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CHAPTER 13-1/2. OUT-TAKES (BONUS CHAPTER)

This chapter is definitely from the “Having my cake and eating it too” department. Originally, I had this material in the main body of the book, in a chapter titled “Tidbits” that immediately followed the Riot chapters. But I decided that some folks might feel overwhelmed with the extra content-dump. 

I also thought some folks might enjoy this extra stuff. So I got the bright idea of making an out-take chapter. If you feel like you’re done reading, then that’s okay; skip this chapter or save it for another time. If you feel like nibbling on some mini-rants, little insights, and other tidbits, read on!

Incidental Greenness

Some of my footprint reduction is a byproduct of another goal. For example, I wanted to reduce my mindless internet usage, so I started doing “modified Internet intake.” This meant having internet only at work. When I want to do things online I arrive early at the shop where I work part-time and use the internet there. By not sitting on the internet for hours, I reduce my electricity consumption, but more importantly, I improve the efficiency of the time I do spend on the internet. 

Lately, I’ve been taking aim at my “free wifi habit” by refraining from accessing wifi at free hotspots “just because I can”; by doing this I’m more present with the people in front of me or the task at hand. 

Reduction Is More than the Sum of Its Parts

I doubt that the electricity reduction from my “self-imposed internet reduction diet” is very substantial. The greater benefit comes from my being “unhooked” for several hours a day, mainly in the evening. This turns the evening into unbroken time for walks, writing, introspection, reading paper books (or ebooks already stored on my device), sitting with my cat, and connecting face-to-face with my neighbors.

Regarding connection vs. connectivity, here’s one of my new favorite quotes; it’s from my friend Paul Furlong’s book, Paul Furlong’s Bohemian Road Trip: “I swear, the more I accept the miracle of universal consciousness, the more I see electronic connectivity as a kind of booby prize.”

Another reason why reductions are more than just the sum of their numbers is that we’re not just reducing; we’re helping to NORMALIZE a gentler and saner way of doing things. What are you normalizing with your choices today? There’s a lot of power in asking yourself that question. 

The Cost of Comfort

Did you ever wonder what the addiction to constant comfort is costing you besides just money (and the time it takes to work to make that money)? What about your peace of mind; your sense of self-reliance and independence? What about the time you can never get back? How comfortable is our state of American comfort, really?

Transcending Politics

Greenness transcends all political and class boundaries. Someone who is following a low-footprint path might actually be a card-carrying member of the Green Party, but he or she could just as easily be a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Communist, anarchist, independent, or apolitical. I’ve met deep-green people of all political stripes. Yes, ALL. No one party or affiliation has a monopoly on green-ness (sorry to break the news to you, Democrats and Greens!).

Overtaken By Events, in a Good Way

Many environmentally minded people (including myself at times) have been angry, frustrated, and hopeless for so long that our vision has become obscured. In many cases, our negative outlooks are literally being overtaken by positive developments that are happening all around us. 

All across the USA, mayors and cities are making their own climate-change policies, overriding the lack of conscience or political will at the national-government level. Convenience stores are setting up quite gorgeous recycling stations on their premises (Thanks, Wawa!). A tiny West Texas town, Spur, is billing itself as “the first tiny-house-friendly town in the USA” and proactively recruiting the kind of residents who will make a truly livable community. 

Food-gardening and raising chickens are wildly popular in some places, to the point of almost being mainstream. This is something I’ve really noticed just in the last 10 years. The State of California is basically doing its own thing, with environmental regulations far more rigorous than anywhere else in the country. Contrary to the predictions of naysayers, the state is watching its economy boom as a result. Like battle-hardened soldiers peering up from the trenches and seeing that the worst of the war is over, we environmentalists can take comfort in the fact that our sad Lone Ranger or “Chicken Little” attitude is obsolete in many ways, and we can abandon our lonely outposts and join the current. 

Helpful Daily Habits 

The following are some little daily habits and attitudes I’ve found helpful; adapt this to your needs. 

• I try not to watch or listen to too much news. Not having a TV helps a lot. I control my news intake by reading selectively. And although I did not consciously set out to do so, I realized that nowadays I am more creating the news than consuming the news. By this I mean being out there engaged in civic activities, such as: City Commission meetings, neighborhood planning meetings, design charrettes; reaching out to potential allies, and teaming up with neighbors to form a steady presence in our neighborhood park and discourage drug dealers and prostitutes from roosting there. (Aside: Just because I don’t have a TV doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy watching TV on occasion. I got to see the 2016 Summer Olympics on wide-screen TV at my favorite beachside pub, Jimmy Hart’s Hall of Fame at the Mayan Inn in Daytona Beach.)

• I don’t focus too much on the threat of environmental disaster. I give myself a “booster shot” of a reminder maybe every month or two; that’s all I need to keep my edge. 

• I strive to minimize my footprint but I don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. When a friend took me out to dinner many times over the course of a few weeks, and I wound up with styrofoam carry-out boxes for the leftover food, I didn’t beat myself up. I did notice that styrofoam is getting a lot thinner and lighter these days!

• I try to put as much energy into cultivating compassion and kindness as I do to minimizing my eco footprint. One of my ongoing struggles is to keep myself from flipping the bird at drivers who abuse me for being on a bicycle. I try to see their viewpoint (they have trouble passing in a narrow lane; they’re from the suburbs and they’ve never been around people who cycle for transportation and they expect a cyclist to ride on the sidewalk). I usually end up feeling at least somewhat more peaceful and understanding. An unkind word or a rude gesture ripples out into the world; it’s a form of pollution.

• I strive to maximize my HANDPRINT by putting myself out there in the world and using my talents to create useful things for people. I go to City Commission meetings. I make art. I have a Little Free Library in my front yard next to the sidewalk that gets a lot of foot traffic. I teach neighbors how to collect rainwater. I give demos of my solar oven and share sun-cooked food.  

Attention Management Is Key

The real name of the game is managing our attention. Attention management is what will determine our success or failure. While acknowledging the reality of the obstacles, we need to keep most of our attention on the desired outcome.  

Oversteering and Horizons

When my father was teaching me to drive, he told me to direct my gaze some distance out in front of me rather than what was immediately in front of me. To keep my eyes on the road where I wanted to go, not keep my eyes on traffic cones, the side of the road and so on. By keeping our eyes on where we want to go, we avoid being panicked and swayed by every little news item that hits our inboxes.

Conversely, sometimes we panic over something that’s too far away to worry about. Some of my fellow permaculturists (and I share this tendency with them) have been known to worry every time we put a jar into the recycling bin. I couldn’t make a new mason jar if I needed one! This mentality results in a lot of cluttered cabinets and dusty garages. We don’t have to know how to make a mason jar at the household level. We can trust that the glass-vessel-making industry will retool as appropriate and adapt to keep up with the prevailing energy mix. I don’t have to worry about not being able to weave clothing. Truthfully, there is enough overstock to keep us all well-clothed well into the next century.

All of that said, learning how to weave or blow glass could be an enjoyable and useful way for you to entertain yourself, educate yourself about history and energy, and connect with likeminded people. And it could give you a skill to teach, thus providing you with a “right livelihood” and a way to increase your handprint. 

Along those same lines, why not be the first glassblowing artisan who becomes known for being powered by renewable energy? In fact, I imagine that artisan already exists, but you could become the first in your local area.

Ditto for a bakery, a handmade-clothing boutique, or a leather-goods repair shop. Become known as the green, low-footprint one! 

Things Are Not Always What They Seem

Recently as I was sitting down to write, the peaceful early-evening air was shattered by the ear-splitting snarl of a weed-whacker. As the sound went on and on, I found myself working up quite a lather. “When will people get it?? Those things ought to be outlawed!! Who’s doing that???” 

I got up to look, and saw that it was my neighbor catty-corner across the street. A guy who hardly ever buys food from a supermarket because he catches in the river or grows in his yard most of what he eats. A guy who gets around by bicycle and hardly ever burns gasoline, except occasionally when he rides in the car with his father to help out with the family business, a commute of about five miles.

As long as buying my food is an option for me, I may never be as green as that neighbor. I took a deep breath and relaxed about the weed-whacker.

Lately I’ve been having more and more moments like this, and as you become more centered in your own pursuit of your version of a deep-green life, I bet you will be having more of them too. 

Your Mission, Should You Choose To Accept It

Consider yourself mobilized! With the Riot for Austerity, there’s no government mandate making you do it. You determine your role and how far you want to go. It’s the People’s Green Mobilization! We could call it Green Mob or XLF Lifestyle Tribe for short. Plug into what you care about most, find your people, and go to town!

You know the saying “If you can’t beat them, join them?” We complain at how much power and influence the corporations and advertisers have. Well, what if we use some of their methods to promote our positive activities. Who wants to help me make some World War II-style green mobilization posters? 

Perception Is Everything

How we think of things (“credit-card debt” vs. “business investment debt”; “doing without air conditioning” vs. “preferring an open-air environment”) not only makes a difference in our own ability to “walk our talk”, to translate our convictions into our daily personal practices. How we refer to things in our own minds also makes an enormous difference in how we talk about them to other people. This has an impact on how persuasive and attractive our lifestyle is. People adopt what’s attractive and useful. Human beings are “Monkey see, monkey do.” If you’re doing something that’s working, and you recognize that fact and radiate it to the world in your attitude, people will sense it and copy it. 

When you choose to define something as “retro” rather than shabby and old-fashioned, it becomes cool. The little white folding step-ladder in my kitchen, which even a tall person like me needs in order to reach the high kitchen shelves (vertical space being an essential in the modest-sized kitchens of yore), might look shabby to some. But to me it evokes nostalgia for the World War II–era look of my grandmothers’ kitchens. In fact, the four-plex house in which I occupy one rental unit was built in the 1920s. What are some examples from your own life? Can your “cramped” apartment actually be “minimalist urban chic”? 

Getting Real Freedom

I recently witnessed a little boy crying in a car. The Dad, exasperated, outside trying to get the little boy to come out of the car. “Honey, I’m sorry but when we went to the park there were no parking spaces and no one was leaving so that’s why we had to come home instead of going to the park!”

In a Riot world this would not happen. Dads and kids would walk or cycle to the park. Or if there were no park close by, they’d make the whole neighborhood their park. The much-touted “freedom” of the car so often turns out to be the opposite.

The Power of Purpose

A recent issue of TIME magazine reported on a study that found that people with a sense of purpose literally sleep better at night. Those who reported having a strong sense of purpose were 63% less likely to suffer from sleep apnea and 52% less likely to suffer from restless leg syndrome than those whose “purpose scale” score was lower.

A Minimalist Clutterbug

I get a lot of credit for being minimalist and having a small footprint; however, as much as I hate clutter, I am still a clutterbug in certain ways. My clutter takes the form of small bits of jewelry, art supplies, paper scraps “too good to throw away”. 

I consider this pattern a direct physical manifestation of my old pattern of hanging back and withholding effort. Recently I read a book called Die Empty by Todd Henry. It’s about putting out to the world all you’ve got every day, so you don’t die with a single thing undone, a single bit of energy or talent unspent. I have several pads of unused fine paper for artwork. I have a set of paints. I have a set of colored inks – I did use them a lot a few years back when a lot of my livelihood was focused on visual art, so I do consider the inks to have paid for themselves, not only monetarily but also energetically. So even if I were to get rid of them now, I could do so without regrets. I don’t feel like I’m done with art yet though.

This is not to make a point that you shouldn’t ever keep anything around, rather that you should be ever-mindful of your own “happy medium” zone that lies between having too much stuff moldering away unused and having nothing to work with. I do enjoy going into my supplies shelf and finding something I had forgotten about!

How To Achieve a Zero Footprint

If you want to achieve a zero footprint and save the world, here’s the 100% effective, surefire way: Don’t move, don’t breathe, don’t consume anything, and don’t ever do anything. This includes having kids. Don’t do that! 

You may laugh, at least I HOPE you’re laughing, as opposed to, say, slowly nodding your head in a dawning glimmer of agreement, or jumping up out of your chair and shouting, “EUREKA, that’s IT, the secret of a sustainable civilization is to … kill off all the people!” But laugh though we may, some people actually feel that the human race is so fundamentally flawed, and/or has taken such a wrong turn, that our species is not worth saving, and the best thing we humans can do for the planet is to die out. 

Does that make sense to you? Do you believe that the best we humans can possibly hope to do is hunker down and sit still and try not to breathe, so we can be “less bad” for the environment? It doesn’t make sense to me. What a cop-out! Fortunately it’s not the case. At least I don’t believe it is. 

What I believe is that it’s possible to restore ecological balance to the planet without sacrificing our own basic human needs. You can be deep-green and still live a full life! In fact, it will be a much fuller life because you’ll be cutting out waste, busywork, and conflict. Then you can use your freed-up time and energy to focus on the stuff that really makes your soul sing.

– 30 – 

Want more? Visit me at Deep Green Book by Jenny Nazak on Facebook; and Jenny Nazak on YouTube.

When I first started writing this post, I wasn’t sure if it would be useful to anyone. But I went ahead and wrote it. If it helps even one person, I figure it’s worth posting.

We all have our character defects. One of mine is a reactive temperament. Although I have done a lot of work and made a lot of progress over the years, I’m still too prone to speak harsh words to people, make snappish responses. 

A harsh word at the wrong time can instantly vaporize a friendship, or snap it like a twig. Not that there’s ever a good time to speak harsh words, but some times are worse than others. And with the wrong words or tone at those brittle junctures, even a friendship that was longstanding and seemingly pretty solid might not recover. 

That’s where duct tape comes in. Duct tape? Yes, duct tape! “One of the great cohesive forces of the universe,” I’ve heard it referred to tongue-in-cheek. As one who’s often used duct tape to patch or hold things together, I love this.

Another way I think of duct tape is metaphorical rather than tangible: A way to express the value of keeping my mouth shut instead of letting harsh words come out. It’s remarkable, really, how many harsh interactions I’ve had with people over the years, that would have gone fine if only I’d remembered to bring my mental “roll of duct tape” to tape my mouth shut. It’s in the same genre as counting to ten, taking a walk around the block, and other cool-off buffer strategies.

Yesterday with a friend was one such time. Connection snapped like a twig; friendship may or may not recover.

In some of my friendships that have ended over the years, there were such differences in our core values that there may have been a built-in expiration date all along. But it’s better for a friendship to run its course naturally than to be killed by harsh words. 

(Note: I’m not talking about the strong words that are necessary sometimes as we assert our boundaries and call out abusive behavior in a personal or professional relationship. Those are healthy strong words. Here I’m talking about needless harsh words.)

Rather than cry over spilt milk, I’m determined to learn from this and never do it again to another person. I see where I first went wrong by introducing a topic of conversation where this friend and I have many differences of opinion. There was really no reason to bring it up; I was “venting”; engaging in the kind of idle chatter that seems harmless but can quickly stray into complaining and gossiping and other negativity. The Buddhists counsel against idle chatter; categorize it as one type of “wrong speech.” 

And when my friend then pointed out something that brought up feelings of shame in me, I reacted by lashing out at her. Another big pattern of mine I’ve become more aware of in recent years: For me, feelings of shame are very intense, and all too often still (even though I’ve done a lot of work in this area, had some great therapists and teachers), I push away the feelings and react by lashing out, instead of being quietly present with those feelings til they subside. 

I’ve learned some really effective techniques for being present with uncomfortable feelings; abiding in silence til they pass. I just really need to be heads-up so I feel those feelings coming on, and put that “duct tape” around my mouth and walk around the block or do whatever it takes to avoid polluting the space between another person and me with harsh words. 

Another thing I’ve learned, but sometimes temporarily forget til it’s too late, is to become conscious of when I’m feeling chronically put-down or suppressed in a relationship, and either deal with those feelings within myself; talk with the other person about patterns I notice between us; or take a break from the friendship. Sometimes it ends up being all three.

Yet another thing I’ve learned over the years: Don’t assume that a friendship is over; try to apologize or make amends. But also I’ve learned not to assume that, by apologizing, I can repair damage and patch things up as good as they were before I let slip the harsh words. Those times when my apologies have not been accepted, I just move forward and focus on making amends to society in general by changing the problematic behavior pattern. Shifting these problematic patterns is its own reward, as well as being the right thing to do. And oftentimes an alienated friend will end up coming back into one’s life after awhile too, and that’s a bonus.

In my mental purse, I now have a roll of beautiful golden duct-tape, and I aspire to never again leave home without it. Silence is golden, especially when it creates space for anger and tension to subside so harsh words are never spoken. 

Tools for communicating nonviolently, and for processing feelings, are essential to human civilization. Below, I’m starting a list of some of my favorites.

Further Exploration:

• The Noble Eightfold Path: Way to the End of Suffering (book by Bhikkhu Bodhi).

• Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life (book by Marshall Rosenberg, PhD). 

• The Avatar® Course. I took this course back in 2005 and it has helped me become a lot more peaceful and less reactive. Though I still have a long way to go, you should see how I was before! The course has been around since 1980. It’s a nine-day course typically offered in person in a group setting, but recently has begun to be available by Zoom! The next course is September 11-20. If you want to get a quick idea of what the course is like, there are free intros and minicourses available via the link above, as well as talks on streaming video by Harry Palmer, author of the Avatar Course materials. 

Tiny barriers can be surprisingly powerful.

The bucket that I use for a compost bin in my kitchen requires me to use one hand to open it. It would be vastly easier if it had a foot-pedal. Every single time I have to open the bucket to put food scraps in, I feel an ever-so-tiny twinge of stress and annoyance.

Micro-stress adds up. It can be enough to discourage a person from using the compost bucket. And just toss her scraps in the trash can instead. The trash can doesn’t need a lid because there are no food scraps in there to create smells or attract bugs. But if I were to get sufficiently annoyed with my compost bucket lid as to dump food scraps into the trash bucket instead, the trash bucket would attract noise and bugs … and need a lid.

Another tiny barrier I’ve noticed: Screen doors that require me to have a hand free in order to open them. When I’ve got both hands full (with a pot of collected sink-water to dump outside or whatever), having to bend down to put the pot on the floor so I can open the screen door, and then bend back down to pick up the pot while holding the screen door open with my hip … is such a tiny micro annoyance, yet surprisingly energy-sapping!

Tiny barriers of this kind deepen my appreciation for thoughtful design. My idea of a good screen door would be one you could open from the inside by pushing with your hip, thus not needing a hand free. And the screen door would spring back tightly shut so as not to let in mosquitoes.

And it would swing both ways, so you could do the same thing when you were coming back indoors with two armfuls of groceries or whatever.

Sounds kind of like an old-school screen door that’d be at the back door of a restaurant or something.

Tiny barriers can be surprisingly powerful. And addressing them can often provide immense relief, seemingly way out of proportion to the size of the annoyance.

But maybe it’s not so out of proportion. After all, minor annoyances from tiny barriers can chew up a person’s day and clog the brain, blocking out creative and useful thoughts. Unless we use the barriers to incite our creativity to develop a solution!

What tiny barriers and micro-annoyances do you notice around you? How might you fix them?

I haven’t figured out a solution to the compost bucket. I definitely need to do something though!

Neighbor up early
Sunday morning, edging grass
That’s square already.

*Or maybe this should be titled “American Distraction.”

Today I stepped on a lubber by mistake. (The giant, brilliantly colored grasshoppers, native to Florida, are very slow-moving and stumbly, which is how they got their popular name “lubbers.”) After I stepped on it, the lubber just lumbered off as if nothing had happened; as if a very large, heavy, clumsy, absent-minded two-legged animal had not just landed on its body. I’ve seen that happen before. Lubbers are tough! (Still, I wouldn’t recommend testing that out by stepping on them on purpose.)

The defining attribute of lubbers, other than their distinctive appearance, is the fact that they seem to eat pretty much ALL plants. I have yet to see a tree, grass, or shrub they won’t nibble on. Early in the season, when the plants are still babies and the rains haven’t arrived to help accelerate their growth, it’s kind of terrifying to witness. I remember my first year in my house, wondering if any of my threadbare plants would survive the lubbers (and yet not wanting to kill the creatures).

Well, most if not all of the plants came roaring back to life bigger and better than ever. This morning I had the thought, “Maybe trials and tribulations in our human lives are like lubbers in a plant’s life.” Or, as the popular saying goes, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger!”

I chose to see those lubber-surviving plants as a visible example of grit; sheer determination of life-force. This is a quality I’ve had to work at cultivating in myself.

I’ve lived a privileged life. I grew up middle-class, not particularly wealthy. But I had the kind of parents who made huge personal sacrifices for their kids. I might even go so far as to say they were a bit “helicopter” or “snow-plow” before those terms even existed: The thought of their kids experiencing any kind of pain or adversity was so unbearable to them, they went to great lengths to protect us from anything bad.

There were times in life (such as when I slacked off on schoolwork and got D’s) when I probably should have been allowed to just flat-out fail and experience the consequences of my laziness and entitled attitude. Maybe instead of a parent-teacher conference to smooth things out and keep me in the “advanced” classes, what I needed was information about vocational schools and other non-academic paths. Or simply being moved to “regular,” non-advanced classes. Or being asked to help fellow students instead of being allowed to harbor an arrogant attitude about being “gifted” (that word really makes me cringe). Or (and?) my parents warning me that I’d be on my own for college tuition if I didn’t straighten up.

But my parents didn’t crack down in any of those ways. They wanted an idyllic life for their kids, and they were doing what they felt in their hearts was best, and who could blame them? Not me!

And besides, somehow my siblings escaped becoming spoiled or entitled, so obviously there were other factors at work than parenting choices.

Hey, we all have our character deficiencies. And one of mine has been lack of grit.

That said, I have learned that grit is a quality anyone can cultivate, even me. Here are a few things I’ve learned:

• There were actually times even in my very young life that I displayed grit. Such as when I was still a baby in the crib, I learned how to move from one side of the room to another, in my crib, by rocking the crib on its legs across the floor! (I kid you not. My mom must have freaked the first time she saw that!) I’m lucky I didn’t tip the crib over! Or later on, in my late 20s, when I worked really hard to learn Japanese, and also worked really hard to understand and overcome my mental-health issues. What this tells me is that sometimes if a person seems kind of lazy and not very “gritty,” they just haven’t yet found a goal that lights them up from within. If you or someone else are working toward your goals half-heartedly … maybe they aren’t really your goals, but someone else’s.

• Or, your willpower could be being sapped by chronic pain (physical or mental). That’s a huge drain. Take care of your health. Look into the root causes of chronic pain.

• Get inspired by others! I have been absolutely blown away at how much grit some of the people around me have. Their example inspires me to kick it up a notch. This includes examples from history, such as the Shackleton Expedition. It also includes other species, such as lubbers; and so-called “invasive” plants.

Below I’m starting a list of books and other resources that have helped me cultivate grit; boost my determination. Hope you find them useful!

Further Exploration:

• Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, book by Angela Duckworth. Also check out her TED talk on YouTube.

• “Life Challenges” video talk by Harry Palmer (creator of the Avatar(R) Course). Profound yet simple, and entertaining. He talks about how all the best rewards in life are “upstream.” (It’s about the 10th title down the page. All his other talks are excellent too.)

• Basic Will Minicourse – A set of exercises to strengthen one’s will and determination. It’s like core strength training for the mind! I use these exercises a lot. The Basic Will minicourse is part of the Avatar Course materials. (Avatar is a nine-day experiential course to increase awareness of how one’s own mind works and how to live deliberately. I took the course back in 2005 and got so much out of it that I went on to become an instructor of it.) Basic Will is one of seven minicourses. For developing will and determination, you might also enjoy the Life Alignment and Attention Management minicourses.

(Announcement from WMNF):

“TUNE IN ON MONDAY 8/24 TO LEARN ABOUT PERMACULTURE …
when we will host two major influencers in the movement, Koreen Brennan and Jenny Nazak.

“We’ll unpack the word and the concept. Then they will share the ethics and principles that may well shape a new and hopeful future for Earth and its inhabitants …. including US!

“JOIN THE CONVERSATION … They’ll share their projects and you can share about yours! Listen on-the-air at 88.5FM in the Tampa Bay area or online from anywhere, https://www.wmnf.org/events/sustainable-living/ .

“Phone in questions or comments at 813-239-9662 or text to 813-433-0885. You can also e-mail the studio, dj@wmnf.org .”

I always love being on the Sustainable Living show on WMNF. Jungle Jay is a superb host. And it’ll be an extra special treat being on with my friend Koreen Brennan, of Grow Permaculture. Hope you can tune in! And don’t hesitate to ask us questions.

One of my rallying cries for the #GrassrootsGreenMobilization is “Small-Footprint Living Large!” The idea being that choosing to live light on the earth need not involve deprivation. And moreover, by cutting out activities and expenses that are not adding value to your life, you not only help Mother Earth; you also liberate yourself from junk that’s superfluous to your wellbeing, so you can live large according to your own definition.

But what IS living large? Being a product of an affluent, media-saturated society, when I think of that phrase, what comes to mind is things like yachts; jetsetting movie-stars with big hair and big sunglasses; traveling all the time to Cannes or Mumbai or Barcelona or wherever.

But then there’s MY personal definition of living large, which is totally different. Having time to sit on my porch and listen deeply to the layered sound of rain splashing on leaves. One camping trip back when I lived in Japan, just sitting still for two hours and literally watching it get dark, leaf by leaf. Learning how to read Japanese by spending hours copying characters over and over again on lines of a notebook, for hours at a time, as hot summer insects sang outside the window of my tiny tatami room. Watching a TV show with a neighbor and getting so much enjoyment out of it. Deciding at one point that I really wanted to be a fire performer, and doing that for a while. Owning, at one point, about 30 pairs of platform shoes, many of them wildly ornate, and actually wearing them for everyday wear. Using my own money to rent out a local theater and put on an Earth Day festival. Back when I lived in Austin and had a course to teach in Santa Fe, deciding at the last minute to go there by bicycle. Living on a friend’s farm for three months, painting signs and helping with miscellaneous tasks. Spending an afternoon with a couple of friends on the beach. Writing a book and actually putting it out there. Sipping coffee with friends on their porch in the morning; wine in the evening. Really having time and headspace to fully savor those things.

What’s your definition of living large, what is that for you? Whatever it is, there is almost certainly a way for you to be/do/have that while also living lightly on the earth. And, in fact, your conscious choice to minimize your footprint, by paring what’s superfluous to you, will smooth your path to living large according to your own definition.

I cross paths with so many people who are living large according to their own definition. The latest is a guy named Botan up in Minnesota, who decided to start a farm using only scythes and other hand-tools. People told him it was unrealistic, but he made it realistic. (What’s really unrealistic is continuing to trash the soil with chemicals and mechanized equipment.) Besides having a farm, Botan is also a dealer of high-quality European scythes. When he first started out with his farm, he couldn’t find the quality of scythes he needed, but he persisted til he found them, and now he also sells them. (I found his website OneScytheRevolution the other day, when frustration at the noise of lawn-slavery and soil degeneration finally motivated me once and for all to order a darn scythe, already!) This guy is living large according to his own definition.

What I notice about people who are living large according to their own truest definition, is that the benefits tend to ripple out into the world.

But what if your definition of living large is more like the stereotype “glamorous” yachts and jetset life? Personally, I think that is totally do-able even with a low-footprint mind-set. And the benefits can ripple out into the world. What if your boat is a training vessel for people interested in learning seamanship, shipboard cooking, or other skills? What if it’s a vessel for plastic garbage recon and retrieval missions?

What if your jetsetting takes you overseas to learn languages, or start micro-businesses that provide jobs to other people? What if you’re a movie star or stage actor making a difference with the roles you choose?

Living large can be just about anything. One person’s nothing is another person’s everything. Some of my largest moments have been laughably plain “on paper,” but the reality was huge, like dilating my pupils with a kind of eye-drop that makes a raindrop or a tiny insect as large as the whole universe.

In that vein, I love looking at flowers. I mean, most people love flowers, right? But I love slowing down and seriously spending time looking at a flower. Zeroing in on that miracle. Time stands still; sounds and other sensory input recede, beyond the immediate universe of that flower.

In his book A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle writes: “The Buddha is said to have given a ‘silent sermon’ once during which he held up a flower and gazed at it. After a while, one of those present, a monk called Mahakasyapa, began to smile. He is said to have been the only one who had understood the sermon.”