Saturday 10 July 2010

The hypocrisy of my life

I'm sitting at my laptop drinking coffee.  The beans were ground in my thermomix, brewed in a plunger filled by my electric kettle.  My milk is stored in my fridge, the lights are on in the kitchen as it's pitch black here atm due to rain (finally!).  I have a clotheshorse in my loungeroom draped with clothes washed in a machine.  Everything in my house was made, brought into our home and paid for using some form of technology fueled by natural resources (Coal etc).

And I am reading a book called "When Technology Fails (A manual for self reliance, sustainability, and surviving the long emergency)" by Matthew Stein.  493 pages of information about everything you could possibly want to know; candlemaking, soap making, knitting, basic first aid,  shelter and buildings, food growing/foraging/preserving etc etc. 

If you can borrow this book from the library, see for yourself just how jam packed full of information it is.  Well worth the $$$'s I spent ONLINE ordering it to be FLOWN around the world and delivered to me by a Postie on a ....Bicycle :)

3 comments:

Kristy said...

Thanks for the book title - will check it out.

I was thinking about your post as I went about doing things just now and forming a paragraph or two along the lines of 'doing the best we can' etc and 'it's not hypocrisy' ...

but you know what? I know exactly what you mean. It is, but it isn't all at the same time. It's about balance and choice and progressive change... because it's not many things/people/areas in life that can *click* make instant and entire transformations in a tiny space of time.

And it's not just us (intent or application). It's technology and finances and service and product providers coming on board too.

but yeh... I know what you mean.

[and oddly enough the word recognition letters thingy for this comment was 'uncef' rather close to UNICEF dont you think?]

xo
Kristy

belinda said...

Yeah the hypocrisy of my life generally hits my up the side of my head at least once a day.

Without petrochemicals my life simply wouldn't run. I am doing my best to reduce my dependance but when something like the Gulf oil slick happens I know I am just as responsible for it as the next home.

Thanks for the book suggestion. It's one I have had my eye on for a while and your recommendation has prompted me to do another round of library searches to see if it's available.

Kind Regards
Belinda

karen said...

Our library doesn't have it, but there's a facility to suggest books they should buy, so I might try that.