On this glorious Monday morning, I wanted to share a few things for our gathering today! When I was in Australia last year, my dancing friend Dee gave me a book called, Living the Good Life: Simple strategies for sustainable living, by Linda Cockburn. It is an adventure story of sorts, of how one family—husband, wife, a and child, along with a goat, changed their world from their own backyard. They grew most of their own food, recycled everything, did not spend any money buying unnecessary items (in fact they bought next to nothing for six months) That in intself would be quite a feat! They were fed up with consumerism, and I can relate to that, especially after moving to our land and having to downsize, a lot, to fit into new little home. I relaized how little I really need to be happy, and donated or sold lots of items from our larger home. Simplify, was my main goal. Unload, clear out. That has made my life better, and easier, and I too, spend little on goods these days, cutting back to necessary items, with a pair of cowboy boots thrown in ! 🙂
Linda wrote about being self-sufficient, riding their bikes instead of driving, making their own bread, setting up a grey water system, included yummy and thoughtful recipes. And she shared their joys and frustrations in succeeding toward their goal. I loved reading this, devoured it in fact, and wanted to share it with you for our One More Thing! Could you undertake not spending a penny for six months? Reading this makes me wish I could. I have always loved trading and wish the barter system worked in our society. I do trade for classes and such when I can. It really honors each person’s value much more than the cash system.
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I was also reading in the AARP magazine about a upcoming video series titles, Wisdom Keepers, directed by Dr. Joe MacInnis, who will be profiling remarkable people. Here are some quotes by a few of his wise ones!
Jean-Michael Cousteau, Oceanographer: All of us who live on this astonishing planet have to realize that the ocean is our primary life-support system. We have to stop abusing it. We have to stop overfishing its depths and destryong its coastal habitats.
Jane Goodall, Primatologist: Everone—not just the youth—must understand that we can change the world if we spend a little bit more time thinkg abou how the choices we make affect the earth.
Robert Kennedy, Jr. Environmentalist: There are a lot of defeats in the field I”ve chosen but I detach myself and say, ‘The only thing I control is my won conduct.’ I fight as hard as I can to make sure that the world I leave my children has the same good thealth as the world my parents gave me.
What do you say? Make a dfference, be remarkable!
