We are off grid in NZ - moved here from South London in an effort to rewild ourselves! We wanted our children to grow up in relationship with the earth :D
I'm on barely a third of an acre but doing everything i can to enhance and support the local ecology (and economy). I have more diverse wildlife on this tiny piece than the 5 acres of farmland right next to it. If everyone does their fair share, we can make it whole again. The only ones i see lagging behind are the farmers unfortunately, but they will soon join us when peak oil hits a critical point where it's simply unafordable to spray and fertilize. It's strange to say i'm kind of looking forward to that but it seems to be our best shot, although an involuntary one. Not paying into that system anymore is another good way. My consumption of new goods is practically zero now. I merely consume what i call 'capitalist trash', secondhand pots and pans and clothes keep me going just fine. They look fine, they cook fine. I feel it is my moral duty to purify my life this way. Others scorn me for not propping up an already feeble economy that i'm supposed to 'support' with my actions and money but what if that is exactly what's killing us and everything around us? Madness, Janaia. I'd rather sit on my plot watching a rare bird because i have many!, eating a cob of simple corn than watch them suffer in a green desert with 3 species of grass, all neatly mown while zooming by in a fancy car. This, to me, is not part of progress. People think it's not a result of the choices we make, that it's a situation the government should fix. Ok, then howcome my pot is an oasis and the plot right next to it is a desert and who made that happen? People, you do have the power to change things. Just don't buy into it. My change, your change, melts together with all the other change so we have changed. We can change!
This is certainly a thought provoking conversation. I'm wondering what it is going to take to achieve this shift in society to take place. I fear that we are going to have to have some kind of an apocalyptic event(s) that will force that change. I would hope that we could voluntarily make the change. It is extremely hard! Are we up to it? We are not, in general, destroying the world because we are greedy. We simply do not know any better. Even those of us who do are having a difficult time reordering our lives. Our U.S. Government, in many ways prohibits us from doing so. One way Nature will force us to reevaluate our lives is through not providing for us. If she is starving, she cannot produce. But, she will not die. She will allow us to die off. Look at Nature after a volcano. I look at the eventual and slow healing of the Mt. St. Hellen event and see this as a prime example of Nature to heal itself. I can be a windbag and will stop. Regardless, we must keep the vision and the hope. Also, we must act in ways that we can.
We are off grid in NZ - moved here from South London in an effort to rewild ourselves! We wanted our children to grow up in relationship with the earth :D
another great interview!
I'm on barely a third of an acre but doing everything i can to enhance and support the local ecology (and economy). I have more diverse wildlife on this tiny piece than the 5 acres of farmland right next to it. If everyone does their fair share, we can make it whole again. The only ones i see lagging behind are the farmers unfortunately, but they will soon join us when peak oil hits a critical point where it's simply unafordable to spray and fertilize. It's strange to say i'm kind of looking forward to that but it seems to be our best shot, although an involuntary one.
Not paying into that system anymore is another good way. My consumption of new goods is practically zero now. I merely consume what i call 'capitalist trash', secondhand pots and pans and clothes keep me going just fine. They look fine, they cook fine. I feel it is my moral duty to purify my life this way. Others scorn me for not propping up an already feeble economy that i'm supposed to 'support' with my actions and money but what if that is exactly what's killing us and everything around us? Madness, Janaia.
I'd rather sit on my plot watching a rare bird because i have many!, eating a cob of simple corn than watch them suffer in a green desert with 3 species of grass, all neatly mown while zooming by in a fancy car. This, to me, is not part of progress. People think it's not a result of the choices we make, that it's a situation the government should fix. Ok, then howcome my pot is an oasis and the plot right next to it is a desert and who made that happen? People, you do have the power to change things. Just don't buy into it. My change, your change, melts together with all the other change so we have changed. We can change!
This is certainly a thought provoking conversation. I'm wondering what it is going to take to achieve this shift in society to take place. I fear that we are going to have to have some kind of an apocalyptic event(s) that will force that change. I would hope that we could voluntarily make the change. It is extremely hard! Are we up to it? We are not, in general, destroying the world because we are greedy. We simply do not know any better. Even those of us who do are having a difficult time reordering our lives. Our U.S. Government, in many ways prohibits us from doing so.
One way Nature will force us to reevaluate our lives is through not providing for us. If she is starving, she cannot produce. But, she will not die. She will allow us to die off. Look at Nature after a volcano. I look at the eventual and slow healing of the Mt. St. Hellen event and see this as a prime example of Nature to heal itself.
I can be a windbag and will stop. Regardless, we must keep the vision and the hope. Also, we must act in ways that we can.
I LOVE YOU FIRE ANT!
Transition towns and Ecovillages, decentralisation and back to local economies, to have a path to get back to nature :)))
6:01