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Eco-living
The
two levels of eco-living: individual and community
You
must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi
The main purpose of this site is to
explore means and tools for living as
sustainably and self-sufficiently as possible as the world enters a new
phase of dwindling fossil fuels and the
resultant rising energy
costs. Eco-living has two levels: the individual and the community.
At the individual level, eco-living means that we become as
self-sufficient as possible in terms of the necessities: food and energy dependency. This site explores
options for reducing our food dependency on distant
corporations. It also examines methods by which we can take
ourselves "off the grid" as much as possible--if not entirely.
At the community level, eco-living entails reverting back to a more
traditional way of life which includes weaning ourselves from our
complete dependence on sources far removed for everything we need for
survival and economic activity. For almost all of history--with the
anomalous exception of the last 100 years or so--smaller communities
were capable of producing the basic necessities of survival, especially
if called
upon to do so by external events.
In most cases, they could grow their own food and maintain a certain
level of economic activity to ensure their member's survival. Over the
last century we have lost this ability. The 2005 movie by director Ron
Howard, Cinderella Man,
accurately depicts life during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Most
people, particularly city dwellers, found themselves as helpless as
newborns. Without employers to provide them with work, they spent the
days and
years living from government check to check. They had become completely
dependent upon the state. Contrast that with the independence of
frontier communities just 80 years earlier which would have taken
such a depression in their stride.
A decreasing fossil fuel supply will most likely mean a slowdown in
economic activity as well a trend towards producing necessities such as
food locally or regionally instead of relying on suppliers a
half-a-world
away. However, the transition will neither be quick nor smooth. This
means that you need to prepare today to deal with possible shortages.
You can use the following links to go straight to the topics of most
interest to
you. The pages on Peak Oil are a good
start for putting everything into context with the "big picture".
Individual
Level
Unlocking the Food Supply
Homes
Off-the-Grid
Transportation
Community
Level
Community Building
Eco-Village
Intentional Community
Cohousing
Local Economy
The Tapeworm Economy Exposed
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