The Art of Sustainability

One story that has stuck with me for a long time but I still haven't been able to figure out a way to execute it was from Tom Brown Jr.'s book (don't remember which one but have read them all). It was about a Native American picking a bow staff, his grandfather brought him to a valley that he collected plants from for decades, and through the valley ran a stream.



The Native only harvested on one side of the stream, on that side it was beautiful enough sun light reached the ground floor to promote certain plant growth and all the plant life grew big and strong and animals moved freely. On the other side plants were weak and thick from to much competition and grew tangled and malnourished. The Native American showed his grandson how to pick the correct bow staff by thinning a patch of saplings, not picking the biggest and strongest one but one that needed to be removed to benefit the others around it.

In most Native cultures around the world there is a deep respect for nature and an understanding that without it, well there is no without it. It's interesting to see how we have so far removed ourselves from it and that the majority of adults and an even larger majority of children don't understand where there food, clothes, and daily materials come from in just a few generations. The Japanese have such a beautiful history that includes nature in it all over the place and yet now they build big cities and there population has shifted from the countryside into the metropolitan areas and there culture is being lost. Japan along with China are a major driving factor in the price of seafood all over the world because they didn't take care of there fisheries and they are now depleted, the majority of most of your local seafood is being shipped overseas and you are not setting the market price but another country a couple thousand miles away is. The food changes hands a few times from buyer to shipper to local distributer and everyone tacks on there profit margin and skyrocketing the price of the food.

It's a shame that we have created a world in which you almost don't even need to take care of yourself. In most first world countries because there is a safety net to catch you and yet in there are millions starving and thirsty, then we feel like we should help an indigenous poplulation who are surviving off the land because they don't have shoes or tv. If anything we should be asking the indigenous population what we are doing wrong.  The American government has a farm subsidy bill (which is up for a vote this fall) that makes it more profitable to grow corn and wheat to large scale farms and almost useless to grow real fruits and vegetables that are a necessity in a balanced diet. Have they ever thought about a free market and let the consumer drive the price and the demand could have taken the edge off of our current obesity epidemic. Our government has been dragging its feet on making any real guidelines to control greenhouses gases and meet the 2020 pledge and yet it seems like were going to meet they cap on greenhouse gases not from the leaders we have voted into office but from free the free market.

So instead of rambling on about everything all over the world, back to the topic because I am a firm believer that you cannot change someone you can only change yourself and hope that leading by example it snowballs into true real change. The art of sustainability, how do I change my life and my family's life into a more sustainable one. I like to think that a huge percent of the meat I eat is sustainable, I have harvested it from the local population of deer, ducks, and fish. That which I buy for personal consumption and for retail in the store is as close as I can get it. Im lucky that my father and brother enjoy gardening because I do not and they supply a lot of fresh produce in the growing season. Where the art comes in, is in preserving these things for future consumption canning, pickling, freezing, smoking.  I would have to say that when I was younger I tried everything the hard way which might help me in the future someday. I have tanned my own deerskins (not easy), smoked meat over an open fire, built a root cellar in the ground, purified free running water and much more from the old ways that seems to get lost every day.

There is a way but there needs to be a will. I don't feel that we should go backwards, we are much to developed in technology in this day and age but because we have the knowledge we need to use the common sense. We need to stop importing so much stuff like all of our clothing from over seas, we know how to grow cotton.  Lets stop eating produce that isn't in season, they put a sticker on almost everything that tells its origin. Buy frozen, canned, jared, etc. Clothing look at the tag. Try your hardest first in your property do you really need that five through ten thousand dollar manicured lawn that some people would juice if it didn't have all the chemicals in it or do you want to play with your children and grand children on a lawn like you used to and pick dandelions (you can eat that), clover (eat that too) chicory (eat it) arugula (delicious) the rabbits, deer, and local birds will appreciate it. Is my grass awesome looking, no its starting to brown now in the end of June where the sun is intense but it is really nice where the right amount of shade is but its still doing its job keeping the dirt outside and giving my daughter a nice place to play.  I try not to cut any trees but I cut branches to let light in and air flow, the birds love it, the trees keep my house cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter especially from the wood we split and burn. It shows that the amount of Co2 released from burning wood is equal to the amount of Co2 the tree took in over its lifetime so wood stoves are carbon neutral. Just this morning I enjoyed fig preserves from my neighbors tree (which is looking very full right now) and jarred apples from a guy I work with Mothers apple trees in her backyard. She Lives in West Virginia so are those apples local, no but is he going to visit his mother anyway and still bring apples back with him yes, so common sense dictates it's ok. There is food all over the place that goes to waste if you know how to look for it and store it for the future. Try and keep your water local, I drink tons of water and scrutinize what I drink. I love water from my house it comes from under my house and we clean it and drink it. When you think about it it makes you feel connected. I steer clear of city water unless I filter the chlorine out of it and rarely drink bottled water unless I have to everywhere I go I carry my own.

In the long run what would I want someone to take away from this post, possibly a little inspiration. No one is perfect, there is no right answer but it's time to start doing things differently, creatively and thinking outside the box. Be eccentric make little changes which will lead to big changes and just think about what your doing before you do it.  Take a look around and see how much is there that you don't really need and just how much energy went in to making and shipping that.  Live Simply you will be Happier in the long run.