Hello from Seattle
Hi All,
A long time fan of JMG here but of all his books I have read, I never managed to get my hands on a copy of Green Wizardry before, but a post on reddit guided me here and I am very excited to find a community of like minded people. (I've got a copy of the book on hold at my Library now!)
In the early 00's, after college, I got involved in several sustainability groups and eventually the Transition Town movement. I started down the path of urban homesteading and such but become a bit disillusioned with the groups seeming overwhelming focus on things like herb spirals, recycling, and eco-consumerism. JMG's books, particularly The Long Descent, helped me feel like I found a path forward that made sense to me.
I've continued over the last decade with the urban homesteading projects and often focus on the idea of Collapse Now and Avoid the Rush when I need direction. On top of the typical gardening and chicken keeping activities, I keep trying to reduce me energy needs and I now bike most places I need to go (at least when I am not hauling kids and equipment around the city). I am focusing on learning how to use composting, insects, and mushrooms to recycle waste products into food. As an avid sailor, I am particularity interested in restarting a wind powered transport network here in the Salish Sea. And while I am a decent wood worker, I would love to learn more about metal working as I really don't have a lot of experience with that.
Looking forward to learning from you all,
Mossy
Kay Robison
Wed, 08/18/2021 - 09:39
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Glad you could join the
Glad you could join the company. I will be very interested in your experience with wind powered transport.
Teresa from Hershey
Wed, 08/18/2021 - 13:50
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Welcome aboard Mossy Maple
We're glad to have you with us. Yes, we are more interested in doing and less in talking about doing.
It's interesting what you mentioned about Transition Towns and sustainability groups.
It reminded me instantly of that blast from the past back in the early 1990's: the simplicity movement.
The people who started it were serious about downsizing. Amy Dacyczycn interviewed one of the movement founders in her Tightwad Gazette newsletter. That founder, IIRC, talked about how easy it was to co-opt simplicity to sell you new, better stuff. Simplicity Magazine was founded about then and is still being sold. If you've ever seen it at the library or on the magazine rack, it's a glossy shopping and lifestyle guide that virtually never says to "use less".
I could very easily see Transition Towns groups being co-opted that way. Austerity is a hard sell but it's the only way forward.
We'll all be using less in the future so why not adapt slowly and comfortably rather than in a mad, panic-stricken rush?
Lots of the basic information about using less is readily available. However, most of the people talking this way are thrift and frugality writers, not eco-worriers. There's a surprising amount of overlap between using less for thrift reasons and using less for green reasons.