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I would love to and it feels like i'm sitting here waiting for everyone to stand up letting all the shit stay and start changing the world. I started this by t

I would love to and it feels like i'm sitting here waiting for everyone to stand up letting all the shit stay and start changing the world. I started this by talking to people, changing my lifestyle etc. just to get more and more depressed about this topic. Politics are not fast enough, there are enough people who really don't care and it doesn't feel anyone is starting it. Im jumping between "saving the planet together" vs. "buying a small plot of land, building a small house on it, putting solar panels and solar thermy on the roof, buying/building a water reserva, building a storehouse and doing indoor farming and living my life until i'm dead". My mental image of 'men eat meat' has changed the last 10 years for eating less etc. but then you talk to someone else and its the same simple/stupid talk as usual.

zackmorris 6y ago
The sentiments you express feel familiar for a lot of people I imagine. I know people where I live in Idaho who are trying to do what you propose - buy a humble home, go solar and get off the grid, grow a garden and have chickens, etc. Most of them are unsuccessful at achieving full independence, because they still work remotely and buy about the same amount of stuff as anyone else, as you suggested. But they do seem to have achieved a sustainable lifestyle and are happy. The only one I know who really made it is my friend and old business partner, who has enough apps out that he has finally been making rent for the last couple of years. He lives extremely modestly (I don't think he even has cable TV) but he does still socialize and travel with his girlfriend. In my own life, I've always had to choose between having money or time, but never both at once. That's the main way that the American Dream has broken down IMHO. We used to have a middle class in the US, with enough income to raise a family and take a vacation each year. Now the bottom half of the population works overtime yet has no net worth, and the top 1% are so obligated to their work that they toil away their lives worrying about when the music's gonna stop. Wealth inequality makes all of us slaves. As far as eating meat goes, nobody understands that it's so much harder to stop being a vegetarian than to become one. I tried to abstain from meat as much as possible for ethical reasons, but had to start eating it again because my health failed a year and a half ago. I was working out heavily, and I think my body borrowed protein from my organs because I wasn't eating enough. Now I can only eat rice and beans once a week because my gut won't handle any more than that. I take a moment to mourn before each meal of meat, then thank the creator that I have it and consume it almost like a ritual. So on that note, I guess I've come to terms with being part of a system since I must depend on it now for my very survival. I think I've realized what libertarians come to realize eventually. That going against the wind is great and all, but in the end, the weather wins.

zackmorris 6y ago

The sentiments you express feel familiar for a lot of people I imagine. I know people where I live in Idaho who are trying to do what you propose - buy a humble home, go solar and get off the grid, grow a garden and have chickens, etc. Most of them are unsuccessful at achieving full independence, because they still work remotely and buy about the same amount of stuff as anyone else, as you suggested. But they do seem to have achieved a sustainable lifestyle and are happy. The only one I know who really made it is my friend and old business partner, who has enough apps out that he has finally been making rent for the last couple of years. He lives extremely modestly (I don't think he even has cable TV) but he does still socialize and travel with his girlfriend. In my own life, I've always had to choose between having money or time, but never both at once. That's the main way that the American Dream has broken down IMHO. We used to have a middle class in the US, with enough income to raise a family and take a vacation each year. Now the bottom half of the population works overtime yet has no net worth, and the top 1% are so obligated to their work that they toil away their lives worrying about when the music's gonna stop. Wealth inequality makes all of us slaves. As far as eating meat goes, nobody understands that it's so much harder to stop being a vegetarian than to become one. I tried to abstain from meat as much as possible for ethical reasons, but had to start eating it again because my health failed a year and a half ago. I was working out heavily, and I think my body borrowed protein from my organs because I wasn't eating enough. Now I can only eat rice and beans once a week because my gut won't handle any more than that. I take a moment to mourn before each meal of meat, then thank the creator that I have it and consume it almost like a ritual. So on that note, I guess I've come to terms with being part of a system since I must depend on it now for my very survival. I think I've realized what libertarians come to realize eventually. That going against the wind is great and all, but in the end, the weather wins.