Category: low-footprint living

Six words that can turn around a whole situation. And a whole life or lives.

If you can’t get all six words out at once (either because you’re in shock or because the other person is so reactive), even just saying “WAIT!” can buy yourself a little bit of time for the other five words.

And from there, ideally, can buy yourself the time to explain what you did mean.

I can’t even count the number of situations where it would’ve helped for me to have this tattooed on my hand.

Somethings would seem to be pure common sense, and yet many of the time I only realize them a posteriori. No problem, I’ve always been a bit of an empiricist at heart. And of course we can always pass on our findings to other people, so they know in advance of facing a similar situation.

Here is a prime example. If you are making a special trip to the supermarket to buy fixings for a nice chilled / heat-sensitive dessert to treat your people, make sure you time your visit such that the bus stop you will need to wait at on the ride home is on the shaded side of the street. In this case, morning is quite optimal. Even as late as 11 AM, the bus stop is still well shaded by the tall condo buildings along the beach.

In fact, I now realize that I would not make an afternoon trip to this particular supermarket if a chilled treat were involved. Because no shade is available at the bus stop in the afternoon. At this time of year, shade is gone probably anytime after about 11:10. Good thing the bus is coming at 11:04.

Of course, I could have gone quite early in the morning, as the supermarket opens at 7am. But I didn’t think of my treat idea until about 9:30. It’s a thought for future such expeditions though.

See, anything can be an asset. Even, in this case, the condo tower buildings that a lot of people complain about because they shade out the beach in the afternoon.

And lucky lucky, here the lovely 17A bus comes now, just as I’m wrapping up. This really is a lucky day and it’s not even halfway over!

How about you? Are there any seemingly common-sense things you found out by experience, as opposed to anticipating them?

A lot of people involved in the “homesteading” movement in one way or the other are concerned about how to earn income while being out in a remote rural location.

I actually don’t really recommend living in remote locations. Rural locations used to be attached to at least some small-town economy. But a lot of that has disintegrated in the USA. Maybe some of it is coming back.

If you can, pick a place near a small town that has a market. Where you can have a local occupation such as marketing produce, plants, soaps and extracts, etc.

That said, portable “information economy” occupations will probably be a thing for at least a little while. But a lot of it is getting taken over by AI.

My reply to someone in the “homesteaders needing helpers” group who asked how do you get income is from 15 or 20 years ago. Some of it may still apply so I’m posting it below.

For some years when I was doing land-based apprenticeships as part of my continuing ed as a permaculture designer and educator, I made a living in the information economy. Writing, editing, translating. Yes it did require a cell phone signal but I was mostly OK. Sometimes I would have to walk a few hundred yards to get a signal and send a document to a client.

I could probably also have done telephone-based teaching / coaching or something but that wasn’t my path right then. Anyway there’s lots of tele occupations that don’t need broadband Internet.

Also when I was helping to care for a family member after a medical situation, I was uploading and selling my art online to make the rent at the apartment that I still had to keep up in my original location. It was stressful but doable. Also I was able to sell some of my artwork at the local weekly market in the town nearby.

(Wrote this for my art opening which was last Friday. The show is ongoing all month. At Cinematique theater in downtown Daytona Beach. Show catalog will be available for people who can’t attend but might wish to see my art and read some stories.)

Hi everyone! This show is a distilled visual essence of my life. The show will be unfolding throughout the month with new items, mini workshops, online content, and more.

An extensive catalog will be available later this month. It’ll include stories behind the works, and will also include works not shown here. To reserve your copy, simply donate $7.77 or more to Cinematique. I aspire to raise $7000 for our beloved cinema this month, so please tell your friends!

My art is strongly influenced by my earth activism, and vice versa — my earth activism is strongly influenced by my deep-seated need for beauty. Most of the works here are available for purchase. Prices start at $13. All proceeds will go to the theater.

Art is just one of the channels I use to try to motivate people to take care of the planet that is our only home. Time is running out! Art and story and music will play an increasingly crucial role in the coming years. If you’re an artist, please stay bold and keep making your art. We need you.

Special assignment for fellow environmental activists who own cars!

Imagine there is something you really really want to do today or this week. Or something you really really need to do. You probably don’t even have to imagine it; you probably already have at least one thing on your calendar.

Now, imagine that your car suddenly broke down, and is in the shop.

How are you going to get to your planned engagement? Is your first thought that you would cancel? Ask the other person / people to postpone, or change their plans?

OK, good to know if that’s your default. You might be missing out on things, so you might want to explore that!

But let’s say you can’t change this thing or really really really do not want to.

So, how are you going to get there?

At one point I believe I counted eight or 11 ways that I can get from point A to point B despite the fact that I am a frail, delicate flower who furthermore does not possess a large four-wheeled road-tank.

See how many ways you can come up with. I’ll make a list in the next post.

True story: I am a member of an environmental organization, and at one of our local Zoom meetings, people asked me how I got to a place I mentioned visiting. (Can’t remember, maybe it was Orlando and maybe it was Deland. Some local-ish city I’ve been to many many many times.)

I was like, really? A meeting full of environmentalists, and you guys cannot imagine how I got here without owning one of your fancy “green” $50,000 cars. Not a single one of you knows about public transportation I guess. I assigned this homework but I don’t think anyone did it.

Anyway! Without further ado. I’m now going to list the various ways that a person can get from point A to point B. Some of these can be used in combination.

foot

bus

bicycle (getting more dangerous around here these days because of the distracted drivers, but nonetheless a wonderful transportation mode)

train

hitchhike (not something I would likely do anymore except in very specialized circumstances)

Craigslist ride (maybe now that the economy is going down for real, actual rideshare on that site will start to rise again)

Post on NextDoor or Facebook to ask locals if anyone’s going that way that day

Talk with a neighbor outside in real life to see if they’re going that way that day

Pay a neighbor to be my taxi (for a while, my designated unofficial taxi was a young Mom who was trying to make ends meet doing doordash etc.)

Actual taxi! (Yes! Support someone’s livelihood. It’s especially great if a taxi driver lives in my neighborhood, which has been the case at various times.)

If it’s a show or other treat, offer to pay for someone’s ticket, dinner, etc., if they are willing to provide the transportation.

Charter a van if there’s interest among a number of people in attending whatever the thing is

Rent a car (obviously only works if you have a drivers license, which I do). If you’re lucky you might even be able to get a drive-away rental. One time some years back, I got a driveway rental for like $40 for 24 hours, filled it with passengers and we drove to our various destinations in Louisiana and Texas.

Some trips, even if I feel like I really want to go or need to go, end up being able to be accomplished by teleconferencing or delivery service. I have had some wonderful phone visits with friends and extended family recently. In many ways it’s actually better because travel has various risks and can be tiring.

— Can you think of any that I missed?

Bonus assignment: Identify at least three of your neighbors who would probably really appreciate if you offer them a ride, offered to pick up things from the store for them etc. These need to be people in your immediate neighborhood, not people living 5 or 10 or 20 miles away. We need to look out for our elderly neighbors and others who may have transportation challenges.

By the way, I once told a congregation with many elderly members that one of the best things they could do for the environment and for themselves was sell their houses, sell their cars, and buy the apartment building (or a few houses) next door to their church and move in there together.

Although many of the above options involve automotive transport, it’s still cheaper and easier and less hassle and better for the planet than owning a whole car. Plus you get to meet more people, share skills & resources. Connections will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no connections. (To modify an old saying from the 70s.)

PS. Yes, I have owned cars. They seemed to be necessary to me at the time, but vehicle ownership itself was always quite burdensome to me. But even if you do choose to stay with automobile ownership, please advocate for walkability and public transportation. It’s to everybody’s benefit. Remember that we all need transportation equity and transportation dignity.

PPS. Though I’ve never done it myself, many people travel for miles by rollerblade or skateboard! Someone I know from business networking has done that. I’m talking like 5-6 miles at a time! Also a friend’s son routinely got to school by skateboard as a teenager. Several miles each way. Can you imagine the major benefits in addition to transportation!

Hi all! In preparation for this content to go off-line, I am inviting you to download any / all of the content for your own reference, and share with others whatever you find helpful. This is in addition to my own plan to download this content and make a compilation available in PDF form.

Thoughts as I’m birthing my show … BTW sorry apparently the PR photos from our indoor studio annex didn’t post. That’s been happening a lot lately. I mean, with photos in general on the zduck platform. But they’re going to be in my catalog which will be available as a PDF in exchange for a modest donation to Cinematique theater.

anyway, thoughts: I used to feel bad if I couldn’t remember if a favorite artist, musician, filmmaker etc. was alive or dead. But then suddenly this morning when I was trying to remember if one of my favorites was still living on earth or not, it struck me that that’s actually a good sign as an artist creative who has given a lot to the world… Whether their body is still on earth or not, their work is so persistent that we can’t even necessarily remember if their physical body is here with us, because their work is so nourishing and sustains us.

seemingly unrelated thought but it’s kind of related in a Permaculture Design way, as my retrospective makes its way out of the birth canal. Bitter oranges grow for free in the woods. We don’t have to cultivate and put all that money and resources and brave all that and possible citrus greening and pests and all. They are bitter, we can fertilize them if we want, but then on the other hand, sugarcane grows quite profusely in many of the same local areas as the bitter oranges grow. Marmalade is delicious. Syrup is delicious.

Isn’t it neat that we can use citrus to make a nontoxic house cleaner by the way. One that keeps the bugs out without killing the bugs. All it says is, hey bug, you are entering an indoor zone! Turn back and go ahead outside that’s where your food is. And that’s where your hot sexy future babymamas are as well, because we have asked them to leave and go outside and wait for you there. Happy hunting, all of you!

PS. As so often happens in life, a suddenly imposed constraint / unavailability / lack ends up doing us kind of a favor.

And in closing, one of my favorite sayings (I take it as a motto of the long-distance through-hiker and the gram-weenie hyper-urban fashionista alike):

“If you need it, but don’t have it … You don’t need it!” — Ray Jardine