What is Sustainability?
Aug. 9th, 2010 10:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
helwenWhat is sustainability? Now there's a hard question. What things should you do, what skills should you acquire? More hard questions. Try to be an expert in everything and you'll likely fail. Having some of the basics of a number of skills, with some specializing in things you have a talent for, plus some extra work on stuff you don't like doing but need it, and that might work better for you. Knowing folks you can exchange skills or goods with is a good thing too -- you know, that community thing ;)
Getting into the knitty-gritty of things like farming, and life gets interesting. Sharon Astyk posted this article: What are you breeding for?, which was really interesting. Talking about Wendell Berry and about breeding animals for specific traits, among other things... In our modern society, for instance, fewer breeds of dairy cows exist now, because breeding went towards a large, fast-maturing, grain-fed cow that produces lots of milk. Seems like a good idea unless you can't afford lots of grain and don't live in an area where lots of grain can be easily grown. That's something we're slowly working on, is how to make something like having chickens be more sustainable, more local (and hopefully cheaper too).
The same is true of energy solutions for homes, of course. Passive solar can be used in the Northeast, but works best nearer the equator. Active solar is more difficult to do, but is more effective here. A flat roof is fine in sunny California, and you could use it for growing food in places that don't have a lot of open land, but unless you're ready to get up there every time it snows, flat roofs aren't so great in the Northeast. Some years back, there were some good heavy snows and the maintenance folks at the Mall at Ingleside in Holyoke didn't keep up with it, and the roof collapsed over Sears. All the goods that could be salvaged were moved into some storefronts that happened to be empty at the time, with all the furniture and large appliances getting moved into large rented tents in the parking lot, and there were a lot of good sales during that time! Fortunately it happened after hours and nobody was hurt.
There are only a few things I think really work universally, as good ideas for folks to do:
- reduce, re-use, recycle (in that order)
- insulate your home (good in hot or cold weather)
- keep extra food and water for emergencies (makes it easier to wait for good sales too)
- exercise as you're able, eat as well as you're able, rest (being healthy saves money)
- don't buy lots of stuff you don't need
- pick up some basic useful skills like mending and cooking
- if you have land, rainwater catchment (assuming it's legal where you are. Even some folks in San Francisco do it on their porches)
- avoid high-tech solutions when possible (stuff you really need to be able to depend on should be fixable by you or a very local person, or locally replaceable)
Almost everything else is subject to your environs. When I first started looking at sustainability/low energy methods for various everyday life things, it was pretty confusing. You read about the great earthenware pots for keeping veggies cool and get all excited -- then realize it doesn't work in humid weather. Perfect if you live in Arizona though!
Just some stuff running through my head....
Getting into the knitty-gritty of things like farming, and life gets interesting. Sharon Astyk posted this article: What are you breeding for?, which was really interesting. Talking about Wendell Berry and about breeding animals for specific traits, among other things... In our modern society, for instance, fewer breeds of dairy cows exist now, because breeding went towards a large, fast-maturing, grain-fed cow that produces lots of milk. Seems like a good idea unless you can't afford lots of grain and don't live in an area where lots of grain can be easily grown. That's something we're slowly working on, is how to make something like having chickens be more sustainable, more local (and hopefully cheaper too).
The same is true of energy solutions for homes, of course. Passive solar can be used in the Northeast, but works best nearer the equator. Active solar is more difficult to do, but is more effective here. A flat roof is fine in sunny California, and you could use it for growing food in places that don't have a lot of open land, but unless you're ready to get up there every time it snows, flat roofs aren't so great in the Northeast. Some years back, there were some good heavy snows and the maintenance folks at the Mall at Ingleside in Holyoke didn't keep up with it, and the roof collapsed over Sears. All the goods that could be salvaged were moved into some storefronts that happened to be empty at the time, with all the furniture and large appliances getting moved into large rented tents in the parking lot, and there were a lot of good sales during that time! Fortunately it happened after hours and nobody was hurt.
There are only a few things I think really work universally, as good ideas for folks to do:
- reduce, re-use, recycle (in that order)
- insulate your home (good in hot or cold weather)
- keep extra food and water for emergencies (makes it easier to wait for good sales too)
- exercise as you're able, eat as well as you're able, rest (being healthy saves money)
- don't buy lots of stuff you don't need
- pick up some basic useful skills like mending and cooking
- if you have land, rainwater catchment (assuming it's legal where you are. Even some folks in San Francisco do it on their porches)
- avoid high-tech solutions when possible (stuff you really need to be able to depend on should be fixable by you or a very local person, or locally replaceable)
Almost everything else is subject to your environs. When I first started looking at sustainability/low energy methods for various everyday life things, it was pretty confusing. You read about the great earthenware pots for keeping veggies cool and get all excited -- then realize it doesn't work in humid weather. Perfect if you live in Arizona though!
Just some stuff running through my head....
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