g'day nwnatural,

yes living the simple life would certainly save the planet heaps of stress, simpler more efficient homes is another aspect, returning to the days when each home had enough land around it for some fruit trees and vege gardens and somewhere for the kids to play safely.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

Tossing pee under the bushes, on the snow where nobody will notice, over the lawn, onto the compost pile, directly or via a bucket - anywhere but into that bathroom mechanism that wastes so much good drinking water. It's an excellent nitrogen-and-trace-elements fertilizer.

How about "making do". It seems we are going to the store WAY too much. How about just making do with what you have?

propagating your own vegetable & flower gardens & saving seeds for next year.

passing along/trading/sharing plants via seedlings & cuttings ("slips")

putting stuff away until it's needed rather than throwing it out & buying new:

The other day I picked up 3 rolls of wire fencing that had been set out for the trash truck.

I'd bet that the person who threw it away (who lived on acreage, where fencing is always in demand & storage space is plentiful) will go to the store & buy more within a year.

don't remember if I read it on a health forum or maybe here, so 'scuse me if I'm repeating someone else's suggestion, but...

Be sure that everything you eat is *food*.

If your great-grandmother would have recognized it as food, you're good to go.

(& your great-grandmother never had to discard a lot of packaging:

She saved glass jars for canning, she used paper sugar sacks to start the fire or she composted them, & she used cotton flour sacks to make clothes.)

Thanks for all of the good ideas.

I forgot to post this link from the original article I found.

Here is a link that might be useful: Are you retro-progressive?

I would have to answer yes :) We live in a semi-urban area, use public transportation and/or walk daily. We also buy all our produce from local farmers. You know there is something to be said about knowing the person who grows your food. Saturday when I was at the farmers market (within 1 mile of my home) a farmer was telling me how he lost his winter squash crop to disease. It does give you an appreciation for the hardships facing small family-owned farms.

According to the USDA 13.7 million acres of farmland has been converted to non-farm use just between 1992 and 1997. This is a 51% increase from 1982 and 1992. Paving over our farmland for sub-divisions and big box store will, IMO, come back to bite us.

We have become a "consumer nation" ... take the time before buying to ask "do you want it, or need it" ?

Stepping off my soapbox :)

It reminds of a quote I read recently from someone who owns Lehman's Hardware. They serve the Amish and folks like us.
He said, " We used to be called old-fashioned, but now we're called eco-friendly!"
I am loving it!
(a big shout out to my friend Sylvia :>) )

Ohiomom, my alderman was making the rounds in the neighborhood about an hour ago, and I just found out that we are losing another farm in the neighborhood - not sure of the acreage, but 26 new houses are going up. Sigh.

I live in a rural area of a small city. This area was historically all farms. I've lived here only 11 years and I've seen at least 7 to 8 farms close down in that time. And in their place are absolutely huge, huge houses that just look so stark in the middle of what used to be a field.

Our farmer's market (at which I sell) is really starting to grow. I'm hoping that this will help stem the flow of farms shutting down, but I'm not holding my breath...

Funny, kittysmith - once old-fahsioned, now trendy!

:)
Dee

Hey, kitty!

Catching rainwater is retro-progressive, too.

My grandmother even used rainwater to wash her hair;
it was purer than tap water.

(She was thrifty with that tap water:

My aunt Lillie once told me, "When we lived in the country & I had to haul water to the house, Mama used *lots* of water. When we moved to town & it came out of a tap, Mama wouldn't use a drop, & she yelled at me if I did!")