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Andrée Collier Zaleska
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The Eco-Curmudgeon Book Report

Posted by on Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Well, I started with Thoreau, and then decided this might as well be my newhobby: reading and reviewing sustainabilty-projects through the ages,focusing eventually on all the great stuff going on now. But here's an entry that steps back nearly a century, to Helen and Scott Nearing,homesteading in Vermont....



At the heightof the Great Depression, Helen and Scott Nearing, socialists,pacifists, and misfits, left NYC for a farm in the Green Mountains ofVermont to become subsistence farmers. Here’s their explanation of whythey felt the need for such drastic change:

“When wemoved to Vermont we left a society gripped by depression andunemployment, falling a prey to fascism, and on the verge of anotherworld-wide military free-for-all, and entered a pre-industrial, ruralcommunity. The society from which we moved had rejected in practice andin principle our pacifism, our vegetarianism and our collectivism.Under these circumstances, where could outcasts from a dying socialorder live frugally and decently, and at the same time have sufficientleisure and energy to assist in the speedy liquidation of thedisintegrating society, and to help replace it with a more workablesocial system?”

The Nearings, as they put it, wereseeking a life that would provide “simplicity, freedom from anxiety ortension, an opportunity to be useful and live harmoniously.” This theycalled “the good life.”

The Nearings took up selective forestryand maple sugaring. They built stone houses and grew organicvegetables. They believed in never incurring debt, in barteringwhenever possible and trading labor instead of using the money economy.They spent four hours each day in hard labor, and the rest on leisureand educational activities.

Helen and Scott were militantvegetarians, dedicated to organic and largely raw food. They drove offmany of their guests with breakfasts of sunflower seeds and apples,with cups of molasses and hot water instead of coffee. Scott wouldbelligerently lecture their Vermont neighbors about how they werepoisoning their bodies with pies and donuts. Here’s what they saidafter years of attempting local culinary reform:

“To thecredit of Vermont conservatism, it must be said that during the twodecades of our stay, after innumerable discussions and long-drawn-outarguments on the subject of white flour, white bread, white sugar, piesand pastries, the necessity for eating raw vegetables, and therevolting practice of consuming decaying animal carcasses, no nativeVermont family of our acquaintance made any noticeable change in itsfood habits.”

Note the cranky, self-righteous tone! Whowould give up donuts for such a man? A very telling passage follows intheir book, in which the Nearings describe attempts to organize theircommunity socially. The discussion forum that they attempt to create isdivided over politics—the Nearings are pacifists and socialists, andthe town they live in is almost entirely Republicans, with many of itsboys fighting the war in Europe. This tension led others in the town tofavor entertainment as community building. A community center isconstructed and square dancing becomes popular and successful there.But that too breaks down over a divide between those who want to permitdrinking at such events, and others who strictly oppose it (includingthe Nearings). The Nearings end up declaring that their attempts tounify the community have been a total failure, blaming it on theoverall culture of individualism and materialism, that they feel worksagainst the spirit of cooperation.

It’s easy to sympathize withtheir neighbors, who certainly never asked to be organized, haranguedabout radical politics or nutrition. The insistence on the rightness oftheir venture, of their notions about the world, and their certainty ofwhat “the good life” is leave a sour taste at the end of the book. It’shard not to think that this attitude undermined the success of theirvision. But it’s a pervasive one among idealists. People’s assets arelargely the same as their deficits, just manisfesting in differentways. So creative, idealistic visionaries can have a shadow side thatis zealous, pig-headed and single-minded.

Let me return to the present:

Many in the progressive and environmentalist community echo the Nearing’s bleak vision of contemporary society eighty years later, to the pointof declaring that we are on the verge of self-destruction. The appealof escape is always there. But perhaps with a recognition that ourproblems now are so decidedly global, those of us with an experimentalbent in today’s culture know that we can’t run and we can’t hide. The sustainability projects I see happening now seem more realistic. A fewweeks ago I was struck by the size of the audience at the JP Forum. 150people turned out to see Scott Kellogg of the Rhizome Collective.Rhizome is an experimental community center in Austin, Texas attemptingto model all varieties of urban sustainability projects. Theyrehabilitate impoverished urban soil, grow edible mushrooms on logs,and build their own composting toilets. The similarity of the vision tothe JP Green House project intrigued me. But I was especially impressedby the size of the audience. It’s a sign of the times that a20-something hippie from Texas talking about peak oil and radicalsustainability is drawing crowds of middle-aged progressives to a talkin Boston. This stuff isn’t so far out anymore. We’re all payingattention.


Here’s a passage on the Rhizome vision, from their book Toolbox for Sustainable City Living:


“Radicalsustainability is….distinct from what mainstream sustainability hascome to mean. Radical sustainability means rebuilding and reorganizinghomes, neighborhoods and communities in order to create a world that isboth sustainable and equitable. It is fundamentally an approach toenable people who do not have political power to gain control overbasic resources.”

The differences I see here have to dowith the nature of an urban project, which it seems to me requiresvisionaries to deal with reality in the form of their neighbors. I alsothink that the global nature of the climate crisis makes it clear thatwe have nowhere to escape to, and in fact our best hope is tore-localize our communities, pour our effort into safety in ourneighborhoods. The foundation for this work is relationship building.We cannot afford to be prissy about people’s diets, any more than wecan afford to reject others for their race or social standing.Inclusiveness and tolerance trump righteousness, if we are to be ableto stand each other, stand together, and stand for the good life in thecoming age.

Stay tuned for more Eco-Curmudgeonreports on "No-Footprint Man" in NYC, and Jim Merkel, who lives on$5,000 year and can tell us how!



The Eco-Curmudgeon Book Report

Posted by on Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Well, I started with Thoreau, and then decided this might as well be my newhobby: reading and reviewing sustainabilty-projects through the ages,focusing eventually on all the great stuff going on now. But here's an entry that steps back nearly a century, to Helen and Scott Nearing,homesteading in Vermont....



At the heightof the Great Depression, Helen and Scott Nearing, socialists,pacifists, and misfits, left NYC for a farm in the Green Mountains ofVermont to become subsistence farmers. Here’s their explanation of whythey felt the need for such drastic change:

“When wemoved to Vermont we left a society gripped by depression andunemployment, falling a prey to fascism, and on the verge of anotherworld-wide military free-for-all, and entered a pre-industrial, ruralcommunity. The society from which we moved had rejected in practice andin principle our pacifism, our vegetarianism and our collectivism.Under these circumstances, where could outcasts from a dying socialorder live frugally and decently, and at the same time have sufficientleisure and energy to assist in the speedy liquidation of thedisintegrating society, and to help replace it with a more workablesocial system?”

The Nearings, as they put it, wereseeking a life that would provide “simplicity, freedom from anxiety ortension, an opportunity to be useful and live harmoniously.” This theycalled “the good life.”

The Nearings took up selective forestryand maple sugaring. They built stone houses and grew organicvegetables. They believed in never incurring debt, in barteringwhenever possible and trading labor instead of using the money economy.They spent four hours each day in hard labor, and the rest on leisureand educational activities.

Helen and Scott were militantvegetarians, dedicated to organic and largely raw food. They drove offmany of their guests with breakfasts of sunflower seeds and apples,with cups of molasses and hot water instead of coffee. Scott wouldbelligerently lecture their Vermont neighbors about how they werepoisoning their bodies with pies and donuts. Here’s what they saidafter years of attempting local culinary reform:

“To thecredit of Vermont conservatism, it must be said that during the twodecades of our stay, after innumerable discussions and long-drawn-outarguments on the subject of white flour, white bread, white sugar, piesand pastries, the necessity for eating raw vegetables, and therevolting practice of consuming decaying animal carcasses, no nativeVermont family of our acquaintance made any noticeable change in itsfood habits.”

Note the cranky, self-righteous tone! Whowould give up donuts for such a man? A very telling passage follows intheir book, in which the Nearings describe attempts to organize theircommunity socially. The discussion forum that they attempt to create isdivided over politics—the Nearings are pacifists and socialists, andthe town they live in is almost entirely Republicans, with many of itsboys fighting the war in Europe. This tension led others in the town tofavor entertainment as community building. A community center isconstructed and square dancing becomes popular and successful there.But that too breaks down over a divide between those who want to permitdrinking at such events, and others who strictly oppose it (includingthe Nearings). The Nearings end up declaring that their attempts tounify the community have been a total failure, blaming it on theoverall culture of individualism and materialism, that they feel worksagainst the spirit of cooperation.

It’s easy to sympathize withtheir neighbors, who certainly never asked to be organized, haranguedabout radical politics or nutrition. The insistence on the rightness oftheir venture, of their notions about the world, and their certainty ofwhat “the good life” is leave a sour taste at the end of the book. It’shard not to think that this attitude undermined the success of theirvision. But it’s a pervasive one among idealists. People’s assets arelargely the same as their deficits, just manisfesting in differentways. So creative, idealistic visionaries can have a shadow side thatis zealous, pig-headed and single-minded.

Let me return to the present:

Many in the progressive and environmentalist community echo the Nearing’s bleak vision of contemporary society eighty years later, to the pointof declaring that we are on the verge of self-destruction. The appealof escape is always there. But perhaps with a recognition that ourproblems now are so decidedly global, those of us with an experimentalbent in today’s culture know that we can’t run and we can’t hide. The sustainability projects I see happening now seem more realistic. A fewweeks ago I was struck by the size of the audience at the JP Forum. 150people turned out to see Scott Kellogg of the Rhizome Collective.Rhizome is an experimental community center in Austin, Texas attemptingto model all varieties of urban sustainability projects. Theyrehabilitate impoverished urban soil, grow edible mushrooms on logs,and build their own composting toilets. The similarity of the vision tothe JP Green House project intrigued me. But I was especially impressedby the size of the audience. It’s a sign of the times that a20-something hippie from Texas talking about peak oil and radicalsustainability is drawing crowds of middle-aged progressives to a talkin Boston. This stuff isn’t so far out anymore. We’re all payingattention.


Here’s a passage on the Rhizome vision, from their book Toolbox for Sustainable City Living:


“Radicalsustainability is….distinct from what mainstream sustainability hascome to mean. Radical sustainability means rebuilding and reorganizinghomes, neighborhoods and communities in order to create a world that isboth sustainable and equitable. It is fundamentally an approach toenable people who do not have political power to gain control overbasic resources.”

The differences I see here have to dowith the nature of an urban project, which it seems to me requiresvisionaries to deal with reality in the form of their neighbors. I alsothink that the global nature of the climate crisis makes it clear thatwe have nowhere to escape to, and in fact our best hope is tore-localize our communities, pour our effort into safety in ourneighborhoods. The foundation for this work is relationship building.We cannot afford to be prissy about people’s diets, any more than wecan afford to reject others for their race or social standing.Inclusiveness and tolerance trump righteousness, if we are to be ableto stand each other, stand together, and stand for the good life in thecoming age.

Stay tuned for more Eco-Curmudgeonreports on "No-Footprint Man" in NYC, and Jim Merkel, who lives on$5,000 year and can tell us how!



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