Eco-nomic Well-Being

Lessons from Nature for 2010

2010-01-18T15:31:00.000-08:00

by Sarah Anne Edwards

The New Year has begun with dire predictions for the future and over half the country believing we’re in a fix that won’t be ending soon. As an ecopsychologist my first thought in contemplating the coming year is to turn to nature and explore there what insights and wisdom might be found there for how we can respond personally in our current circumstances. Having survived and thrived over eons, nature seems to have mastered weathering whatever might come.

Reflecting on my past ten years living so close to nature’s ways in the forest, a number of lessons for the New Year popped quickly to mind:

1. Live with eyes wide. One of the noteworthy characteristics of the many creatures who share this forest is that they are highly alert, ever vigilant. They seem to excel at paying close attention to their present circumstances, intently aware that the events of the moment hold crucial information about welcomed opportunities as well as concerns to be avoided. Replacing any tendency to rely the automatic pilot of past assumptions with an attitude of vigilance could serve us equally well.

2. Live with windows open. Even with our eyes open we won’t see much if we don’t let the world around us in. For example, this summer we waited patiently for our crop of cherries to ripen. Late one afternoon it appeared the time to pick them was near, but being it was late in the day, we decided to wait until morning. Well, by morning, only four of 100’s of plump ripe cherries remained. Of course. The birds live in our yard full-time. We don’t. We missed the moment and learned, once again, that unless we want to settle for leftovers we need to keep our windows to the world open to see what’s going on. That also means being willing to see it as it is, not how it would be most convenient to us.

3. Be out and about. Even with eyes wide and windows open we won’t see everything we need if we don’t venture out into the world. I watch the ducks on the pond in the meadow below our house everyday and without fail they’re always there. There are plenty of bushes and shoreline nooks and crannies where they could tuck themselves away, but they don’t do that. They’re on the pond or waddling along the shore, out where the action is. I know we’re all busy keeping our nose to the grindstone, but not only is being out where the action where we’ll see find new opportunities popping up, it’s also enlivening and energizing even for the weary.

4. The peanuts aren’t always there. As we head out and about we best not depend only on our old familiar haunts. This thought occurred to me while tossing peanuts out on our deck for the birds this morning. It’s something we do often, especially in the winter. But there was nary a bird in sight when I opened the screen door ... not until the peanuts clunked to the floor. As regular as we are at this, the birds seem to know that some days there won’t be peanuts on our deck. So they don’t hang around waiting for us to show up. When we’re there, they’re Johnny on the spot, when we’re not, well, I’m not sure where they are, but obviously they have other places to go. They’re hungry, so they’ll be where to food is. And that’s where we need to be, so to speak. We need to be where we’re needed, doing what’s needed when it’s needed, and that won’t always be the place we’re most accustomed to.

5. Don’t get attached along a rapidly moving stream. At a casual glace, everything in this forest may look pretty much the same from day to day, but actually, just like the rest of life, it’s always changing. Some days it’s cold and windy. Some days it’s warm and still. And every other combination of other possible characteristics. Even non-living things don’t remain the same; the environment changes them too in time. All of nature is forever going with the flow, so to speak, without questioning if it’s where they want to go. It’s where they’re going. We as humans have a tendency to hang on when what we need to do is to let go so we can get where life is taking us. It’s actually a lot easier that way.

6. Find a save place to rest. Every living thing here is in its own way both prey and predator. We all need to eat, so I often wondered how to our fellow creatures find a place that’s safe enough to rest. Quite by accident I’ve discovered a few of the ingenious ways they do that. Looking up, up, up to the top of one of the tallest trees in our yard one day I spotted a huge clump of brush in the branches. For some time a pondered what that clump was. Turns out it’s a nest of multiple-generation of grey squirrels who share our property. When checking a water pipe we had covered and wrapped for winter only, we were surprised to find the wrapping had become the winter home of a hibernating ground squirrel. Surely this is a time for us to be equally ingenious and enterprising in our quest to find a safe haven where we can afford to rest easy, even if like our ground squirrel the place we find is a different from what we’d expect and maybe even a bit non-conventional.

7. Sleep the sleep of a loyal dog. I love to watch our dog sleep. Once he’s assured everyone is settled into their proper places and all around the house is well for the time being, he curls up nearby and drifts into a deep, rhythmically peaceful sleep. No futzing over the details of the day, no fretting over the worries of tomorrow. Aaah. I feel myself relaxing just watching him. Don’t we owe ourselves such deep and peaceful sleep? How can we take on the day, or even make it through the day, unless we are adequately rested. So once we’ve found our safe place and all is well for the time being, let’s give ourselves a break. Let’s sleep the sound sleep of a loyal dog.

I've been making a place for these simple lessons in guiding my life each day and find them indeed most helpful in keeping me atuned to the new and emerging reality of our New Year.

Our Response to Mad Maxers

2009-08-11T17:27:00.000-07:00

by Paul Edwards

At one of the Sustainable Livelihoods seminars Sarah and did recently, three men in the audience were adamant that the future awaiting us will resemble the world of Mad Max. For those of you unfamiliar with the movie on which this scenario is based, it’s a fantasized snapshot of a future characterized by violence, fear, and brutality. In such a world, the three priorities in life will be food, guns, and ammo.

This is not our view of how we need to think about or plan for the future. Here’s why:

You can’t build a wall high enough or have a gun big enough to withstand the kind of weaponry too readily available today. If we want a secure future, our best bet is being part of a sustainable community of people who work together to support each another in providing for our basic needs and well-being, including physical security.

If we assume, as the Mad Maxers do, that the American population will shrink to about one out of ten of us today, we would have a populous roughly equivalent to the number of inhabitants just before the Civil War – about the time of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. That was a time when more people worked on their own than worked to the rhythm of a machine and when barter was always a choice for trade. We expect to see both these become trends in the emerging new economy we call the Elm Street Economy.

That was also a time when slaves in the South did much of the manual labor in that region. Slavery became unthinkable when just one gallon of gasoline being the equivalent to 500 hours of manual labor. Now automation is on the verge of replacing hand and stoop labor farm workers. But without renewable means of low-cost energy, slavery, indentured servitude and company towns could return. These we most certainly hope will not develop, but a world such as that just might devolve into a Mad Max world.

In a Mad Max world, to defend against nations and terrorists who bear grievances or perceive gains by vanquishing America, the U.S. would need to have a large standing military – something the pre-Civil War U.S. did not have. With only one in ten Americans remaining it is doubtful the population could produce enough wealth and resources to support such a military.

So while there are some who believe there may be enough oil still remaining in the ground to sustain a greatly reduced population for some time, do we want to take that chance? Do we want to risk the emergence of a Mad Max world? Or shall we begin now to build an Elm Street Economy, a resilient local communities based on renewable energies that will enable us to adapt to a declining amount of cheap fossil fuel? For myself, the latter is my choice. In part, because surviving in the social order or disorder of a Mad Max world would not allow me to be the kind of person I am willing to be.

July Summary: Good News Truly Upside Down

2009-08-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

The main characteristic we noticed in our News Updates during the past month was a near obsessive drive to make us think the economy is getting better in the sense of heading back to the life we were knew it prior to 2008. We doubt that most people are experiencing personal signs of such a return in their daily lives though.

This kind of cognitive dissonance might lull us into some kind of restless false hopeful expectations, but it doesn't contribute to a real sense of eco-nomic well-being, because it conflicts openly with real life experience.

The most important thing we can do for our eco-nomic well-being right now is to accept that we're not going back and that's a good thing. It won't serve us to go back. Back is what got us here. We need to go forward.

Fortunately the "eco" part of eco-nomic, which is clearly not better, is helping us pay attention to what's really going on. There has been so much news about climate and weather disruption throughout the US that it's pretty hard not to pay attention.

Most of us are experiencing this personally in one dramatic way or another: too much heat or too much cold, serious flooding or serious drought, a pervasive feeling of "Whatever happened to summer?"

We just returned from Phoenix where it was over 110 degrees throughout the week (100 at midnight; 115 one day) and news anchors there were warning folks not to let their animals walk on paved outdoor surfaces.

Our friends in Portland are sweltering too, because they're not used to over 100 degree heat. A colleague in Maine is baffled at the endless rain. Friends in New York are shivering when they're usually sweltering.

Granted if the dire aspects of the financial side of our eco-nomic situation are lessening somewhat that will give us more time to make the changes we need to make to live in a more eco-nomically sustainable way. And in this reguard we continued to see some very promising signs this past month that people are doing just that.

Now, let's just have to keep moving forward in directions like these:

* Money spent at locally owned businesses creates more local business
Tough Times Lead to Local Currencies Daily Time Magazine 7/32
Communities and their residents all fare far better when money spent in local communities stays in the local community. Local currency builds strong local communities. Too bad times have to get bad before we do good things.

* Don't have money, but we've got time; volunteering is on the rise
Economy Low, Generosity High USA Today 7/28
This looks like a snapshot from the future when money has become less important and we do more for ourselves and each other.

* Small scale local farming becoming a national trend

New Generation of Farmers Gong Small Scale Daily Camera 7/26
More evidence that this positive trend is catching on.

* Now that people are experiencing financial distress, they don't want to be alone.
Recession Lesson: Share and Swap Replaces Buy and Grab
Washington Post 7/17
Since being alone will be increasingly difficult in a lower-energy world, it's good that we're instinctively moving in that direction

* Local utility at forefront of the local-is-better movement begins providing 70% of its water from its own backyard
A Utility the Fills Its Own Aquifers LA Times 7/20
Every home and every community needs to be begin collecting its own otherwise wasted water run off.

* Young people find their calling in organic farming
On Tiny Plots a New Generation of Farmers Emerges USA Today 7/14
In his book Peak Everything, Richard Heinberg points out our impending need for 50 million farmers.

* 47% of consumers say they already are living more simply and find life richer living with less!
In Recession, a Simple 'Silver' Lining USA Today 7/9
This is GREAT news that is looking like a long-term shift in fundamental values.

* Belt tightening is underway; savings up, borrowing's down
A Fundamental Shift; Consumers Are Saving Rather than Spending Los Angeles Times 7/9
This is more very good news, but it also hints that the economy will face some difficult times in the short terms as our economy adjusts to living within our means.

* Banks pull back severely on card lending: new cards down 38%
Banks Get Stingy on Credit USA Today 7/7
I know what terrible news this is for many merchants and some customers, but it is a must if we are to begin living within our means. See U.S. Debt Shrinking at a Glacial Pace

* Developers are creating subdivisions around organic farms to attract buyers
Organic Farms as Sub-Division Amenities New York Times 7/1

* Community gardens in urban neighborhoods a source of future food security and much more
Urban Farming Movement Like a Revolution CNN 6/29

* Milestone for consumers as they try to avoid further debt
Consumers Opt for Debit Over Credit Cards NPR 6/29

Monthly News Summary: Steps Forward, Steps Back

2009-07-01T13:01:00.000-07:00

There have been fewer news stories this month about the negative impact the economic downturn is having on people's lives. Perhaps such stories have become too commonplace now to be "news." Or maybe having so many negative news reports is putting an unwelcomed damper on spending. For whatever reason there have been an increasing number of upbeat proclamations this month about how the signs of downturn are slowing.

Maybe this suffices as good news, but it actually it is misleading news. We should not take glowing reports of slowdowns as a sign of an upturn. It feels more like grasping at straws as more reports confirm that all is not well. You'll find plenty evidence to this effect in the Pathways to Transition News Update Archives for June. Pick any topics of your choice.

But then, if you're reading this blog, you probably don't need to read the headlines to know we are not on the way back to business as usual. Our society is undergoing a massive fundamental restructuring. It is a necessary and unavoidable restructuring, but it is or will be inflicting a lot of pain on us individually, our families and our communities.

If we want to ease the pain, it is vital that we know precisely what's happening, so we won't be too surprised and overwhelmed to respond wisely and urgently as it touches our own lives. It's vital we not be lulled into the complacency of wishful-thinking optimism, even if it is being hawked in the news. This is why we post the Daily New Updates on Pathways to Transition. We track the good, the bad and the ugly there. We know you can tell what's real by checking in with your own life and the lives of those in your communities, but it's always good to see our persepctions validated or, when necessary, awakened by realizing that others see it too.

Despite the on-going evidence that all is not well, there actually is some good news this month.

The good news is that we've seen many more articles and features in the media on the positive steps individuals and communities are taking to respond creatively and intelligently to the massive eco-nomic restructuring that's taking place. Here's a summary of this month's Positive Signs with links where you can read more. Then be sure to read on further for the summary of this month's Steps in the Wrong Direction.

Positive Signs

* Milestone for consumers as they try to avoid further debt
Consumers Opt for Debit Over Credit Cards NPR 6/29

* Household savings hits highest level in 15 yearsSavings Rate Up Amid Slow Spending Denver Post 6/27 This is only good news if it's a sign that Americans are choosing to live within their means and saving for emergency situations so they won't risk being one unexpected crisis away from falling into poverty. Actually often it means that they don't have any other choice except to pay off debts. So it certainly shouldn't be taken as a sign of renewed confidence and well-being, or even that folks have extra money to save. See Debt Deflation in America.

* Young adults talk of not getting enslaved to material goals of their parents' generationRecession Generation? Young Adults Brace for Simpler Lifestyle 6/26

* Number of home schooled children soars Homeschooling Goes Mainstream AFP 6/25 This is most likely the way of the future as we localize and simplify our lives.

* Urban farming takes off.Gardening Goes to Town in Farm City AFP USA Today 6/25 There is a chapter on the Urban Thoreau in our book Middle-Class Lifeboat. It's one of the basic skills we are all be learning.

* Families getting quality beef for $3-$5/lb direct from ranchers.Cow-Pooling: Buying Beef in Mega Bulk New York Times 6/15

* Chick hatcheries can't keep up with urban orders, six-month back orders for household hens.Back Yard Chickens on the Rise, Despite Neighbors' Clucks
Los Angeles Times 6/15

* Rust-belt cities explore plans to shrink as population dwindles Intriguing Plan: Bulldoze Ghost Bergs, Return Them to Nature Alternet 6/13 Related story: Counties turn rural roads they can't afford to repair to gravel. Chicago Tribune 6/12 While this would not appear to be good news; it is because it is a sign the communities are adjusting to the new restructuring reality. It provivdes insight into what will be coming elsewhere soon so we can respond more quickly. Hopefully this land will be restored to a natural condition that will allow for food cultivation.

* Neighborhood and community fruit exchanges grow in popularity. Neighbor, Can You Spare a Plum New York Times 6/9 Many Transition communities are setting up neighborhood fruit tree harvesting exchanges. We're hoping to start one this summer here at Let's Live Local.

* Difficult times call for creative strategies. Cooperatively owned businesses emerged as a democratic, grassroots, Do-It-Yourself response.Worker Co-Ops: Green Jobs You Can Own Organic Consumers Association 6/6 Hope we will see more of this. We have formed both a wood-pellet and organic food coop here at Let's Live Local, which is a non-profit.

* Community groups building local food security Look on the Bright Side Energy Bulletin Today 6/4

* Collaborative solutions making communities resilient Community Kitchens World Changing 6/3

* Stylist low-cost green homes catching Prefab home Now Sprout Green Designs USA Today 6/2

Steps in the Wrong Direction

This year's original song written for the American Idol final competition could be a theme song for this month's Steps in the Wrong Direction. Co-written by Idol judge Kara DioGuardi, the song is entitled "No Boundaries." Here's a sample of it's message: "You can go higher, you can go deeper, there are no boundaries above and beneath you. Break every rule 'cause there's nothing between you and your dreams."

Of course, this is supposed to be an inspiring ditty, but it should be obvious to us all now that there are boundaries. But like two-year-olds with parents who want to be our friends instead of parent us in the ways of the world, we have ignored sensible boundaries for far too long, lived beyond our means. We've broken every rule and now we're paying the piper for our lack of respect. And sadly we're still at it in many circles. Here's three high-publicized examples from this months posts:

* Mood turns optimistic Despite Everything ... More American See Sunny Skies Ahead USA Today 6/23 54% of those polled by USA Today said they are worse off than a year ago, but 59% believe they will be better off a year from now. This may sounds positive, but this is about the worst thing we could be thinking right now. The only way we'll be better off is to realize that "things" are not going to "turn around." We've got to turn around the way we live.

* Construction of new single-family home up Housing Starts Jump 17% USA Today 6/17 While foreclosed homes and housing developments sitting empty across the nation this is not the way to go.

* Faux frugality: the rich welcome the humble abode Burlap Is the New Velvet Los Angeles Times 6/8 Those with $3,600 to spare on a pair of burlap covered upholstered chairs, dial down ostentation so the look may be modest, but the price is not. Shown a limited edition eco-chic lamp $850 Photo by Ken Hively

Be prepared. Check on Pathways to Transition often for the latest updates of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Can Our Health and Happiness abide Great Sacrifice?

2009-01-21T11:52:00.000-08:00

A University of Nebraska Medical Center study suggests that improving levels of happiness or satisfaction with life also gives rise to better health in the future.*

The study indicates as we become happier and more satisfied with life, we tend to become healthier as well. Mohammad Siahpush, Ph.D., professor of health promotion, who led the study reports that those who expressed feeling happy and satisfied with their lives were more likely to have excellent, good or very good health three years later, as well as an absence of long-term and limiting health concerns and a better overall level of physical health.

This isn't surprising, but most of us heard President Obama affirm in his inaugural speech what so many of us are already know - we're facing rough waters and stormy times for years to come. "That we are in the midst of crisis is well understood," he said. "Our nation is at war ... our economy is weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices .... [T]he challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many." He then called upon us for shared sacrifice.

Does this mean we can expect to be less happy, less satisfied and less healthy in the years ahead? Can sacrifice and satisfaction co-exist in America? That depends on us, doesn't it?

Certainly if our happiness is tied to comfort, convenience, financial success, and material wealth we can expect some very unhappy and unhealthy folks in the foreseeable future. For nearly a century those are the very things the advertising industry has entrained us to believe are the path to happiness and satisfaction. (See Breaking the Over-Consumption Habit) So in this sense clearly the sacrifices have already begun.

We need only read the morning paper to know that's true. High school sports programs are being cancelled. The number of students accepted for college is down while tuition costs are up. Foreclosures and bankruptcies are on the rise. Hospitals and retail stores are closing. Millions in retirement funds have been lost. Over a half a million jobs have disappeared. States are running out of funds for unemployment benefits and cutting basic services. People are having to choose between food or fuel or medication. Some are living out of their cars, even in upscale communities like Santa Barbara, CA. Soup kitchen lines are growing longer with many once in the middle class. Social Security and Medicare are most certainly scheduled for cuts to elderly who are already barely covering their costs for food, shelter, and medical care.

For Americans who have been used to decades of prosperity such sacrifices are a bitter pill, especially for those who are already dealing with them. Few of us are feeling happy or satisfied about our current and projected circumstance. But can we feel happy and satisfied in it?

For the most part I'm not seeing a welcoming spirit of sacrifice as of yet. Though there are occasional news reports of workers willing to take pay cuts to prevent co-workers from being laid off, many Americans aren't ready to accept the sacrifices they're already coping with, let alone those ahead to which Obama alludes. Instead I see a lot of indignation.

Parents furious about cuts in school sports programs and 50-student classrooms. Neighbors outraged that people are camping out in cars and RV's on their neighborhood streets. Protests about cuts in public services. Workers demanding plants be kept open and benefits kept in place. Actors embroiled over whether to strike. ER doctors suing the government for decent reimbursement fees. Teachers demonstrating for teacher's pay over testing materials. Parents unbelieving that they must drive a long distance get their sick child to the hospital.

I believe we're seeing this general resistance to accept sacrifice when it touches our personal lives for two reasons:

1) a pervasive sense of entitlement on the one hand and
2) a profound sense of injustice on the other.

We've grown to expect an unending stream of the latest, best, fastest, most convenient, easy-to-use products and services of a quantity and quality beyond anything our ancestors could have imagined. But, as the reality of our economic and environmental challenges surge onward unabated, our sense of entitlement will inevitably erode. The question is, into what?

As far as a sense of injustice goes, that will be yet harder to accept. As I overheard one retiree comment, "Sacrifice? I've already sacrificed. I worked hard for 48 years and I paid out dearly needed income into Social Security and a 401k every one of those years so that I'd have some security. Now that I'm too old and sick from all the stress of working, 40% of my savings have disappeared at the hands of billionaires in failed financial institutions who are getting billions in bonuses that we're going to have to sacrifice in order to pay for! And now they have the nerve to talk about cutting back our piddly Social Security and Medicare payments !! Give me a break!"

There is no doubt the greed Obama also alluded to in his inaugural address has resulted in grave injustice to many middle-class and low income citizens. So, just how readily we will embrace the need to sacrifice and how satisfied we will be with our circumstance may well depend on how fairly distributed the sacrifices are and how evenly the suffering is spread.

But as psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl wrote in his book Man's Search for Meaning, meaning, and I would say satisfaction and happiness, are not something bestowed upon us. They are something we must find within whatever our circumstances might be.

This past week I had a chance to be with people from two rapidly growing movements who are taking this observation to heart. They aren't defining the changes we face today as sacrifices, but as needed, albeit difficult and uncomfortable, adjustments or corrections in how we live to bring us back into alignment with a naturally sustainable way of life. (Again, see Breaking the Consumption Habit for more on what's involved in making this shift.)

Earlier in the week I took part in a Transition Initiatives workshop that I'm now certified to teach where people are learning how to organize their communities to shift from the perils of a vulnerable global marketplace to a resilient, sustainable local economy where individuals and families can thrive. Later in the week I led a group from our community on a field trip to the Quail Springs Permaculture Farm and Training Center, where they are using and teaching principles for how to work with nature's inherent abundance instead of using costly industrialized approaches to overcome the forcesof nature.

Both these groups recognize that while our troubled economy has provided us with vast material wealth, it is desvastating our health and well-being and that of the planet and threatening our survival. They don't downplay the seriousness of the problems we face, but they are nonetheless finding satisfaction and happiness in working to respond to these circumstances. Instead of seeing them as sources of sacrifice and suffering , they're focusing on:

1) holding a positive vision for alternative ways of living through collective community efforts
2) working to carry out this vision in their daily lives
3) expressing gratitude for whatever blessings each day brings.

These movements are unrelentingly realistic, they are simultaneously upbeat and enthusiastic. There are over 900 local community groups working on Transition Initiatives around the world and permaculture projects are underway in virtually every country world-wide. I invite you to explore what we in our local community are doing in our Let's Live Local Transition Initiative and check out the resources below to find out more about two movements, what they're doing, and how you might get involved in your community.

Do we want to view the years ahead as unsatisfying times of suffering and sacrifice that risk our health and well-being? Or do we want to find meaning in the difficulties we face and draw satisfaction from our efforts to respond to them? It's up to us.

Resources

Transition Initiatives:
You Tube Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGHrWPtCvg0&feature=related Transition USA Website - http://transitionus.org/
Article: Five Transition Initiatives - http://www.hopedance.org/cms/content/view/595/86/

Permacultlure:
You Tube Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sohI6vnWZmk
Web site - http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/perma.html
Quail Springs Permaculture Farm and Training Center - http://www.quailsprings.org/content/blogcategory/view/20/72/

*To read more about this and other related studies on happiness and satisfaction see:

Happiness and Satisfaction Might Lead to Better Health (http://www.cfah.org/hbns/getDocument.cf)

Health Official: A little of what you fancy does you good (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/216383.stm)

Happiness protects against colds (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/4009.php)

New Year's Resolution

2009-01-06T10:33:00.000-08:00

Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do or Do Without It

We all know that most people don't keep their New Year's Resolutions more than a few weeks or a couple of months. That's why I long ago established three very specific requirements for any New Year's Resolutions I make:

1. I have to unequivocally want to do it.
2. I have to be fully committed to doing it.
3. I have know that I can and will do it at least for the year ahead.

Otherwise, making resolutions is a waste of time. We know that too. That's why two our of three people don't bother making any.

In years past subjecting my resolutions to these tough requirements has served me well. If I wanted to do something but had doubts that I would then I altered the resolution in a way that I knew I would do it, making it a first step so to speak, toward a more difficult goal. For example, if I know I won't stop eating sweets, but sincerely want to eat fewer, I will resolve to only have one a week.

Using this approach I kept every resolution I set for many years. For the past couple of years, though, there hasn't been anything I wanted to do enough to meet these stringent requirements. So I joined the ranks of those who don't make New Year's Resolutions. I was about to do that again this year until I read a Morning Sentinel article called "Lessons from the Depression" by Larry Grard.

The article's subtitle was a slogan from the Depression of the 1930's that I'd come across in Richard Heinberg's Peak Everything and in Sharon Astyk's book Depletion and Abundance. I wrote about it myself in a blog on how both the environment and the economy are demanding that we develop a Grown-Up World View. I even thought of making up t-shirts and bumpers stickers espousing the return to this slogan -

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without it.

Reading it again yesterday I knew I wanted to make that my 2009New Year's Resolution! To use this slogan as a criteria before I buy anything. To ask myself: is what I have used up or worn out? Can I make do with what I have? Do I actually need this?

I this something I unequivocally want to do it? Yes. Our toss-it-out, buy-a-new one, get-the-latest, have-to have-it way of life is depleting our environment, burdening our personal lives with debt, and diminishing our health and well-being by forcing us to work ever harder and longer so we can buy ever more new things to clean, maintain, store and discard.

Am I fully committed to keeping this resolution? Yes? In fact, I've already begun for some time now. I toss the Victoria's Secret, et al, catalogs I get without browsing through them to be tempted by all the ever-so-appealing items I really do not need. I never shop in malls. When I go to a store I only shop for items on my list and don't browse the aisles. I continually hear myself saying, "I don't really need that." We even forwent Christmas gifts this year in place of making donations to much needed causes we want to support. So, yes, I'm committed.

Do I know for sure that I can and will keep this resolution at least through this next year? Well ... sometimes I still slip on my intention and I fear I might do so again on occasion. For example, I bought a red sweater I saw on sale before the holidays. Did I need that red sweater? No. Could I have lived without it? Yes. But I bought it and I've enjoyed wearing it during the holidays. So .... here's what I resolve:

I intend to use up, wear out, and make do with what I have and do without what I don't need before I buy something new. Should I fail to keep this intention at some point I will take a serious look at what caused me to veer from my commitment to determine how I got sidetracked and what I can do to make sure I don't get sidetracked in that same way again.

Now, do I know I can and will I keep this resolution? Yes.
Anyone want to join me? There's a poll on the right where you can let me know what you think if you'd like.

Happy New Year,
Sarah

Have You Ever Wondered?

2008-12-03T13:44:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered how governments, corporations, small businesses, and families can all be in debt at the same time and at such astronomical amounts?

Have you ever wondered how there can be that much money to loan? Where does it all come from? Who has it on hand?

Have you ever wondered how it can be that the people who work to produce all the real wealth in the world are in debt to those who loan it to others?

Or how about this? Why do governments choose to borrow money from bankers at interest when they could issue it themselves and have no interest to pay?

In fact, why does debt seem to be necessary to have for what's considered a good economy? Is it possible to have a currency that circulated permanently without debt?

I have often wondered such things, but I must admit I gave up long ago trying to understand why our economy operates the way it does. But from the time I was a child I was puzzled by questions like this. Why do prices have to continually rise? Why do we constantly have to make more and more money year after year? Why couldn't we just settle in at a comfortable level? After all, most people in the US did that and were satisfied until the 1920's.

These are just a few of the questions asked .... and answered ... in a 45 minute video called Money as Debt. It took me awhile and some repetition of various segments to grasp many of the points, but once I got it, I finally understood financial issues that have long baffled me and have been of particular concern in the past few months as it became clear that our economy is in serious trouble.

I also noticed something quite alarming in this clip. The red curved line illustrating exponential growth. I recognized this curve right away. It's an incontrovertible principle of nature that demonstrates nothing can grow exponentially forever. Growth will peak and then collapse.

This little red line symbolizes of what lies ahead for our current growth-based economy. It cannot be sustained indefinitely. Period.

The clip presents some promising changes we could make in our national monetary system, but I don't hold much hope for those any time soon. The best part of the clip is that it also mentions, almost as an aside, what we can do and what I think it means we had all better do FAST in our own local communities: set up barter, trade, swap, and time exchange systems and issue local currencies. They work and are imminently doable.

If you've ever shared some of the questions I've posed above, please watch this clip, share your comments here, and let's have a dialog. Money as Debt http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9050474362583451279

Sarah

We Should Be Asking

2008-11-20T10:58:00.000-08:00

"Frugality is making a comeback," claims the San Francisco Chronicle. The article proceeds to describe how, "fearful that economic conditions could get worse and stay that way, Americans are showing an enthusiasm for thriftiness not seen in decades" and provides examples of the many ways Americans are thinking twice about if and what they need to spend money on.

This is good, right? This is what we need to be doing for our health and sanity and for the beleaguered planet that's becoming as depleted as our bank accounts and our government coffers. But the article claims "scrimping may be good for stressed family budgets, but it's bad for the nation's overall economy."

So we need to be asking ... what's wrong with an economy that's good for its citizens when it goes bad? 'This is one of many things we had better be asking about the economy.

We need to be asking what's with an economy that's stock market goes up with news of rising unemployment. We need to be asking why for our economy to thrive to people have to shop themselves into debt. Why does sending good jobs to others countries that pay low wages and offer few benefits make for a "good"economy? Why are lower prices a relief for most people but a bane for the economy (See "Stocks Hurt by Declining Prices")? Why are diamond encrusted doggies collars are selling like hot-cakes while lines at food pantries fill up with once middle-class families?

Of course there is a lot about this economy right now that's not good for people, too. Like cuts in education, fewer people who can afford to go to college, people losing their homes, people losing their jobs, higher food and health care costs, and more people going without health insurance. So what's with an economy that can only provides these important basics when people and governments spend themselves into debt and deplete our natural resources.

We need to start taking notice that such details just don't make sense. They're a sign something is terribly wrong. We need to pay attention when "economic experts" like Tom Friedman of the New York Times tells Meet the Press that what we need to get out of our economic difficulty is to get Americans shopping again (see "Gonna Need a Bigger Boat") .

There is something seriously askew and we need to take note, because if we don't, as soon as things let up a bit, we'll be right back out there shopping at the mall for things we don't need, going further in debt, further depleting our natural resources, and wondering why we feel tired, and overworked, and wish life could be different.

If life is going to be different, we need to be different. We have to say "No, I don't need to buy this." "No, I can get along fine without buying that." "My life, my family, my friends, my health, my children's future ... are more important than constantly having more and more and more that's bigger, better, and faster.

Yes, that will mean the economy as currently constructed will not "recover." It means we won't be able to "wait it out" until life returns to business as usual. A new economy will need to evolve from the ruins of this one. But if we pay close attention we'll see this one is not working in our best interest even when it's working. Yes, for most there will be inconvenience and disruption for awhile. But aren't things getting pretty inconvenient already? Haven't they been pretty inconvenient?

Would you agree? Take the poll to the right and leave a comment about what you think needs to happen.

Set Your Burden Down

2008-11-03T12:27:00.000-08:00

Are you weary? Feeling low? Judith Freeman's op ed piece in the LA Times Sunday, An All Consuming American Fever, includes a graphic metaphor for why so many of us feel like we're dragging ourselves through life.

As Freeman hears again and again how we as American consumers need to "hang tough" because the world economy depends on our continuing to shop 'til we drop, an image pops into her head - an image I now can't get out of my head.

She sees "a great heard of donkeys so loaded down with goods that they're staggering beneath the weight."

But now, as she points out, we increasingly unable to keep up our role of "the world's beast of burden. The party is over and for many Americans it wasn't even much fun." We've been living beyond our carrying capacity. We have to cut back. We have to start shedding the goods that are weighing us down. We have to set our burden down.

Now there is an image I love! The image of us setting down the burden of having to have more and more and more. The image of taking a rest from our compulsion to buy. I love the thought of casting off the weight of our debt and cavorting about unencumbered.

Without seeing it quite in that light, that's what my husband and I were doing when we and our neighbors held a huge yard sale this past summer. That's why we've been tossing the deluge of catalogs that come in mail everyday into the recycle bin without browsing through them. That's why we no longer wander through the stores where we shop to see what all they have, but head instead strait toward the items we need and on to check out.

And that's why, after talking about it for several years but never actually doing it, we've let our friends and loved ones know that this year we won't be exchanging Christmas gifts. We are tired. We want to set our burden down.

We want to enjoy sharing time with each other, instead. Enjoy talking, laughing, exchanging ideas, doing activities and projects together. We want to be those donkeys cavorting unencumbered.

But Judith Freeman also touches indirectly on the fear that lurks in our national consciousness: what will happen if we don't all pick our burdens up again soon? What will happen if we stop shopping, shopping, shopping? Will the world really collapse?

Her closing question is a crucial one: "Can there be a different kind of engine to drive the world economy other than the endless, and often mindless, consumption of ordinary Americans?"

She says she's not holding her breath. I say she better not. I say we better not. Because we're the ones who need to create that different kind of engine. We're the ones who need to build a new engine based on living with what we need, enjoying what we have, making what we have last, using it up, taking care of it, making it do, and traveling light through life while contributing what we can to others and they to us in turn.

Over 100 communities in England and around the world are already doing just that. They're not holding their breath. They are rebuilding their communities as Transition Towns. Here's how the first Transition Town, Totnes, UK, describes what they're doing:

"This time brings a great opportunity for rethinking the way we live and making conscious choices about what kind of community and world we would like to live in. Change is coming whether we like it or not – and a planned response to the change will leave us in a much stronger position than if we wait until change is upon us."

If there isn't such a movement in your community yet, you can join with others and start one. Here's a link to what's underway in the USA.

Let's lay our burdens down. Let's get on with living instead of spending.

The Missing Connection

2008-10-28T15:41:00.001-07:00

The failing economy and our devastated environment - from a distance, it appears that these two problems are separate, but when we look closer, the connection becomes unmistakable." The Green Collar Economy by Van Jones

Some friends invited us over for dinner to watch a recorded segment from the Oprah Winfrey Show they thought we should see. It was about how ordinary middle-class people across the country are changing their lives in order to adjust to the difficult economic pressures most of the population are feeling.

It was an upbeat show obviously meant to be informative and empowering. The role environmental crises is playing in our current economic challenges was not mentioned. Instead the expert guest suggested that we as American consumers are responsible for our current economic problems because the banking system has be structured to respond to our demands. Thus, he claimed, we as consumers can solve the nation's economic problem by getting out of debt and not consuming as much.

The remainder of the show featured steps various individuals are taking to cut expenses. Two friends, for example, were swapping couches instead of buying new ones. A family was camping out in their back yard rather than taking a vacation. A mother was borrowing DVD's from the library for her children instead of buying the newest release each week. Another woman was making a full-time job of clipping coupons to save on food costs and advising others on how to do it. Another family was no longer going out for dinner. Others were only buying sale items or shopping at second-hand stores. And so on ....

All commendable efforts to be sure, but missing from the discussion was the irony that consumers were being blamed for our economic crises when consuming is the very basis of our economy. Consumer spending accounts for 70% of the US economy. As you may recall, after the 911 terrorist attacks, President Bush urged that the best way Americans could help the country was to "keep spending."

The way our economy is structured, each cut these individuals on the show are making to ease their financial woes causes greater financial woe for someone else who depends on them to spend. The restaurants owners and staff, store owners and staff, the innkeepers, the songwriters, artists, production house workers, growers, and so many more are losing their businesses, their careers, and their jobs as maxed out, financially stressed consumers cut back. In other words, your self-sufficiency is their loss of income.

These folks may seem like nameless, faceless statistics, but in reality they are neither. They are us. All of us. Our families, our neighbors, our friends and their families, neighbors and friends.

So what's the solution suggested in the headline article in the Los Angeles Times Business section this week? "Government Seeks Ways to Spur Lending." The nation is desperate for us to get back to lending and spending again. But lending and spending is how we got into this fix. We've been living beyond our means.

American consumers owe nearly $2.6 trillion in non-mortgage debt, or about $8,460 for every man, woman, and child. Credit card debt alone is approaching $1trillion. Most state governments are in debt and, as of this minute, the national debt has topped $10 and a half trillion. That's $34,521.63 per person or $3.88 billion per day since September 28, 2007. And it's not just our personal and national debt that's over taxed. The entire planet is over-taxed.

This is the missing connection. Discussion like those on Oprah and so many other evening news segments and life section features I've seen lately fail to point out that neither the planet nor our economy can continue to support the current level of consumption and resulting debt needed to keep our economy growing. We've hit the wall on growth. We've not only outgrown our budgets; we've out-grown the Earth.

The changes featured on Oprah clearly demonstrated that we don't need most of what we spend. That means most of the jobs from which we are trying to pay for what we buy aren't really needed either. So, what can we do to extricate ourselves and the planet from these mountainous deficits? Certainly not gear up for more lending and spending. We need to restructure and reprioritize our economy to recognize that our own well-being and that of all others, including the environment, is all connected.

The way out is not so much about focusing on what we spend or don't spend. It's about what we produce for ourselves and for each other.

It's about getting back as individuals, as local communities, and as a country to producing the basics we need without going into debt to do it. Right now 22% of our economy consists, not of providing such basics, but of shuffling money around within the financial sector. Or into building and maintaining 22.2 square feet of commercial shopping space per American so we can shop. This compares to only 2 or 3 square feet per person of shopps in other 1st world countries.

So we're not short of places to shop. It's the basics we're struggling to provide for. In the last 12 years mortgage payments have risen 46%, utilities 43%, and property taxes 66%. Health insurance costs have more than doubled and family food budgets are stretched to the limit.

Fortunately we don't need to wait for the Congress, the Federal Reserve, or the next US President to restructure the economy for us. Few believe that's going to happen anytime soon. As Oprah was implying, we can begin to restructure the economy ourselves, not by focusing on what we buy, but on what we can offer that's actually needed and how to rely on that to support us in having what we truly need.

We can begin right now by asking ourselves two key questions. What do I and my family actually need? And, do people actually need what I doing now to earn a living? Would people be just fine without what I'm doing? Then here's three steps we can take to be sure we can both provide something needed and provide for our needs in the process:

(1) We can develop an independent career or secure a position that serves a basic need for the people in our own communities, something they can't usually provide for themselves, i.e. health care, education, and production of other necessities. Such a career will be far less vulnerable to market fluctuations and the whims of multi-national corporations looking for the lowest labor costs and highest profits where ever around the world they can find them.

(2) Then we can begin doing as many things for ourselves as we possibly can. Without the necessity of spending 8-10+ hours a day getting to and from and working jobs that don't produce what we people actually need, we will have time to provide for many of the things we need ourselves, like growing our own fruits and vegetables, mending our clothes, repairing household items, and so forth.

(3) We can begin supporting the enterprises of our local neighbors and nearby fellow citizens by doing as much of our shopping as we can locally and using equitable personal and community exchanges and local currencies when possible.

Life in such an economy, might not be as convenient as what we're accustomed to, but living within our means will be simpler and make our lives more secure. Such an economy will also take the pressure off our overly stressed environment, allowing eco-systems we depend upon to recover and reducing the threats of climate change and depletion of water, energy, and other valuable natural resources.

Additionally such an economy will mean in support ourselves we will be simultaneously supporting the well-being of others, instead of compounding their problems by leaving them without a means of support.

Did you see this particular Ophra show? If so, what did you think? Leave a comment.

(c) Sarah Anne Edwards, 2008

Hope

2008-10-17T11:39:00.000-07:00

Gracious what a roller coaster ride our economy has become. This past week conversations and news headlines have been on little else. There are dramatic national and international concerns, yes, but also a lot of very personal individual concerns.

A recently single parent who can no longer afford the house payment after her ex lost his job and can't contribute his monthly child support amount, but also can't sell the family home because there are so many houses on the market and no one is buying.

A widow whose investment income she lives on along with social security has lost 37% of its value over the past few months.

A couple whose income has suddenly disappeared because past clients aren't paying their bills and new clients are cancelling or postponing plans to use their services.

A middle-aged man with a chronic illness who worries about whether he'll be able to continue to afford the medication that keeps him going.

One way or another most of us have growing concerns. We're sensing the economic difficulties that we, our communities, our country, and the world market are facing are not temporary aberrations that will be passing soon. I know I am. I believe fundamental changes are taking place throughout the world that will mean things aren’t going to be the same today or tomorrow as they have been in our recent past. Just what that future will look like isn’t clear, only that won’t be what we’re used to.

But that doesn’t need be reason for despair. Our well-being doesn’t have to depend on keeping things as they have been. In fact, our well-being will depend on recognizing that things are changing and that we can change with them. In other words, as author Bertha Calloway is widely quoted to have said, "While we cannot direct the wind, we can adjust the sails."

Yes, we can adjust the sails, our sails. We can adjust how we live so we’re not so vulnerable to unpredictable economic ups and downs and so we’re not using up or destroying our vital natural resources and ecosystems. In her book Depletion and Abundance Sharon Astyk explains what that means to her and why it gives her hope:

"When I realized that everything was going to change, I was at first afraid. Because I thought, if my government or public policy or other choices weren't going to fix everything, what could I possibly do? What hope was there, if I had to take care of myself, if my community had to take care of itself?

But when I began looking for solutions that could be applied on the level of ordinary human lives, that involved changes in perspectives and pulling together, the reclamation of abandoned ideas and the restoration of strong communities, I began to feel hopeful, even excited. Because I realized that when large institutions cease to be powerful, sometimes that means that people start being powerful again."

I agree we can be hopeful. We are far more powerful and resourceful than we acknowledge, especially when we join with others within strong and close communities to find solutions that suit the reality of our finite yet abundant world.

We shouldn't look for some blanket solution, though, that someone else can pass along. As philosopher Viktor Frankl once said to me, "We must find our way." We must search for solutions because those that will sustain us will be different for each of us and for each of our communities.

In the process be we near or far, however, we can most certainly support, care for, and support one another along the way.

We Can Make a Difference ... Right?

2008-08-02T15:53:00.000-07:00

Hey, look what we did! Gas prices are down a little, consumer confidence is up a little. Why? The analysts say it's because we are driving less. Demand goes down, prices go down.

So when folks say there is nothing much we as individuals can do about our economy, it's just not true. We can have to huge effect on the economy if we all change what we do at the same time.

But, wait! Yesterday while driving to an appointment I saw more RV's on the highway in one afternoon than we saw on our entire trip to and from California to Tulsa for my mother's 90th birthday. What does this mean? It means a lot of folks have been waiting for gas prices to go down to hit the road. Now they're on the road en mass again.

Whoops! Are we already making a difference again?? Driving more?? If so ... demand goes up, prices go up. If we really want to get and keep gas prices down, we need to drive less. Far less. Not just for a little while, but regularly. We can 't fall back into our previous driving habits now that we've seen a little relief. We need to keep the changes we've been making in place, and make them as permanent as we can.

Because we make a big difference! After all, the prices that seem like such a relief right now were considered astronomical just a couple months ago.

Seems in addition to driving less, we can make a difference by driving slower. Our neighbor is on a It's Cool to Drive Slow! Save Gas ... Enjoy the Journey campaign. She's passing out bumper stickers and getting us all to join her Drive Slow campaign. The result is better milage, less gas, lower prices ... if lots of us do it.

We can make a difference!

Lost Lifeskills: Reflections Across Generations

2008-07-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

No doubt about it, the basic costs of living are getting more expensive. We can get a t-shirt or new cell phone for ever less it seems these days, but a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs, a warm house, a tank of gas, health care, or a college education, those costs are skyrocketing. It's no wonder so many folks are feeling anxious or angry about what's going on.

This week I had the opportunity to meet two people whose ages span several generations yet they share an insight about one thing we can do to reduce our eco-nomic stress.

The first was a retired doctor. When I told him I was offering financial mental health counseling, he was immediately enthusiastic. "That is so needed right now," he said. Then he went on to share his perceptions of why. "Most people are not at all prepared for life today and especially for what's ahead," he explained. "I'm afraid my generation has helped create this problem. I grew up on a farm. My parents survived the Great Depression. We grew our own food. We all worked. There were many daily chords. There was no time for play. But when we grew up we went to school, did well, made lots of money, and didn't want that kind of life for our children. We created a world for them in which everything is provided for them. My daughter can't put dinner on the table for her family without a microwave."

The next day I met a young professional woman who's married and just starting her family. When I told her about the plans to teach Lost Life Skills courses through out Let's Live Local program so our remote community can become more self-sustaining , she quickly volunteered to help. "I could teach a lot of those skills! "she said. "There's so much we can do for ourselves and each other instead of paying others to to everything for us." She admits she's a throwback but prides herself on doing as many things as possilbe herself: cooking, sewing, gardening, knitting, cleaning, etc. Basic living tasks are fun to her. She enjoys them. Her husband suggested remodeling their home to accommodate a live-in nanny to take care of the house and their baby so she can work full-time. She can't image doing that. "I'd rather earn less and do what needs to be done myself, than work all the time to pay for others to take care of our life."

I asked how she developed these basic life skills and such a love for them. "From my grandparents," she explained. "They had all these skills that my mother wasn't interested in learning. But I was. Now my mother is getting older and I'm doing a lot of things for her she can't afford to have others do. I'm not worried about the need to become more self-sufficient. That's how I already live."

Reflecting on my own life, I fall somewhere between these two generations. My mother is of the doctor's generation. Her parents lived through the Great Depression and she taught me many basic living skills. But I was growing up in a different world where you were ostracized if you did things like wear home-made clothes or bring a homemade lunch to school. Canning? Repairing things? Maintaining your own car? No way! Though I learned how to do many of these things, I set that knowledge aside to pursue a full-time career and paid others to take care of the business of living. Now I'm busy reclaiming them and grateful to my mother for passing them on.

There is much our grandparents and older parents can teach us about how to live more simply and sustainably. Judging from my conversation with the young mother, when we get past the idea of needing to buy the basics of a simple, good life from others, these lessons are empowering and create a sense of enjoyment, security and peace of mind that's fast slipping away for so many of us.