August 2006

A Beautiful frost this mornin'. Considering I was up at 2.45am and stayed up, I managed to see it arrive, and snap away at it first light, before everyone else was up and wanting breakfast, and needed their clothes replaced because they'd spilt hot chocolate on and thenselves and had to be given a quick lesson on what order they should be put back on, and which way 'round. Despite my early morning rise, we were, as usual, almost late for the bus.

The images are of frost on the car and on the trampoline.

I've been reading Cradle to Cradle - Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough & Michael Braungart. It's an interesting read, and not just because it's been printed on plastic that can; eventually, be recycled and turned into other books. They hope to use it as a, not yet quite prefected, but working on it, alternative to chopping down trees. They have me thinking! They'll have you thinking too. A great read that challenges our ideas around recycling, for instance the high tensile steel in cars is recycled along with the plastics, paints etc that accompany it, it results in lower grade steel that cannot be used to build cars again. The same with the humble aluminum can, which, due to paint and manganese and magnesium alloys, is 'weakened' by the downcycling process, and it's not too long before it drops out of the recycling cycle. How often we look for recycled products and think we're doing our bit, when often it means huge amounts of energy have been required to 'morph' it into something else and it has defeated the original purpose. But it's not all gloom. They share with us their vision of what we could be doing.

It's a small, quite short book, but you need a wrist brace to read it in bed as it is significantly heavier than the paper variety. But the important aspect is - it's not heavy in the metaphorical sense!

They've inspired me in a new direction, currently doing a bit of research and will be knocking up a page or two about it sometime soon. Trev, meanwhile, is being thoroughly practical and is hammering away at a permanent goat house. Considering they're in the process of pulling the first makeshift one apart, he may have to hurry. I'm taking pictures during the process and hope to post up a sequence as it evolves. We want to try a suspended floor with a cob/maybe cordwood/maybe earthbag walls.

On Sunday the 6th of August I'll be at www.aussieslivingsimply.com.au on a chat line to discuss ways to reduce your electricity bill if you want to join in.

Cheers!

August 7

A couple of things I've read recently have made me reconsider the clothes our family wears. First came an article in the Australian about a woman in America who wore the same 'little brown dress' for a year, one supposes she washed it - a lot. It was a home sewn affair, and while fairly plain she accessorised, and after wearing it a number of days more than she would have expected without anyone commenting, she had to reveal her idea of wearing the same thing for a year. She said she felt liberated from having to get up each day and decide what to wear and with what etc. The Little Brown Dress for more on that story. I have never been a slave to fashion. I am the unkempt variety of woman, who, wishing to look better than she does, never really manages to care enough to see it through. I figure I will never be known for being a fashion aficinado or my household cleanliness. I've gotten over it. Maybe that's why the article stuck on my mind.

The second thing that happened was reading Cradle to Cradle. Specifically the comments made on clothing made from synthetic fibres such as acrylic, nylon, polyester. I made a quick catalogue of our families clothing and realised the majority of it was of the variety best known for abrading and floating around in the air until inhaled, or, worse, absorbed through the skin. I already knew this, but, just like the majority of us, I preferred the blind eye approach. I mean what was the alternative?

A week later and I've read enough about hemp to be convinced it's the way to go. Cotton and wool (but not cottonwool - which, while I tend to try wrap Caleb in it, is not considered clothing for day to day use) are not environmentally sustainable, at least, not right now. So it's going to be hemp ...

Hemp is among one of the most productive and useful plants known; also very safe. The following materials can be made from hemp: paper, textiles, building materials, food, medicine, paint, detergent, varnish, oil, ink, and fuel. Unlike many crops, hemp can be grown in most locations and climates with only moderate water and fertilizer requirements. Where hemp is grown, it has become a valuable and environmentally friendly crop.

Hemp Nation

Cellulose fiber obtained from hemp plants can be used to produce paint, PVC pipe, and many durable building materials. It can also be used to make paper. One acre of hemp yields an amount of cellulose, available for processing into paper, equal to the yield of 4.1 acres of trees. The hemp seed contains one of the most complete and 'readily available' vegetable proteins known, and hemp seed oil is lower in saturated fats than any other vegetable oil including soybean and canola.

Hemp Sisters

Simply stated, Hemp is the longest, strongest most durable natural fibre known to mankind and has been used for over 12000 years. Hemp can be grown in 4 months, is drought-resistant and does not require herbicides or pesticides. Hemp can produce 4 times as much as much pulp per hectare than trees and can produce over 50000 products including paper, plastics, cosmetics, clothing, food, fuel, wood products and medicine. Using Hemp, helps create new age environmentally friendly industries and solves the deadlock between ecology and economics. This planet needs Hemp...

Themenu.com

Gradually I hope to replace worn clothing with hemp clothing. I was surprised to find that there is a wide enough range of clothing to cater for the family. It will take more effort and I won't be able to indulge in bargain shopping binges (oh, heck - there goes another addiction). Apart from not being able to afford to do anything as radically as a total replacement (and finding new homes for the old),I kind of like to be the one to wear them out anyway. A gradual weaning off the fossil fuel based clothing and into natural fibres.

There's a list of Australian hemp clothing supplier listed at the Eco Shop.
Australian Suppliers of Hemp Clothing

We might not end up wearing the same clothing day after day, (though Trev currently wears the same clothes up to four days in a row, or until I shriek) but I will accept having fewer clothes and many more earrings, scarves and belts!

August 13

I SHOULD have wrapped him in cottonwool! Caleb fell off the slide at school and managed to break his humerus (bending it in directions nature had not intended). Had his clothes chopped off him, was shipped to Hobart in an ambulance, had a two hour operation (after doctors scared the poo out of us by declaring an instant emergency, something to do with possible ruptured arteries and nerve damage and a possibility he might lose his arm.) He came out of it in great pain; morphine wasn't making a dent in it, but he liked the happy gas - anyone who attempted to remove it from him was given an abrupt 'Hey!', and after several such attempts he clamped down with his teeth and wouldn't budge. He's had a couple of incisions made and three wires are holding it all together. He spent two nights in hospital as they tried to manage his pain. Not a nice thing to go through, poor wee buggar. He told nurses that it was 'the detrimental desirability of being in hospital is low'. - Meaning, 'I wanna get out of here!' That was until he was introduced to the Starlight Foundations egg on legs, like contraption with hundreds of movies and games installed on it. We parked it at the end of the bed and he found a way to get around any digital issues with his remaining digits. His arm is stuck directly out in front of him, he walks around looking like half a zombie, but can't go far because it's difficult to support his injured arm with his good one, so, now we are home he is spending all his time in front of the computer or the TV. So far there have been no complaints about these activities, just a few wistful looks in the direction of the trampoline. It helps that everyone is spoiling him rotten. Pity he can't make the Lego he's been given!

I'll be updated again shortly with Trev's goat Palace pics.

August 26

I'll get there with the Palace photos ...soon.

Meanwhile here's a card I made at a recent workshop from recycled envelopes, the kind that usually arrive with a bill inside. It makes for an interesting change in attitude when a bill does arrive. Amazing how many types there are - note the census envelope came in handy! Called Iris Card making, a 3-D card making technique.

Caleb is back and forth to Hobart with new casts etc, we had a shock when the first cast was removed to find he had 30 stitches and how far and how big the pins are that are holding his arm together. In the photo he's biting his way through Trev's little black book (yes, he still has one). No wonder Caleb's been in so much pain, still having difficulties sleeping at night as he moans and groans and whimpers in his sleep. However they managed to bend his elbow a bit for the new cast and it means he's more mobile now, though it's still too straight for a sling. Psychologically it's a lot harder now as he knows what's under the cast and it freaks him out when it hurts as he imagines all the pins and stitches pulling. Next Thursday he's back in for an op to remove them and hopefully the pain will be reduced and we'll be able to get him into a sling. Still having strange pins and needles and lack of movement in his fingers as his nerves heal.

Trev and I have been working at a local daffodil farm picking buds and flowers. It's good to have someone to compete against and such a beautiful place to work. It's oddly nice to do a job that requires minimal skill, an inability to think about anything else, as you spend the day counting to 10 over and over. At the end of the day your progress is marked by the number of buckets you pick, (top so far being 17 with 200 daffodils per bucket). The days are short, start when you want finish likewise, I work around 5 to 6 hours and make over $18 an hour. Not bad. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it drizzles, the reward for wet feet is the most spectacular rainbows imaginable and a bunch of flowers to take home. Sometimes a lack of major responsibility does have rewards. Zen and the art of daffodil picking....

We received quite a few emails this week, we generally get about ten to twenty a week, and for the most part they are really gratifying to read. Generally they're about how various people and families have been inspired, re-inspired by what we've done, or want to share with us what they have. We enjoy them. Early on we had one antsy email from a woman who, while not having read our book, was really put out about how it had the same title as an American couples, who had done something similar and yet considerably different to us. The title of the book was the one thing we dislike about the book (along with the choice of images) but both things were beyond our control. Now we've had a second email and, because it illustrates a point I'd like to make I'm going to share. Considering the author only signed him/herself as 'W' it will of course, be anonymous.

Bought the book online the other day, received it yesterday and have to say after reading at least a third of it am very disappointed in my purchase. You talk of energy being the most important unit known to mankind, not currency - but still one of you goes to work fulltime, you use a microwave and run an automobile with aircon, after the blurb on the back says, "Imagine not needing money. Not for bills - there are none. Not for food - you grow or make it all yourself. Not for transport - you have a bike." It seems to me to a book based on stats researched on the net and through other sources more than a book of a family sustainably living. You guys are an embarrasment, steak sandwiches and nachos, Mcdonalds Playground, etc.....etc....... should I quote more......reading more of this tripe would be an insult to anyone actually interested in living a Sustainable Lifestyle. W

The reason Trev and I find this email interesting and in fact, quite exciting, is it illustrates something we have both feel is detrimental to the environment. Yeah, I know, sounds weird. I'll cover some of 'W's objections for the sake of those who have not read the book ... Apart from the patent ridiculousness of objecting to one of us working, our mandate was to remain part of the real world and not exclude ourselves from it, and, by necessity, continue to pay off the mortgage, not to would have been excessively stupid. And yes, we did a lot of research via the net to research, I'm sure the government and scientific bodies the info was taken from would be peeved to hear that their web based info is inferior to their printed variety and considering it was treeless info sourced without need of travel and powered by solar panels it seems a sustainable enough option. And considering we did say upfront that medical expenses were an exclusion as we didn't want anyone to suffer during the experiment, the use of the car to drive to the hospital when our son was found to have a heart condition, and yes, this was in the first third of the book, to object to this use was, insert your favourite swear word, and follow it with the word pathetic. Such hard liners only serve to discourage people from starting to make the small, incremental changes in their lives that add up to us being more sustainable as a community. Behaviour akin to religious fundamentalism alienates people. An elitist, holier than thou attitude will give people the impression that the concept of sustainability is only being advocated by wankers, and not ordinary people.

Ben Elton once lamented that the appropriation of environmental issues in general by lazy, self indulgent hippies was a public relations disaster that could cost the earth. We don't want to repeat the mistake with over zealous thought police for whom anything less than 100% is failure. Which brings me to the second point, which is that we never claimed to be anything other than ordinary suburban people who were experimenting with a different way to live. We never claimed to be perfect, and in fact, it's the imperfections that people respond to, the fact that we can laugh at ourselves and our weaknesses which makes other people think that they could change something, however small, in their own lives that would mean they use less power, or less water, or less fuel than they did before. If enough lesses come together, it adds up to a big less. This was our aim; to say look at us, we eat junk food, we watch TV, use a microwave (not sure what he has got against the microwave, I thought that fear went out in the 70's- use glass, never plastic, and leave whatever is cooked for a minute or so before eating...) but we can change things and so can you. We have had an absolute flood of email from people for whom this rang true and who write to say I've been inspired by you to do this or that.

Obviously, having been so insulted by the first third he has failed to read through to the end, we happen to think anyone who can reduce their power/water/fossil fueled transport by 95% while providing themselves with food is an admirable enough effort, and if we fell off the wagon then it only proves we are human, not some evangelical beings for whom lesser humans will never be able to emulate. We did something extreme but without being extremists. People who read the book could identify with us on lots of levels, one of them being, - oh look, they're not tofu eating purists with soft spoken voices and tie-dyed clothes, and we were accessible because we don't trade in guilt.

A woman told me recently how she went to a permaculture group but was scoffed at for her attempts at permaculture by elitists who saw anything other than 100% as 0%. This all or nothing attitude generates a lot more 0% than it does 100% and is detrimental in the extreme. So those most wanting to seek global sustainability actually work against that same thing. (Please note this was one woman's experience within one group, and not an attack on permaculturalists in general). However, it does hold true that once you give something a name, a structure and form a group there is a strange human desire to form elites within than group, there are vegans who turn their noses up at vegetarians, fraternities within the health system who see various types of doctors as superior to others, and those others will no doubt feel they are intrinsically more elite than others on the ladder. It's a good reason never to give a movement a name. I identified with Philip Adams years ago in an article he wrote for the Australian saying he believed in Disbelief and for similar reasons.

The last page of our book says...

Don't feel overwhelmed, don't feel guilty, don't feel you need perfect knowledge,
a lot of money or heaps of time.
All that does is compound the problem and stops you from feeling empowered.

Your actions will not save the world. Who cares, it was never the goal. It's doing the things that are within your power to do.
That's all you can do.

Don't think of it as an obligation, think of it as an adventure.

I'd like to add the line.

And don't let others knock your efforts.
Often getting to 100% requires that you start at 0.

Read another great book this week Lynne Truss (author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves) who has a truly magnificent rant in 'Talk to the Hand, The utter bloody Rudeness of Everyday Life (or six good reasons to stay home and bolt the door). I don't recall her mentioning people writing insulting and rude emails without putting their name to it. And while we won't be staying at home or bolting our door, perhaps we should forward 'W's email on to Lynne. What a perfect example.



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