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Advice from NASA to the public: Don’t travel to see the upcoming launch in Cape Canaveral. The SpaceX launch coming up May 27 will be the first human-occupied space mission to leave Cape Kennedy since 2011, but NASA is urging people to stay home. And I agree.

OK, so it is the first human-occupied space launch in a long time. That’s great. People can get a way better view by watching it on TV or on the internet than they would be able to see in person. And save money on gas, parking hassle, finding a place to sit, and all that.

Before the pandemic, the local government leaders were supposedly expecting a half million people to crowd into their town for this launch. (That’s how many attended the last human launch, which was in 2011.) Crazy huh!??? And a local official was quoted in the article urging people to come on ahead to the upcoming launch — the opposite of NASA’s advice. Well of course: He has an economic stake in drawing large numbers of people to a launch, whereas NASA does not.

Pandemic aside, local areas would be wise to reduce their economic dependence on this kind of huge crowd-gathering. As for the would-be visitors, surely there is plenty of equally wonderful stuff to see in their own backyards.

Watch it on TV. Or better yet tune into the stunning everyday events we often take for granted in our own local areas. Everywhere in the world, every day and night, the heavens offer us a variety of spectacular shows. And nature gives us a chorus of frog, bird, and insect song. #HyperlocalLiving — the more I slow down and zero in on the stuff right around me, the more remarkable it all seems.

And hey, I just thought of this: You could watch your neighborhood kids do a “space launch” of a homemade rocket! If you’re crafty in a science way, maybe you could even help them build it.

A Facebook acquaintance, responding to my post about NASA’s advice, shared a stirring description of her trip to see a shuttle launch. She and her husband stayed in a hotel and viewed it from the second floor. Being close enough to watch the fire burn the white paint off the shuttle; hear the rumble; feel the building shake; and then out of nowhere the crowd spontaneously burst into a chorus of “God Bless America.” No doubt a deeply touching experience and a lifetime memory.

I feel the same about my memory of seeing the Bicentennial fireworks in Washington DC. (We lived 7 miles away, in northern Virginia.) I remember standing there on the National Mall watching the pyrotechnics with a crowd estimated at two million people. There, on July 4, 1976, at age 13, I vowed that I’d live to be 113 so I could attend the tricentennial in 2076.

But times have changed, and different times call for different ways. Big events are probably not gone forever, but right now is a good time to be very hesitant about traveling long distances or hanging out in big crowds. Concerns about eco footprint, security, and public health, not to mention household finances, are all guiding us in a direction of “smaller and more local.”

Since I live in a beach city that has made itself extremely dependent on tourism and events, a big topic around here is how the hotels have suffered in the shutdown. Now that things are opening up again, the hotels are seeing a resurgence of bookings. But that path will always have its extreme ups and downs. If I were a hotel owner, I would seriously look at turning my hotel into studio apartments. The maximum per-night revenue would drop, but I’d have steady occupancy. No more weather-dependency; no more dead season; no more dependence on special events. If my hotel was one that had a laundry facility on premises, I would offer laundry and dry-cleaning as an extra “boutique” option that would be tacked onto the rent. I might still keep a few units open for occupancy by travelers. Or maybe not; maybe I’d fill them all with fulltime residents.

When July 4, 2076, comes around, you’ll probably find me watching fireworks (or stars) from my own backyard. Actually I hope that by then we’re done with fireworks, and instead get our thrills from watching fireflies. Or making our own super-creative neighborhood light-shows, where everyone participates. Hyper-hyper-local versions of Burningman, adopting that great Burningman motto, “No spectators!”

Further Exploration:

“Conventional Thinking: Stop Pinning All Your City’s Hopes on Big Projects and Events.” Excellent article by Rachel Quednau of Strong Towns. I share her opinion that “we can prepare our towns to be antifragile for the future. We do this by making small bets and incremental investments–not reorienting an entire city around a four-day event. When we can start reopening local businesses and gathering with our neighbors again, it is going to be our small-scale efforts that will create the building blocks for economic prosperity—not waiting for the next huge event to come through and save us.” (I also highly recommend Rachel’s article on how you can help make your place a “strong town” by taking walks around your neighborhood.)

“Eco-tourism” presentation by Eva Pabón. In this bilingual (Spanish + English) presentation, Ms. Pabón shares some pointers on being a good eco-tourist. It’s as much about supporting local businesses, learning local customs, and making sure local people are getting economic benefit from your visit, as it is about viewing wildlife and plants. My favorite aspect of Ms. Pabón’s talk is that she emphasizes that we don’t have to travel miles to some exotic place; we can be eco-tourists in our own states, counties, and cities, learning about and protecting our local wildlife, plants, and people. This presentation was hosted on Facebook Live by the Cuplet Fern Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society (an exceptionally active chapter that hosts a steady stream of webinars, some by nationally or internationally renowned experts).

One night some years back, an event called Elevate Daytona Beach rocked our city. (Kudos to the organizers, who did a stellar job.) I was one of the speakers, and this post showed up today on my anniversary Facebook feed. My talk, and the post I made about it, is relevant to low-footprint living, and improving quality of life for all, so I offer a transcript of it here. I hope you find it helpful.

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ELEVATE is sort of a mini TED TALK event. The talks are 5 minutes long, and are accompanied by slideshows in which the slides automatically advance every 15 seconds. (Whew! It’s quite a breathtaking pace!)

This was Daytona’s inaugural ELEVATE event, and we had 13 speakers on a wide variety of topics including Positivity; how to launch a successful startup firm; and the Dark Side of Chocolate. I was among the speakers. My talk, titled Filling Our Empty Spaces, was about how everyday citizens can revitalize their neighborhoods by filling up vacant buildings and empty lots.

Following is a written version of the talk I gave. Anyone who listened to the actual talk will find that this written version includes a few more points than I was able to fit into the live talk. Whether you live in Daytona Beach or in some other place affected by vacancy blight, I hope you find these ideas useful!

By the way, ELEVATE DAYTONA was held at the News Journal Center, an absolutely beautiful facility located right on the river in downtown Daytona Beach. It’s worth a special trip just to see the landscaping: native plants; wetlands.

ELEVATE DAYTONA attracted a full house, and another one is planned for the fall. Maybe some of my fellow Floridians will attend – as audience members or as speakers!

Technical note: The slides were created using the Google Slides app on my iphone! I thought that was pretty cool, that I could use my iphone. (Especially since my laptop was out of commission at the time I had to create the slideshow.)

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Filling Our Empty Spaces: A Grassroots Approach to Urban Renewal

Tonight I’m going to talk to you about things that we, everyday people, can do to bring life back to our neighborhoods that have been blighted by vacancy.

[SLIDE SHOWING IMAGES OF DAYTONA BEACH ICONS: VINTAGE AMERICAN CAR; OCEAN CENTER WITH THE WIZARD COURSE ON THE LED BILLBOARD; HISTORIC MIDTOWN PHOTO EXHIBIT POSTER] I’ve worked and traveled in great cities all over the world, and I’ve loved them all. But the one I loved so much that I decided to adopt it as my hometown, is Daytona Beach. Daytona Beach is working class, Americana – and yet also international. It’s a magic blend. My love of Daytona Beach is what led me to this talk.

[SLIDE SHOWING CHAINLINK FENCE WITH DECREPIT “FOR SALE” SIGN; STREET OF EMPTY BUILDINGS]. As soon as I moved here I was mystified by all the empty spaces. Vacant buildings, empty lots, chainlink fences, places sitting empty. Right next to the Atlantic Ocean! How could this be?

[SLIDE SHOWING BRICK WALL, ACCOMPANIED BY TEXT: “FACTORS BEYOND OUR CONTROL”] There are factors beyond our control. There are hurricanes; economic boom & bust cycles; unintended consequences of policies. There’s human nature: Property owners want to recoup their investment so they leave the place empty for years rather than reduce the rent or sale price by a dollar. And sometimes there’s the profit motive run amok. All of these are factors beyond our control — and they’re not what this talk is about. This talk is about factors that are WITHIN our control.

[SLIDE: PLYWOODED WINDOWS WITH A RED SLASH THROUGH IT, ACCOMPANIED BY TEXT “SOLUTIONS HAPPENING ELSEWHERE”] Some things other cities are doing: Imposing a vacancy tax on empty buildings. City lien forgiveness, to help residents keep their homes. Selling buildings for a nominal price to people who promise to fix them up and put them into productive use. Easing excessive zoning restrictions to attract creatives, neighborhood-based businesses, and other desirable residents. Imposing ordinances against plywooded windows and chain-link fences. Marketing neighborhoods.

[SLIDE: URBAN PARKING-LOT ISLAND PACKED WITH BEAUTIFUL TREES AND GRASSES, ACCOMPANIED BY TEXT “DECIDE THAT EMPTY IS UNACCEPTABLE”] What all of these actions have in common is that they are based on the fundamental decision that EMPTY IS UNACCEPTABLE. Any productive use is better than empty. Nature doesn’t do empty; every cubic inch is teeming with life. We humans are part of nature, and we forget that at our peril.

[SLIDE: IMAGES OF ART, NATURE, LITTLE FREE LIBRARY] It all starts with LOVE. Act out of love for your place. Write letters to the editor; speak at City meetings; make art. Turn your house and yard into a jewel of the neighborhood. Have potlucks. Sit on your porch. Walk around the neighborhood and talk to people. Set up a Little Free Library.

[SLIDE: IMAGE OF THEASTER GATES TED TALK] In Chicago, a potter & activist named Theaster Gates bought a blighted house from the city for a modest price, and turned it into a neighborhood cinema and community center. It sparked the revitalization of his whole neighborhood. I want you to listen to his TED talk for homework.

[SLIDE: IMAGE OF MAIN STREET HISTORIC ICONS, MURAL] Main Street Revival: All over the country, cities are rediscovering the value of their historic Main Streets; those old buildings with good bones. And they’re filling up those vacant buildings. We can do the same.

[SLIDE: BIG EMPTY PARKING LOT] Acres of Parking: Automobiles take up a lot of space. That’s a fact of life. It’s also a fact of life that all those acres of parking lot sit empty most of the time. During the empty times, the community should be allowed to use the space. Swap meets; skill-shares; Maker Faires; neighborhood art shows; maybe a speaker’s corner! Also, to avoid destroying even more buildings and land for parking, we should reduce excessive parking requirements and allow businesses to share parking. We could have a Daytona Beach parking app!

[SLIDE: EMPTY LOT ACCOMPANIED BY TEXT “WHICH CAME FIRST?”] Which came first, the chicken or the egg? To attract more residents, we need a critical mass of businesses. To attract more businesses, we need a critical mass of residents. This line of thinking leads nowhere. The truth is that there’s a reciprocal relationship. Start where your interest lies. If you’re passionate about businesses, start with business; if you’re passionate about the residential end of things, start there.

[SLIDE: EMBROIDERY ARTWORK OF CHICK HATCHING FROM EGG] And speaking of chickens … Backyard chickens are POPULAR! The cities that are attracting a lot of creatives and other desirable residents are the kind of cities that allow backyard chickens; support community gardens; community art; home-based businesses.

[SLIDE: “ALLOW AN INFORMAL ECONOMY TO FLOURISH”. ART VENDING TABLE; GRASSROOTS CAR SHOW] Allow an informal economy to flourish. Allow residents to rent out their garage apartments and granny flats to vacationers and other visitors. Allow residents to offer special event parking in their driveways! Let people set up tables and sell their art or other things. Don’t require permits for each and every little thing. Let residents participate in building the economy. Economic development is NOT just what the big guys do. Residents and small businesses are a major force.

[SLIDE: PICTURE OF WELL-PAINTED BUT EMPTY HOUSE] “Rich Blight” is blight too. A house can be painted nicely and the lawn is buzz-cut to regulation height … but if it sits empty, it’s still blight! We can’t force property owners to fill their spaces but we can incentivize them; approach them; ask them what they would need.

[SLIDE: HEALTHY EDIBLE WEED; DOWNTOWN WALL MURAL] The best way to add life is to ALLOW life. Look at this plant. Most people would call it a weed. But it’s probably more nutritious and delicious than most anything you could buy at the grocery store. Nobody had to cultivate it; it grew because it was allowed to grow. Along the same lines … Art WANTS to happen. Small business WANTS to happen. Community WANTS to happen. All we need to do is get out of its way.

[SLIDE: IMAGE OF NEXTDOOR.COM] The best way to start is connect with your neighbors. Connect face to face, and also use NextDoor.com to connect online. Start talking about things you’re passionate about, and you will quickly recruit allies.

[SLIDE: ICONIC IMAGES OF DAYTONA BEACH; AMERICANA] As we grow and expand, we need to remember our roots. When a person or a city forsakes their roots, they go on the decline. Here in Daytona Beach, our roots are gold. (“Roots” meaning our working-class; middle-class roots.)

[SLIDE: IMAGES OF BOOKS: THE PERMACULTURE WAY; A PATTERN LANGUAGE; THE AVATAR PATH: THE WAY WE CAME] The ideas in this talk are based on the study of permaculture (nature-based design principles for creating livable human settlements), and on the study of how human consciousness operates. Study how nature operates; study how consciousness operates; and get with other people, and you can solve any problem.

[SLIDE: SOLUTION-MIND] The human mind can be a problem-generator or a solution-generator. Whatever you put your attention on grows. Focus on creating a solution rather than dwelling on the obstacles. Working with other people, focus on the common ground rather than the differences. As you walk around, you’ll see things you don’t like and don’t want. Focus less on eliminating what you DON’T want, and more on creating and attracting what you DO want.

[SLIDE: IMAGE OF MY APARTMENT WITH LITTLE FREE LIBRARY OUT FRONT]. Want help? Need direction? Call me! I’m Jenny Nazak: I get up early and I stay up late; and I have yet to meet a problem that WE couldn’t solve.

Thank you.

(P.S. You can also watch my talk on YouTube. I am going to dig up the link for you now. OK, here you go.)

… Are two sides of the same coin. Vegetation and good soil, and the ground’s natural bumps and contours, act as buffers mitigating wet-dry extremes. We have paved, ploughed, flattened, filled, and scalped our buffers, just about everywhere, so the extremes are getting extreme-r.

Every place I’ve ever lived (even the super wet spots like Florida) has droughts. Every place I’ve ever lived (even the super-dry spots like Los Angeles and Santa Fe) has flooding. To an extent, drought-flood cycles are natural. But in recent decades, human activity such as sprawl development, excess pavement, and the scalped-lawn/leafblower norm of landscaping has exacerbated things.

Each one of us can do our part to mitigate drought-flood extremes by turning the ground back into a sponge. Soil and vegetation (especially robust native vegetation) does this. Small-scale earthworks (berms and swales) can greatly help.

Today at 2pm Eastern time, a Florida expert on native plants (and also on vegetable gardening and on climate-wise gardening) is doing a 1-hour online presentation about rain gardens. These are, literally, just what they sound like: Groupings of plants — and also rocks and other materials — that catch the rain and slow it from running off. Although Ginny Stibolt’s talk is meant for a Florida audience, the principles she covers are applicable everywhere. Simply consult your local native-plant-savvy nursery or Master Gardeners group for specific plant information. Ginny’s talk is at 2 via Facebook Live (on Cuplet Fern Chapter of Florida Native Plant Society’s page), but the recording will be available afterwards if you can’t make it. The live talk will include a Q&A session so I hope lots of folks can make it.

Below, I am posting the original Facebook post I made this morning to promote Ginny’s talk.

And below that, I am posting a Facebook post I made three years ago about drought/desertification. In it you will find useful links. Because, as I said, drought and flooding are two sides of the same coin. And the way to tackle them is start local (as in your own backyard, balcony etc.). Things that work, will spread and scale up.

Rain Gardens:

Rain Gardens! (a powerful conservation tool, and a beautiful landscaping feature)
Catch the Facebook Live TODAY at 2pm, on Cuplet Fern Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society FB page.

“Ginny Stibolt will discuss planting rain gardens in time for Florida’s summer rains. Talking points will include appropriate native plant selections that tolerate seasonal wet/dry patterns. Rain gardens are an important water conservation message as espoused by the St. Johns River Water Management District.”

Ginny Stibolt is a Florida native landscape conservation expert, and author of multiple books. She’s an excellent speaker. If you can’t make the Facebook Live, the recording will appear later on Cuplet Fern’s Facebook feed. Also check out Ginny’s websites Sky-Bolt and Green Gardening Matters.

As environmentalists, we spend a lot of time lobbying the powers-that-be for water conservation. But we sometimes overlook how WE, with our landscaping choices, are a major power-that-be! Our influence is two-fold: By adopting regenerative landscaping practices, we benefit water and ecosystems, AND we influence our neighbors by example.

Drought/desertification:

Most deserts are human-made. And most deserts can be reclaimed as green fertile land. A few years back, I stumbled onto a book that blew my mind. It’s Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, by Brad Lancaster. Brad, based in Tucson, Arizona, is probably the country’s foremost expert on rainwater collection. He’s a great writer and dynamic speaker. Links to his work appear below.

It turns out that “drylands” are not just in places like Arizona and New Mexico. We are creating them everywhere by destroying the dense, moisture-retaining natural vegetation and replacing it with pavement, buzzcut turf-grass, and isolated ornamental shrubbery.

Wherever you live, human practices are creating desertification.
It is very painfully observable here in Florida where we (used to) get 49 inches of rainfall annually in many places. As more and more of the “juicy vegetation” (trees, shrubs, tall grasses, dense growth of everything) gets paved over or turned into ruthlessly buzzcut turf grass, the land gets browner and browner; the air gets drier. The hydrological cycle is disrupted. The drier it gets, the drier it gets. In systems thinking we call it a negative feedback loop.

The solution on the personal/home/office level lies in creating dense green micro-climates wherever and however you can. It adds up to a difference, the more of us do it. Compost; mulch; cultivate & allow natural vegetation to grow in its natural density.

Right in my neighborhood, I can see two very different microclimates. One is an empty lot of buzzcut turf-desert of grass, now brown and sparse. And at the other extreme, an example just down the block, I see dense green ferns and dune-daisies growing in a vibrant emerald clump. Neither one gets watered by humans, and yet the latter persists in being green and healthy despite this drought.

There’s a lot you can do, and it’s pretty simple, and it makes a difference. Let’s restore the hydrological cycle; reverse the desertification. If it helps & inspires you to do so (it does me), you can think of it as sort of a people’s mobilization to create a modern version of the Victory Gardens of WWII.

Recommended reading: Brad Lancaster book and website – Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond
Also check out Brad’s video channel on YouTube — the one I usually show to new audiences first is his 16-minute TED Talk “Planting the Rain to Grow Abundance.”

Charles Hugh Smith, one of my perennial top fave bloggers (OfTwoMinds.com), posted this excellent piece about how to survive (and thrive) amid the economic challenges of this year and beyond. As I’ve been saying for awhile (not only about the pandemic but about our economy in general, and about restoring our planet’s ecosystems to health): Building local community is an essential element. And taking charge of local supply lines (including creating our own supply lines).

CHS echoes my sentiments here: “The strongest ‘survivor’ is not the most heavily armed individual but the individual surrounded by a community which values his/her contributions and support, and who cares whether he/she lives or dies. Nobody gives a damn if the individual holed up in a bunker somewhere lives or dies, and that’s the fatal weakness in all too many survivalist scenarios.” (CHS also provides a link to one of his previous posts, about the weakness of survivalist thinking, which I somehow missed the first time around but I just now read it, and it is a goodie, again corroborating my own experience and observation.)

He also voices “my sentiments exactly” about the importance of taking charge of one’s own health and fitness.

And about the financial unsustainability of government on its current path. The pension obligations alone are staggering, and I always think how could the whole thing not crater? And in the meantime, as CHS puts it:

“We pay high taxes and make a fraction of what the public employees make and have nowhere near their healthcare benefits, working or retired, but then we get to hear about how poorly paid they are compared to private-sector jobs. Get real, people; the pay in the real-world private-sector is lousy and going down. If you’re so underpaid, go onto monster.com and get yourself one of those plentiful high-paying private-sector jobs. You will find them less plentiful than you might have imagined.” (All of which has occurred to me, but one can feel like a traitor to one’s city by voicing such thoughts. I hear local people in public-sector jobs saying a person can’t get by on 40K, but a lot of the local people I know who work in restaurants and hotels and such are getting by on a half to a third of that, without benefits. When you point this out, people look at you like you’re from Mars. Of course, when I say people are getting by on this amount, I don’t mean they are thriving. Without conscious conservation and thrift practices, and a sense of higher purpose, living at such a low income level in our society is a constant brutal slog. My heart aches for the people who are trying to get by on that without roommates/housemates, and/or with the expense of a car.)

But my point here (as always) is not griping about how well-off some people don’t realize they are; it’s about personally taking charge of one’s own life, and finding some measure of creative freedom and economic independence regardless of one’s income. It really can be done, as I hope my book and other writings are helping people to realize.

Everything that makes sense is pointing to personal responsibility; building community from the neighborhood level.

Other tips from CHS: Prune away debt; get a job closer to home; stop moving all over the country and put down some roots. Grow at least some of your own food. Learn permaculture design principles and start applying them to every area of your life. All stuff I’ve been saying repeatedly, but I really really like how he says it. He offers a bunch of other stellar tips also; I particularly like what he has to say about weaning ourselves off of cable and other passive entertainment. Really meaty post. If you feel so moved, you can contribute to his “tip jar” or buy his books, both of which I have done.

When all the truth-arrows are pointing in the same direction, I tend to listen — and to feel vindicated in my own opinions, though my take on things has been considered “eccentric” or not even worthy of response in some circles.

I have friends (mostly fellow activists of the older Boomer generations, but a few younger folks as well) who have always earned a solid middle-class income, and who refuse to believe it’s even possible to live, let alone live happily, on less than 40K. When I tell them I can live fine on 12K and live like a queen on 15K, they just look right through me. And the truth was I have lived on 7K in some lean years. Not saying it was a picnic (and in fact, was at times quite the opposite of a picnic, as some skipping of meals to make rent was involved), but I survived, and have never been on any public assistance nor would I want to. (It doesn’t really go with being a libertarian.) There are more of us on this Possum Living–type path than one might think; I introduce several in my book and on this blog. (Possum Living by Dolly Freed is a classic; check it out if you haven’t already.)

On a note of supporting local micro-enterprise and rebuilding the community fabric: Yesterday I ordered seven hygienic masks from a local woman who started up a sewing business. She is soliciting business by posting on the NextDoor app (one of my favorite fusings of new technology with old-school neighborliness). She offers customers a wide choice of fabrics from her collection. I picked seven different prints out yesterday; she is sewing them of fabrics of my choosing and will deliver them today(!). Now that is service!

Yes, I could sew them myself, but straight-line precision-measured sewing is not my strong suit; this lovely lady only charges $3 per mask; and she’s doing this to make her livelihood. Win-win!

Oh, and to top off your reading for today — another great “Surviving 2020” post by Charles Hugh Smith. Readers of Deep Green book & blog will find some overlap of the good ol’ familiar solid advice here, which also happens to reduce one’s eco-footprint: cut expenses to the bone; build multi-layered local networks; create a business that meets a non-outsourceable local need; have “hybrid work” of multiple income streams; and (I know I keep saying this but I can’t emphasize it enough) get to know your neighbors by sharing things you have with them, and realize you don’t need to be best buddies, just be able to cooperate and get along.

“Coronavirus is causing a flurry of plastic waste. Campaigners feel it may be permanent.” (WRAL news report.)

I have been worried about this and have been pondering ideas. One thing I’m doing is buying several pairs of cotton gloves; maybe this will catch on. (Photo shows my new cotton gloves, I have 7 pairs. And my 7 masks ordered from a local seamstress.) UPDATE about gloves 5/19/2020: According to what I’ve been reading from expert sources I trust, gloves are unnecessary and may even spread more germs. Just good ol’ washed hands are best. So I will just be using the gloves for fashion.

And another thing — I haven’t done this yet but I’m seriously considering, is give a package of cardboard containers or other compostable containers to every Mom & Pop restaurant I frequent for takeout. They can offer them as an upsell to other eco-minded customers (maybe charge a buck extra), and of course use them for my takeout orders also. On that note, a Facebook friend just did a Google search on “corn-based takeout containers”; here are the results.

Any other ideas?

Update: The scientific consensus seems to be that gloves are not necessary and may even help spread germs. So I feel vindicated with my bare washed hands. And will use the gloves just as fashion; or while I’m sleeping — during the dry-skin season to help my hands absorb coconut oil more effectively, etc.

A person on the Journey to Zero-Waste group just asked for ideas on how to keep her house fresh-smelling in a way that is not wasteful or harmful to people and pets.

My answer: Keep the windows open as much as possible. (Which for me is just about always, except on the few coldest days we have here in Florida.) Scrub the sinks, tub & toilet w baking soda plus a few drops of whatever scent of essential oil I want. Burn incense when I want extra scent. And, my linen-closet is scented by a bunch of tissue-wrapped herbal soaps I’ve gotten as gifts – whichever ones I have not used yet. Sometimes I put a soap in the stack of sheets or towels.

And if you love tips like this, on every possible area of life, I really encourage you to check out the J2ZW group! Also linked in my sidebar, J2ZW is one of my top go-to’s. Tens of thousands of people, from all over the world. The many perspectives are so liberating. You really learn which products/chores are essential, and how much of what we do and spend (in the hyperconsumerist industrialized countries) is just a product of cultural indoctrination.

To tell you the truth, part of why I like the group so much is that I can honestly share about my household practices, and have people value my comments as being eco-friendly and practical, instead of having them look at me like I’m some kind of cave-dwelling savage 😉

Brown University President Christina Paxson (quoted in this article in The New Yorker magazine) says college campuses need to reopen in the fall. “One of the reasons Paxson believes we need to open schools is that many of them are heading toward financial disaster. … Heavily dependent on tuition, and uncertain that online courses will attract or retain students, many institutions anticipate a loss of revenue so large and precipitous that they fear they may have to close.”

Actually, it feels to me like money is the main motivation for the push. Which is crazy; how do the high-end colleges suck so much money and are still so strapped? (Sort of like the airline industry and other big corporations, huh?) The other day I read somewhere that Harvard has an endowment of forty BILLION dollars. Billion with a B. And probably Brown and other Ivies have hefty endowments as well.

This is crazy! We are looking at a giant money-suck. It seems to me that something about the design of our campuses and our whole approach to school needs to change.

I got this idea that maybe campuses could turn into a hybrid, de-coupling the classroom learning function from the residential function. Dorms could become apartments available to anyone. Students enrolled in that college could live there on campus, or take classes remotely, from their homes anywhere in the world. People living in the dorm-apartments could be taking classes at that university, or not.

Colleges with high-tech facilities such as labs could rent space out to corporations, or to anyone. Schools with nursing programs could turn some of their dorms into actual care facilities: eldercare living and so on. College cafeteria kitchens could be taken over by culinary trade-schools, and offer café service not only to students but to the general public as well.

For students choosing to physically live on campus, they would be living amidst people of various generations and economic classes. More of a real-world life, in other words.

In such a free-form setup, universities might face new challenges: How would an institution maintain its branding; its unique identity? Humans are creative and would figure out ways.

As a permaculture designer, I pretty much see the world in terms of design challenges. Since our “higher learning” system is sucking massive amounts of money (while turning out massively indebted graduates), it’s an opportunity for creative re-tooling. As part of this, we could look at how the Europeans do it. My friend’s son attends college in Germany for free. It’s a highly selective system; not just anyone gets in — but if you do, it’s tuition-free (taxpayer-funded).

Just some musings. What are your thoughts on this? What else would you add? And has the pandemic got you musing about any retoolings of other hallowed institutions? Do tell!

And, to circle back to the New Yorker article I cited above, the main idea of that article was that public universities such as the CUNY system (which offer a path to upward mobility for the poor and working-class people who constitute the bulk of their student body) offer incredible value and are highly worthy of public support. The article is titled “The Pandemic Is the Time To Resurrect the Public University.” I concur, and that’s saying a lot given my libertarian leanings!

To quote the closing sentence of this article by Corey Robin, “Public spending, for public universities, is a bequest of permanence from one generation to the next. It is a promise to the future that it will enjoy the learning of the present and the literature of the past. It is what we need, more than ever, today. Sending students, professors, and workers back to campus, amid a pandemic, simply because colleges and universities need the cash, is a statement of bankruptcy more profound than any balance sheet could ever tally.”

Yes, indeed. (By the way, Robin is a professor at CUNY.)