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“The beauty of being lost is the same thing that makes it scary — we must look within ourselves to find the way.” — DailyOM – good read!

I wrote this post on NextDoor the other day in response to the annual panic about our prolific Florida grasshoppers known as “lubbers,” which start getting really plentiful every year at this time. But you could as well adapt this thinking to any maligned insect or other critter that lives in your bioregion.

Well, it’s that time of year again … the time when the Lubber grasshoppers start springing forth in their large numbers! Every year, NextDoor and Facebook are full of panicky posts from people who have just moved to Florida, are seeing these critters with their voracious and wide-ranging eating habits, and are worried that the bugs won’t leave a single leaf uneaten!

For those of us who prefer a non-chemical and/or nonviolent approach to nurturing our yards, the typical mainstream advice given in response can be alarming. “Kill kill kill, squash em, spray em” type of thing.

What are some things that have worked for you? What advice have you given people?

Here are some things I’ve learned and done, and I try to put the word out (but if a person is new to Florida, never seen these creatures, and are now watching their yard get demolished, it can be hard to listen).

• I read that Lubbers are a Florida native. So I decided not to kill them.
• My first year in my house, the lubbers did eat a lot of plants down to bones.
• But, most of the plants grew back.
• Also, my native plants don’t seem to get attacked to anywhere near the same degree as the nonnatives. They still get chewed, but not as much.
• Also, I have heard that the lubbers make a good bait for fishing.* (Someone who’s an avid fisherman told me that the other day, that he has had great success with them as bait.)

Anyone else got any advice about coexisting peacefully with these prolific and ravenous yard-babies? Or dealing with them in a non-chemical manner?

*Another person pointed out that using the lubbers as fishing-bait isn’t nonviolent. I said that’s true, but that instead of killing the bugs for no reason, the guy was using them to catch his dinner so I thought that was OK.

(Postscript: After I made my post on NextDoor (and later, on Facebook), I was afraid that all the “kill kill kill spray spray spray” people were going to pile all over me. But instead, a lot of people who take a “live & let live” approach chimed in. Takeaway: When we speak up on behalf of nature, we empower others who are similarly minded to speak up also. And suddenly the mainstream voices don’t feel like such an overwhelming majority.)

Part 2: In response to my comment, a person on NextDoor asked, “Do you have this same ‘let the poor creatures live’ philosophy with all? Rats, mice, no-see-ums, mosquitoes, roaches and fleas.”

My response to him:

In general, I do my best not to kill stuff. Obviously we all kill things in order to feed ourselves. (Especially omnivores, which I am.) Also, we are all probably constantly stepping on bugs or other critters without intending to. It is what it is.

If rats are outside, I think of them as food for owls, eagles, snakes, etc. Everything is food for something.

If a flea or mosquito gets into my house (which once in a while one does), and bites me (which is how I find out it is in the house), I don’t feel too guilty about killing it. Especially fleas, because I don’t want them multiplying inside my house. (Mosquitoes don’t really have a good way to multiply in my house because I’m careful to not let water sit around.)

Outdoors, they are food for dragonflies, lizards, etc.

I react pretty badly to flea bites and mosquito bites (noseeums also), but I have learned the major ways to avoid getting bitten and I try to follow those. Long-sleeved light-colored clothes when sitting outdoors at dusk etc.

I do my best to manage the ecosystem of my yard so things stay in balance. In general, critters very very rarely get into my house. Their food is outdoors, and my house is pretty tight against critters who’d want to come in.

Palmetto bugs: they get in my house once in a while. My preferred approach is to catch them in a jar and put them outside. Not just because I care about creatures, but also because I would rather take a bug outside than squash it in my house and have a giant mess to clean up.

Rats, I understand that if people get a rat problem, they might need to call an exterminator. Same with bedbugs, termites — I’m not judging people if they need to take action when a creature we think of as a “pest” gets out of hand and it might be dangerous.

One time, a rat got into my house. It was pretty little when it first got in. I tried for months to catch it and put it outside. I was afraid it might attract a mate and then they’d have babies in my house etc. I ended up putting out poison and that killed it. I felt awful. If that happens again I will try to find a better solution. Worst-case scenario, the poisoned rat while still alive could have gotten outside, where an owl or something could have been poisoned by eating it.

Pardon this longwinded reply but I sense that your question was sincere and not just “baiting” me. (Fishing pun unintended – I see your fisherman slogan there 🙂 ).

BTW speaking of fish, once I learned that many of the chemicals we spray find their way into rivers, ocean, and other bodies of water, I became even more committed to avoiding chemicals to the best of my ability.

BTW i do not think of any creatures as “poor creatures.” I have respect for all of God’s creatures, even the ones I prefer not to have in my house!! In my field, permaculture design, one of the first things we learn is that every single living thing plays a role in ecosystem health.

Yeah, the shaming of the worker classes is getting really old. “Lazy slackers!! Get back to work churning out mass quantities of goods and services to serve ‘the economy’!”

I know I’ve written about this topic often, but I can’t overemphasize how central it is to creating a sustainable society. For people and for the rest of the planet.

I personally hope the labor crunch ushers in an age of worker autonomy, and creative & occupational freedom. Decent pay is one element. But there are many other elements as well. Reasonable breaks during shift; ample time-accommodation for parents to take care of their kids without fearing loss of job; human schedule (a happy medium between zero hours and 60; reasonable notice of upcoming schedule, etc.) — that kind of thing. Nutshell: Treat employees as valued human beings, not machinery.

I respect the establishments that have reduced their hours to avoid overworking their existing staff. Everyone needs a break — including management too.

Here is my wish for everyone in the work force, whether currently employed, unable to find work, or not choosing to work at the moment. A note in advance: When I say “scrubbing floors,” etc., just so it’s clear, I believe that any form of work can be decent and honorable. I have done all kinds of work, from scrubbing floors and toilets to shoveling manure to hauling people around on a bicycle-taxi, to working a cash register to repairing clothes, and many other types of work, and have found dignity and joy and satisfaction in work of all kinds. This isn’t an anti-work speech; it’s a pro-worker speech.

If you’re a parent, may you find a way to stay home fulltime with your kids, if that’s what you want. May you find a way to only have to scrub floors or serve burgers or sling espresso two or three days a week, or one — or none!

Here is my wish for all of us, working people. May the stimulus payments, eviction embargoes, employer desperation, and other manifestations of the “pandemic slack-pocket” give you room to breathe, think, take stock.

May you, if you so desire, find an apprenticeship, classes, or other upward path to a trade that commands respect and allows you to write your own ticket.

If you’re an artist or writer or musician, may you find that you actually can pay your bills this way, and only have to mow lawns or clean houses two or three days a week, or one day a week — or not at all!

If you’re a restaurant worker, may you realize you can easily start your own micro kitchen, alone or with friends, and get by financially while having more say over your own time.

If you’re a metaphysical type, a philosopher, a meditator — may you find a way to spend most of your days channeling your mind in this way, and only have to drive Uber or deliver food or work in a warehouse a couple days a week — or none!

If you’re a writer or other creator, may you find a way to make the Patreon model work for you!

If you’re a landscaper or renovation contractor or painter, may you tap into better-paying clients so you don’t have to run yourself ragged.

If you’re an activist, may you find the leeway to spend as much time as you like engaged in your good work, freed of the necessity to spend most of your waking hours just working to make ends meet.

If there’s a business “pipe dream” you have, may you find the courage and wherewithal to make it a reality.

Whatever your chosen occupation is, may you find freedom and dignity in it. May you never have to put up with ridiculous nonsense like not even getting a 15-minute break on a 10-hour shift. Or being forced to risk your life during a pandemic because some politician labeled your industry an “essential” category.

May you find creative and occupational freedom. May you find your ideal right livelihood. Every occupation is needed in the world, just as every plant and animal has its place in the ecosystem.

On a related note: Some years back, I knew a couple who retired from a large rat-race metropolitan area to a more rural area. One thing they noticed about their new rural life, to their dismay, was that it was hard to get painters, renovators, or other contractors to come do work on their house during the prime hunting and fishing seasons.

I sympathized with my friends’ plight, but could easily see the other side of things.

1) When people can feed themselves without having to go out and hustle for money, they can afford to say no to work. Or they can afford to schedule work according to their own timetable.

2) When people’s cost of living is lower, they can afford to take more time to savor the things that they find meaningful.

Those “hard-to-get” contractors knew what time it was — literally!

I’ve said it about a bajillion times on this blog and will probably say it about a bajillion times more, because it’s so true: Cutting your overhead, to the extent that you are able, is the best way to gain occupational freedom and creative autonomy, not to mention peace of mind.

When you do it voluntarily and deliberately, with a higher goal or purpose in mind, cutting your living costs isn’t deprivation; it’s flat-out wealth creation. Most of us depend to a degree on government, employers/clients, landlords, corporations, centralized systems. But to the extent we can minimize that dependence, we create our own freedom and wealth.

Further Reading:

• “Between concerns around health risks and wages, many restaurant workers have used the pandemic as a chance to catch their breath and reevaluate their career paths. Others have used increased unemployment pay as a launch pad to create their own businesses. And some are just plain done with being political punching bags for angry customers.” (“Long hours, health risks and ‘ghost applicants’ lead to desperate staffing situations at Michigan restaurants”; Lindsay Moore, MLive.com)

• “I spent a day talking to servers and bartenders about the times that customers had asked them to remove their masks: The way the request was delivered as a flirt but landed as a threat. The fact that male customers might not realize how much power their demands had over the livelihoods of their female waitstaff — or worse, that they might be fully aware.” (“‘Take off your mask’: Boorish customers have found a way to make sexual harassment even more of a hazard”; Monica Hesse, washingtonpost.com)

The great thing about your move (though you will be missed) is that the place you are moving to is a place that’s abundant in transportation options such as rail, bicycle, bus, and even foot. You will draw many many visitors even just from within the UK, and also surely from neighboring countries, since it’s pretty easy and sustainable to travel from country to country over there.

Internet or no internet, whatever channels you use or don’t use, I know you will continue to be highly successful in your mission of sharing great information/inspiration and making the world a better place.

Also: Videos or virtual events are a great way to multiply your reach, get your valuable info out there to people who need it — while minimizing high-footprint longdistance travel. YouTube or any other vid channel can be great. AND, it need not involve fancy software or big computers or professional video equipment etc.

In fact, I find the more bare-bones, intimate sort of videos a lot more appealing. Not so many layers of glitter and technology between the teacher and me. But then I’ve always favored sort of a punk aesthetic and mentality.

“We’re not reaching any new people. We’re just preaching to the choir.”

It’s a familiar lament for most of us. In recent years, though, I’ve started to have a different take on “preaching to the choir.” In fact, I’ve made it my specialty!

What I have realized is that sometimes the choir needs preaching to. Going against mainstream social norms, and exercising voluntary self-restraint, to do the right thing can be exhausting and demoralizing. This blog, and my book, therefore exist to support people who are setting out to minimize their eco footprint.

It occurred to me that people fall into three broad categories, in terms of attitude toward eco action.

One category is people who don’t care all that much about the environment; don’t want to think about it.

Another is people who care but don’t know what to do.

And the third is people who care, and have information about what to do, but need moral support to persevere when the going gets tough.

The going gets tough for two main reasons. One, exercising voluntary self-restraint can take a lot of energy and willpower. (Even just avoiding straws and plastic bags takes a serious amount of effort, when the default is that they are handed out to you.) Two, eco habits can elicit scorn or other unpleasant reactions from the people around us. No one wants to be an approval-whore, but we are social creatures after all. Most of us aren’t Joan of Arc or Greta Thunberg.

My book and this blog are aimed at people in groups 2 and 3. But wait, isn’t that only a minority of the population? Perhaps (or perhaps not — maybe these days we are actually in the majority)! But regardless, I feel it’s most effective to concentrate my efforts on people who are interested in making a difference. I’d rather not squander my finite energy engaging in endless exhausting debates, or trying to convert anyone.

I don’t debate with anyone about climate change, by the way. Or about the power and necessity of personal action in addition to government- and corporate-level shifts. I save my breath, and focus on supporting the people who are on board with climate reality and who love the idea of a grassroots green mobilization.

Here’s my suggested approach for addressing people in each of the three categories:

• Don’t care/don’t want to think: In real life–Ignore; leave alone. (Unless what they are doing is affecting me; then I say something.) On social media–Share other people’s posts that show gorgeous photos of springs, forests, and other natural wonders; butterflies, adorable fawns, yadda yadda. Some of these images might awaken a “don’t care/don’t wanna think” person to care and think. Also, I notice that many people who had once been in this category start getting motivated to care about the environment once they have children. Or grandchildren, or pets.

• Care but don’t know what to do: Provide these folks with relevant information by turning them on to books, articles, tip-sharing groups. Answer questions; give talks; share informational posts; promote webinars.

• Care, and know what to do, but need moral support: Turn these folks on to large, active, effective groups and movements that will help them know they are not alone. Provide moral support via my book, this blog, my public talks, workshops, consultations, and just plain everyday conversations.

Now, here’s a kicker: I have been in all of these categories! And possibly many of you have too.

I have been all of these categories not only over the course of my life, but also now, still — in the course of a single day!

Category 1: Like, when I want an ice-cream sundae, I really don’t want to think about the fact that the ice cream and other ingredients probably came to me via factory farms, underpaid workers, etc. And when I want a bag of chips, I just don’t want to think or care too much about the awful noncompostable packaging. Or back when I was flying a lot, and taking longdistance solo driving trips, I was in denial about the carbon footprint.

Category 2: I am always open to new information. For example, learning about carbon offsets gave me a way to mitigate my travel footprint (though I now still choose to minimize longdistance travel). And when I find out about a place where I can buy treats in bulk, I go there. And if any store around me starts selling vegan ice cream, I’d be eager to try it. Certainly, yummy vegan food in general has made me more committed to increasing my percentage of vegan meals. I also buy eggs only from small local farmers now.

Category 3: Yes, I am still too prone to feeling shamed for being “weird” and “eccentric”; “that girl who rides a bicycle”; etc. My best cure for this is to belong to many large groups such as permaculture networks, zero-waste groups, etc., which range from regional to international. I’m not some weird freak who rebelliously insists on getting around by bicycle and foot; I’m one of millions of people worldwide who do it every day.

Probably some examples of all of the above categories come to mind from your own life. And, as my examples illustrate, you can serve as a guide, motivational coach, and emotional support for yourself as well as for other people.

Fellow self-appointed guardians of our sweet blue-green planet; fellow foot-soldiers in the grassroots green mobilization, thanks for taking on this work. I salute you. And I am always here for you!

“We can’t get workers.”

“No one wants to work anymore.”

“People are being lazy.”

Nahhh. I don’t think people are being lazy. I think they’re finally allowing themselves to breathe. And the combination of unemployment benefits and stimulus checks have given them the leverage to say no to unattractive working conditions that don’t allow them to live a real life.

I can attest to the joy of finding this economic leverage. I discovered it by accident back when I first started my ultralow-footprint lifestyle journey. In the course of cutting my footprint I gained a high level of financial autonomy and occupational freedom. Now millions of other people are getting a taste of this autonomy and freedom. And I’m cheering them on.

This morning my social-media feed served up a couple of good reads that bust the “laziness” narrative:

“Something strange is happening to the exhausted, type-A millennial workers of America. After a year spent hunched over their MacBooks, enduring back-to-back Zooms in between sourdough loaves and Peloton rides, they are flipping the carefully arranged chessboards of their lives and deciding to risk it all.

“Some are abandoning cushy and stable jobs to start a new business, turn a side hustle into a full-time gig or finally work on that screenplay. Others are scoffing at their bosses’ return-to-office mandates and threatening to quit unless they’re allowed to work wherever and whenever they want.

“They are emboldened by rising vaccination rates and a recovering job market. Their bank accounts, fattened by a year of stay-at-home savings and soaring asset prices, have increased their risk appetites. And while some of them are just changing jobs, others are stepping off the career treadmill altogether.

(“Welcome to the YOLO Economy”; Kevin Roose in New York Times.)

And this:

“Some of these unfillable jobs are in places without affordable housing — or, like Missoula, where cost of living has continued to rise over the course of the pandemic. Others are seasonal and/or tourist-adjacent. Many are at restaurants, particularly fast-food. Some are at retail stores with unpredictable scheduling. What goes unsaid in many of these stories is the fact that the jobs are shit jobs, whether because of the unsustainability of the pay, the Covid exposure, or the shit treatment they’ll receive from tourists.

“Stick with me here, but what if people weren’t lazy — and instead, for the first time in a long time, were able to say no to exploitative working conditions and poverty-level wages? And what if business owners are scandalized, dismayed, frustrated, or bewildered by this scenario because their pre-pandemic business models were predicated on a steady stream of non-unionized labor with no other options? It’s not the labor force that’s breaking. It’s the economic model. …

“I’m exhausted by all of these restaurants wondering why they can’t find workers — and I’m also exhausted by all of these corporations wondering why they can’t retain parents (and mothers in particular), why they can’t recruit (or retain) BIPOC workers with policies that stipulate that they have to live in Seattle or Portland, why their barely-paid internship program is so enduringly white, why their workers keep trying to unionize, why their invocations to ‘take some time if you need it’ have been insufficient, why initial spikes of pandemic productivity has plateaued or declined.

“In truth, this isn’t the YOLO Economy so much as the ‘Capitalism is Broken’ Economy …”

(“The ‘Capitalism Is Broken’ Economy”; Anne Helen Petersen, substack.com)

Recently I wrote this post expressing my hopes that we are entering a “seller’s market” for labor. Looks like that’s happening.

So apparently I’m not the only one who’s feeling a bit blah, a bit lacking in “oomph” at times these past few weeks. And apparently there’s an actual term for it: languishing. (My friends back in Texas would just say, “I’ve got a hitch in my git-along.”)

According to this article by Adam Grant in the New York Times:

“At first, I didn’t recognize the symptoms that we all had in common. Friends mentioned that they were having trouble concentrating. Colleagues reported that even with vaccines on the horizon, they weren’t excited about 2021. A family member was staying up late to watch ‘National Treasure’ again even though she knows the movie by heart. And instead of bouncing out of bed at 6 a.m., I was lying there until 7, playing Words with Friends. It wasn’t burnout — we still had energy. It wasn’t depression — we didn’t feel hopeless. We just felt somewhat joyless and aimless. It turns out there’s a name for that: languishing. Languishing is a sense of stagnation and emptiness. It feels as if you’re muddling through your days, looking at your life through a foggy windshield. And it might be the dominant emotion of 2021.”

I can relate to this “languishing” state, and I see an additional dimension of it. At least for myself, and maybe for other eco/social activists too.

Early in the pandemic, things felt scary, but at the same time there was more of a widespread shared sense of reality across the general populace than there is now. We’re all in this together; we all need to stay home for the greater good (and because it’s been legally mandated), etc.

During this phase many of us discovered silver linings, both personally and planetarily. I remember feeling quite inspired and energized. Seeing how quickly and beautifully the planet’s air and water and wildlife responded to curtailed travel by humans. Seeing how people rediscovered, or discovered for the first time, the joy of spending long stretches of time in their own homes and neighborhoods. Etc etc.

Seeing how my own life improved as so many conferences and classes and civic meetings went online, turning my world into an activist/education bonanza free of transportation hassle and footprint.

But now, consensus and compliance are fraying. Part of the population seems to be living in another world. Those folks are hopping on planes, going to bars, all excited about “getting back to normal.”

And meanwhile I (and maybe some of you) feel like … “Meh” about a lot of what passes for normal.

Theme parks reopening, woohoooo!!
Kids getting back to the public consumerist indoctrination boxes called “schools” — woohooo!! Battle of the bands, 169 bands on 13 stages, yeeeehawwwww!!!

And I’m over here — Meh.

And then there’s the introvert-shaming. I’ve seen articles where psychologists are diagnosing all sorts of morbid syndromes just because not everyone wants to be all out in the world, hugging everyone etc. Some of us introverts found our piece of truth and paradise and maybe we’re SMART to not want to give it up so easily.

Then there is the labor-shaming. How dare these workers not want to go back to their shitty jobs churning out goods & services for the overlord classes! How could they possibly prefer to just collect $300 a week (literally 275 here in Florida) and stay home, than to get their butts back to work???

(BTW I am struggling to muster the will even to write this … just another example of what languishing looks like for me.)

The tension/pressure for “return to normalcy” can be quite demoralizing and languish-inducing.

So can the lack of solidarity and consensus regarding simple things like CDC guidelines, and the willingness to sacrifice for the greater good.

Just my take, I’m curious to see how others feel. I mean, overall I’m still basically doing well — just in sort of a phlegmatic, slow-mo kinda way. Like I’m moving through the gravity of Jupiter.

That said, I have found ways to move through the “Meh’s” and get on with my day, without going all drill-sergeant on myself. And even recover a spark of energy and aliveness through simple mundane actions. In case others might find it helpful, I wrote a post “Just … Start!”