14 Comments

• 1Tracing Horizons January 1st, 2020

  Absolutely, Dave, here’s to more building, creating, contributing. It may seem the long road, but the alternative one to hell is paved with short-term so-called ‘convenience’. As life is all about the journey, the road for life and living is where life and living is: you’ve only got to step on it. Life begets life – and all our small insignificant actions do have an effect and an influence. We’ve noticed that when we involve people – ask them to put things aside for us that they’d ordinarily throw away, turn down a material or an offer of spraying our garden, done something in a certain way, for example – although they may not share or understand our vision or our way of life, people like to help or feel they’re helping others; then they also do help in some way. Then our small insignificant approach to grow and produce our own food has a ripple effect outside our garden – and who knows where else? As cynical as one may be, I am optimistic that the world is not dominated by ill-intent; merely that so many of us have been blinded of our individual agency and distracted by so many bright shiny lights. But it is a very brittle facade, which is why so much is spent on trying to maintain it: a brief peek through a hole can be enough to break the illusion and weaken its influence on our behaviours. When life is the reward, it really is a no-brainer. It just needs to be shared and seen that there are alternatives, there are choices, and we do have agency. Thank you to yourself and all those involved in building, creating, contributing: wishing you continued peace, love and happiness through 2020 and beyond.

  
  

• 2sat kartar January 1st, 2020

  Lets not forget the earths climate also has changed over the thousands of years… species are meant to evolve and become extinct.Its a natural way of life….Its a flow….however, We as humans are hastening a “mini ice age” acc to asc masters….our direct behavior isnt causing climate change but hastening the changes which will happen! however we need to live more sustainably and stop consuming so much….dependence upon fossil fuels…i believe theres much invested in these re big corporations and we cant change over just “like that”….lot of markets dependant which would affect everything…not that easy. however im sure it will come about. I admire Greta Thunberg for speaking out but its nothing new here and i dont like how the media is building her up to be a savior…typical…The earth, Gaia has an inate intelligence which would and will step in if we fail to change our ways…maybe she is already…..far too many of us here…population needs to be lot less in many respects

  
  

• 3sat kartar January 1st, 2020

  incidently PLASTIC is the real threat…it could wipe out mankind…which probably for the earth wouldne neccesarily be a bad thing!

  
  

• 4Theresa January 1st, 2020

  A great motivating blog for the start of the new year. I’ve been following your site/blog for many years, can’t remember how many now, but it’s one of the few I never feel like unsubscribing from. Thanks for the continuity in good sense, please don’t stop.
  
  Let’s hope 2020 has a tsunami of people finally waking up to what’s happening and tearing themselves from the grasp of the media, banality and opening their eyes to political and corporate lies and greed.
  
  Best wishes for the coming year!

  
  

• 5Dave Darby January 1st, 2020

  Thank you Theresa. I guess our preoccupation is trying to work out how to get people to switch to new economy institutions. Inertia is strong and people are busy.

  
  

• 6Ian January 1st, 2020

  thanks Dave, I have been trying to blog as well, trying to keep an overview, not get bogged down in a specific like plastic or flying. I’m always working on being useful and relevant and with a healthy distance from ‘the grasp of the media, banality’. I’m finding it hard to get my thoughts to a sharing quality, so good on you for getting this out there. Funny about Greta and people dismissing her content and noticing her personality. I recall 20 years ago how people dismissed all the good stuff that D Suzuki was saying and they focussed on how GOOD was his personality! ‘plus sa change’. Similar pattern, slightly different logic, but the denial and addiction continues.

  
  

• 7Ian January 1st, 2020

  Holmgren’s 4 future secnarios include a lifeboat one. At the moment I see all 4 scenarios unfolding interwowen. https://www.futurescenarios.org/

  
  

• 8CC January 6th, 2020

  As I don’t do corporate mass media, I thought I’d better check just what Greta Thunberg is all about – apparently she thinks that carbon emissions are the reason why our living planet is slowly dying. (Please correct me if I am wrong about that.)

  
  

  Carbon emissions have very little to do with the ecological crisis. If they were reduced to zero tomorrow, the Earth would still be dying – wanton chopping down of trees: monoculture: biotech poisoning our fields, then running of into our rivers: industrial emissions into rivers: micro plastics in our oceans (and on into the food chain);radio-activity in the oceans: industrial air pollution, chemtrails: unhealthy wi-fi frequencies (when healthy frequencies are available ): destruction of wetlands: bee die-off: fracking. The very organs and tissues of the living planet are being destroyed, and all in the name of economic growth. Regenerate these organs and the Earth would be in a position to regulate its own eco-system – if there is excess carbon, then the planet would deal with it. The planet is just too sick – but do we hear about the real causes of this destruction?

  
  

  I know that Lowimpact.org works flat out to promote regeneration, localisation, monetary change and all the other really positive stuff to help us become aware of the old paradigm of separation – from each other and from our planet – but I’m a bit shocked that you are buying the carbon myth. Greta is surely a corporate media puppet. If we are blinded by the carbon distraction, then we might not notice that its business as usual. The Emperor’s New Winter Collection is looking good.

  
  

• 9Dave Darby January 6th, 2020

  CC: We don’t censor posts unless they’re spam, but neither do we get into debates about peer-reviewed science. It’s the best we can do. In fact it’s how we also know about the extent and effect of industrial air pollution, or that the earth isn’t flat, or how solar panels work, etc., ad nauseam.

  
  

• 10CC January 7th, 2020

  It’s just an alternative point of view Dave.

  
  

• 11Stefan Wolf January 8th, 2020

  Thank you very much for this Post Dave, I appreciate it. And thanks for all the good you are doing to bring about positive change! Wish you and all who read this great success in creating lifeboats and oases of life wherever we are on our benevolent shared planet.

  
  

• 12homeminderuk January 9th, 2020

  Thanks for the post, Dave, and for all your hardwork and committment in 2019; warmest wishes for a successful 2010. Except for the few with a lot of their own twist on psuedo scientific knowledge that they just have to shove down our throats, I find the majority of contributors helpful, holistically kind to all their fellow humans straining towards the same goal, and genuinely the sort of human beings that will make the end game a lot more tolerable. Happy days!

  
  

• 13mrmhf January 17th, 2020

  Very insightful piece. In the past 18 months we’ve tried to become as sustainable and eco friendly as possible by installing solar and air source pump. Our house is now operating at zero carbon because our electricity provider gets all its energy from renewable energy. My fear is that we’ve hit our tipping point as a planet, and reversing what man has done is near-impossible task given that the the world continues produce CO2 at silly levels and pollution doesn’t show any signs of slowing down, In addition to this, the population is growing, putting even more pressure on food production systems and man’s addiction to meat is further contributing to this planet’s demise. The sustainability of meat is simply not possible: https://myhomefarm.co.uk/sustainability-of-eating-meat – it takes 7,000 liters of water and 3kg of feed to produce a 500g steak. Intensively farmed chickens are producing hundreds of thousands of ammonia that’s added to the atmosphere.

  
  

  Something has to change quickly, but despite all the awareness and talk, progress is insignificant. I feel the outlook is bleak, and this makes me anxious.

  
  

• 14C C February 7th, 2020

  Dear mrmhf – We could try regeneration – of the soil, the air, the water, the forests, the wetlands. That would sequester enormous amounts of carbon, from the atmosphere back to where it is valuable – as a nutrient. We could stop believing that greenhouse gases are at the heart of our climate crisis – regeneration of the Earth’s eco systems would have to be at local level though. We’d have to take it upon ourselves to take this route. Our governments, do not serve us, surely we can see this by now, We must do it ourselves. Not only could we heal the planet, we would, at the same time, be re-building our communities.

  
  

  Yes it would take a lot of re-educating after all the propaganda we have been spoon-fed. We’d have to find ways to help people understand that we don’t need meat, we don’t need supermarkets, we don’t need monoculture or chemicals, we don’t need insane trade zig-zagging the globe. What we DO need is our local communities, supporting each other rather than the corporate way, which has never proved beneficial to any but the 1%. Could we do this? If not, the alternative would be, as you yourself say, a bleak outlook and much anxiety. So … let’s try to take something positive from our EU departure and view it as an opportunity to change. Yes, it will take time and the transition period will be tough, but look what we’d gain – a healthy Earth, with a happier population. The current state of affairs in the UK is really an amazing opportunity to break away from the dominant, corporate, business-as-usual, never-mind-the-planet attitude. Let’s go local … and regenerate.

  
  

  There’s a ton of help out there. With a bit of effort and research, we could find many who would help us. Let us at least try it.

  
  

  Alternatively … well … you already know the answer to that one.