Downshifting

[moab]

Has anyone considered this as a deliberate move away from "the modern world" to a simpler/greener/cheaper way of living?

It's something that is attractive as a concept but I'm not sure about the practicalities and day to day living.

Would love to hear from people who have thought about it/done it or even reverted back from it.

 

[Magentus]

Hi Moab - As a family we decided to downshift as much as possible a while back. We got rid of our car and TV license (just watch DVD's), the car due to the environmental and financial impact and the TV because of the colossal amount of s**t being shown!
As finances are very tight we do the best we can with what we have.

Shopping locally, make do and mend, fixing, growing what we can to eat, cooking from scratch, sometimes foraging, No flying, using bikes/feet and public transport etc are all things we do as a matter of course.

I would clarify what you mean by 'simpler way of living'. It can be simpler in that you can rid yourself of the bits of modern life that drive you mad (for me it's consumerism, advertising, waste, 'aspirational living' idiotic TV and media, fashion, dumbing down of society and political apathy) but it is harder in that you have to spend more time thinking about how you go about doing everyday stuff that a trip to the shops/supermarket would normally take care of.
We live in the city centre so transport is not the problem it would be rurally, and I can't say life is particularly easy, but it's alot easier than people in other countries have it!

Also, without opening a massive can of worms, with peak oil, climate change and financial meltdown all on the horizon, simpler living is the way things are going to be soon enough anyway.

I think that the 'Good Life' ideal (self sufficiency) is very very difficult to achieve unless you have alot of capital to start with and to fall back on, but I like living this way, and am always looking for ways to live more environmentally with less impact.

Hope that helps

Magentus

 

[locum76]

You've hit the nail on the head there Magentus (with all your comments). Unless you've start up capital you've got no chance of 'the good life'. However you can start now by learning all that you can in preparation of finding your way off grid. That's what I am trying to do now, while keeping my beady eye on off grid projects/ eco villages that might have room for people like me and my wife.

moab: it might be worth checking out the transition town folk.

 

[Magentus]

I'll second Locum with the Transition movement - very interesting stuff afoot, and I'm involved a little here in Worcester with the fledgling transition group.

Locum - have you looked on powerswitch forums regarding eco hamlets etc?

http://www.powerswitch.org.uk/forum/

There's some really interesting projects needing people to get involved, and not always financially.

Magentus

 

[British Red]

We're working on it.

Its costly and complex to decide to live a simple frugal life I can tell you

Getting there now though!

 

[BigShot]

Also, without opening a massive can of worms, with peak oil, climate change and financial meltdown all on the horizon, simpler living is the way things are going to be soon enough anyway.

With the part I've put in bold, I don't think I could disagree more. There's no worms in that can... it's inevitable.

I'm not aware of any practical power source that could pull a plough like the diesel engine in modern tractors, and unless there's some incredible leap forwards there's never going to be enough bio-diesel to keep that kind of thing going.

I'm glad I've just got myself an allotment as I feel it's going to be a huge help as oil costs more and more and food prices climb as a result.

Anyone who reads the environmental threads on here will know I've got some pretty well-formed (some would argue mal-formed ) views about things like carbon and the likes... but on the issue of oil reliance I'm right there with the hippies. It's all going to come crashing down eventually.

Fusion to produce electricity will be coming on-grid between 20 and 70 years from now (it just depends which researcher you ask) so I think all the wind power stuff now is a dead-end. We simply won't need it soon. That said I can't see electricity powering agriculture in its current form for the lifetimes of anyone alive now. (exception made for those practicing agriculture on smaller scales, especially those with a more sustainable slant).

Going for a more sustainable approach is essential... sooner or later we'll realise that - I just hope people wake up to it sooner than later (and I'm sad to say, I think the "global warming" debate is distracting us from a much more pressing and imminent problem that will, pretty much, solve the global warming problem (if it is one) anyway!).


EDIT
I forgot to incliude my closing statemtn to muscle this post back ON topic.

Downshifting is about the one ambition I've ever had other than having my own family and the means to support them. My girlfriend got a T-shirt recently - it says "Let's leave this city and live on a farm." She wasn't in the least bit surprised when I announced it as both the best teeshirt ever and my favourite item of clothing.

It'll happen one day, but I doubt it'll be soon enough for my liking.

 

[moab]

Thanks everyone for your comments, certainly an "ideal" but (like everything worth having) packed full of difficulties.

I like the leaner living part of it and less reliance on "the grid", although that looks pretty hard (and expensive) to do.

We are considering a planned downshift at the moment, that would mean giving up two full time salaries in central London to move to the country and that is the sticking point - leaving behind steady income (although being in central london is fairly disheartening most of the time) for a less certain (moneywise) future.

Having become accustomed to the material world its quite a leap to think about that not being the case, although I feel that living a more natural existence / growing food (clearly within reason) etc will ultimately lead to a "better" life.

Food for thought........