Eric wrote: <snip>Maybe as an interesting thread we can look at how you are living now, or intend to live, and make suggestions and help find resources for missing skills and knowledge. Using you as an example would probably be helpful for all of us in examining what we are doing. Sound interesting? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Carol responds: I would love that kind of help. Let's start with the basics. Back in third or fourth grade I was taught that humans had four basic needs: food, shelter, clothing, and transportation. This was in the first chapter of my geography book, and the rest of the book used this framework to teach about people in different countries. These four basics seem like a good place to start, but to them I would add water and fuel. Back then water was taken for granted, but now it cannot be. Fuel is a little tricky because it is tangled up with other categories. It would be very difficult to live in my climate without some source of energy for heating and lighting the shelter and for cooking food. Fuel for transportation is pretty obvious; bicycles are effective for short distance personal transportation, but not everyone is physically able to ride a bike and bicycles are not very well suited for transporting large items or large quantities. Also, it takes fuel to manufacture a bicycle. Clothing is challenging without fuel, also. The above items will take care of my body, but for the survival of my soul I also need intellectual stimulation, attention to my spiritual needs, and recreation. For now, however, I would like to focus on getting the physical needs of myself and my family met in as close to a sustainable way as possible. I will try to post on shelter later today with a list of my confusions, questions, and what I have done so far. I find this easier to deal with in smaller chunks. Carol (and Brodie)
