Non-Consumer Advocate: 81k members worldwide; another great source of tips and the assurance that “you are not alone.”

• Deep Adaptation: Emotional and spiritual support for facing up to the reality of worldwide climate devastation and the possible imminent demise of human civilization. 13k members worldwide. People respond differently to the shock of facing this reality (there are some posts and comments of the “escape to my own personal bunker” variety), but overall I have found this group helpful in a very deep way.

• End Toxic Yards: Our landscaping practices are a huge, huge leverage point for cutting our carbon footprint and restoring ecosystems to health. (Not coincidentally, our landscaping choices can transform our yards from endless sources of drudge work to mini oases. And what we do in our yards ripples out into the community.) The admin of this group is a real gem who posts graphics and memes that are super readable and easy to share.

• NextDoor (www.nextdoor.com): App for communicating online with your neighbors. Depending on your neighborhood, there can be a lot of privileged, me-centric posts and comments here (“I’m tired of seeing all these homeless people”; “that car with the broken window is bringing down property values!” etc.), but there are also a lot of posts about sharing and helping. And you can always start a thread! I actually used NextDoor to start a stitching group at one point (speaking of threads).

I hope these groups will be useful and inspiring to you, and give you the knowingness that “You are not alone!” If you know any other groups that belong on this short list, drop me a line!

I also recommend starting a group in your town or city if you can. (I myself have not done this yet but would like to. I’ll call it something like “Zombie Apocalypse Support Group,” or “Climate Club.” Meet in person if possible; otherwise use Zoom or other meeting app. If you meet in person, do it outdoors, not only because of the pandemic’s resurgence but also because spending time outdoors is just a good idea in general.

Community is key; we have to maintain our mental and spiritual health to keep doing the work of cultural transformation.

On recognizing white privilege as a factor in one’s ability to choose a simple low-footprint life. And how we (fellow white people and I) can use our privilege for the good.

Back in 2017 when I wrote my book, I pointed to USA mainstream consumerist culture as the main factor in planetary ecosystem degradation and worldwide human suffering. In the years since, as I’ve been educated by the Black Lives Matter movement and anti-racist courses and writers/speakers, I’ve come to refer to the culture I was born into as the Anglo-Euro USA-merican culture; and more recently, the white colonialist USA-merican culture.

In a recent post on her Facebook page, anti-racism educator Ally Henny mentioned a Hollywood couple who had talked publicly (in some media interview) about their family’s bathing habits. From what I gather (without having heard the interview), their mode or frequency of bathing is something less than the USA-merican mainstream social norm of daily showers with full-body soap-and-water scrubbing.

In other words, it sounds to me like the Hollywood couple are bathing themselves and their baby in a manner that’s familiar to many of us “low-footprint” folk. Many of us in the 90 Percent Reduction (Riot for Austerity), Zero Waste, Degrowth, Deep Adaptation, and related communities/movements bathe or shower only every few days (some of us even less often in winter); many of us don’t use soap on our whole bodies, at least not all the time; many of us opt for sponge-baths a certain percentage of the time rather than always doing full-body baths.

Over the years, dermatologists, other doctors, and scientists have come out saying that a more “casual” approach is actually better for our skin and immune systems. So, in addition to being better for the environment and easing our utility bills, a more relaxed approach to bathing is actually better for our health.

As to the Hollywood couple’s reasons for their relaxed approach to bathing themselves and their baby, I don’t know. Could be health; could be environmental; could be something else.

But regardless of what their reasons might be, the point Ally Henny is making in her post is that because this couple is white, they have the freedom to go against the social norms without being penalized. For example, they probably don’t have to worry about having their kids taken away by Child Protective Services. A fear that Black parents, Native American parents, and other parents of color face day in and day out.

In addition to being white, I’m sure this couple gets extra slack for being rich and Hollywood-famous.

After all, many a white but not-rich-and-famous “hippie parent” I know has been ostracized (with varying degrees of subtlety or not-so-subtlety) regarding their alternative practices on everything from child-rearing to lawn maintenance or just even how they dress, and threatened with consequences by their neighborhood association, their child’s school, and other self-appointed guardians of mainstream “respectable” social norms. Sharon Astyk, who co-founded the Riot for Austerity, even wrote about this topic in one of her books. How to live and raise one’s family in an “alternative” way without drawing unwanted attention from “authorities.” (If I find a post or article, I’ll share the link here.)

Ally Henny’s post is not about Black parents getting in trouble for going against white colonialist culture norms. Rather, the point she’s trying to make is that here’s this white couple going against the norms and not having to worry about consequences (other than maybe getting made fun of on social media), while Black parents are constantly having to be on guard to avoid getting in trouble, maybe having their kids taken away from them, for anything that’s perceived (in the twisted mind of “the system”) as being wrong or indicating neglect.

My takeaways right now as a climate activist:

• No matter how much grief we white people might get for our “alternative/green” lifestyle choices, it pales in comparison with what Black people and other people of color face who are just minding their own business, not even trying to be “alternative.” Therefore, to the extent that we believe in our “low-footprint lifestyles” as having the power to shift our toxic cultural norms and cushion humanity from the worst impacts of climate change, we have to muster up more courage and push back harder against the norms. We have an obligation to current and future generations to use our white privilege to make the difference. (By the way, the various low-footprint lifestyle communities/movements have attracted Black people, Native Americans, and other people of color, but these communities/movements are very predominantly white, and this post is addressed to my fellow white people. We need to step it up and use our privilege to shift our toxic culture.)

• In addition to having an obligation to all current and future humans, we also have an obligation to Mother Earth and all her creatures to clean up the mess our ancestors started when they (sometimes deliberately; sometimes not knowing better) created a “culture” characterized by the bleaching-out of culture. All of us originally (ancestrally) came from countries where the ways of life were more sustainable and closer to nature, more entwined with the natural rhythms of life, and not coincidentally more spiritual, than what we ended up co-creating with industrialized colonialist USA-merican “culture.” We may not be able to fix this mess overnight but that’s no excuse not to make it a full-on priority.

Further Exploration:

Over the past 2-3 years, my understanding of the many facets of racism has grown considerably, and I owe this evolution in large part to two educators, both Black women.

• Ally Henny, allyhenny.com (Facebook posts; podcasts; Patreon)

• Nicole Cardoza, Anti-Racism Daily (daily email newsletter; podcasts)

• “Unpack stereotypes on cleanliness” (Nicole Cardoza, in the August 23, 2021 edition of Anti-Racism Daily). “Recently (and why, I do not know), a series of white celebrities shared their bathing habits with the press. Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, and Kristen Bell said they only bathe their kids when they smell bad (People). Jake Gyllenhall noted that he finds bathing “less necessary” (Vanity Fair). Commenters were quick to note that these sentiments were shared by white celebrities, and non-white stars like Jason Momoa, Dwayne Johnson and Cardi B were quick to express their love for frequent showers and baths. These conversations seemed harmless and amusing, but historically, the cultural conversation on cleanliness hasn’t been this casual. The notion of cleanliness has been wielded against immigrants, communities of color, and other marginalized groups to justify oppression and ostracization. Everyone is welcome to bathe however they choose, but not everyone has the privilege to talk about not bathing without the weight of racial implications. … Stereotypes of cleanliness fuel other forms of discrimination: antisemitism, anti-fatness, and discrimination against disabled people, the unhoused, and those with HIV/AIDS. These tropes center whiteness — specifically the whiteness of, wealthy, able-bodied, skinny, cisgender, heterosexual people — as the definition of purity and cleanliness. To dismantle racism we have to deconstruct this narrative.”

“Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” — Francis Chan

“It’s interesting how there is a message not to panic and break down in grief or terror or rage upon witnessing the galloping collapse of the climate system and its terrestrial effects of floods, heat waves, drought, wildfires and superstorms. This message to ‘hold it together’ comes from deep within ourselves, where the instinct toward survival resides, and from the greater society, which operates on the unthinking imperative to maintain its current trajectory. Personally, I’m going to endeavor not to pressure myself to squelch grief or terror or rage at what is occurring, unless it threatens me with total dysfunction. The stifling of extreme emotion upon witnessing horrors and idiocies is part of what landed us in the soup in the first place. …”

Beautiful post by Dan Hanrahan; read the rest here.