Are there things you try to practice daily to live a more sustainable lifestyle?
Sustainable lifestyle can be a tricky weasel word (phrase) for me to define. If I look at it from a financial POV, am I living within my means. I have a guaranteed basic income. I’m not burning through money that I don’t have. The last thing I want to endure is crushing debt. When it comes time for us to expand the house-business annex, we can use our 10 Ha as collateral. We also live on the North Bruce Peninsula. Services are cheaper – less diverse and fancy, but cheaper. What isn’t sustainable is our transportation. Lion’s Head is at least 30 km from Tobermory. Our Lindsay Road 40 home is 15 minutes (as the truck flies) from ON Highway 6. All of our grocery and needed-hardware trips are coordinated, strategic events! We burn a tank of gasoline (~$100 CAD) to do the 8-10h round trip to Toronto. We end up shopping at Owen Sound’s No Frills biweekly to buy affordable groceries. Right now, the Lion’s Head Foodland is a 5 minute walk from our rental house (and yes, as of June 27/24, they’ve open). That offsets fuel costs. In fact, TS muses it’s cheaper for her to buy sweet potato from Lion’s Head than making a special trip to nearby towns (she processes it in to sweet potato flour for her Black Dog Biscuits). Our top expenses are fuel, internet access (telecommunications), monthly rent, and groceries. TS has already resumed gardening and vegetable-growing.
I might be on a fixed income as a lower-middle-class pensioner, but I eat well.
From an environmental POV, we task-load or avoid driving our truck here there and everywhere! We don’t travel to vacation spots. No road-trips around the province or border states. Avoid commercial aircraft chartered flights. We have (almost) no spoiled, wasted food in the fridge or pantry. Yes, we keep indoor pets. Cats and dogs do tax the environment.
Can human relationships be sustainable? Short answer: hell yes. And they take a lot of work.
Images From Around The Neighbourhood
I’ve given up trying to predict weather here on the North Bruce Peninsula.
Home-build updates: (i) external wall cracks repacked. (ii) waiting for security system quote. (iii) the utility room will remain unpainted. (iv) the insulated vaulted ceilings are being covered. (v) once the electrical room’s ready, Nathan Vanderschot and his crew will get their tasks done.
BCB&B, neemtree, bdb, and blog 