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Something I’ve been feeling for awhile: You don’t need a million customers, a hundred thousand, ten thousand, or even necessarily a thousand! A hundred clients can be quite enough. Staying small (right-sized) is often a more powerful ticket to a steady livelihood than any amount of growth. You may find that your number is in fact 1,000 or 10,000 or more. The point is to choose deliberately, choose the right fit for you and your work.

Jeff Goins (one of my go-to bloggers on business and creativity) says it better than I ever could. He doesn’t mention the word “permaculture,” but his advice is very much in keeping with that set of nature-based design principles.

Jeff is a writer and coach, but his advice applies equally to the organic farmer, cottage candy-maker, solo jewelry designer, or whatever you are aspiring to make your livelihood of! Jeff’s article A New Way of Doing Business: Find Your Dream 100 contains maybe the best advice I’ve ever read for business enterprises, especially solo ones.

“… by focusing on helping fewer people, I’m able to reduce my overhead while significantly increasing my profits, so I’ll personally make more money while helping more people.”

And this really hits home:

“For years, I longed to create an “impact” and leave a “legacy” while “making a dent in the universe.” But in reality, I was doing none of that. All I was doing was trying to be famous. Finally, I woke up, realizing my work wasn’t that important. As sad as it sounds, this reality liberated me, allowing me to enjoy my work.”

(Note, this is not to say that we are not doing important work. I interpret it to mean that none of us, individually, holds the fate of the universe in his or her hands.)

Those are just a couple of snippets; go enjoy the rest of Jeff’s article! I look forward to hearing how his advice works for you.

In recent years, and particularly over the past couple of years, I have felt more and more pulled to focus my activism at the neighborhood and city level.

For me, living locally doesn’t mean I’m hiding my head in the sand about statewide or worldwide issues. On the contrary; working locally is what I consider the most effective way to address such issues. Bringing it home to the local sphere. Examples include loss of biodiversity; loss of urban tree cover; loss of unique local culture.

Reading Neal Gorenflo’s new series “Year of Living Locally” on shareable.net (I subscribe to Shareable’s email newsletter; I find it a good one), I could really identify with what he says about “turning to local connection and action.”

Speaking of local connection and action … Today I’m giving my “First Friday of the Month” talk at my local environmental learning center (located on the beachfront just five minutes’ brisk walk from my house, bonus!). The topic I chose for this month is “Diversity: Nature’s Greatest Design Principle.”

(Diversity is also the topic for my “Green Daytona” radio show on the 19th. Tune in at noon EST on Wednesday February 19. WJOY 106.3FM on your radio dial, or online via an app such as TuneIn.)

Further Reading:

Here’s a resource for community-level transformation via sharing: Over 300 “How-To” guides to help you share more in your community (from shareable.net )

And on diversity: Stop Treating Animals as “Invaders” Simply for Trying To Exist (sentientmedia.org) — something the human race needs to learn also with regard to plants, fellow humans, different cultures, and different viewpoints.

The mayor of my city just posted a “State of the City” Address on Facebook. (Kudos to Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick L. Henry for his social-media presence and for being very much out and about in our city.)

And this evening, President Donald Trump will make his State of the Union Address. Yes, it’s that time of year again.

So I got inspired to make a grassroots, green-oriented version of a “State of the City” address. You can see it here on my YouTube channel (UPDATE – I ended up deleting it because it contained some statements that were not well thought out, and I later realized it was not how I wanted to communicate my ideas); I also posted it to various local eco and neighborhood groups on Facebook. (On the topic of solutions to longterm vacancy and other forms of blight, you also might enjoy my talk “Filling Our Empty Spaces,” a 6-minute PowerPoint speech I did a few years back (at the first Elevate Daytona Beach, a TED-style speech event).

I invite you to make your own “State of the City” (or region, or neighborhood) Address, be it in video, audio, or writing; and share it with your community. And if you like, email me the link and I’ll post it on this blog.

In the past couple of years, I’ve come to believe that voluntary conservation efforts in residential yards and other private lands may be our best hope at protecting biodiversity and tree cover. I call my idea “Infill Reforestation,” analagous to the concept of “Infill Development.” My conviction about this has only intensified with the rollbacks of Federal environmental protections for wetlands and riverways.

The voluntary aspect of conservation — harnessing people’s innate passion and compassion for wild nature — is what’s going to be the lifesaver and the dealbreaker. Here in my home state, the Florida state legislature has overturned the ability of local governments to regulate tree removal on private property. (This is part of an overall disturbing trend of the dismantling of home rule here in Florida, and maybe in your state too.) Now that we can’t keep property owners from removing even old-growth trees, the conservation efforts of those of us who recognize the value of wild biodiverse spaces become all the more important.

Over the past few weeks, several articles have reached me via my social-media newsfeed, that reinforce my idea that there is a lot you and I can do, and must do as much as we are willing and able.

• The state of Minnesota is paying residents to transform their lawns into bee-friendly landscapes: “Minnesota just allocated nearly a million dollars in incentives for people to transform their lawns into bee-friendly wildflowers, clover and native grasses. The state is asking citizens to stop spraying herbicide, stop mowing so often, and let their lawns re-wild into a more natural state. … The loss of native prairies and forests across the country has made pollinators more dependent on urban and suburban lawn flowers, says James Wolfin, a bee habitat researcher at University of Minnesota.” (from ReturnToNow.net)

• And another one to give you moral support: Evidence that land clearing leads to rainfall reduction (something that a lot of us land-carers have known or at least suspected for years now). “A team of water experts has identified a correlation between widespread land clearing and a decline in rainfall in Western Australia’s South West region.” This is “something that also individuals can assist with on their own vacant land or on farms and unproductive land.” (Thanks to ABC Australia for covering this issue.)

• “How To Re-Oak Your Neighborhood.” Enumerates the rich benefits of native oaks, and offers tips for reintroducing them into our neighborhoods. Although the article From Los Altos Online is targeted at California residents, Florida conservation gardener Ginny Stibolt comments that “To have a more sustainable & climate-wise landscape plant more trees, but all trees are not equal when it comes to shade, transpiration rates, and carbon sequestration. Live oaks are the best choice for many reasons. This article is for California, but it applies equally as well here in Florida” (and in other states as well, I would add).

• Worry About Your Own Property, That’s Where Conservation Happens: “Despite widespread habitat destruction that shows no sign of abating, regular home gardeners can make a difference for insects by growing the right kinds of native plants.”

Declining Insect Populations Threaten Birds: Intimidated by HOA rules and other pressure from the turfgrass mafia? Use this article to remind yourself that you’re doing essential work by preserving biodiversity at all levels. “Do we ignore insect declines to our detriment, or change some of our most destructive day-to-day routines, which seem to be modifying our world into a more sterile place?”

• And finally, another gem shared by Ginny Stibolt: 10 Garden Ideas To Steal from Superstar Dutch Designer Piet Oudolf. “Landscape Designer Piet Oudolf has greatly influenced the definition of what a beautiful garden should look like. He uses mostly native plants, which are allowed to grow to their own shapes. This article summarizes 10 ideas that we can adapt and use in our own yards and in our communities.”

I hope you find the above articles helpful. At a time when bird populations are drastically declining, and pollinators and other wildlife are disappearing rapidly, it is in our best interest to expand our standards of what’s beautiful in a landscape. Our aesthetics, especially here in Florida, have come to favor a landscape of sharp edges, extreme pruning, spraying, and de-diversification that is ultimately bad for all of us.

Right now, natural gardening on the household and neighborhood scale has much potential to help turn the situation around (as well as adding much-needed charm and shade to our streets). Let’s turn residential landscaping into a real art — one that honors our unique bioregions, and is firmly rooted in science and nature.

Hey DEEP GREEN troops! On Friday, February 14, I will launch my first work of fiction! A novella with a sci-fi/Permaculture/TEOTWAWKI -type theme. While inspired by serious topics such as climate change, social alienation, and the dangers of overreliance on social media, the novella has a humorous tone.

The power of story to make a difference in the world has been well-established. What better time to launch my story than Valentine’s Day. Stay tuned for updates.

In the course of reducing my footprint for environmental purposes, I found that low-footprint living was also a great way to reduce my financial overhead. This was great for me, since the work I am passionate about and feel committed to doing (eco activism; eco education) has not generally been a major source of income for me.

At times, my annual income has been as little as $7,000, before taxes. Most of the time it’s been around $13,000-15,000.

So how do I manage? Here are some of the main ways:

– Always have roommates or housemates. With roommates/housemates to split costs, my expense to keep a roof over my head has never been over $400 a month for my whole adult life (with the exception of a period of a few years when I was living more of a “typical middle-class” lifestyle). And at times, that expense has been as low as $250 or $300. (Right now it’s about $300.)

– Don’t own a car. Living in a walkable or at least bikable area is a deal-breaker for me. Always get jobs near where I live, or work at home. By cutting out the car I eliminate enormous hassle, and an expense that for most people typically ends up being several hundred dollars a month one way or another (be it from a car payment, repairs, or both). I spend maybe a hundred dollars a year on Uber rides or putting gas in a car borrowed from a friend for a trip I can’t do by foot, bicycle, or bus.

– Don’t use air conditioning. The human body is actually very physiologically adapted to heat, more so than cold. Since I live in Florida, I can get away without using heat too. Some people I know have heating/AC bills that are 100, 200, or even several hundred dollars a month.

– No cable internet bill. I have a phone with unlimited data for $50 a month. If I really wanted some TV or movies, I could sign up with Hulu or Netflix for a few bucks a month.

– Clothing: I enjoy fashion, but a little goes a long way, and I get lots of good stuff for cheap at the thrift shop. As it happens, I also like to sew, knit, etc., so I buy old clothing items and “edit” them to my unique tastes.

These are the main big overhead costs of USA-merican life, in my experience. By cutting these, I greatly reduce how much money I need to earn to live well, and get to do the work I feel truly passionate about and committed to doing.

Of course, even if you have a high income, you can benefit greatly by minimizing your overhead. Think what you might do with all the money you free up. Start a side business or charity? Become a supporter of the arts in your community? Buy a piece of vacant land in your city and create a public food forest? The possibilities are endless.

Now, many people have large ongoing expenses such as medical bills or student-loan debt. My heart goes out to you. And, living a low-footprint life in the way described above can help you not only get free of debt faster, but also not be so squeezed in the meantime.

I encourage you to pursue the work you feel passionate about, whatever it is. Do what it takes to minimize your overhead so you have some breathing room. Not only is it about getting to have your freedom; it’s also about making your highest contribution to the planet.

On the subject of increasing one’s prosperity by reducing one’s footprint, today I discovered a book called Go Green, Live Rich, by financial writer David Bach. I bought a copy today and have just started reading. Here is a review of the book on TreeHugger.

In this installment, I’m starting a list of investments that might be worth making even if you don’t reap a monetary return, or even any kind of direct material return.

Here are a few examples:

-Plant rye, clover, or other regenerative groundcover on a denuded empty lot that has suffered wind and water erosion from excess mowing or other degenerative landscaping practices.

-Invest in a local farm.

-Invest in a local grocery store.

-Ditto: local welding shop.

-Sponsor a mural in a blighted ethnic/historic neighborhood.

-Devote time to neighborhood marketing — helping people find stable living arrangements by connecting them with owners of houses or apartments in your neighborhood that are currently unoccupied.

-Invest in your own training/education to gain knowledge and skills that you know will benefit your household and community even if it doesn’t produce a monetary return in the form of a higher-paying job, etc.

When deciding where and how to invest our money, we have to be brave. We have to remember that monetary returns are just one tiny piece of the equation. Money won’t do any of us much good if we allow our communities to continue to be afflicted by loss of tree cover; degraded soil; tattered social fabric; insufficient coverage of basic human needs; skills-drain.

What would be on your list? What would you add to the list above?