Sadly the modern American economy is purpose-built to destroy community support.
For what value of “self sufficient” does this apply? Most people simply don’t have the land required to obtain anything in that column. Even acquiring enough water to drink is quite impossible for many. The idea that everyone not living on a farm would be self sufficient enough to provide tomatoes, fruit, water, energy, etc for themselves is rather unreasonable, no? This is after all one of the big benefits of specialisation.
Land is hard to get now because of overpopulation.
Once your neighbors start dying off in the mass famines of the next few years you’ll have plenty of opportunity to expand.
And if you make the best of the land you have now, you’ll have more calories than your neighbors and be better suited to take their land. So it’s win-win.
This isn’t really about “You can only be one of the cool kids if you’re at least 89.5% self sufficient.” It’s more on the line of “Hey, try to grow at least one sad plant in the best way you can manage, it’s going to make everything a little better.” Back when I only had a balcony I had boxes and bags with sad plants, now I have a garden with happier plants. We learn while our plants keep us company, and maybe one day can apply what we’ve learned in luckier circumstances. No attempt of caring for life is ever really lost.
By the way, if light conditions where you live are really bad you can always grow mushrooms instead of plants, they are not as demanding as plants.
Or hell, here’s a dodgy pro-tip if you are a die-hard bacon fan but can’t handle the environmental impact: go for a mealworm farm in a drawer. I promise the buggers taste similar to bacon and are the most sustainable animal protein you can imagine. All they need is food scraps and a dark space where they can crawl around. (Don’t let them escape into your kitchen)
mealworm drawer
And people think I’m eccentric with my onion drawer…
A interesting idea though.
I’m sure these drawers can be combined in an ecologically useful way!
Also who are those weirdos having neither an onion nor a mealworm drawer? Whatever is it people keep in their drawers these days, socks? Cutlery?
Nobody in history has ever been self sufficient for eggs. You need a chicken for that.
Very cute illustration, thanks for sharing 🌻
Is there a guide somewhere on how to start on self / community sufficiency ? I love the principles but it’s overwhelming to start and obtain results for me.
For community sufficiently, groups like Buy Nothing and Everything is Free might be a small piece but they’re a great place to start. They’ve been a wonderful way to shuffle resources to those who need them/can use them, and to build support networks within our community. I’ve met a bunch of my neighbors, made friends, and leaned on specializations and career experience from people in the group on various projects. I talk about them a lot over on the zerowaste and diy communities.
I’m part of local equivalent but it never occurred to me that it would fit in this philosophy :)
Depends a little on how and where you live
- Learning to grow some food (even just herbs on your balcony or windowsill)
You need a large enough container (bucket, bag, pot), with some holes for drainage (plants don’t want to sit in water). It needs to be warm enough for the plant you want to grow, and moist enough. Getting the moisture right for seeds and plants can be tricky at first, it will get better with experience. There needs to be sufficient light, some plants need more than others. Research a few easy to grow plants and start with these. If you have little space, grow some kitchen herbs rather than vegetables, they increase the quality of your food by 99% and are expensive to buy, plus they are medicinal as well.
- Joining or creating a local sharing circle
Is there a preferred online portal where a sharing circle in your country might exist already? Facebook? Whatsapp? Telegram? A physical space somewhere? Search there first. If there’s nothing, create the space yourself, as an online group, a sharing box in a public space, or an actual group of people you know.
I will add to the planting piece, there are now LED grow lights that fit into a standard lamp. That means that if you live in an apartment like mine (that has pathetic sunlight) a trip to target/IKEA for some cheap lamps and a visit to whatever store in your area carries a good range of LED bulbs will probably have you set up to turn your living room into a herb/peppers/other small vegetables grow room.
Is this cost-efficient? Pretend I live somewhere with expensive power
With expensive power you’d want to look into timed switches. LEDs are pretty efficient but not enough that you’d want to leave them on all day. That said, it’s the same power usage as a standard LED bulb so if those aren’t breaking the bank switching should not be a problem.
Also recycling center swap shops and Buy Nothing groups often have plenty of cool old lamps for free
Ha well I had starting a garden on my todo for this year. Probably in buckets this time so that I can actually eat something I grow (the last 3 attempts generally fed the local wildlife…).
I have posted several times on local groups for items available for donation but with very little results so far. After a while I donate to a local non-profit that organises reuse.
So garden it is for a first step :)
Passata
I really love this. I think it captures a deep truth about how we actually live in the world. And balancing both is what solarpunk strives to achieve. Thanks for sharing!
What if growing your own plants doesn’t interest you as a hobby? Surely there must be a place in a solarpunk society for people who don’t want to be farmers.
