I am different. Yes, really different, but I hope it doesn’t stay that way for long.
However, I know that I am not alone. Slowly growing within the consumeristic heart of western culture and society, there is a special kind of person that is different from the mainstream. Sometimes they are hard to spot, but with a bit of careful observation you can pick them out from the crowd.
You will see them shopping in op shops buying clothes and other essentials. You will catch them on weekends in their gardens growing their own food. You will find them in their kitchens cooking meals for their family. You will see them mending and repairing, reducing, reusing, and recycling items around the home. You will find them talking about the antics of their chickens instead of talking about weekend football or some other trivial pursuit. You will notice their friendly demeanour, and note that they give endlessly of their skills and knowledge. You will finding them buying local produce and goods. You will find them using less resources in their lifestyle. You will hear them enjoying life and not have a nagging feeling in their gut that something is missing in their life.
In fact, these people are you. I can see you out there as our audience, changing your lives, being different from the rest of society, every single day of the year and living life to the full. Having fun and finding the courage to be someone different who stands up for the future of humanity and all creatures on the Earth in each and every action you take towards your simple, green, and frugal lifestyle.
It feels good to be different is a small way, however what would please me much, much more was if everyone lived as if the welfare of Mother Earth, Gaia, Mother Nature, or whatever label you put on this big blue-green marble we live on and call home. I yearn to see the day when we are all the same.
Being different is maybe good in the short term, but a big green groundswell that reaches a tipping point is far superior. Change at the community level is the only thing that will make a difference in the long run to our environment which without we do not stand much of a chance. It makes me laugh when I hear the term “Save the Environment”. As I know full well that the environment is not something separate from humans, what that term really means, and has a bigger punch in the process is “Save Humanity and all other Species on the planet”. It has a better ring to it, and a worthy goal.
So lets take the “different” and make it “the norm”. Reach out to your local community and share all the different things you do in your sustainable lifestyle, and I bet you my best laying chicken, that you will make a difference to someone’s life!
Who is up for the challenge?
I’m with you Gavin, though at the moment I am limited in what i can do being a temporary tasmanian and trying not to acumulate too much. But I op shop, cook real food, and sourdough. Cheese needs to wait though I really want to.
great post gavin, Im hoping to subtly change the minds of my new family, maybe looking further into my community i might have more success than trying to convince teenage girls they dont need 21 denim mini skirts and new shoes everytime they walk out the door.
I have to say Gavin that you have been quite an inspiration for me and the way that I now try to live. I tell everyone who asks me about why I am now growing so many vegetables and fruit, keeping chickens, making cheese, sourdough bread, yoghurt and cooking from scratch, that it is probably one of the most significant changes that I have ever made in my (nearly) 59 years on this earth and that I am learning from you and your blog and the many other “like minded” bloggers.
Today I was so excited when a friend popped in for tea and we ended up discussing how we could start a co-op here in our small country town. The stupormarket has a monopoly on the locals and a lot of the older people don’t drive anymore so they’re stuck with the below standard crap that the stupormarket calls fresh produce. We have decided to talk to people that we know and ask them if they would like to join a co-op and that we would drive up to Hobart and buy in bulk and then barter our own fresh produce from our own gardens.
I was happy and (I have to say it) proud that this friend, who I don’t see very often due to her work commitments in Hobart, actually asked my opinion and also asked for my help with her garden as she can see how much I have done in mine.
Gavin, thanks a million. We’re going to reach out to our local community.
Jan
I found this post very inspiring. It really cuts it all down to the core of what sustainable living is all about and what it FEELS like. This is what I want to feel every day but unfortunately I get lost in consumerism often. I’m improving though and some of the small changes I’ve made are now life long. Thanks for another great post.
So many people want to follow the green path but what sometimes happens, Gavin, is that there is a loss of the skills of belonging to a community. People become too busy growing food, refusing, re-using and recycling that they neglect to realise that we need to make sustainable communities, not sustainable individuals. I wish I could find a solution to this. I keep trying!
Really lovely words Gav. Yes save humanity is probably more accurate. The reason? Because if we wipe ourselves out the Earth will still be here……….and after many many many years will recover from the damage we have all caused.
I think your post summed how we are all feeling now. Every now and then we can get down because we can’t control what governments, large corporations and individuals are doing to our planet. It is nice to be reminded that the people that read this blog and others like it are all part of this gentle revolution to save our planet in our own special way.
Every time I turn around , I meet another person who is ‘just like me’ , trying to live more sustainably …there is a shift happening in our global consciousness and we should be proud to be a part of it.
kim
Hey Gavin, yes we are different here too – living central city but growing veg, making sausages, preserves, cheese etc, brewing beer, making soap, sewing clothes etc. Like you we always have a list of projects we plan to try. Many who I thought would scoff are very interested – we are trading plants, produce – I have one friend who brings me op shop knitting cotton(for dishcloths) and I supply her soap. Power to self -reliance I say !
Thanks everyone. The post was written using a burst of inspiration that I received during a meditation session.
I was trying to figure out the ‘why’ of my difference. Very deep.
Gav x