Sustainable Living
In the Western world today, particularly in the United States, we are being given one option for how to live a life. We are 'free' to:
- work forty or more hours a week;
- receive numeric credits directly deposited into a corporate bank; and,
- have up to 50% of our earnings siphoned off our paychecks by the government.
We are 'free' to exchange our remaining credits for:
- a car (made by a corporation, on credit from the bank);
- a mortgage on a house in the suburbs (which can be confiscated by the bank or the government if you fail to make loan or property tax payments);
- food (grown by corporate farms using toxic oil products);
- clothing (sewn in third-world countries in sweatshops); and,
- entertainment (corporate movies, music and restaurants).
The reality is - we are not free. We are simply fulfilling our role in a system set up for us to participate in, and this system is a pyramid that funnels wealth from the poorest people on the planet up through to the few corporate CEOs and celebrities at the top. We are not free: and if we are not conscious of it, we are simply being used, unconscious participants innocently distracted and manipulated by extremely clever marketing strategies that play on our very basic human needs and wants. (For more information on the global economy, world bankers and how to escape the systems of taxation and debt-collection, please enter your email address here).
Those of us who live in the Western world are living in a group of nations that exploit the poorer nations on the planet in order to live with more ease and wealth. A trip outside of our own country can prove quite enlightening - India, China, Mexico, the middle east, South America, the polynesian islands, Africa and Tibet - the rest of the world does not live the way we in the West are living. Unlike the predominantly white middle-class, most of the people on this planet are people of color working like slaves for low wages, or even worse - being warred upon - coping in situations of extreme poverty, distress and suffering, so that the white West can live like gluttons. That doesn't sound very nice, does it? The reality is disgusting, and whether we like it or not, agree with it or not, we are a part of it and we help keep this system operating.
We do not have much power in the current system, but we do have some, and we can make a difference if we use it.
Purchasing Power
There are always alternatives to what the corporations are offering if you spend a little time looking. For instance, you cast a vote in favor of scaled-down, ethical and healthy farming practices when you purchase organic food. You cast your vote in favor of fair wages when you purchase your clothing online directly from the seamstresses, for example. You cast your vote in favor of reducing greenhouse gases when you purchase a used diesel vehicle and convert it to run on biodiesel or vegetable oil. You cast your vote in favor of free enterprise when you do business online with entrepreneurs. You see - if you cut out the corporate middle-man, your vote still counts!
Purchasing power is the way you exercise your right to choose what kind of business you want to do, with whom, according to which standards and conditions. It isn't always perfect; it isn't always cut and dry - sometimes you might have to choose between an organic cotton shirt or a conventionally-sprayed cotton shirt that is sweatshop-free; you may have to factor in the gas you burn driving to the thrift store versus the fuel burned in freight when you get a UPS package from internet shopping - the important thing here is that you are thinking about these things and you are making conscious choices. You should expect to pay more money for everything you purchase - this is because the reason corporations are providing things at such a low cost is because they are employing sweatshop workers in developing nations and putting toxic oil by-products in all their items. We in the West have just gotten used to having much more than we need; when we really understand the cost to others of our greed and consumption, we will be able to willingly make the choice to spend more and have less. Just considering your options and thinking things through, you become a more active participant in the world you want to create.
Recycling
We are really fortunate that recycling is taught quite widely these days. Most places you visit will have recycling containers, and the recycling movement is thankfully gaining some momentum. Recycling is not just about glass and cans; it's also about cars, clothing and household cleaners. If you can get in the habit of donating your clothing and giveaway items to your local thrift store or recycle depot, you give people with less access to goods the chance to have something you took for granted. Also - it's a great idea to get into the habit of noticing what you put in the trash can - because that is all going in a landfill. If there is anything you can donate, compost, or otherwise recycle - let's get it out of the landfill!
We were all taught that household chemicals smelling like pine or bleach were "clean." The truth is, bleach kills brain cells when inhaled in closed quarters (such as when you have your head down in the bathtub scrubbing the ring off!). Have you ever wondered what happens to the bleach or pine cleaner you dump down the drain? It goes into the town gray water which is recycled again for your tap water! Laundry and cleaning detergents can contain phosphates which are not biodegradable and end up in the natural water supply as a toxin. Something meant to "clean" seemed so innocent...yet it bears the skull and cross-bones for a reason!
Your local health food store has a host of new cleaning products that are all biodegradable, made from natural oils and soaps, that are easy on your lungs and the water supply. Consider spending a few extra dollars to cast your vote in favor of environmentally-safe products that are non-toxic to you (and your pet, who might drink out of the toilet bowl).
Living Off-Grid
Living off-grid is a major step in becoming sustainable and it means to build a home that is not dependent upon the "matrix" grid - county water, electricity and cable / phone. For most urban types, this notion may fill them with something between horror and curiosity, while for country folk, the off-grid lifestyle is already within grasp. It takes a certain amount of priviledge to attain the wealth necessary to purchase a piece of land in a remote location and alot of savvy and sweat to design and build one's own home. Those who have had the opportunity to "homestead" will assure you it is well worth the sacrifice and effort. If you can't foresee yourself unplugging to this degree, at least save up and take a vacation to one of the many alternative communities, including bed and breakfasts, cottage rentals and intentional communes that welcome outsiders as guests so you can get the chance to experience a taste of this empowering natural lifestyle. You might just find yourself growing herbs in your apartment window after this experience!
Natural Home Building
Natural home building is often off-grid but takes the ideal a step further by rejecting contemporary box-patterned housing architecture in favor of indigenous and more organic styles. Your local bookstore will carry illustrated books on creative natural building techniques such as cob, straw bale, stucco, round-houses, yurts, sandbag, stone and more. Better yet, watch for a workshop in your area, and get the hands-on experience!
Alternative Energy Sources
When you really begin to look into sustainable living, the options become more creative and exciting. Besides the obvious roof-top solar panels, there are designs for solar-heated outdoor showers and furo bathtubs, windmill-driven waterpumps, naturally-composting toilets and home plumbing systems, solar-heated water piped through copper tubing to heat wooden floors, gravity systems, water cachement systems - and rumor has it - pyramid houses, which use vortices to harness earth's own energy fields.
Community Trade
Trade is key to unlocking the chains of our current economic system of enslavement. I heard someone point out recently that "our human relationships have become entirely based on commerce - that is, we only interact with each other in terms of purchasing, selling or in relation to the aquisition of money." I don't know about you, but I find that statement horrifying! Consider our closest cousins, the apes, who spend their days sitting quietly together in the forest, eating, grooming each other, communicating, playing, mating and perhaps having a bit of social drama - their lives are quite pleasant and bonded to one another. Nearby we have humans, who are unable to reach out to each other unless involved in a financial transaction. That's not a very socially-conscious, bonded and well-adapted animal. Community trade is the exchange of goods or services without money being involved, and it helps us to begin to break down our desperate dependence on our currency. Services trade might involve a one hour massage in exchange for a nicely prepped meal, for example, or a car oil-change for a plumbing repair job. The idea is that we regain a sense of community by sharing our skills with others, without the exchange of money. In some communities, local outdoor markets and craft fairs have arisen to enhance the sense of community trade. Exchanging services without money reinforces the value of the individual within the human environment and their particular skills set which is of benefit to the community as a whole.
Self-sufficient Communities
Intentional communities have arisen all around the world, beginning in earnest in the 60s as communes expressing values of love, sharing and group support. The resource guide contains a list of intentional communities which is ever-growing - from hostels to raw-food communes to art villages. Most communities are open to the public for short-term stays, which enable the outsider to visit and get a taste for life in a traditional village style. We've gotten so far from our human roots - anything we can do to get closer to our humanity, each other, and the Natural world, is a step in the right direction for healing ourselves and our planet.
For more information, check out the Sustainability Blog.
For more information, check out the Resource Guide.