Adventures in Sustainable Living

In this episode I want to talk about how, as humans we have the tendency to destroy things that are in the way of what we view as “progress”. First I want to talk about this from a historical perspective and then give you a more modern example of how we continue to do the same thing. We still have not learned and we still do not appreciate that it is the balance in nature that provides us with all...

In the United States, there is an estimated 130 to 160 billion pounds of food that goes to waste each year, as much as 40% of our food supply. And much of this food is perfectly edible and nutritious. This wasted food cost this country about $218 billion a year. Not to mention the added strain on the environment and the use of resources that also goes to waste.  But to be fair, there is a differen...

Many of us think that recycling is a fantastic thing and that is what is going to help us save the planet.  However, in many ways we are not recycling we are wish- cycling.  Sadly, many times recycling is just another term for a long, expensive trip a plastic bottle takes in order to end up in the landfill.  Besides, if recycling was the answer to our garbage pollution, why do we still have a prob...

The first commercial airline flight took off on January 1, 1914. It flew from St Petersburg, Fl to Tampa Bay. It was a flight of 21 miles and took 23 minutes. This flight service only lasted 4 months but it paved the way to the airline industry that we see today. Now, I am sure that when that first flight took off,  carbon emissions were not their first concern. At least not like it is today. I th...

I want to start this episode by asking a simple question. If you were told you had to live in a different country from now until the rest of your life, where would it be? Where would you go? That said, how would you go about choosing a new country? What criteria would you use? How would you go about giving each country a “report card” so to speak? How would you rate each country? And furthermore,...

After my last episode titled Choices Make Changes; What is a Sustainable Product and How to Find Them, I thought it was fitting to follow that episode on something having to do with fair trade. Because the products that we choose to purchase not only affects sustainability but it also affects the lives of so many other people. The value of imported goods in the US in 2019 was 3.1 trillion dollars....

There is one thing that we know for sure, our choices as consumers drive the market place. If consumers demand something or if the demand of the general public is for one specific product or service, then the market changes accordingly to provide for that need. If not, then some savvy marketer will come up with a campaign to convince you of the need for something anyway, even though that may not b...

You may find it interesting that scientist have a better understanding of how many stars there are in our galaxy than how many species there are on planet Earth. There was a study that was conducted in 1980 in the tropical forests in Panama. This one study included only 19 trees.  There were 1,200 beetle species that were noted in this study and 80% of those species were previously unknown.  What...

During the 1960's and 70's there was a tremendous and powerful social movement in the United States.  As many as one million people left their jobs, their educational institutions, and families to transition into a simpler life that was close to nature.  This new lifestyle simply fit with their moral values and enabled them to work outside of the "system" that they saw as corru...

Many people wish they could just turn back the clock and go back to their younger years. As children we had complete emotional liberty, few if any responsibilities, and our life ahead of us was full of possibilities.  Then we grow up only to be trapped by bills, responsibilities, working, and just trying to make a living.  However, as children we only saw a small portion of the world. We have a ve...

In this episode, I want to share with you how over a 5 year period of time I went from $295K in debt to zero debt. And I want to share with you how you can do the same thing as well as what that all has to do with a simple sustainable lifestyle. Now if you want to hear that story and get the real scoop, then stayed tuned. When I was growing up on the farm, we spent our time raising animals, workin...

Unfortunately, I think we are all familiar, at least from a historical prospective, with the term genocide. And if you are listening to this episode and you are very young, perhaps you are not familiar with this term. Genocide is the killing of a large group of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or ethnic group.  While such things certainly raise...

In this episode I am of course going to talk about the importance of self sufficiency and how that is connected to sustainability.  I am also going to discuss how self sufficiency means different things to different people so there are different ways to go about it. But, in the end self sufficiency is also impossible to attain yet vital to our survival. So, how do we get around that?  Now fast for...

Sustainability has just as much to do with relationships as it has to do with solar panels. Sustainability has just as much to do with relationships as it has to do with recycling. Sustainability has just as much to do with relationships as it has to do with being a smart consumer.  Someone told me once that the best time to make a friend is when you don’t need one. Allow me to explain.   You see,...

By the end of 2020, the population of the world was approximately 7.8 billion. According to the World Health Organization, one in three people in the world does not even have access to an improved water source. This means approximately 2.6 billion people on our planet do not have access to a safe water supply.  In contrast, according the the Center for Disease Control (CDC) the United States has t...

Nature is worthless!! Right??? Well you would think that is how most people feel because most of us treat nature as if it is worthless.   You have heard the old saying that "People are truly defined by what they do, not by what they say." If you believe that, then you would also believe that most people think nature is worthless because we keep doing things to destroy it. Listen to this...

This episode is a brief interview with my 15 year off-grid partner Annette. We talk about our lifestyle and how it all came about. I wanted to produce this episode especially for my listeners to let them know that what I do and how I live is very real. I do in fact live an off-grid sustainable lifestyle.   Patrick

Welcome back to the Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast.  After several episodes on various topics, such as our consumeristic society, how much waste we produce, and various sustainable countries, I felt as if it was time to produce an episode on just how we can go about changing our culture.  The simple fact is that developing a sustainable future is not possible unless people believe in the...

Very simply put sustainability means meeting your own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.   When most people think about sustainability, most likely the first thing that comes to mind is the environment. While this is part of it, if you dive deeper into sustainability the concepts are quite complex, far, reaching and in todays world, even global.  But,...

Having a lifestyle with zero waste is one of the most sustainable choices that you can make. This lifestyle has tremendous impact on the environment and on the planet as a whole. A zero waste lifestyle is about reducing what you need, reusing as much as you can, and composting what is left over.  The following is a brief overview of what this episode is going to cover: -First I want to talk a litt...

In this episode I first briefly review some of the concepts discussed in previous episodes. I then discuss the effects that consumer society has had on al of us.  I then off 10 things that you can do to step away from consumer culture and ultimately make great improvements to your life.  Enjoy! I think you will find this very informative.

This episode is focused on our consumer culture, the affects that it has on all of us  , as well as the environment.  In the end I point out how this type of culture is just not sustainable.  In summary, here is what will be discussed: 1) The rise of consumerism 2) The pros and cons of a consumer society 3) How the consumer culture got us where we are today 4) How the consumer culture then became...

This is Episode 2 of the Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast. In this episode I first discuss the basic concepts of sustainability. Then I showcase 5 different countries that have made substantial effort toward developing a sustainable culture and economy. Toward the end I go over the lessons that can be learned from the 5 most sustainable countries that are discussed.  To wrap things up, I g...

This episode is an introduction to the podcast. I introduce myself and discuss how I practice what I teach. I grew up with two working farms and presently live a sustainable off  the grid life on a full time basis. This means I not only discuss sustainable living, it is how I live every day. I also discuss what my listeners have to look forward to in up coming episodes. The topic of sustainable li...