Adventures in Sustainable Living

 Years ago I used to work in a small veterinary practice in Conifer, Colorado. At the time this community was a very small and at lunch time I would walk up on the hill side and sit in a groove of old growth forest. It was quiet, very green, and offered a little reprieve from a busy practice.  One day at lunch I walked up the hill as usual only to find that someone had cut a huge swath right throu...

If you focus at all on sustainability then you already know that the 3 pillars of sustainability are economic, environmental, and social, less formally referred to as people, planet, and profits.  But in order for any of this to be feasible, for any of us to have a stainable future we have to work together.  Yet we have forgotten how to do this. We have actually lost a lot of our social skills, an...

As talks about climate change become increasingly serious, many of us are either weary of hearing about it, we are anxious about it, or we just do not know what to do. More and more often we hear this term “climate emergency” knowing very well the use of the term“emergency” usually means do something now.   Despite our present predicament, are we as humans resilient enough to adapt to what is goin...

In my first episode about homesteading I covered a variety of topics to help point you in the right direction. I did not talk much about the specifics of homesteading but I did lay the basic foundation for success.   In this episode I want to get down to some specific actionable tips that you can start doing today. After all this is a lifestyle choice. It will take some time and a lot of hard work...

I find it interesting that humanity has grown into a global community that is so interdependent that if one country suffers an environmental disaster, a financial collapse, massive crop failure, a water crises, or even a foreign invasion that it has a dramatic affect on the global economy. Does no one but me see this as a bad thing?  While this globalization provides many obvious benefits, it actu...

As you may well know, talks of climate change are becoming increasingly serious. Updates are in the news almost daily so it is difficult to ignore. Furthermore, there are some new books soon to be published on the topic that paint a pretty grim outlook for our future on this planet.  In 2018, 89% of greenhouse gas emissions came from the burning of fossil fuels and from industry. Although the use...

Spending time in the outdoors is by far one of my favorite things to do. That is why I love living in the middle of the forest. I can walk out my door and enjoy nature without ever leaving home.  But, there are times when I do want to leave the homestead and spend time somewhere else.  However, as with any other thing we do, spending time outdoors also produces an impact on environmental. From how...

As most of you may know by now the discussions and concerns about climate change are becoming increasingly serious. Additionally, recent surveys in the United States and United Kingdom reveal that approximately 75% of us are concerned about it.  But there is also rampant disinformation out there concerning climate change. All it takes is a few minutes of research and you can easily find articles t...

You have likely heard me say before that we are in fact living in unprecedented times. We now live in a world that is changing so rapidly that even the most sound minded person is likely having trouble feeling some sense of security.  If that is how you feel, you can rest assured that you are not alone. If your concern for the state of the planet has you deeply worried then you may be suffering fr...

Welcome back folks to the second episode on sustainable pet ownership. In part one I tried to get you prepared for the fact that the dogs and cats that we keep as pets do in many ways have a significant environmental impact. Mostly I talked about  food and poop, what goes in one end and what comes out the other end.   Now in this episode I am going to cover several other topics that will help you...

For months now I’ve been focusing on the environmental impact of human activity, our lifestyles and our diet. But so far I have failed in one respect. I have failed to include the furry friends that we have and how they impact the environment as well.   Of all the things we do as humans that affects the planet, we often forget about the dog and the cat. After all, they have to eat, drink water, an...

By far the most common reaction I get when I talk about my off grid lifestyle is “You are crazy. How is it even possible to do that?” When I discuss sustainable living I get similar reactions such as it’s too difficult, it’s too expensive, or I just like beef too much.” That being said, there are many myths and misconceptions about living a sustainable life that keeps people from taking steps in t...

Truly there are few things simpler and more satisfying than walking out to your garden to pick the fresh produce that will be a part of your dinner. What is even better is picking fresh herbs from your garden that are packed with a tremendous flavor that you never get from store bought products. These are only a few of the advantages of going local because it doesn’t get more local than your own b...

We now live in a world that is changing so rapidly that even the most sound minded person is certainly having trouble feeling some sense of security. And while that may be true, not all of the changes are necessarily bad.   You have often heard me say that you’d better choose to live sustainably while it is still choice. Yet in order for us to get on track toward a sustainable future, we need syst...

As you have likely heard me say before, sustainability is your best security blanket. But part of being sustainable is managing as many of your personal resources as possible. After all, as long as someone else is in control of your resources, someone else is in control of your life.  It really doesn’t make any of us feel secure when someone else decides when we get electricity and when we don’t....

For years I’ve heard complaints about how expensive it is to live off the grid. Now I hear all about how expensive it is to live sustainably. But is this really true? And even if it is, no matter what the cost, is our convenience really worth compromising our future on this planet?  In this episode I want to closely examine several aspects of sustainable living and compare costs. At least if I do...

I often marvel at the complexity and enormity of the natural world. Consider for a moment the Mississippi River. This river discharges almost 4.5 million gallons of water per second.  But it doesn’t start out that way. I got to wondering what I would find if I went upstream? Where does this river come from?  Well, one day as I was sitting by the creek below my cabin, I got to wondering the same th...

We pay our federal income taxes every year as a “price of civilization” and then we sit back and watch our government spend our tax dollars like an irresponsible teenager with a credit card.  Furthermore I sit back and observe this massive machine of civilization that we have created and wonder how it is that we got so far off track. After all focusing on a sustainability does not seem difficult t...

From time to time we have all been apathetic about something. meaning we are simply indifferent to what is going on around us. If left unaddressed, apathy can lead to significant consequences in our lives. But sometimes we are even informed of those consequences and yet we do nothing.  This is exactly how we are addressing climate change and living sustainably. We are simply apathetic for a number...

Whenever someone mentions hazardous waste, you most likely think of big industry, or perhaps even radioactive material that is stored in some unknown place out of harms way. But unfortunately we commonly have numerous hazardous materials in our homes. Furthermore we actually produce 13 tons of hazardous waste every second? That amounts to over 400 million tons every year.  Presently there are over...

Recycling is all about reducing the amount of waste that goes to the landfill. If you talk about recycling, most people instantly think about paper, plastic, glass, aluminum, and vegetable cans. However, there are a number of other things in our homes that can and should be recycled. For example, light bulbs. In this episode I am going to talk about how to recycle 6 common household items that mos...

With all the talk about going green, I look at some of the things we do and question if we are doing more harm than good. Now more than ever we use every “R” word in the book: reuse, recycle, regenerate, reclaim, reabsorb, recreate, and even more. But is this all just a public performance. Are we just showing off instead of showing up. In this episode I want to discuss performative environmentalis...

In today’s world you would think that recycling would be one of those no brainers. But then again you would think that climate action would be a no brainer as well especially since we have known about climate change for over 125 years. But yet here we are.  Since I travel some for work I have the opportunity to live and work in different communities. I consistently work in places where it is almos...

Living sustainably is really truly nothing new. Yet because our modern culture has warped our way of thinking and sense of values, most people think of it as an “alternative lifestyle”. When the reality is that living sustainably should be considered mainstream.   But I have often said that when you find yourself in agreement with 90% of the people around you, pack your bags and run the other way...

My niece, who by the way is wickedly intelligent and artistic, recently pointed something out to me that I’d never thought of before. Her observation of humanity is that we are nothing more than a huge evolutionary experiment. Not only that, but this experiment is running amuck and that is what is getting us in trouble.   The challenge for humanity is that we retain many instincts from our early y...