an idyllic spot

those hills in the distance are the real watership down

berkshire, england

we're not looking for properties there.

it was just the most idyllic picture i had.

our project has progressed a long way since i last wrote. we've actually begun to look at properties to get an idea of what's out there. i can tell you it helps the process of imagination greatly to have a picture in your mind of a particular place, tho' we haven't yet found the right one. which is good, because we're not really that ready to make the move. we're taking it one step at a time.

we were discussing this idea with our very good friends the other day. most people we tell about it have some admiration for the notion, but everyone says they couldn't possibly do such a thing. because they couldn't stand to share some part of their house with someone else. there's even some hint of pride in people saying they're too selfish to consider such a thing.

but, that's where i think we're going wrong as a society. what we must do is wrap our heads around living more responsibly and less selfishly. why shouldn't we share the big things - furnace, kitchen, laundry facilities? you don't use your kitchen every minute anyway, so to have two families using one stove would be a kinder way to treat the planet and to get the best use out of that one stove.

i think we're going to have to change our minds and change our selfish ways of living and thinking only of ourselves. we owe it to our children. i shudder to think that sabin could potentially have a more difficult, harder life than we have had. the goal has always been that your children have a better life than you had. but the way we're using our resources and harming our planet, i really fear that it could be much more difficult for her as conflicts arise over scarce resources and space with rising sea levels. we have to take action now and it's difficult to see how we can do that as individuals, unless we change radically how we live our lives.

and i'm not at all saying that i'm good at it, i'm not. i'm still way too much of a consumer. but the will to change is there and it's coming in baby steps.

in an ideal world

when i think of the world that our daughter will inherit, i get a little overwhelmed. there's a lot of talk of C02, global warming, rising sea levels, oil shortages, cap & trade, quotas...and it's hard to sort it all out. and if it's hard for me, when i write about that stuff for a living, then i can imagine that people feel really overwhelmed and we begin to wonder what we can do.

we were wondering about that and discussing it a lot at our house. and the conclusion that we've come to is that although it's pretty overwhelming, we've got to do something about it. as us. as individuals. because that's the only way to begin to make a difference while governments tussle over how to decide and figure this stuff out in a meaningful way. because if we don't start doing stuff ourselves, it may be too late for our 8-year-old and the world she will inherit. we've got to change now. we have to consume less and get a totally different relationship to the world we live in. or there won't be a world to live in--at least not one that's a nice place to be.

so if i could imagine how i would begin to make this change, here's what it would look like:

1. hillary clinton was right when she wrote her book, it takes a village. although she was talking about raising children into productive adults, this is a meaningful notion--because only together can we make a difference.
2. we would live on a farm with 2-3 other families - a place with enough space to raise a lot of our own food and become as self-sufficient as is possible in today's world, while still maintaining our regular world jobs (not intending to become farmers). 
3. being locovores--using what's in season and grown locally--being conscious about the CO2 footprint of the food we eat. inspired by barbara kingsolver's animal, vegetable, miracle.
4. wind energy - generating as much of our electricity as possible via renewable wind energy.
5. sharing a car - let's face it, we need a car only some of the time, so the families on the farm could share.
6. public transport - using it as much as possible.
7. being conscious of water usage.
8. being conscious of CO2 footprint.
9. eating less meat.
10. eating organic, ecological produce.

these are just my own initial thoughts on this project. if you are like-minded, please do leave us a comment, we'd love to start a dialogue on how to begin to make this change.

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NOTE: this blog is a collaboration between a dane and an american who have been together for a decade--which explains the danish/english mix. we're looking for like-minded people to enter into this project together with us. we've been looking at farm properties, but have only just begun. email us at livetpaalandet@gmail.com if you're interested.