Scientists Recommend Cutting Fossil Fuel Consumption Immediately

One way we explore places farther than our property line is by accessing web cams. This photo is a web cam screen shot of a sunrise on Digby Harbour, which is about a 24 km round trip by car from home. Being there in person is nice, but not without negative consequences for the health of the planet. I can ride my bike there, but it is a bit too far to push Linda in her wheelchair.

Since arriving in Nova Scotia in 2014 we haven't done much exploring in our van. 

In keeping with our "minimize driving" philosophy that we pioneered during our 9 years on the west coast, we usually only drive to pick up groceries, or attend the rare appointment. 

Why? Scientists have told us that continued use of fossil fuels endangers all life on Earth, and we are taking that message seriously. 

We are willing to make sacrifices for the benefit of all living things, many of which are faced with imminent extinction.

Another web cam we like to visit is at Belliveau Cove on St. Mary's Bay. It is about a 50 km round trip by car from home. This photo shows a sunset over the Maritime province of New Brunswick, which is on the other side of the Bay of Fundy. 

If the scientists are right, we are implementing the only logical solution, which is cut fossil fuel consumption now. If they are wrong, I guess we save a lot of money and create a cleaner world for nothing.

Either way, we don't worry. We are enjoying getting to know our immediate area well, since there is beauty to be found everywhere on this amazing planet. We are surrounded by it constantly, no matter where we are. 

Cutting out driving does not mean cutting out the enjoyment of place. You can explore your immediate location, whether by looking out the window, sauntering in the yard, or strolling around the neighbourhood. 

If you like to go farther afield, a bicycle is a great no-carbon mode of travel.

You really don't need to go anywhere to see beautiful things. The grass is plenty green right where you are, despite what car manufacturers and the travel industry want you to believe. 

The scientists might be wrong, but what if they are right? 

You can visit Nova Scotia web cams here.

Affirmations Make Your Day

Affirmations can help us live the lives we see for ourselves. Some think that affirmations are simply "magical thinking", and indicate childish expectations. However, if we can not visualize something we cannot create it. Affirmations, creative visualization, and positive thinking help us mold our lives out of the primordial clay of the universe.

I found the following affirmations by Steve Goodier at allthingsfrugal. They look like effective ways to maximize our quest to live simply and sustainably. All our work will be for naught if it drives us crazy in the process. We need little reminders to help keep us balanced and on track.

Now, Steve's affirmations:

• Today I will live through the next 24 hours and not try to tackle all life's problems at once.
• Today I will improve myself - my body, my mind, my spirit.
• Today I will refuse to spend time worrying about what might happen if...
• Today I will not imagine what I would do if things were different. They are not different. I will do my best with what material I have.
• Today I will find the grace to let go of resentment of others and self-condemnation over past mistakes.
• Today I will not try to change, or improve, anybody but me.
• Today I will act toward others as though this will be my last day on earth.
• Today I will be unafraid. I will enjoy what is beautiful, and I will believe that as I give to the world, the world will give to me.

Whether these are the best of times or the worst of times, these are the only times we've got. Live each day fully and you will look back on a life that made a difference.

These affirmations definitely apply to those of us that are attempting to lead an alternative lifestyle, especially one that runs counter to prevailing cultural expectations. In today's fast-paced technological world where what you consume defines you, not participating is seen as the ultimate act of rebellion. Simple living is met with fierce resistance from the delusional and self-interested.

If we stay strong and balanced awareness trickles in and transforms us. Affirmations can help us along in this life long pursuit, and will ensure that we do not allow the tall nail to be hammered down.

Today we will trust that we can be unafraid, and create the lives we wish to live.

2009: Our Year of Not Buying Alcohol

Today Linda and I mark one year of not buying anything with alcohol in it. It has been an interesting, and occasionally challenging experiment. Time to raise a glass of apple juice and toast our self-control, not to mention the hundreds of dollars we saved.

I used to enjoy drinking more than I have lately. When I went to university the hot 'n sweaty booze-fests at the Students' Union were a fire-code-busting right of passage. Hoisting a couple with friends on a hot summer day is a pleasant way to pass the time. But is it the booze, or is it the friends?

I think it is more about recovering from work and our fast pace, than having fun. I noticed over the past year that the time I felt most like buying alcohol was when I was working the most. I also felt that this was when I most "deserved" a drink. Driving home after a long, hot day of grounds keeping was the worst - cold beer called, beckoned, promising instant body/mind liquid relaxation. I kept driving.

Still, set a cold beer in front of me and my reflex will be to drool and reach for it. Is it any better than a cold lemonade, or is that just drink industry propaganda? Somehow you are more adult and happening if you drink alcohol. It is strange that part of the reason I started drinking as a teen was to be rebellious, and now, 34 years later, quitting is the rebellious act.

Is it possible to enjoy life without alcohol? Advertisers will tell you that you can't. Is history on their side? Can 10 000 years of beer consumption be wrong? Beer has been around longer than bread. That must count for something.

A WHO report found that in 1998-99 twenty-two percent of Canadians were non-drinkers, including 17.8% of men, and 26.1% of women. Compare this with Egypt at 99.5%, Cambodia at 85%, and India at about 50%. Are all these people having less fun than drinkers? If my past year is any indication, I would have to say no. Drinking non-alcoholic beverages when socializing made things no less special or enjoyable. Decaffeinated coffee, green tea or water sufficed nicely.

A few years ago we quit buying alcohol at the liquor store in order to trim our budget. We started to brew beer and wine at the local U-Brew establishment. It was an educational, enjoyable process, and the product was acceptable to us. It was a fraction of the cost of store-bought beer and wine.

Then around this time last year we discussed not buying any alcohol in 2009, and decided to go for it. We knew it would be a challenge socially - almost everyone we know drinks. Gradually we came to more or less forget all about drinking. Reading about the weekly car accidents in our community due to drinking made it easier to stay away.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, in 2004 alcohol was responsible for 4.6 percent of global death and disability, causing 2.5 million deaths, including 320,000 deaths among young people between the ages of 15 and 29.(1, 2) When WHO compared the burden of disease from alcohol, tobacco and 24 other risk factors in 2000, alcohol ranked just below tobacco in its impact on global health and had a greater share of the global burden of disease than unsafe water and sanitation, cholesterol or obesity. http://www.globaldrugpolicy.org/3/3/commentary.php

Will we buy any alcohol next year? No. We have broken our habit. We are not buying the whole "have to drink to have fun" myth perpetuated by advertising. Life is fun without it - we still get silly with the best of them, and no hangover or empty wallet. And if work and life are so busy that you "need" a drink to get you through, I recommend slowing down and working less, not drinking more.

Happy New Year.

A Consumaholic 12 Step Program

What is the most difficult addiction to kick? Some say heroin. Cigarette smokers will tell you nicotine is the hardest to beat. Will our consumaholic tendencies be more difficult to recover from than both of these? Our sickness is leading to obesity, cancer, and depression. The planet is the enabler and it, too, is suffering. We need help, and quick. The situation requires a speedy shift in mass behaviour. We need to kick the habit.

We all consume in order to survive. Over the past few decades we have become addicted to over- consuming. We make our purchases not to survive, but to satisfy other less visible and rational needs. We need a program to get us back on the healthful path of sustainability, limits, and contentment.

If someone is addicted to a drug you don't tell them they are harming themselves and their family so, "JUST QUIT!" The problem is bigger than that, and 12 step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous reflect this fact.

An addiction-afflicted individual may require a program and a supportive community to assist in recovery. Consumaholism is a sickness. It is larger than any individual person. It will take time to recover from past mistakes. We need to be understanding and supportive of one another. Along this vein, I adapted the 12 step program to see how it might apply to our addiction to over-consumption.

A 12 Step Program for Consumaholism

• Step 1 - Admit we are powerless over our addiction to consumption - that our lives have become unmanageable
• Step 2 - Believe that Nature, a power greater than ourselves, can restore us to sanity
• Step 3 - Make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of the Earth as we understand the Earth
  
• Step 4 - Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves, and our stuff
  
• Step 5 - Admit to the Earth, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs
• Step 6 - Be entirely ready to have Nature remove all these defects of character
• Step 7 - Humbly asked Nature to remove our shortcomings
• Step 8 - Make a list of all persons, other life forms and natural systems we have harmed, and become willing to make amends to them all
• Step 9 - Make direct amends to such people, life forms and natural systems wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others
• Step 10 - Continue to take personal inventory and when we are wrong promptly admit it
• Step 11 - Seek through thought and meditation to improve our conscious contact with the Earth as we understand the Earth, asking only for knowledge of Nature's will for us and the power to carry that out
• Step 12 - Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we carry this message to other consumaholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs

We have been mass mainlining consumerism for several decades, but we can, and will get better. I am hopeful that we will recover from our addiction to things, and the work that supports the continuance of our disease. I look forward to the coming cultural shifts that will sustain our recovery and return to healthful, balanced relationships with our planet and each other.

Simple, Simpler, Simplist

There are infinite ways to live less complicated lives more in tune with our ailing planet. How can you tell when you are doing it?

You could be a Simplist if:

- you collect cardboard boxes. You could be an Uber-Simplist if your furniture is made out of them.



- you go to Mexico instead of Spain for your next vacation. You could be an Uber-Simplist if you set up a tent in the backyard.

- you buy dented cans of food in the markdown cart. You could be an Uber-Simplist if you dig those cans from the dumpster behind the store.



- you homebrew your favorite beverage. You could be an Uber-Simplist if you quit drinking.

- drive your vehicle less. You could be an Uber-Simplist if you donate your vehicle to the local Car Share Cooperative and ride your bike. 

- you know who the Tinkers are. You could be an Uber-Simplist if you live like them.



- you are eating less meat. You could be an Uber-Simplist if you let the animals live and get to know beans as well as Henry David Thoreau.


- you are buying fewer books, magazines, cds, dvds... You could be an Uber-Simplist if your library card gets worked out more than your credit card.


- you recognize the frugal habits of teachers such as Buddha, Jesus, Ghandi, Peace Pilgrim, Socrates, and others. You could be an Uber-Simplist if they are your heroes.



- you admire the frugal habits of your grandparents. You could be an Uber-Simplist if your grandparents come to you for tips.

- your ecological footprint is less than 7.1 hectares/17.75 acres (the Canadian average). You could be an Uber-Simplist if your footprint is less than 1.88 hectares/4.7 acres (hectares per person of productive land on Earth).


- you support farmers markets and local growers. You could be an Uber-Simplist if your garden provides all your food.


- your partner cuts your hair. You could be an Uber-Simplist if you cut your own.



- you consider how your habits and choices affect the world. It does not get more Uber than that.