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When I wrote my book, back in 2017, and then started this blog in 2018, I considered my target audience to be “people in the industrial, wealthy, consumerist nations — mainly people in the USA, but also, for example, Australia and Canada.”

However, as time went by, it became clear to me that there was a more specific audience that was the rightful focus. I started calling it “Anglo Euro North American culture.”

Then I realized that my work rightfully has a core target audience in generational terms as well.

So I have started saying “Eco Boomers.” And more recently, “Woodstock Boomers,” to encapsulate what I mean by the core demographic. The tribe that I identify with, and the tribe that I am trying to encourage to pursue a simpler life, in order to help reset society.

And talking much outside my core demographic — particularly trying to tell younger people and people of color what they should do to fix problems that they have not caused — is outside my lane.

Boomer generation is the most resourced in history, and we have done a lot to trash the planet even long after we started waking up to what we were doing. So I feel like it’s on us to really be the change.

That said, everybody who cares about the planet is warmly and lovingly welcome and invited here. I am so happy you are here!And I hope you find my content useful! It’s just that I recognize I don’t have any business telling most of you what you should do.

Useful information for my fellow eco activists, particularly us “Woodstock Boomers,” who still engage in air travel. (I say “Woodstock Boomers” because that’s basically my core demographic “tribe” that I identify with. And talking much outside my core demographic — particularly trying to tell younger people and people of color what they should do to fix problems that they have by and large not caused– is outside my lane. Boomer generation is the most resourced in history, and we have done a lot to trash the planet even long after we started waking up to what we were doing. So I feel like it’s on us to really be the change.)

“Flight booking platforms are giving customers a new number to think about when they buy a plane ticket: the expected greenhouse gas emissions of their trip.
If you’ve searched for plane tickets on Google Flights in the past two years, you’ve probably seen a little green number that compares each route’s climate impact. Google began predicting flight emissions in 2021, using data about flight schedules, airplane models and how full a flight is expected to be to come up with an estimate for each passenger’s carbon footprint.”

(“How you should think about those Google Flights pollution numbers”; Washington Post; https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/03/15/google-flight-emissions-estimate/ )

Also: Another tool for people who fly is carbon offsets. Basically you pay a bit extra and the money goes toward mitigating the footprint of your flight. Examples include treeplanting projects.

Carbon offsets aren’t perfect, but it’s a start. When I quit flying some years back, I additionally purchased carbon offsets to retroactively offset every flight I could remember taking in my adult life. (Most of them for work but some of them were purely recreational.)

If you want to learn more about carbon offsets and how you can use them to help mitigate the impact of your flights and any other travel as well – I’ve used them for Amtrak trips too — check out this website:

https://www.goldstandard.org

Gold Standard is the choice of the most dedicated climate activist I know, when they have felt they needed to fly for work or some family emergency etc. (A lot of us have subsequently quit flying altogether. But in the meantime, carbon offsets offer some mitigation.)

Purchasing carbon offsets only adds a few dollars to the ticket price, and if we can afford to travel we can afford to purchase carbon offsets.

Still, as the Washington Post article points out:

“But you should take this carbon price with a grain of salt. It’s hard to put a dollar figure on climate damage, and economists disagree on the final number. To come up with an estimate, scientists model how much each additional ton of CO2 will heat the earth and contribute to sea level rise, droughts, wildfires and other calamities. Then economists determine how much those disasters will cost in terms of property damage, crop failures, hospital visits and so on.
“There are many, many links on this chain, and there’s a lot of uncertainty at each link …'”

There’s a lot of nonsense floating around out there, and given the volume of information-sharing made possible by the Internet, the quantity of nonsense may be larger than at any time before in history.

And unfortunately, at the same time, our “modern” society has killed peoples’ BS filter by deprecating the arts and humanities. A study of arts, history, anthropology makes a great BS filter but a lot of people have not had that opportunity.

Ditto for learning pattern literacy. Modern industrial societies don’t encourage pattern literacy; I would even say they actually DIScourage it. A quick mini reboot can be had by taking a permaculture design course with the full original curriculum, but it’s not a complete fix.

Interestingly, something that for me has turned out to be a great way to cultivate a BS filter has been reading a lot of fiction. What it basically does is imparts generational knowledge in the form of story. That’s how generations have always shared knowledge in the past — via family stories handed down. And other peoples’ written stories can serve as a most excellent supplement — or as a somewhat serviceable stand-in, if you don’t have the good fortune to be connected with your generational stories. And books offer us the bonus of hearing voices from many different cultures and across many millennia.

I tried and true way of developing a BS filter is to listen to your own heart and body. Although, our so-called modern culture (which is actually very brutish and primitive in many ways) actively discourages us from doing that, and there are many impediments. And if one has spent a lifetime avoiding that, one’s first forays can bring surprises and even pain. We can ramp up to it by taking walks, doing some kind of meditative thing like sewing, or just sitting quietly in a room where we feel safe and comfortable. If there’s no whole room where you feel safe and comfortable, you can start to cultivate a portable pocket that goes with you wherever you are.

In some of my posts, and in my book, I adopt a light humorous tone. I do it in order to increase the receptivity of us “first worlders” — in particular my core audience of fellow “Woodstock Boomers” — to the project of radically curtailing our consumption, voluntarily.

I talk about “prepper home ec”; “doomer style files”; being a “doomer boomer”; hosting the “Zombie Apocalypse watch party.”

Humor can be very helpful. But too much of it can backfire. I recommend carefully curating one’s intake of humorous material, fun creative “deep-green lifestyle” content, and scary news. Adjust on the fly according to your ability and willingness to confront the situation.

I also recommend regularly just walking outside (to the degree that you feel safe doing so) and being in your body, and checking in with how you’re feeling both physically and emotionally.

If you don’t feel safe walking outside in the public space, create a little nook in your indoor space. Ideally with some connection to outdoors, even if it’s just some rays of sunshine, moonlight, a bit of sky. If you are able to open a window, all the better. Even in very dense urban areas, nature makes herself known. Tune in to birdsong, the sound of wind, the music of rain.

The fact is, things are really serious. It’s not funny at all what a lot of people around the world are experiencing. Particularly in less-developed countries. The countries where the people have made little or no contribution to climate change, but are suffering the worst of its effects.

As David Gelles reported in the New York Times “Climate Forward” email newsletter yesterday:

“This week, the heat index in Rio de Janeiro reached 144 degrees Fahrenheit, or 62 Celsius, the highest ever measured in the city. The national government issued health warnings because of extreme heat in multiple cities.

“In South Sudan, temperatures were forecast to reach 113 degrees Fahrenheit, far above the 90-degree highs typical of the dry season from December to March, as my colleague Abdi Latif Dahir reported.

“In Bengaluru, India, water supplies are running low, and last month Ghana and Nigeria issued heat warnings to the public.

“We don’t yet know whether all these events were caused or worsened by climate change. But we do know that human-caused global warming was behind many of the extreme heat events that helped make last year the hottest on record. A recent study also concluded that climate change made the extreme heat West Africa experienced in February 10 times as likely …”

Voluntarily curtailing one’s consumption is not easy at times. Particularly if you live in a place where you pretty much have access to everything money can buy, as we do here in the USA. It takes self-discipline, and it takes a powerful “WHY.” Reading about the seriousness of the situation is a good way to remind ourselves of why we are embarking on this path of radical reduction.

They’re baaaaaaack!! Cat Food “CAN”-dles.
One of my friends in the neighborhood likes to feed a couple of stray cats, and the cat food tins are a good size and shape for candles.

It’s a fun size, and it helps address the issue about recycling. A lot of material doesn’t necessarily get recycled, although cans probably get recycled more than plastic does. It’s always preferable, if one is not able to avoid acquiring disposable containers in the first place, to reuse them.

And In a manner of speaking, one might consider this actually an UP-cycle, since the empty cans can be used over and over again for candles.

To make the candles, I just take bits and pieces of old candles that are burned down, the wicks are trashed so the candles won’t burn anymore etc. and I melt the wax in the solar oven.

I make wicks out of thin strips of old T-shirt material. It’s been working pretty well.

See pics here on my deep green Facebook page.

#PrepperHomeEc #DoomerStyleFiles

Several fellow activists and I have set out to research what our city governments have in place, as far as plans for ensuring availability of 72 hours of potable water for every citizen after a disaster.

So far, we have not been able to find confirmation that any of our local governments has such a plan in place.

A person can only survive without water for 72 hours or less. So it’s important to ensure that there is not disruption in the drinking-water supply. In the wake of a disaster, it very well may not be feasible to bring water in from outside.

Every household can and should have a backup plan in place, but not everyone has the means to do so, at least not easily. In my preferred ways are to keep on hand several days’ worth of drinkable rainwater (in barrels, outside the house), plus several days’ worth of drinkable tapwater (in jugs, inside the house), for each household member. It’s really pretty easy, and doesn’t take up that much space.

On a related note, I recently read that in Tokyo (a city where I lived for five years back in the 90s, and really learned a lot), the municipal govt has set up “disaster parks” in various districts. Residents of each district can gather in the event of disaster and get potable water (stored in underground tanks), cook, charge their phones etc.

The park benches convert into cooking surfaces.

At times of non-disaster, it’s just a pleasant park where people can spend time.

A key component, in my opinion, is that these parks are on a district scale. Not hyper-centralized. It fosters a “district consciousness,” which is very helpful in building the human connection and sense of responsibility/ownership, without which “hard infrastructure” can only go so far.

Here’s the article: https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/tokyo-refuge-parks-survive-earthquakes-fires

“In Tokyo’s “Disaster Parks” Residents Play on Good Days and Cheat Death on Bad Ones

“The parks have buried food, solar chargers and benches that turn into cook stoves.”

CAMERON ALLAN MCKEAN | RESILIENT CITIES   AUGUST 14, 2014

(From NextCity, one of my favorite sources of inspiration for building anti-fragility into our communities.)

Oh no! I left the solar oven running by mistake! And now …

… Just kidding. And now, absolutely nothing is wrong!

1) Solar oven doesn’t “run”; It’s not plugged in, it’s just ON when you open up the reflectors and position the box to the sun angle.

2) The solar oven cannot catch fire. The temperatures are not high enough to cause combustion, only high enough to slow-cook food.

3) Furthermore, the solar oven is used outdoors. So it doesn’t even heat up the kitchen if you leave it “on” by mistake.

4) The worst thing that’s ever happened when I left the solar oven “on” by mistake, is that nighttime came, and people walking by were confused. They were wondering if I was cooking by the rays of the moon etc. and I had to disappoint them. Nope, it’s just a solar oven, not a lunar oven. But that’s good enough, because there’s plenty of free solar energy available during the daytime! Even in northern latitudes in winter, people can usually use a solar oven for at least a couple hours a day.

PS. There are solar cooking devices that can cause combustion, and cannot be left unattended. If you’re curious, petition the google deities to check out solar parabola, parabolic cooker, etc. Those are great too, but you can’t leave them unattended. Also, with some models, you might have to wear Kevlar mitts!

#UrbanPrepperHomeEc #ZombieApocalypseWatchParty #DoomerBoomer

See this post with photo here on my Facebook page.