Back To The Sail Age

The Pamir - Last Commercial Sailing Ship To Round Cape Horn.

Often people that are currently doubling down on business as usual say that us greenies want to take everything "back to the Stone Age". While that is an extreme and unrealistic view, we will be going back to something as the limits to growth usher in a new era of no-waste, no-growth, sustainable steady state economies.

In this pursuit, one area we will be returning to is the use of commercial sailing ships. How far back would that be? Not as far back as the Stone Age. Or the Bronze Age, or Iron Age. It turns out that we would not have to go far back at all. Just to the Sail Age.

The last commercial sailing ship to round Cape Horn was the Pamir, in 1949. Sailing vessels were plying international waters right up to the 1950s, mostly moving low value cargoes great distances, like wheat from Australia to Europe.

As things turn out, sailing ships like the Pamir, or ships similar to them, are predicted to return into service in the near future. This greenie for one, looks forward to the day that wind replaces fossil fuels on the high seas.

The Future Of Travel

Creative low-carbon, sustainable travel is the way.

When fossil fuel based recreational travel becomes as rare as smoking in a car full of kids with the windows rolled up, those with the urge to venture far from home will have to come up with sustainable alternatives. Undoubtedly bicycles will be part of the solution.

Another home made bike trailer that looks simple enough to build on a utility trailer.

I can't think of a more efficient and enjoyable mode of longer-distance travel than the bicycle. Once you add a funky trailer you have a method for getting places. A person could use such a set-up to get to a port in order to board a sailboat waiting to carry the traveler abroad, or to a train station to further their journey.

There are also businesses ready to get in on the future of travel.

I see this as both a sustainability and obesity mitigation project. The only losers would be the dinosaur-dependent, fossilized old energy order.

Sleep above, storage below.

Pedal power coupled with the energy of the wind will soon be the way for the conscientious recreational traveler. I can't think of a better or more enjoyable way to go.

Sailing The Winds Of Change

Pessimists curse the wind. Optimists adjust the sails.

 

The winds of change are blowing, and the clouds of denial are being swept away. We are realizing how the status quo is no longer a viable option for a new reality. Time for a new destination.

People are adjusting the sails and are altering course in their personal journey. They are responding to opportunities provided by the shifting winds, and are leading the way to a greener future through their actions. Collectively, they are making change happen.

Forward thinking communities are transitioning to a post-oil world in a movement started in 2007 by British teacher and permaculturist Rob Hopkins. Transition Towns promote sustainability at the local level — whether it's to do with food, transport, building materials or energy resources.

Canada's first such project started in 2009 in Peterborough, Ontario. There are 420 transitioning communities worldwide, including my home town, Sooke, BC. Part of the program here has been a massively successful new community garden that is one of four in town. I am looking forward to tending to my new plot in the spring.

Transition US has a vision "that every community in the United States will have engaged its collective creativity to unleash an extraordinary and historic transition to a future beyond fossil fuels; a future that is more vibrant, abundant and resilient; one that is ultimately preferable to the present".

Even the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut of big business is beginning to see what the future holds if we continue on our current path. No sustainable environment, no sustainable profits.

To show how far this line of sober thinking has gone, a major corporation took out a recent full-page add in the New York Times that read, “Don’t buy what you don’t need. Think twice before you buy anything.” 

 They must read this blog, like many others that are rolling up their sleeves, working hard, and mapping a new course.

Will the winds of change obliterate unsustainable production and consumption? Are we finally waking up to the impossibility of our 5-planet lifestyles, and our own deepening dissatisfaction with them? Can we adjust the sails in time to ride out the uncertain conditions that are sure to prevail?

According to the good things that I am seeing, including some very encouraging comments on this blog, we are beginning to turn this thing around. But there are no passengers on this sailboat. We are all crew, and it is time to get busy.

We can make sure we ALL arrive safely at our new destination.

Sailing And Simplicity At Sea

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”  Mark Twain

Sailboats symbolize many things I cherish - simplicity, sustainability, nature, and freedom. It was with great interest, then, that I listened to a friend tell me about his recent purchase of a small sailboat, his first ever.

He was particularly proud of the fact that he bought his first sailboat before his first car. He is an avid cyclist, and is not planning on making that first car purchase any time soon. He won't need a car where he is going.

My sailor friend is letting go of the shore completely, and will be downsizing to the simplicity of living at sea. In the small space of his sailboat, every nook and cranny will be packed with the most basic of gear. Only the most useful items make it on board.

American sailor, Robin Lee Graham, was 16 years old in 1965 when he set out on a solo westward circumnavigation in his sailboat the Dove. He took 5 years to complete his journey, and when done said, "At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much."

I don't have a sailboat, but I can view my set of possessions as the boat that carries me on the sea of life. And every once in a while, like the good sailor I am, I must assess my performance, as well as the performance of my vessel.

Am I the captain of my own ship? Am I feeling the freedom of my journey? Am I discovering how little I need? Have I plotted a realistic path? Am I traveling light, and as sustainably as possible? Do I need to jettison anything? Am I maintaining the order, service, and discipline I require to make this passage?

May the wind be in your sails, for on the sea of life, that wind is more dear than money. With some guidance and skill, it will safely blow you to untold adventure and discovery, while leaving the waters untainted for those sailors who will follow.