We spent our weekend outdoors in the dazzling sunshine building our chicken coop and interacting with our neighbors. (The first activity nicely fueled the second activity). About $400 and 25 person-hours later,we have what my housemate Evan cheerfully terms one expensive, half-assed chicken coop. (None of us claim to be highly skilled carpenters.) How did [...]
Entries Tagged as 'relationships'
Chickens Bring People Together
April 20th, 2009 · 1 Comment · community, entertainment, home & garden, lifestyle, sustainability
Tags: chickens·choir·church·Farmer Jon·green living·relationships·urban farming
Twenty Ways To A Simpler, Happier Life, Part III
April 9th, 2009 · No Comments · community, food & drink, health & well being, lifestyle, simplicity, sustainability
This is the final installment to my three-part series on inroads to the Diamond-Cut Life (a life rich in joy, low in consumption). In Part I I talked about everything from drinking less to letting the phone ring to having one car-free day a week. In Part II I suggested creating no new debt, [...]
Twenty Ways To a Simpler, Happier Life, Part II
April 4th, 2009 · No Comments · entertainment, lifestyle, money, simplicity, sustainability, transportation
Earlier this week I posted my first ten tips for a simpler, happier life. This morning I got so enthused over my next five ideas (below) that I see they’re a long post by themselves. So, next week I’ll present Part III with my final five suggestions. Create no new debt. The most complicated my [...]
Tags: Amtrak·appointments·carbon footprint·debt·happiness·leisure·libraries·life·Oregon·parks·projects·relationships·shopping malls·thrift·train·vacation
Beth’s Take on The Nature of Desire
April 1st, 2009 · No Comments · health & well being, lifestyle, sustainability
“Desire drives consumption, and consumption is destroying the earth.” So states Peter Schoonmaker, the director of the Illahee environmental lecture series here in Portland, and I agree with him. Peter circulated my review of Susan Cheever’s lecture to Illahee members (I took issue with Ms. Cheever’s claim that broken promises are what define addiction). Beth, [...]
Tags: addiction·alcoholism·Illahee·life·relationships·Susan Cheever
The Poverty of Hyper-Individualism
March 17th, 2009 · No Comments · community, lifestyle, relationships
It’s 4:15 in the morning and I’ve already been up for an hour (insomnia is this writer’s best friend). I’m reflecting that I get lots of readership when I give advice on how to save money and reduce carbon emissions at the same time– slashing your electric bill, for instance, has been my best-seller at [...]
Tags: Bill McKibben·cars·consumption·Deep Economy·happiness·life·relationships·Southern California
