blog

It recently came to my attention that a group of people in my wider circle of acquaintances somehow have gotten the impression that I do not work. Maybe they thought I was retired? But I am too young to retire even if I wanted to (which I do not, ever). And far too old to have a sugar daddy, ha ha.

Accordingly, I have taken the opportunity to set forth a written description of my occupation. Here is my “occupational umbrella” and the types of work that it includes:

My job description: Sustainability educator, self-employed (yes, this is what I write on my tax forms)

Types of work that I do under this “green occupational umbrella”:

• Writing (books, blog)
• Social-media marketing
• Speaking (informational and motivational)
• Teaching/co-teaching workshops
• Visual art
• Home organizing, decluttering, & downsizing services
• Eldercare / end-of-life doula services (CEOLD in training)
• Eco landscaping services (problem-solving, design, installation, maintenance)

The people who didn’t think I was working said something to the effect that they “had heard I was working at one point.” It turned out that they were thinking of my side-job as a pedicabber (2013-2015). Or my later side-job working in a sewing shop (2016-2017).

Apparently, in the eyes of some people, just being self-employed does not qualify as working. One person actually said, “Well, it seems like you spend a lot of time doing things that aren’t work.”

Now understand these are people in my wider circles, who rarely see me to know what my days are like, so … I wasn’t sure what she meant.

Maybe that person was referring to the fact that I spend a lot of time doing activism in my community. But this is normal behavior for a small business, especially one that is very deeply tied to their community.

The people who were thinking that I don’t work are older than me by about 15-20 years or more, and retired. And back when they were working, they inhabited the higher echelons of management, formal educational system, and other rarefied strata.

In other words, retired people who, back when they were working, had the kind of jobs that included health insurance, pensions, certain set hours, and so on. To a lot of them, being self-employed might not seem like really working.

Also, if a person’s work is just the things that person would want to be doing anyway if they weren’t working, I guess that could give the perception that the person is not really working.

Maybe if people seem too happy, they must not be working. (That says a lot about how badly some jobs in our society suck.)

I hope this post is helpful to any of you who may be facing similar lack of occupational understanding from people in your circles!

PS. I want to express my appreciation to all my friends and family members who are so supportive of my work, and who understand that, yes, I DO legitimately work!

PPS. Yes, WRITING AND MAKING ART IS WORK too! If you don’t believe me, try writing a book or making a painting and selling it sometime. <laugh-cry emoji>

Small success of the morning:

An unhoused friend/neighbor had put their tent by the trash cans because obviously the elastic had come out of one of the sets of pole-segments in the storm, rendering the tent useless.

Friend usually sets up tent right at 7 AM, which is the time after which local gendarmerie does not bother people for setting up tents on the beach. It was getting on toward 8 AM.

Friend was asleep in their folding chair a few meters away and I did not want to bother them so I just quietly experimented w the setup.

The elastic was nowhere in sight, so I walked the couple blocks home and brought some fresh elastic. (Have a large stockpile of elastic; part of my inheritance of three generations’ worth of sewing/needlework supplies from the women in my family.)

But alas, the poles though hollow are so skinny that even the improvised long wire needle I made to thread the elastic through would not fit into the skinny poles.

However, the tent itself was still totally fine and I was hoping would not have to be thrown away.

Fortunately one of the two sets of pole-segments had its elastic intact, so I used that to put the tent halfway up like a semi circle.

And then I found a super skinny bamboo segment from the stockpile of bamboo cuttings at my house to serve as a flexible segment of pole. (The bamboo poles I gathered from a fancy riverfront mansion’s curbside “trash”; am using the various-sized poles to make shade trellis structures in my yard. My yard serves as a “3-D business card” for my eco landscaping business.)

It’s not gorgeous, but it’ll do. On second thought … maybe it IS gorgeous because the tent didn’t have to be thrown away and is therefore still available to shelter my friend from rain and sun.

Friend was still asleep in chair at the time I finished repair. Friend may wake up and decide they still don’t want the tent for whatever reason, but at least now they will have an option for keeping it.

PS. The little repair project was FUN!! I think sometimes we forget how rewarding it is to do little repairs instead of tossing & buying new.*

Also, I have this belief that even inanimate objects such as tools and supplies possess some kind of spirit or feeling, such that they feel sad to go through their whole lives without being used, and feel joy when they finally get to be in service.

(*Or in my friend’s case it probably wouldn’t have been buying new, but *receiving* new from the donation stream, which comes with its own pitfalls. Anyway my friend has had this tent for a super long time, knows and likes it, so I wanted to offer an option for keeping it.)

# landfilldiversion #improvisation #solidarity #coliberation #housing #houselessness #Florida #permacultureactivism #DegrowthMindset

You can see pics at my post in the Transformative Adventures group on Facebook.

To see more of my permaculture / ecosocial activist posts, please follow my Facebook page DEEP GREEN book by Jenny Nazak, and my blog jennynazak.com. Thank you!

#GreenSmackdown : housing; transportation; NIMBYism

Warning!! Salty cranky post ahead!!

If you consider yourself an environmentalist, but you consistently fight to keep out apartments, multi-family dwellings, mobile home parks, et cetera, I have bad news for you. Same if you consistently oppose commercial developments offering basic services such as grocery store, drugstore, etc.

Here’s the bad news: By fighting this type of development, you are actually being less eco-friendly. You are being a NIMBY. There’s nothing environmental about a monoculture neighborhood of single-family homes sprawled out on large lots.

That’s about a million big-box-store trips waiting to happen, and a bunch of toxic lawns.

Consider the possibility that multi-family housing adds life to a neighborhood, and that it can actually benefit you! Some of the people you want to come work for you (landscaping, petsitting, house-cleaning, in-home care, delivery etc etc etc) could live in the apartments near you, and therefore may be more available to work for you. Just a thought.

If it’s traffic you’re worried about, then advocate for expansion of public transit routes. And for sidewalks to make things friendly for pedestrians. You may not ride public transportation but public transportation benefits you by keeping cars off the road. If you don’t think anyone is willing to live without a car, that may be because you’ve never lived without a car.

If it’s the water consumption of a new development that you’re worried about, then one big thing you can do is push the developer to use native / water-wise landscaping and gentle maintenance. Also, apartments and other multi family units, and mobile-home parks, automatically use less water than single-family suburban-type homes simply because the lots per household are much smaller.

If it’s ugly architecture you’re worried about, I feel your pain. I find almost all new buildings garish and hideously tacky. However we’re not going to solve anything by preventing people from putting up buildings. And trees and other lush landscaping can serve as a buffer that helps screen the glaringly ugly buildings from our view. “Plants fix everything,” as I’m fond of saying.

*************

“Green Smackdown” is a new series on this page. If you have enjoyed this post, watch for further instances of this hashtag. By the way, in the grand scheme of things, I never want to hurt or shame anyone. But some people learn differently than others, and there are times when some of us can only obtain nutrition from a smackdown-spiced nugget.

1) Saxophone Tommy is back! He had been gone so long, between this, that, and the other. Now he is back, and his sax is back as well — musician & instrument reunited!! I heard him all the way down the block, stopped what I was doing and ran up to the A1A to investigate and sure enough it was him. That unmistakable sound. Ran back to my house to get some thank-you $ to put in his case. When I went back to give him the money and say hi glad you’re back, he was beating himself up and saying how terrible he sounded. I know what that’s like to be an artist and beat oneself up because of not meeting one’s internal standards, what one has done in the past etc. I tried to tell him I understand but your playing is still the best sound anyone might get a chance to hear today.

Because, unlike in some other cities where I have lived, musicians out on the street — beautiful live notes just floating free through the air, winding their way down the streets touching people’s hearts — are next to extinct here. Tommy gave me permission to take this picture and let everyone know he is back. Support and show some love if you see him. He used to play gigs on Main Street and some other places sometimes and maybe that will start happening again.

Though unhoused, Tommy has lived in this neighborhood for years, his notes have been the light of the neighborhood, and we do our best to keep up with him, and we miss him when he is gone.

2) Business card of another local musician. John and his wife are good neighbors who live a few houses down from me. He has a band The Wildcard Band and they play in various places locally. Upcoming gigs include Port Hole and Down the Hatch. He gave me the good news they will probably be playing on Main Street again sometime soon too.

General note: Artists give so much. Society loves to be entertained, but we don’t always reflect that in a tangible way by materially supporting those who provide that beauty/entertainment. We don’t always take time to acknowledge how much it costs, not just in money but in sheer willpower and human energy, to keep on plugging away making art. Every artist who doesn’t give up deserves our deep gratitude and respect for making the world a better place against so many odds.

Many of you in my Facebook community are musicians, visual artists, and other kinds of art-makers yourselves, and this post is a tribute to you too.

---

Special note for the Permaculture in Action: Transformative Adventures! group: Supporting creative and occupational freedom for all is one of my main reasons for being in this group. One of my main reasons for living, actually!!

Of course, said creative and occupational freedom needs to include everyone getting their basic needs met for healthcare, stable housing, etc. Permaculture design principles and ethics can be used to help design and retrofit sustainable human settlements for all.

solidarity; support local musicians; support creative occupations; expand sustainable housing options; dismantle the carceral system; permaculture ethic “care of people and all other living things”

In a few posts over the past few months or so, or maybe it was only one post, and a Live or a radio appearance or two — I don’t remember — I have made reference to what I called “jacking-down the economy,” and “embracing the lower rungs.” This is something that people with the wherewithal to do can do to help alleviate the suffering caused by extreme income disparity and the jacked-up economy in general. I consider it related to the Degrowth movement.

I love it when I find professional expert substantiation for one of my amateur theories or musings. In the past couple of days I’ve stumbled on a great book and a great article, linked below. Will add more as I find them.

• The Divide, book by Jason Hickel (author of the Degrowth book Less Is More). He goes into debunking the horrific myths, criminal accounting, “statistical theatre” regarding international aid and development. Lots of Degrowth object-lessons here.

• “Forget ‘developing’ poor countries, it’s time to ‘de-develop’ rich countries“; article by Jason Hickel in The Guardian. “Economist Peter Edward argues that instead of pushing poorer countries to ‘catch up’ with rich ones, we should be thinking of ways to get rich countries to ‘catch down’ to more appropriate levels of development. We should look at societies where people live long and happy lives at relatively low levels of income and consumption not as basket cases that need to be developed towards western models, but as exemplars of efficient living. … The idea of ‘de-developing’ rich countries might prove to be a strong rallying cry in the global south, but it will be tricky to sell to westerners. Tricky, but not impossible. According to recent consumer research, 70% of people in middle- and high-income countries believe overconsumption is putting our planet and society at risk.”

• “Can those who do work, learn to respect those who choose not to?” by Jason Sims, in Esquire magazine. “‘What is needed,’ the philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote in In Praise of Idleness in 1935, ‘is a new revolutionary movement, dedicated to the elimination of overwork and the reduction of work to a minimum.’ What he could not have foreseen was that it might take a global pandemic to amplify the rebellion. Many people were forced to stop work, giving them the chance to take stock and assess why they felt so burned out. They worked from home and found they actually liked their family. They thought deeply about what the hell they were doing with their lives. At the end of the 20th century the idea of a 15-hour working week was an inevitability. And yet, trajectory has not only stalled, but tech, corporate culture and an ‘always on’ mindset have extended working hours for many. There was also what came to be called ‘The Great Resignation’. Millions, at least those with the right safety nets, quit work — retiring, trading out, changing their lifestyles to subsist on fewer hours and a lower income — leaving a labour shortfall in many nations, and governments desperate to find ways to tempt people back into employment for the sake of the seemingly never-ending pursuit of economic growth. It is, as Elizabeth Anderson, professor or philosophy at the University of Michigan, puts it, ‘screwed up’. … Russell, however, reckoned that the most meaningful work one could actually choose to do comes from our leisure time—it’s in leisure that humans are the most inventive. Einstein, famously, would spend hours just staring at the ceiling. The decline in paid work might spark a resurgence in artistry, craftsmanship and artisan-making, with the economy founded less in consumption as in creativity, in the sense of ‘flow’ that we all find so enriching.”

• Speaking of Degrowth, more than a few people have pointed out that the Degrowth movement has a public-relations problem because the word is not very attractive to people in consumerist societies. Along these lines, some people might find the term “Wellbeing Economy” more appealing. The Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEALL) website offers a lot of useful information and ideas.

I copy-pasted my recent post “Pay people to plant trees” and emailed it to a few fellow activists in my bioregion.

Got this nice reply from one of the recipients, to the effect that she’d like to see some ordinances regarding “natural” plantings, instead of the current ordinances that not only allow, but often actually require, developers and HOAs to use toxic, violent landscaping practices that devalue trees and native plants.

My response:

Thanks for this!

Ordinances are often cumbersome and difficult to pass. And in some cases nowadays, Tallahassee has actually passed laws prohibiting municipalities from passing any kind of local ordinances around trees and so on. Not that we shouldn’t keep trying!!

Rather than ordinances, it could be that a stronger leverage point is simply interacting with the planning process, talking directly w developers and their attorneys etc.

I have been attending some planning board meetings, redevelopment meetings and so on. There may be some hope there.

Many times these days, developers (and city planners too!) are actually interested in a more eco-friendly approach; they just need informational resources such as plant lists, pattern books etc. that will help them navigate permitting, community acceptance, etc. And the resources are abundant; it’s just that people, even professionals, don’t know about these websites and other resources. Part of my self-appointed job as a freelance sustainability educator is to connect people w these resources.

Another key leverage point is realtors. Realtors have a lot of influence over clients and buyers; they can be educating people about how “curb appeal” is not shaved grass with zero trees.

Another potential leverage point is affordable / workforce / attainable housing. People working in the affordable-housing spaces have some leverage to promote natural landscaping and gentle maintenance practices.

Such practices actually help reduce the overhead cost of housing while also providing shade, heat mitigation, stormwater absorption, beauty, and other value to residents and the surrounding community alike. If some of the trees are fruit trees, an additional benefit is food for the residents.

I am here to support you in any way I can, to connect you with information and other resources.

This blog is largely devoted to calling out structural ills in our society with a purpose of fixing them. Even though there is a solution-oriented intent, I am all well aware that a blog like this can be, come across very cranky and scolding.

And I don’t plan on changing that focus although I am always trying to refine my tone and manner.

By the way I’m testing out talk to type on WordPress and it seems to have habits of deleting whole paragraphs right after I’ve spoken them. Ha ha one has already vanished.

yeah cant do this anymore – i better compose offline in the text app bc the same Paragraph that I have spoken and re-spoken has no vanished three times

So as I was saying, one sweet trend I see in society in the past couple years or maybe more is the trend of wishing people Happy Mother’s Day more widely. In other words even strangers in the street. Happy Mother’s Day if you are a mother etc.

Little things like this may seem insignificant, but an emerging practice or cultural habit of small passing kind words to strangers may make the difference in our crazy times. Like a glue or threads repairing the social fabric, though on a micro scale.

Also, that aside, mothers are just awesome and deserve respect. It’s really good hearing this.

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers everywhere. And to our Mother Earth.