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    Downshifting posts

    Interested in setting up a local food co-op? Mobile shop for sale, with free training thrown in

    We are a real food co-op in Dorset, and we have been delivering food via our trusty mobile shop, ‘the Charmouth Dragon’. We’re now taking the shop online with the good folks of Open Food Network UK Read more

    Want to join a new Midlands co-op with plans for self-build homes for its members?

    A growing Northamptonshire based business is looking for individuals who wish to become part of an ethically based worker’s collective. The current business owners, Paul Battye and Melanie Cutler, are looking to turn their business into the new collective to share with like minded individuals Read more

    Career change? How about making your living from making and selling baskets?

    This is an interview with Fran Blockley of Old Chapel Farm about the potential for making your living from making and selling baskets. Read more

    Is modern life a mistake?

    Paul Edwards of Sodium Haze | 09-Feb-2017 | 5

    I was back recently in my old stomping ground of Bicester in Oxfordshire – it was not a happy visit. Read more

    Why we’d be better off living like the Saxons (with a few mod cons)

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 05-Feb-2017 | 11

    If you spend your life trying to promote low-impact living, you sometimes get asked the most ridiculous questions. More than once I’ve been asked something along the lines of: ‘you want to take us back to the Middle Ages, don’t you?’ Read more

    How to reduce the environmental impact of your wedding

    Jo Cowan of Belle Bridal | 22-Jan-2017 | 2

    Your wedding day is obviously one of the biggest days of your life — but it can also be huge for your carbon footprint. In the UK, the average cost of a wedding is over £20,000. Not only is this a huge amount of money to spend on a single day Read more

    Building a small home has a big payback

    Let’s get one thing straight right away…When I say “small”, I don’t mean living in a shoe box.   What I mean by “small” is living in a space that is designed…well designed…for your needs…and no more.  A small space doesn’t mean cramped. Read more

    Looking for the xmas gift that could change someone’s life? Here’s why WWOOF membership could be what you’re looking for

    Scarlett Penn of WWOOF UK | 02-Dec-2016 | 5

    It’s late autumn and I’m sitting alone, feeling empty, in a comfortable house in High Wycombe. It’s 5.30 and I’ve just returned from work; I’m a single moderately successful professional doing the 9-5 in a very ordinary existence. Read more

    Rent first to see if a self-build home in a cohousing project at an eco-chateau in France is for you

    Ruth Phillips of Eco Chateau | 11-Nov-2016 | 0

    An cohousing eco-hamlet around a chateau in the Dordogne region of France is being formed. You can rent a plot to see if the project is for you, before deciding whether to become a co-owner. Read more

    Promoting public transport – how to travel by train more cheaply (without breaking the law)

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 20-Oct-2016 | 2

    A way to reduce our impact on the environment is to increase the number of journeys made on public transport relative to the number made by car. So we’re doing this to encourage you to take the train rather than drive. Read more

    Having a £3k eco-home is more about attitude than building codes or regulations: interview with Tony Wrench

    Tony Wrench of That Roundhouse | 02-Oct-2016 | 6

    This is an interview with Tony Wrench of ‘That Roundhouse’ fame. He built a super-eco roundhouse in Pembrokeshire over 20 years ago, and is still living in it, after having many battles with planners and regulatory bodies. Read more

    David Fleming’s ‘Lean Logic’ and ‘Surviving the Future’, and why they’re important

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 23-Sep-2016 | 21

    I attended the launch of two books at Daunt Bookshop in Chelsea on Wednesday evening. David Fleming died in 2010, and now his friend Shaun Chamberlin has edited his magnum opus, Lean Logic, and Chelsea Green have published it. Read more

    Jumble Trail: stroll around your neighbourhood, meet local people, grab a bargain, grab some food and sell unwanted stuff

    Guy Dorrell of Faircatch | 10-Sep-2016 | 0

    I’d like to bring to people’s attention a community event I’m championing in my neck of the woods called a Jumble Trail. I’m in Wandsworth, London, but Jumble Trails are happening all over the country, and you can join in. Read more

    Volunteer at a crofting / educational centre in the Highlands and learn about the ‘shieling’

    This is a farm-based education organisation.  Our story is the ‘shieling’ – a tradition where folk went up to the hills with the livestock. The shieling is a traditional practice of moving up to the high ground or moorland with livestock, to live there for the summer. Read more

    Why Alicia Keys giving up makeup is important

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 10-Jun-2016 | 18

    Readers of the Lowimpact blog won’t necessarily know who Alicia Keys is. She’s an American singer / songwriter who has sold over 35 million albums. So very famous, very successful, and right at the heart of the entertainment industry. Read more

    Temple Druid Community are looking for new members and volunteers; opportunity for self-build

    Temple Druid Community is set in 56 acres of woodland, pasture, steams and meadows in North Pembrokeshire. We are looking for members to join us in creating a community based on the foundations of compassion and respect for nature, ourselves and others and a strong wish to tread gently on the earth. Read more

    Work / farmshare opportunity for someone interested in farming, smallholding, forestry, livestock, mushrooms or building stone

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 16-Apr-2016 | 8

    Here’s a very interesting opportunity for a budding smallholder – either paid work or farm share, near Totnes in Devon. Over to Richard: Read more

    Should the TV licence fee be scrapped?

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 26-Mar-2016 | 4

    It’s a tricky one. The argument for the licence fee (and one that I used to subscribe to until I watched the Panorama corporate propaganda piece – see below) is that the Beeb produces drama of a quality not found anywhere else. Read more

    Strange but true: energy efficiency actually increases overall energy use

    In the 1960 film School for Scoundrels, which is based on the Stephen Potter “Gamesmanship” books, there is a scene where Ian Carmichael (formerly one of life’s failures) is playing tennis with Terry Thomas. Carmichael has just finished a course in lifemanship Read more

    Viable self-sufficiency

    Back 40 years ago in 1976, John Seymour’s most famous work –The Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency – was published. It was billed as for dreamers and realists which was pretty accurate. Read more

    There’s a crash coming – a slap from Mother Nature. This isn’t pessimistic; it’s realistic.

    The human impact on nature and on each other is accelerating and needs systemic change to reverse.

    We’re not advocating poverty, or a hair-shirt existence. We advocate changes that will mean better lives for almost everyone.

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