Sustainable Living

I define a “sustainable lifestyle” as one that is regenerative for ourselves, our families and communities, and our ecosystems.

Everything is connected; good health for any one of these elements relies on good health for all of them.

Something needs to change

Sustainable Living Archive

Something needs to change

We must do the work ourselves—here and now—in* our own kitchens, gardens and communities.*

I like to think–I hope—that most people have at least a sense of discomfort about our culture's status quo.

We're living in a house of cards.

We are outsourcing our needs to production methods that deplete our atmosphere, soils, water, ecosystems and small communities, and that are reliant on rapidly shrinking reserves of fossil fuels.

The apparent affluence on the shelves of supermarkets and superstores is part of an illusion. A collective lack of awareness that something has gone very, very wrong.

At the risk of stating the obvious, something needs to change.

Exactly what needs to change, how it should change, and who should do the work, are topics that continue to be flogged to death in discussions at every level, but discussion is much more valuable and productive if we also take action.

Small actions are best, that we can learn from, that we can build on. Action at a level we can sustain.

And since governments and corporations are too busy squabbling over details and profit margins to take meaningful action, its up to us to get on with the job.

Its up to us, in our own kitchens, gardens, and communities, to take whatever actions we can. Here and now. To get on with providing for ourselves and living in ways that regenerate, rather than depleting, the web of life we rely on.

Sustainable Living Archive
Ditching the Supermarket An excerpt from my EBook of the same name. This article: sniffs out the real story behind the cheap convenience on the supermarket shelves, looks at the complex web of connections and consequences that attend our supermarket choices, and explains why reducing your supermarket dependence is a powerful way to make a difference – for your own family’s health and for the health and resilience of local communities and ecosystems. Real Food A short introduction (possibly a rant) to one of my favorite topics. Regenerative Farming and Gardening Another short introduction (rant) to the topic of producing Real Food. Not all of us can grow our own food (although most of us can grow at least some of it, and every bit counts) but we can all consider our buying decisions and look for food and other goods that have been produced with regeneration in mind. On Eating Meat Explores these questions... What is happy meat? Could you produce some of your own animal foods even if you don't live on acreage? What if you can't, or don't want, to raise your own animals - can you still eat happy meat? What if you have chosen a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle to care for animals and protect them from exploitation? How Did Organ Meats Become "Offal" (Awful)? What's changed, from a time when organs were viewed as the most precious, most nutritious part of a carcass, to today when we're disgusted at the mere thought of eating them? Real Milk A story (a true one) about how our house cow, her calf, the good bugs on the cow's udder, and the land that the cow and calf and I stand on, all combine to bring real milk to our kitchen. Thrilling, alive, warm, frothy, just-out-of-the-cow milk. Do not read this post if you are afraid of living bacteria or calf slobber. back to top of page

Sustainable Living Archive

Ditching the Supermarket

An excerpt from my EBook of the same name. This article:

sniffs out the real story behind the cheap convenience on the supermarket shelves,
looks at the complex web of connections and consequences that attend our supermarket choices, and
explains why reducing your supermarket dependence is a powerful way to make a difference – for your own family’s health and for the health and resilience of local communities and ecosystems.

Real Food

A short introduction (possibly a rant) to one of my favorite topics.

Regenerative Farming and Gardening

Another short introduction (rant) to the topic of producing Real Food.

Not all of us can grow our own food (although most of us can grow at least some of it, and every bit counts) but we can all consider our buying decisions and look for food and other goods that have been produced with regeneration in mind.

On Eating Meat

Explores these questions...

What is happy meat?
Could you produce some of your own animal foods even if you don't live on acreage?
What if you can't, or don't want, to raise your own animals - can you still eat happy meat?
What if you have chosen a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle to care for animals and protect them from exploitation?

How Did Organ Meats Become "Offal" (Awful)?

What's changed, from a time when organs were viewed as the most precious, most nutritious part of a carcass, to today when we're disgusted at the mere thought of eating them?

Real Milk

A story (a true one) about how our house cow, her calf, the good bugs on the cow's udder, and the land that the cow and calf and I stand on, all combine to bring real milk to our kitchen. Thrilling, alive, warm, frothy, just-out-of-the-cow milk.

Do not read this post if you are afraid of living bacteria or calf slobber.

A real green life: for you, your family, and our living planet.

I hope you'll join me.

About you and your family…

Trigger goes here

Household and personal care products
The bewildering array of products in the cleaning and personal care aisles of the supermarket are in my opinion almost entirely unnecessary.
They are an example of how entire industries can grow up on the back of a series of cleverly presented suggestions to the unsuspecting public that they need this particular thing – in spite of the fact that umpteen prior generations got along fine without it.
A staggering proportion of them are also poisonous to you, your family, and the ecosystems that produce your food and drinking water.
Actually, let me restate that: almost all of them, not just a proportion, are poisonous. The only thing that varies is the degree to which they are poisonous.
Even a brief exploration into what their ingredient lists actually mean, is mind boggling.
( I researched the term “toxicants” – defined as “toxic substances made by humans or introduced into the environment by humans” for an article once…
I started out trying to comprehend the stupefying array of toxic substances used in the manufacturing of items seen as necessary for every facet of modern life, and was unable to go the distance. I ended up abandoning the entire project.
I concluded that most of the products and items I looked at with toxic substances in them are unnecessary, and for those that aren’t, it’s just simpler and safer to grow or make your own, or buy from a small supplier you trust, who uses ingredients you can recognize.)
Back to the topic at hand. Simply stated, almost everything in the personal care and cleaning aisle of the supermarket is:

expensive,
wastefully packaged,
poisonous to varying degrees, and
largely unnecessary.

So why do we use them? Well, let’s see. We use them because:

Endlessly sophisticated marketing campaigns wash over us constantly, programming us to assume we need them
Our friends and peers use them, and we must keep up with the Joneses
There are not many channels for us to learn that we don't actually need most of them, that they are detrimental to our health and the health of our environment, and that it’s really not hard to make healthy, simple alternatives for the few we do need
What channels for this information do exist are not funded in the way that the campaigns encouraging us to buy are funded.

I avoid the bathroom and cleaning aisles in the supermarket as much as I possibly can, and I have a goal to boycott them completely.
That’s much better for our personal health, our family budget, the soils that grow our food, the air we breathe, the life in the oceans, and the water we drink.