Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 155 The Nine Planetary Boundaries Part Two Living on the Brink Welcome back everyone to the Nine Planetary Boundaries Part Two. In last week’s episode we discussed the nine boundaries that we as humans need to operate within in order to live sustainably and thrive. It is becoming painfully obvious that due to our rapid population growth and our insatiable appetite for resources, that we are pushing the limits of what our planet can cope with. We h...
Nov 29, 2023•35 min•Ep. 155
Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 154 Nine Planetary Boundaries: A Safe Operating Space for Humans Over the period of 5 decades we have added 4 billion people to our planet. By 2020 our population was 8.5 billion. With the combination of more people and longer lifetimes our absolute numbers continue to rise. All of these people of course require the use of more resources. We continue to turn forests into farmland, wilderness into wheat fields and prairie into parking lots at an un...
Nov 22, 2023•31 min•Ep. 154
Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 153 The Road to Seven Billion: Should We Limit Human Population? I bet you never really thought of an animal as being a consumer? And yet they are. They graze or hunt on a place, eat and consume what they need or what is available and then they move on. But the key word here is available resources because that is an important factor that keeps a given population in balance. It is no secret that humanity is consuming resources at a far greater rate...
Nov 15, 2023•29 min•Ep. 153
Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 152 Regenerative Agriculture Explained Did you ever think that maybe we should have left things alone? Surely you have heard the phrase, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” These are the sorts of things I think about and the sorts of questions I ask when I look at many things going on in our modern world. Granted our advances in technology have proven to be to our advantage in many ways. But there is a price to pay for that convenience. And such i...
Nov 08, 2023•27 min•Ep. 152
In last weeks episode I discussed how important it is for us to know the origin of our food. Such knowledge empowers us to not only make healthier choices about what we eat but also to make choices that supports a sustainable food supply. That said, far too many of us are still completely disconnected from how our food is produced and what happens in order for us to have food on the shelves at the supermarket. This week I am going to continue that trend from a completely different angle. What I ...
Nov 01, 2023•31 min•Ep. 151
Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 150 Have You Ever Heard a Cow Moo? Self sufficiency and sustainability are hot topics these days. But when I was growing up in Tennessee and Georgia there were two working farms in my family. We never really spoke about self sufficiency or sustainability because it was simply how we lived day to day. In fact, I have no memory of eating store bought meat until I moved away from home at the age of eighteen. Yet in our modern culture, a surprising nu...
Oct 25, 2023•28 min•Ep. 150
After the last two episodes where I gave you nothing but good news about our world, I have decided to continue on that trend. I have often said that if everyone in the world could come home to a place of peace and quiet and have the ability to just mentally shut down, the world would be a much happier place and people would be a lot less angry. There are a number of things that have been proven to increase our happiness and well being and one of those things is gratitude. Taking a little time ev...
Oct 18, 2023•21 min•Ep. 149
In last weeks episode I gave you ten different stories of good new about our world. The reason I did that is because we are constantly bombarded by bad news. And because of that people are developing climate anxiety, depression, hopelessness, and apathy. If all we ever hear about is bad news that we get to the point to where we never expect a good outcome for any reason. But if you really start looking, there is plenty of good news all around us. Even today there are exciting new discoveries, en...
Oct 11, 2023•30 min•Ep. 148
More than likely most of you know that I do not watch network television, I do not spend a lot of time on social media platforms, nor do I pay a lot of attention to the news. Constantly hearing about tragic events, inflation, the next weather related disaster, violence, and racial injustice, is not likely to put me in a good frame of mind. Consequently, filtering what I hear about everyday is my way of increasing my quality of life. That being said, I do not completely ignore the world around me...
Oct 04, 2023•32 min•Ep. 147
All we ever hear about these days is bad news. Approximately 95% of news media is negative and 90% of all news is centered around sensationalism. On top of that, almost daily we hear about some new climate related disaster, how our world food supply is in jeopardy, and how our entire planet is now contaminated. Unfortunately, all of this bad news has an affect on our mental health. Rates of anxiety and depression are increasing and so are the feelings of hopelessness. And because of that I am go...
Sep 27, 2023•27 min•Ep. 146
Raise your hand if you love dandelions and chickweed. Well, I think many of us who have tried to maintained a well manicured lawn can at least share a story about the battle of the dandelions. I am almost ashamed to admit the lengths I have gone to in order to eliminate them from by yard when I owned property in South Carolina. Unknown to most people, these plants serve a vital function for the early Spring pollinators, especially bees. And in our over exuberance to maintain a pretty lawn, we ar...
Sep 20, 2023•25 min•Ep. 145
Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 144 How to Turn Your Home into a Wildlife Habitat Even after living on the homestead property for 27 years, 95% of that property remains in its natural state. That was intentional because one of the best things about being there is the wildlife that we see. We not only want the wildlife to come around we encourage them to do so by leaving their habitat unaltered. But not everyone feels that way about their own place. In addition to climate change ...
Sep 13, 2023•23 min•Ep. 144
Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 143 The Need for Wildlife Coexistence One of the best things about where we live is the amount of wildlife we encounter. In fact, if we stayed at home most of the time we would see far more wildlife than people. The majority of the time those encounters are benign. But one thought is always in the forefront of our minds. We live in the middle of the forest which means we actually live in the middle of what many creatures call home. Consequently, w...
Sep 06, 2023•36 min•Ep. 143
Almost daily we hear something new about the affects of climate change. One of the more interesting things from a scientific perspective is that global warming is not uniform. Europe is warming faster than the US. Canada is warming twice as fast as other parts of the globe. And the Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the planet. Global warming is producing some widespread affects many of which we are just starting to understand. The affects in the Arctic have been particularly c...
Aug 30, 2023•22 min•Ep. 142
Have you ever been around someone that was so overtly negative that it made you cringe just to be in the same room with them? It’s that person you see in the break area at work and you turn around and go back to your desk. You see them walking down the hall and you try not to make eye contact. If they start a conversation you are quick to come up with excuses to get back to what you were doing. We have all been there. So why is it we are so glued to the news media when 90% of all news reports ar...
Aug 23, 2023•19 min•Ep. 141
Many times I stand on the back deck of the cabin enjoying the unobstructed long range view of the mountains and listening to the quiet. The only thing that interrupts the quiet is the sound of the creek that is at the height of Spring run off. It is the middle of June and there is still plenty of snow above timber line which means it was a productive snow filled winter As I sit here I think about how Colorado has changed since moving here many years ago. But despite those changes I can still com...
Aug 16, 2023•24 min•Ep. 140
Just the other day I was up on the hillside above the cabin working on the greenhouse. I would take intermittent breaks, sit at a home made table, enjoy the view of the peaks and soak in the peace and tranquility. The only interruption to my silence was the sound of the distant creek that is at the height of Spring run off. I distinctly remember when I first moved onto the property how all my friends and family thought I was crazy. Twenty seven years later I am often curious why so many people a...
Aug 09, 2023•24 min•Ep. 139
Too many times I hear people complain about the cost of a sustainable lifestyle. But what most people frequently overlook is that making the right choices for your well being is quite often easier on your bank account, better for your health and better for the planet. The same holds true for your kitchen. The vast majority of our household waste is related to what we do in the kitchen. But changing that is yet another way that can easily be apart of our green transition. Eating green, energy eff...
Aug 02, 2023•30 min•Ep. 138
In our litigious society people commonly file lawsuits after an injury obtained while using a product. Much of the time the lawsuit is based on some version of “Well you did not warn me that could have happened therefore you are responsible and you owe me.” And yet the one thing about our so called modern lifestyle that never ceases to amaze me is how many toxic substances we are exposed to everyday without our knowledge and without any warning. Many of the chemicals we are routinely exposed to ...
Jul 26, 2023•28 min•Ep. 137
In the last couple of months I have produced several episodes geared toward helping you be prepared for the unexpected. Even though survival and prepping are not the subject of this podcast, self sufficiency is related directly to sustainability and part of sustainability is being responsible for yourself and being prepared. In my search for articles related to all things sustainable I repeatedly come across is this term bugging out. This term is usually related to some survival or disaster scen...
Jul 19, 2023•33 min•Ep. 136
For most of us that live in a developed country and have an adequate income, we never think much about having enough to eat. However, there are millions of people in the world that go hungry and millions more that experience food insecurity. We don’t think about it because we don’t see it. It is out of sight, out of mind. In the face of such widespread hunger and food insecurity there is also a tremendous amount of food that is wasted. In fact, if we were able to recover all the food that is was...
Jul 12, 2023•43 min•Ep. 135
Electricity or not? That is the question. I lived without it for about 16 years at my off-grid cabin. Consequently I know from personal experience that it is very possible to do so and at the same time be very comfortable. But I remember all too well just how happy I was when my solar electric system went online. Although I cannot complain about how I lived before that, having electricity certainly was a game-changer for me. But once I had electricity, I suddenly found myself becoming very consc...
Jul 05, 2023•37 min•Ep. 134
Since I have been self employed for many years, I always have a certain amount of year-end accounting work to do in order to prepare for my tax return. Whenever I do this it is a perfect time for me to look over the past year and review where my money came from as well as where it went. Then I modify my budget accordingly in order to save money. This year I decided to take a much close look at just how much money I was spending on food. I reviewed my grocery budget over a period of 6 months. I w...
Jun 28, 2023•29 min•Ep. 133
With all the hype in the news media these days about nuclear war, economic recession, another banking crisis, food shortages, prolonged drought conditions, and yet another storm wreaking havoc, it is easy to overlook the biggest threat of all. Most scientific experts would agree that the biggest threat to our social structure and way of life is climate change. And we hear about this also everyday. But despite all the policy changes and improved technology, the underlying cause as well as the rou...
Jun 21, 2023•37 min•Ep. 132
In my previous episode I discussed 12 reasons why we make our lives so complicated. Then I gave you solutions to each one of those challenges. If you put a little further thought into that episode, it should have occurred to you that it is all the complications in our lives that limit our personal freedom. I think a good definition for freedom is the ability to live your life the way you want. In other words, the ability to design a lifestyle that nurtures who you are and what you value. But how...
Jun 14, 2023•32 min•Ep. 131
Very few people that I know have simple, slow-paced, uncomplicated lives. Even after most people retire, they go through a period of simply staying busy. It is not until several years into retirement that they give themselves permission to slow down and relax. Even in the complex world of today, it is possible to live a simple life. So why is it that humanity defaults to making things complicated. A simpler life is often easier, less expensive, and less stressful. Yet time and time again we reac...
Jun 07, 2023•36 min•Ep. 130
If you have never lived outside of your home country most likely you have no appreciation for just how expensive it can be to live in the United States. While most people view the US as the land of opportunity, there are plenty of places in the world where life is much more simple. We get so caught up in just living day to day, that we never stop to realize that life could be so much different. In this episode, I am going to give more practical advice on just how you can cut your cost of living,...
May 31, 2023•30 min•Ep. 129
If you have been following me at all, you already know that I have lived off the grid for many years. In fact, as of August 2023, I will have owned my homestead property for 27 years. I greatly enjoy the lifestyle that I have and would not have it any other way. It is one of the few things that has been a major driving force in shaping my adult life. Often times I wonder why more people do not choose to live the way I do. Perhaps it is fear of the unknown because it is such a different lifestyle...
May 24, 2023•25 min•Ep. 128
Having grown up with two working farms in my family, raising and processing our own food was a way of life. In fact, I never really gave it much thought. I figured this was what everyone did. It was not until I was in my teenage years that I realized it was actually more common for people to purchase their meat and other staple items from a supermarket. As you well know, I am a big fan of being as independent and sustainable as possible. A big part of that is managing my own food supply. But mos...
May 17, 2023•43 min•Ep. 127
As I have said previously, part of having a sustainable lifestyle is being prepared for the unexpected. I think at this point all of us have seen media reports of natural disasters, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc that have destroyed communities and hundreds of people have gone days and even weeks without any sort of basic services, shelter, electricity, food or fresh water. Every time I witness such events the first thing I think is that such hardship is mostly preventable if you take some simple st...
May 10, 2023•47 min•Ep. 126
