I am totally with you on the gut wrenching sacrifice thing. A long time ago I decided that it would be for the best to focus on my own family and friends and try to set up and live a resilient, low-impact lifestyle, and lead by example. I do not feel I am able to lead by example at this stage in my life – even though I fully envisioned that I would be living with my family in a self-build cob/timber-frame permaculture based smallholding by this time (my daughters are almost grown up for goodness sake!)… the irony is that money is the main thing stopping me, and what stops me earning the money? Well – I don’t like what money does for a start! If it was a form of ‘sustainability token’ or ‘frugality reward’ scheme – that would be great, but it isn’t is it? Most money goes on far more pointless and destructive greed based things… the bulk of it squirrelled away into offshore accounts, bank executive’s pensions and such

So – we focus on the small things. I can’t really call it voluntary downsizing, as we have never had anything big to downsize from! But cutting down on consuming, eating local food, growing our own, recycling etc. I would love to live in my own little ecotopia and believe that I am helping to spread the ‘good life’ meme – but land costs money – that’s the centuries old system and so far I haven’t figured out a way around that apart from saving up the cash for a deposit on a mortgage (when capitalism is in a more forthcoming mood than it is currently of course). No point not learning the skills that might be required when we get there though! Learning to grow stuff is a good place to start – you can’t beat veg grown in your own garden for low carbon input.

I am grateful for the time you have put into campaigning and writing anyway Keith – and if it comes to it – you and your family are welcome to the spare rooms in my cob/timber frame smallholding farmhouse… when I have built it

I look forward to reading your Time’s Up book BTW

K.