tiny house
- Thread starter Jake Bunce
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Jake Bunce
Well-known member
That's the idea. Save now for the future. It actually benefits everyone.
Green living isn't strictly about altruism. It can directly serve individual self interest by reducing your bottom line. Reducing consumption is mostly about eliminating what you don't need. It need not affect your quality of life. In my case I use very little livable space so I want to live in a shoe box because the space doesn't matter to me. Shoe boxes aren't for everyone, but there are many ways to reduce your consumption.
Jerry
Well-known member
Every dinosaur has it's day... let's hope this lot don't take the rest of us with them
The world I live in is going to do well based on community, personal & social responsibility and an understanding of systems in balance (having learnt from ones way out of balance). The kind of people who are attracted to that typically get on, the "I'm all right jack" crowed will be left to fight it out , on their own.
Kim
Well-known member
To me this is what it is all about, and it doesn't even have to mean living like a hippy without any mod cons, it just means you have to make some effort to offset and reduce your consumption.. my aim one day is to have a totally green house where nothing comes in or goes out of my land, that all my energy needs are met by (free) solar or wind power - yay no bills!!!
I have no intention of living in a shoe box, giving up my dishwasher, or my big screen TV either, but I can have those, if my lifestyle is perfectly balanced.. if i produce more green energy than I consume, and if am aware of my consumption, particularily of things which require excessive amounts of non-renewable resources to create them, or things that create toxic pollution in their production.
Like anything.. it is all about Balance imho.
The Sandman
Well-known member
How about This House?
Jerry
Well-known member
Explore every idea I say !
Trombones13
Well-known member
I should check these out and get ideas for saving space in my dorm room (though I'm fairly good at it, unlike my roommate...hahaha)! 
HannahP
Well-known member
This is all well and good, but I lived (in a space of less than 100 square feet, by the way) on the property of a trust fund hippie who installed a chemical toilet, and I can tell you that considering living without waste disposal and actually doing it are two very different things. Unless you enjoy the smell of your own crap and stale urine. But, you know, I imagine some people do.
On a more serious note, one of the things that always bothered me about that friend of mine, and that bothers me about most people seeking to "simplify" and "reduce their footprint," is the vast majority of them are dilettantes who can afford to live like rats for a time (look at the prices on many of those items listed in the first post). If you follow up on many of them you will see that they abandon the idea after a short time and return to "civilization." It's like an actor or some other privileged person "living on the streets" for a few days. It's disgusting, and it makes a mockery of people who are trapped in such situations.
Use less resources, yes, consume less crap, I'm with you. But this idea of spending a small fortune (on things like a tiny thousand dollar refrigerator that won't save a thousand dollars worth of energy in its lifetime) in order to live like someone who doesn't have ten bucks to spend is ridiculous. You can pare down without consuming all of the gimmick-y trappings of the well-fed and well-off. Building a new "turtle shell" house uses resources, buying a small existing house (you're in America - they're everywhere, no one wants to buy a small house) does not.
I don't know you, maybe you don't have any money and are looking for a way to survive cheaply. Somehow I don't get that impression though.
On a more serious note, one of the things that always bothered me about that friend of mine, and that bothers me about most people seeking to "simplify" and "reduce their footprint," is the vast majority of them are dilettantes who can afford to live like rats for a time (look at the prices on many of those items listed in the first post). If you follow up on many of them you will see that they abandon the idea after a short time and return to "civilization." It's like an actor or some other privileged person "living on the streets" for a few days. It's disgusting, and it makes a mockery of people who are trapped in such situations.
Use less resources, yes, consume less crap, I'm with you. But this idea of spending a small fortune (on things like a tiny thousand dollar refrigerator that won't save a thousand dollars worth of energy in its lifetime) in order to live like someone who doesn't have ten bucks to spend is ridiculous. You can pare down without consuming all of the gimmick-y trappings of the well-fed and well-off. Building a new "turtle shell" house uses resources, buying a small existing house (you're in America - they're everywhere, no one wants to buy a small house) does not.
I don't know you, maybe you don't have any money and are looking for a way to survive cheaply. Somehow I don't get that impression though.
Jake Bunce
Well-known member
You've got the wrong idea about me. And composting done right doesn't smell at all. You also lack a grasp on the cost / consumption factor.
By way of implication, you are right that many people who claim to live green don't do it right. But you have also exemplified the misjudgment of society against people like me. Overcoming that misjudgment has proven an impossible task, so I don't even try to convince people anymore. My entire family thinks I'm stupid. So be it.
steven s
Well-known member
I remember doing an event for feed the hungry.
This was before being green and carbon footprints were in vogue.
Lots of wealthy music and social types. The kind of event that makes you feel good about yourself. Sort of like liking something on Facebook and making you feel that you are making a difference.
Anyway, what people didn't see is all the food that was thrown out. Very good food at that!
After the party the people attending went to their Park Avenue penthouses and the food went into a dumpster.
Back on topic. There is a lot to be said for uncluttering one's life or lifestyle.
There is a difference between need and want.
My first apartment was a studio apartment. Kitchen on one wall, bed against the other. Small table on another wall.
Bathroom door off the other wall. It took me no time to clean.
HannahP
Well-known member
Ha ha ha - society misjudges you! What a tragedy. If you got the impression that I thought you were "stupid" from my post, you missed the entire point.
"Which is what, exactly, mjp?"
Thanks for asking!
It is this: only wealthy people can afford to reduce their "carbon footprint."
"But I'm not wealthy, mjp, I only make $50,000 a year!"
Well, imaginary conversational partner, to most of the inabitants of the earth, that makes you "wealthy." And it's more than 75% of the rest of the people in America live on.
The fact is, only people who can afford to change their lifestyle, and those who are already wasteful can ponder taking steps to reduce their "carbon footprint." I would think that anyone could see that.
You, Jake Bunce, seem to believe that I am nothing like you because I find your "cause" to be empty and self-serving. Surprise! That's not the case. I am you. I've already done everything you intend, someday, to do. The only difference between you and I is years. I did it a long time ago, and I've lived long enough to see it for the farce that it is. You're idealistic, and that's wonderful. Hold on to that for as long as you can. Keep voting in the elections too, it makes a big difference.
In the meantime, go buy your thousand dollar cube refrigerator and your solar panels and your ********ed yurt, and by all means feel real good about yourself. Because that is all you can accomplish; feeling good about yourself. Some day you will realize that all you're doing - or intending to do, someday - is working feverishly to ease your own conscience. And that doesn't benefit anyone but you.
Jake Bunce
Well-known member
Don't laugh. That's not nice.
If going green costs too much then you are doing it wrong. It should cost less. It's about reducing consumption first and foremost, as opposed to supporting consumptive living with green technologies (which is expensive).
Oh cool. What did you do to reduce your consumption? I am always looking for new ideas, and it sounds like you have more experience than me.
HannahP
Well-known member
I lived in a tiny loft above a rehearsal studio, didn't drive a car, didn't buy new clothes, cooked local vegetables in a clay pot over a fire, didn't wear shoes - anywhere - for a year, crapped in aforementioned chemical toilet, helped build a "grey water" system that used waste water from the house to water the
But the point is, it doesn't matter what you do. You and the 20 hippies within a 50 mile radius of you. The other 6 billion people in the world are going to keep buying new Nikes and microwave dinners and dumping their old couches by the side of the road, and you're just going to be puttering around on the fringe building your geodesic dome house and driving your 30 year old Mercedes that's been converted to run on waste vegetable oil and nothing is going to change.
In other words, you'll deprive yourself and live like a dog for no reason.
Well, not no reason. Like I mentioned, you'll have the satisfaction of assuaging your guilt to a small degree.
I didn't live the way I did because I felt guilt or the burning need to remove myself from society and live "off the grid," (though my friend, the rich man who owned the property, was motivated by those things), I did it out of poverty and Rastafarian communal idealism. You see, I was an idiot. And I'm here today to save you from the horror of repeating my mistakes.
My advice would be to go out and buy a couple pounds of filet mignon, a new pair of $150 jeans and a few DVDs that you'll only watch once. Then, in March or April, throw the jeans and the DVDs away (you're going to eat the steaks). And don't put them in the recycling bin, either. Throw them right in with the regular trash. I know, it will be difficult. But it's the first step toward redemption, my brother.
Jake Bunce
Well-known member
That's pretty hardcore. Good job.
Hmm. I don't concern myself with how other people live. I don't like judging people. In fact, casting judgment often polarizes your opposition against you and does nothing to convince them of your position (quite the opposite). If persuasion is your goal then it's better to lead by example. That is what Jay Shafer does and it has worked quite well for him.
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