sustainability – Thousand Year Picnic

Nothing Breaks, It Just Turns Into Art

One truth’s been running through my head lately, pacing through the attic of my mind.

“Nothing breaks, it just turns into art.” It’s a good reason to make all things beautiful. When they break, they won’t just be works of art, but beautiful works of art.

Once I realized this truth, I kept seeing proof of it everywhere.

Introduction

What is this blog about? Why is it called “Thousand Year Picnic?”

Freeganism: What, Why, And How?

Freeganism is a lifestyle and diet based on consuming resources that have been (or would be) thrown away. In shorter words, eating food from the trash.

For the past 8 years, I’ve lived the freegan life. I get about 85% of my food from dumpster diving, and I’m eating good. I get so many questions about it, and I wrote this up to answer some.

I Got Arrested For Blocking Private Jets

April 20th, 2024. The second time I was arrested for civil disobedience. The first time I made international news. It was a good day.

On that cold Saturday morning, I joined Extinction Rebellion in shutting down the Hanscom private jet airfield in Concord, MA. 20 of us were arrested, but it’s the ultra-rich who are committing a crime…against our planet, against our children, against our future.

Zero Waste Cooking: What, Why, And How?

I’ve been doing it for years, but to many folks, “Zero Waste Cooking” is just a cryptic combination of three random words…it might as well be “Full Contact Zucchini.” So, I wanted to write a little bit (or a little lot) about the “What, “Why,” and “How” of zero waste cooking.

My No Buy November

For the month of November, I’m going to buy nothing. Why? Well, lots of reasons. But above all, it’s to illustrate a point about the Hard Sell of Sustainability.

The Hard Sell of Sustainability: to avert the worst of the climate crisis, we need to consume less. Less resources, less energy, less cheap crap shipped over from China. The people profiting from business as usual want us to believe that some new technology, or recycling more, will save us. But that’s just a greenwashing coat of paint, on a house that needs new foundations.

And that’s a hard sell, because we’ve been fed from birth that consumption is what makes us happy. So, consuming less means being less happy. Who the heck wants to be less happy!?

But with the Hard Sell comes the Gentle Promise. Yes, we must change how we live our lives. But the changes will make it better. We can stop looking for happiness where we won’t find it, and start looking where we will…in nature, in community, in our selves.