As more people come to the realisation that “stuff” doesn’t bring happiness, there is a mindset change happening across society.
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Tag Archives: consumption
Stop Criticizing and Do Something About It!
“Earth has lost half of its wildlife in the past 40 years, says WWF”
~The Guardian
This shocking truth has been sinking in over recent months!
“Creatures across land, rivers and the seas are being decimated as humans kill them for food in unsustainable numbers, while polluting or destroying their habitats, the research by scientists at WWF and the Zoological Society of London found.” ~ The Guardian
Half of the animal life on the planet has been lost to human consumption.
Greed, gluttony and sheer arrogance have brought the world we inhabit to the brink of destruction.
Any time I mention the fact that I am now a Vegan, I get pounced upon by people who denounce my choice of diet and insist upon telling me that it is unnatural to live without meat, fish and dairy!
The correlation between what we eat, and the ecological disaster that is our Earthly home, is there for all to see…there is no more denying the fact that we have plundered to the brink of mass extinction!
“Currently, the global population is cutting down trees faster than they regrow, catching fish faster than the oceans can restock, pumping water from rivers and aquifers faster than rainfall can replenish them and emitting more climate-warming carbon dioxide than oceans and forests can absorb.” ~ The Guardian
“The report concludes that today’s average global rate of consumption would need 1.5 planet Earths to sustain it. But four planets would be required to sustain US levels of consumption, or 2.5 Earths to match UK consumption levels.” ~ The Guardian
Most people associate being Vegan with ending cruelty to animals, but even adopting part of one’s diet to being Vegan achieves much more.
For example, in adopting a diet without meat and dairy, even a couple of days per week, and thinking more about what we eat, personal and planetary health improves.
Each one of us is either part of the problem or part of the solution.
Move to Higher Ground
We are facing a multitude of crises at this time.
War, austerity, climate change, environmental disaster…the list goes on.
Each month seems to bring a stronger cumulative effect in how we are perceiving the world around us…many feel threatened and some even feel doomed.
It has been quite some time now since the cost of petrol at the pump has dropped, in fact the opposite has happened, as the cost has climbed steadily, week on week.
This tells us, in no uncertain terms, that we have reached Peak oil and there will never again be affordable car travel for the masses.
This is difficult to take on board, as we see more and more new cars on the road, but that too should sound the warning bells, for it means that the reality of the problem is not being faced up to!
Even governments are pushing car sales with various trade-in offers every so often!
Reaching Peak oil has serious knock-on effects for us all.
Everything we buy is predicated on oil in some way or another, some direct, most indirectly.
Most food production is reliant upon oil and artificial fertilizers.
Our lives are based upon consumptive behaviour.
Our society has been degraded by our inherent need for more!
Considering the implementation of serious lifestyle changes will be the only beneficial way of getting to higher ground to face the storms ahead.
Higher ground in terms of sustainable living and building community.
If there is madness, mayhem and destruction in the world, we have to own it before we can begin to bring change.
The best, most enduring change happens slowly, building upon small changes.
I urge each and every one of you to consider small changes you can implement in your lives, homes, community, workplace…just wherever one can do it, get on and do it!
Waiting for our governments to act is really a waste of time…they are trapped in the paradigm of economic growth on a finite planet!
Please, empower yourself and others to begin the shift to a world where we are not killing and warring for what little resources remain!
Our earth is abundant and capable of working with us in an interactive, not extractive, way.
The future belongs to the children whose faces we will never see…keep them in mind in all we do!
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Bealtaine Cottage is free and has over 850 blogs, as well as over 3,500 photographs.
Bealtaine Cottage Good Life is a mere 12 euros per year and allows me a small income, to keep doing what I love doing most…writing about Mother Earth and photographing her.
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Link to Bealtaine Cottage Craft Shop…just opened…
Featuring hand-crafted Ancient Bog Oak Pendants…
The Art of Seduction
Rain falls softly as I type.
The day has given way to evening and the sun sets in the west behind the trees.
There is a chill in the air; I have lit the stove.
Birds swoop low over the roof of the lodge; so low, I can hear the sound of their wings.
Over recent weeks there has been much clearing out of sheds, cupboards and closets, as the energy of approaching Midsummer holds sway.
Through all of this, I have been mindful of need; keeping up a steady flow of goods to charity shops.
Ever mindful of human need, my mind turns to scarcity.
What does it mean and how does it affect us?
Scarcity is the fundamental economic problem of having seemingly unlimited human wants in a world of limited resources. It states that society has insufficient productive resources to fulfil all human wants and needs.
The art of seduction in society has led to a feeling of scarcity in the mindset of many people.
Media and advertisements seduce many into a perpetual state of want; and when not getting what they desire, into a state of perceived deprivation.
This is what creates and maintains consumers.
Living in a corporate society means being a consumer.
It has suited successive governments to align their economic policy with that of corporations, turning us all into little more than consumers.
Every aspect of our lives is heavily weighted in favour of consumption, yet not even the corporate junk food fills us up!
In the process of this debasement we have lost our sense of community and dignity.
We have been systematically seduced into a continual state of perceived scarcity…the cause of a deepening unhappiness.
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Bealtaine Cottage website is free, with over 850 blogs and 3,500+ photographs.
However there is a new website for lovers of all things Bealtaine…
” Bealtaine Cottage Good Life”
To subscribe, a small donation of 12 euros per year, will add your name to the subscriber list.
You will then have access to the website and full blog as published twice each week.
This amounts to 104 publications per year, at a cost of 12 cents each!
Click on button below to make your subscription.
How Permaculture Helps Us Re-Connect…Notes from a Cottage in Ireland
The beautiful Kilronan Mountain…
Rubbish dumped over a bridge into the Mountain Stream Bed below…
How we perceive the world around us depends largely on how we connect with it, if at all. Most dog owners will know this to be true, because an otherwise dull morning can be transformed by simply walking the dog…getting OUT into the natural world. Walking and connecting with Nature is tremendously uplifting and inspiring…the Romantic Poets and Artists did a lot of walking in Nature and we have their legacy of work to prove that uplifting feeling.
Walking out to the tunnel in the morning is enough to make the heart happy!
As I write this I am listening to the radio and am shocked to hear that Ireland has the 2nd highest alcohol consumption per capita, (that means per person), in the world, spending on average 2000euros per person.
Drinking large amounts of alcohol depresses the body, causing bio rhythmns to move chaotically, eventually causing depression. The suicide rate here in Ireland is also fairly high with many deaths from suicide not being reported as such. Playstation users in Ireland rank amoung the highest users in the world. There are many signs that the disconnect from the land is causing unhappiness. Litter is a big problem here also. How we treat the land can be a reflection of how we view ourselves…we are connected but are more often than not in denial about this.
Re-connecting with Gaia is the best one single action to make/take for personal health and wellbeing…
The north facing bank which protects the cottage from the worst of the weather is filling out as the trees and shrubs come into flower and leaf. The variety of planting gives all year round colour.
Lettuce and Oregano growing together in a home made planter box. This sits on the veranda and so is close by for quick and easy salads…usually an add-on thought at any meal, so I don’t have to go far!
Conditions have been exactly right over the past nine months or so for the germination of Blackcurrant seeds and these tiny Blackcurrant seedlings are all over the gardens here at Bealtaine.
Permaculture Ethics ~ Bealtaine Smallholding, Ireland
The ethics of permaculture are:
Care for the Earth.
Care for people.
Distribute surplus.
