003_How Much Should One Person Be Allowed to Use - 10-23-20 10.39 AM.mp3_FINAL
[00:00:00] Welcome to the adventures in sustainable living podcast. Your host has lived in off-grid sustainable lifestyle for over 20 years. His homestead is run on solar energy. It has an earth shelter, greenhouse and produces much of his own food. And all of this takes place in the middle of the forest, Colorado.
Now let's join Patrick. The man that not only teaches the skills of sustainable living, but lives their life every day.
Hello everyone. This is Patrick. Again, your host for the adventures in sustainable living podcast. This is now episode three, and this episode is Ltled how much should one person be allowed to use? And in this episode, I really want to take a close look at the [00:01:00] lifestyles that we have and those lifestyle it's a lifestyle that results in massive resource consumpLon and the producLon of an enormous amount of waste.
But I also want to point out that this type of lifestyle is not really sustainable because of this startling ways. It impacts on the environment. But in this episode, I really want to simply sLmulate your thinking. Perhaps show you the need for a change. But I hope, and by the end of this podcast, that you will truly start wondering just as I have, just how much should one person be allowed to use.
So the main topics in today's discussion, just kind of give you a brief summary. Is first off, I want to discuss the rise of consumerism and just talk about the pros and [00:02:00] cons of a consumer society. secondly, through just a liRle short history lesson, I really want to point out. How the consumer culture, how we got where we are today and on the flip side of that, how the consumer culture really then became a slippery slope.
Then I want to do a comparison of the rate of consumpLon of resources in several different countries. But then of course discuss
the effects that that has only environment. And the simple fact that constant consumpLon is just not sustainable. And in the end, I want to give a real life example of how, what it is that I'm talking about and proposing here, how it is really possible to live a life where you use very few resources.
But yet you sLll have a [00:03:00] really good standard of living. So with that being said, let's get started. So to start with folks, I want to talk about the beginnings of consumerism and how this type of the culture , iniLally, evolved so to speak. I think this discussion is valuable because it will help to put, to put into perspecLve.
Just how we got where we are today , but I also want to discuss the pros and cons of a consumer society. And I will, of course, a lot of my examples will point to the United States culture because this is where I live. Of course. First of all, allow me to define exactly what I am talking about here. As far as consumerism, , consumerism is really.
An economic and perhaps a social ideology that promotes consumpLon. And the purchasing of goods and services, and more oZen than not consumerism encourages [00:04:00] the acquisiLon of goods and services beyond a person's basic needs. So in this type of society, People are constantly bombarded with adverLsements that are meant to encourage significant spending and pursuit of what we shall call the good life.
But I just wanted to get that definiLon out there first in order to produce some sort of context. Now consumerism can really truly be traced back back to the 16th century in Europe. With the onset of capitalism, it began to intensify in 18th century because there was a growing middle-class that tend to, to embrace luxury consumpLon.
But the growth of consumerism can also be related to poliLcs and economics. In order for countries to thrive compeLLon for markets and [00:05:00] profits really had to be at the core of their agenda,
then comes along. Of course they had done Esther revoluLon. inspired the consumpLon of products because.
The number of products on the market increased substanLally. And not only that with advancements in technology, the manufacturer of goods was really moved from. A coRage based industry. So people were producing things at home and that producLon was moved into the factory atmosphere. So goods and products were more plenLful and of course, less expensive.
And consequently over many decades, the purchasing of goods and services just became a way of life. This was obviously the case in great Britain, as you will see, and in United States as well. So let's look kind of look at this from a liRle bit of [00:06:00] historical perspecLve. The first world war lasted I did from 1914 to 1918.
And aZer that, Europe was kind of making a really slow recovery, but in the United States, what was going on was what was termed the roaring twenLes. And this was a decade of massive consumpLon. Or a massive consumerism, I should say that was simply fueled by a surgeon economy, but then following.
The roaring twenLes and due to several worldwide economic factors, the enLre world was plunged into the great depression. And this lasted from 1929 to 1939. Then what followed was the second world war, which lasted from 1939 to 1945. During the course of world war two, it [00:07:00] was really, truly that producLon of materials related to the war that helped to draw the American economy out of a decade long of oppression and into a, for economic recovery.
So what happened is the soldiers coming back from world war two, came back home to a very, very different country. And what happened with the recovery from the war starLng in the late 1940s, young Americans experienced a remarkable rise in their spending power. This is because wages were higher and jobs were plenLful.
And addiLonally, during the war, or there was a substanLal lack of consumer goods, but aZer the war, that was completely different. And Americans were eager to spend their money. And in fact, in the 1950s, consumers were actually [00:08:00] praised as being good ciLzens. If they devoted themselves to purchasing more newer and beRer.
But you also have to realize that the post depression recovery. Really depended on a mass consumpLon of goods and services in order to help the economy to recover. And, you know, beyond that, the government also had a lot of programs that help young families to purchase new homes. But in all fairness, what really followed was a period of Lme when Americans were simply a very pragmaLc about their spending and they weren't really focused on luxury items.
Purchasing was mostly centered about, uh, uh, around modernizing their homes. So refrigerators, TVs, cars, vacuum cleaners, and stoves. And it was also about this Lme that [00:09:00] Henry Ford revoluLonized the assembly line, making it possible to mass produce the automobile. consequently. The price of the automobile went down considerably and it made it affordable for the average family.
And of course, as Americans began to purchase more, they also started to rely on various forms of credit in order to increase their purchasing power and consequently support. What was now viewed as the new American standard of living about this Lme. Due to the growth in the auto industry, the oil industry also began to greatly expand.
And this is when the naLon started to transiLon from a coal-based economy to one that was based on petroleum. Furthermore advancements in technology increasingly made electricity [00:10:00] available. Household appliances became more complex.
But at the Lme, these items were actually quite expensive, but the consumers were offered store credit and installment plans.
So they could purchase the items in their choice and this, by the cost of these new household gadgets. This lure of new technology conLnued simply because it was billed as an Avenue to a more relaxed lifestyle.
But during this Lme of enormous transiLon in economic growth in the United States. If I could point to one really good example, that's the true epitomy of consumerism and materialism in the United States. It is the general increase in the size of the family home. So from [00:11:00] 1960 to 1980s, the average new homes varied up and down.
But generally. Stayed in that area of 1500 square feet by 2007, 40% of new homes were now over 2,500 square feet. There also need to point out that this was at a Lme when the average size of the American family was decreasing, but the average size of the home was increasing. And of course, All that extra living space just needed to be filled with even more stuff.
So slowly over what we're seeing here is over a period of about a century consumerism came to be viewed as a way of achieving the good life. People will started to believe that their happiness and perhaps even their personal well being was based on their level of consumpLon and in parLcular, [00:12:00] The purchase of material goods.
So we slowly started to believe that consumpLon was good. And the more, the beRer. But all this being said, obviously there are some benefits to consumerism, but I also want you to think about the consequences of this type of society. So, you know, in fairness, The benefits of consumerism. It is of course economic, my growth.
People are spending money on goods and services more or less in a never ending cycle, which obviously drives the economy. ProducLon
and employment increases. The general standard of living tends to improve. And all of this of course drives even more consumpLon of goods and services. But also consumerism drives innovaLon and creaLvity.
And the reason [00:13:00] for this is that consumers tend to always look for the next best product. And manufacturers constantly are just under a constant pressure to come up with new innovaLons. So improved goods and services. Equates to an overall beRer standard of living, which of course, again, drives even more consumerism and all that may sound good, but there is also a downside.
To consumerism, you know, let's look at the environmental, the environmental effects that this constant consumpLon of goods puts increased pressure on natural resources, such as raw materials, water, and energy, and the cost of producLon of goods also demands the use of chemicals that end up in the environment and.
What about the level of consumer debt? [00:14:00] You know, people will begin to too frequently borrow money in order to finance their luxury lifestyles and their luxury items that may or may not produce any added value in their life. And then what we see is the detrimental effects on a person's morals and even perhaps mental health problems.
You know, consumerism causes people to focus on materialism instead of integrity. Uh, people buy. Uh, people want to buy more than they need in order to look good for other people. But no, this also goes along with increased debt load, which of course brings more stress and depression. People began to focus on trying to follow the latest trends despite their perhaps limited [00:15:00] resources.
But consumerism can also get in the way of relaLonships since numerous studies have proven that materialism does not produce long lasLng value in someone's life. So kind of in summary, consumerism obviously has benefits such as economic growth,
innovaLon and creaLvity. However, consumerism is beneficial only as long as it deals with the persons basically needs such as food, water, and shelter and clothing, et cetera.
And to this extent, Consumerism can elevate someone's happiness, but in the long run, it truly becomes a slippery slope. Um, people tend to spend more money in order to keep up with the latest trends they purchase newer clothes, [00:16:00] the latest electronic gadget. BeRer cars and bigger homes, all the while financing more and more.
And of course working more and more to maintain that lifestyle. And before you knew it good by personal freedom, good by family vacaLon. Good by savings account for any sort of emergency. So I want to ask you, does this really sound like. The good life. Okay. Now that we focused on consumerism, then let's just do a quick comparison between countries and look at who uLlizes the most resources.
I, first thing I want to talk about is oil consumpLon. China consumes the equivalent of 20 trillion barrels of oil every year. Um, the United States comes in at 16.2 trillion. Canada 2.4 [00:17:00] Germany, 2.3 and France comes in at 1.8 trillion. So that can just kind of gives you a comparison of oil usage compared to the size of different countries.
Now who produces the most waste. first of all, you know, I want to point out the fact that humans, we are the, the only species on the planet that produces trash. So just how much trash do we produce in the U S we produce 5.7 pounds of trash per person per day in Germany. It's 4.7 pounds. China 2.2 great Britain, 3.9 Russia, 2.1 in Mexico, 2.7.
France comes in at 4.2 in India comes in at 0.7 pounds per person per day. Now the next [00:18:00] topic is food waste. Did you know that Americans throw out 200,000 tons of edible food every day.
Now that comes to the grand total of 73 million tons of food every year, the U S actually produces more food waste.
Then the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Sweden component. So to put that in perspecLve, A study was done several years ago that States that the average American consumes roughly a ton of food per year. Actually the exact number is 1,996, but round off one ton of food per person per year, there are 328 million people in the United States.
So. 328 million tons of food [00:19:00] annually to feed all of us. But we are generaLng 73 million tons of food waste annually. And that comes to 22% of our food supply is actually going into trash and to put a finer point on it. That's enough food to feed the enLre country of Peru for two years, that's enough food to feed the present populaLon of Colorado for 12 and a half years.
That's enough food to feed the populaLon of Georgia for 6.9 years. And that's enough food to feed the populaLon of Canada for 1.9 years. So it's really quite amazing. The amount of edible food that goes into the trash every day. So that [00:20:00] brings me to my next topic of water usage. Water of course is necessary.
For life itself, but we waste hundreds of gallons of water every day, while 11% of the world's populaLon does not even have access to an improved water supply. And in fact, 25% of the world's populaLon doesn't even have access to adequate sanitaLon. But yet in United States, each person uses about 100 gallons of water per day.
This is a combinaLon of bathing showers, washing machine, flushing the toilet, using the dishwater personal hygiene and drinking water with the areas of largest consumpLon really, truly is bathing showers.[00:21:00] So let's just look at this in a liRle bit of a different way.
For example, the amount of resources needed to support an individual or to put it another way. The ecological footprint of an individual really has to do with how much land it would take to support a person according to. Their lifestyle. In other words, in order to live system sustainably, according to the global footprint network, each person on average needs about 6.7 acres in order to support themselves sustainably.
However, the average American. According to our average rescore resource consumpLon needs 16.8 acres in order to support themselves, did you know, [00:22:00] a child born in the United States will create 13 Lmes as much logical damage over the course of his or her lifeLme as compared to a child born in Brazil.
The United States, we comprise about 5% of the world's populaLon. Yet we use one third of the world's paper. We use a quarter of the world's oil. We use 23% of the coal 27% of the aluminum. 19% of the copper American fossil fuel consumpLon is double that of the average resident of great Britain and two and a half Lmes the average Japanese resonant.
So we consume 53% more resources than the average person in China and at our present rate of global consumpLon. It [00:23:00] is thought that it would take a planet one and a half Lmes larger than what we have in order to take care of our personal rate of resource consumpLon. In fact, if the enLre planet live like the average American, our planet would need to be almost.
Four and a half Lmes larger. If the average person lived like the residents of great Britain, the planet would have to be three and a half Lmes larger than what it is in order to sustain our populaLon. So that brings me back to this central quesLon of this podcast. How much should one person be allowed to use?
Or perhaps we could ask that in a different way. How much should one country be allowed to use? But personally, [00:24:00] I actually prefer the first quesLon much beRer because it individualizes the
issue. While you may not be able to do anything about what an enLre country uses. You can do something about your personal level of consumpLon.
Now I asked this quesLon because what we use, meaning our ecological footprint directly affects our planet and the available resources, humanity managers, believe it or not to outstrip the earth resources by 50% every year. So what that means, what we use by the end of 2020. It will take the planet one and a half years to recover.
And in, and in fact, the first Lme that this, this [00:25:00] concept was looked at was back in 1970. And that was when we finally reached the point, meaning we meaning humanity to where we reached the point that we were overusing our resources every year. And that was in 1970, which was. 50 years ago, the boRom line here folks is that we constantly buy things.
We over-consume calories meal, 1500 calories per day. Beyond what's recommended. We produce massive amounts of trash. We over stripped the Earth's resources by 50% each year, we are neck deep in debt. We work constantly to maintain our lifestyle. And yes, as you can see, we are sLll seeking the good life.
Right? Well, I hate to tell you folks, but our version of the good life is not only robbing [00:26:00] us of our personal freedom. But it is also destroying the planet. And did you know to point this out? Once again, the United States really only comprises about 5% of the purse pocket elaLon. Yet we consume 24% of the available resources.
And yet there is 10% of the Earth's populaLon that actually lives on less than $1 and 90 cents every day. So now let me ask you this quesLon again. How much should one person be allowed to use? So what we have now, folks is a culture and certainly globally is wanLng waste. DepleLon of global resources, climate change in the face of [00:27:00] increasing world populaLon.
And what we should be doing with that informaLon is using it as a way to determine. What our immediate future holds and use that as a moLvaLon to change our present course. But as you could probably guess, the economy conLnues to grow. We conLnue to consume and we conLnually increase our environmental impact.
So I asked you, what is the answer? What is the answer? But thankfully, thankfully there is growing global recogniLon of the need to address environmental issues. Um, however, we also know that this takes Lme, but. If you listened to a, to my last episode [00:28:00] about the most sustainable trees, you will also know that there are countries that have a 40 years history of sustainable policymaking.
You also know that the greening of the economy is no longer theoreLcal idea. Um, and although there is increased awareness, which is wonderful. That is not really enough. We have to take acLon. We have to change our course. The opportunity to build a sustainable future is right here before us. But we have to seize that opportunity community while we sLll have the chance.
So I asked you again, Just how much is one person allowed to use. So considering that quesLon, I think now's a good Lme to probably transiLon this podcast to a [00:29:00] concept of a 2000 WaR society, because this concept is truly related to. Just how much should one person be allowed to use.
Now? It's kind of interesLng. I came across this concept actually when I was researching some things for the, for my last podcast episode. I did not really understand this concept at first. Um, but it does relate directly to a sustainable society. So I think it's worth introducing this concept of a 2000 waR society.
Is a reference to the amount of energy that we consume every day. And although this concept is really truly quite simple, it does require just a liRle bit of an explanaLon. This, this concept of a 2000
WaR society was first conceptualized [00:30:00] by the Swiss federal InsLtute of technology in Zurich in 1998. And it was simply a model.
For energy consumpLon that is jusLfied by how we consume our energy, as well as our goods and services. And also. To realize the impact that that can consumpLon has on the environment. This model did demonstrates how it's possible to consume only as much energy as our reserves permit and under this model.
Each person in every society would actually limit their daily energy consumpLon to 2000 waRs. And addiLonally, 75% of that energy consumed should be from renewable energy sources and 25% from fossil fuels. So [00:31:00] what the Swiss were trying to do here was. Do you propose this moRo as a means of addressing climate change and also prevenLng future conflict over natural resources?
When I first came across this concept, I thought 2000 WaRs a day. That's not that much energy, but what is actually means is 2000 WaRs per hour per day, which is considered sustainable. And so this translates into total usage of two kilowaRs an hour. So 48 kilowaRs per day. But what you have to understand is that this reaches much further than just simply your, your personal energy consumpLon.
It looks at your total energy consumpLon per day, meaning the energy that you consume, uh, for example, while commuLng back and [00:32:00] forth to work. Yeah. And the energy that you consume, so to speak because you purchase certain products. Now personal daily energy consumpLon is easy to visualize and easy to realize, but this concept also addresses what is called embodied energy.
So think of it this way. Embodied energy means. The total energy that is used to produce goods and services. And it is considered as if that energy used to produce a product or service was actually embodied in the product itself. So, this is a means of evaluaLng whether or not an energy saving device actually saves energy.
For example, if it takes 2000 WaRs to produce a product that only saves 5,000 WaRs, I'm sorry, 500 WaRs [00:33:00] of energy during the lifeLme of that product, then there is a net energy loss. However, If it takes 5,000 WaRs of energy to manufacture a 300 waR solar panel, but that solar panel produces 1500 WaRs per day, Lmes 25 years of service life.
Then there is a massive producLon of energy. There's a fantasLc energy surplus for producing that product. So there's a net energy bounce. So based on this concept, let's compare various cultures based on their energy consumpLon in relaLon to this concept of a 2000 WaRs society. Now this evaluaLon is based on personal energy consumpLon plus consumpLon of embodied energy.
[00:34:00] So what that means is that. If you live a hyper consumerisLc lifestyle, you're actually going to be consuming a lot more energy simply because you are consuming a lot more products. So let's just do a comparison with several different countries. So the people in Bangladesh did about 300 WaRs, South Africans at 500 WaRs, India at a thousand WaRs, China 1500 WaRs.
Western Europe, 6,000 WaRs and the United States, 12,000 ones. So once again, we are back to the simple fact that the United States comprises 5% of the world populaLon. Yet we produce 40% of the trash. We consume 25% of the resources and we use 20 Lmes more energy. Then [00:35:00] someone living in a developing country, but yet we rank 39th in the world for sustainable pracLces.
So once again, how much should one person be allowed to use? So to conLnue on with this concept of a 2001 society, um, each person, it would be alloRed, so to speak. Uh, 48 kilowaRs per day, but presently in the United States, each person averages a use of 288 kilowaRs per day, which is six Lmes the amount of energy that would be alloRed under the 2000 WaR society concept.
But you also, you have to realize it, this concept of the 2000 WaR society, it's not. Designed to dramaLcally change your lifestyle. No
one really truly expects anyone to go back to the stone age. But what I [00:36:00] really want you to think about is that such things really are possible. And I want to give you an example.
Uh, from my own life and now, but I also want to get something clear from the start here that I don't use this example as an opportunity to Pat myself on the back. In fact, you know, as I've stated before my own life is not the perfect example of sustainability. And I certainly realize that there are a lot of changes that I sLll need to make, but I just want to give you an example.
Of what my typical lifestyle is like. I have two cabins and a large chicken barn, which I run off of a 1.6 kilowaR, solar Ray. We have satellite internet, a refrigerator freezer. I run a well pump. We have full interior and exterior lighLng, pot, running water for [00:37:00] showers and dishes. We do laundry and we even watch movies on a regular basis.
I do have to haul in water once a week for the cabins and for the chickens in the greenhouse, we have a composLng toilet system and the cabins are heated with wood. There are. Three people in the household. We have a fairly typical lifestyle. Now we do live modestly, but yet we do not really do without anything, but we just run our lives a liRle bit differently than what most people do.
And we do live completely off the grid. Now in comparison to average energy usage per month for an American household is 914 kilowaRs. So that's a liRle over 30 kilowaRs per day. The [00:38:00] average person in the United States uses around 100 gallons of water per day. My 1.6 kilowaR array produces 192 kilowaRs per month, and considering about a seventy-five percent efficiency rate, that results in 144 kilowaRs of usable energy every month, which means.
That's about 4.8 kilowaRs per day for a household of three, I haul in about 600 gallons of water a month, and that is sufficient for all of our needs. So that equals 200 gallons per person per month. So a
consumpLon rate of about 6.7 gallons of water per day. In what this means is that our electricity usage is 84% less than the average American household [00:39:00] and our water usage is 94% less than the average house.
And not only that, but the electricity and water that we do use comes from renewable resources, but also, you know, I'm going to have to say when I was even examining my own lifestyle, I discovered it was really the transportaLon cost for us that produced our greatest environmental impact. And. This is because we live fairly isolated in, and we do a lot of commuLng, but the gasoline that we consume every month for commuLng is it's about the equivalent of 3,800 kilowaRs per month.
and I'm going to, I think I'm going to just throw in another. Thousand kilowaRs per month for our consumpLon of food and other products, because I don't really [00:40:00] have a good way to esLmate that. And addiLonally, we do use propane for cooking. So if I throw all of those things in our household consumes a total of about 5,000 kilowaRs a month, which comes out to 55.6 kilowaRs per person per day.
And under the 2000 waR society model, the average should be 48 kilowaRs per day. So really all we have to do is change our commuLng habits a liRle bit more in order for us to come in line with the 2001 society model. And I actually think that we can do that without, without any problems. But folks, I also want to point out that, you know, I don't use as example of my own lifestyle.
Um, in order to congratulate myself, consequently, I have to point out that I live, where I do and how I do [00:41:00] simply out of personal choice. And it just so happens that how I live falls within that means, or within that model of the 2001 society. And I also need to point out when I was doing the research for this podcast, I really truly started analyzing my own lifestyle.
and I was able to make some changes and I actually reduced my community. By almost 50%, but I also find it interesLng that as I do research for this podcast, I learned so much more about the value of sustainability in it makes even encourages me to make even further changes in my own life. And the other thing that this research has done for me is that I'm really, truly beginning to understand.
The true global [00:42:00] impact that humanity has. And it makes me even more determined to not only make a difference, but also to make even further changes in my own life. And in fact, at Lmes I'm even surprised at myself, mr. Live off the grid. And how I unknowingly have more of an environmental impact then. So what is the answer folks, just, how much should one person be allowed to use now concept of the 2001 society has been around for.
About 15 years, this was conceptualized by the Swiss. And what the Swiss did is they turned around and they did a study on their own culture. And the result of that study was [00:43:00] actually quite humbling to them because they discovered that there was, they were a few households. If any in Swiss culture that actually fit into the model that they had produced.
So what they did is they, they did an evaluaLon of 3000 Swiss households and they looked at energy consumpLon, household lifestyle, transportaLon used food and consumer goods consumed. And the object of the study was to evaluate the individual household impact. On the environment. What this study found is that low energy consumpLon households actually existed in all income brackets.
So what this means is that a high standard of living as possible, even with low energy consumpLon, but what they also found is that. Only [00:44:00] 25% of household energy consumpLon was related to electricity usage and therefore massive amounts of energy was actually going simply for heaLng, cooling, and transportaLon needs.
And interesLngly enough, when I analyze my own lifestyle, I figured, you know, I fell into that category because. About 24% of our monthly energy consumpLon is related to the household. Yet 76% of our energy consumpLon every month is actually related to our transportaLon needs. And this actually was a, quite a startling realizaLon for me.
So obviously, you know, in the area of heaLng our homes and in transportaLon, These are the biggest areas that need improvement and truly, you know, it is the result of our transportaLon needs [00:45:00] that being automobiles and air travel that truly produces the greatest porLon of the greenhouse gases. Now, obviously, as you've probably realized this goal of a 2000 WaRs society is really, truly ambiLous, but it will only be achieved.
By a cooperaLve effort by individuals and the government, because we truly need poliLcal measures that promote sustainable behavior. AddiLonally, we need to forego such extravagance. We need to limit our transportaLon needs and our excessive consumpLon of goods and services. And by doing these things, we can all do our bit.
Toward sustainability. Well, I will ask the quesLon again, how much should one person be allowed to [00:46:00] use? So let's do a quick recap. We discussed consumerism, the pros and cons. We discussed how this consumerism has goRen us all over our heads. In debt. We consume, we produce massive amounts of trash. We throw out 73 million tons of food annually.
We outstripped the Earth's resources by 50% each year. And I also gave you a real life example of how I live yet. Me, mr. Champion of living off the grid. AZer all these years of doing that, I sLll find areas in my life where I need to make improvements. And I'm going to have to say, I take once I figure that out, I, I take that seriously and I do make some changes in my life, which is by the way, exactly what I would encourage you to do is just look at your own lifestyle and make some [00:47:00] changes because obviously.
Our pursuit of the good life is not sustainable because we are outstripping the Earth's resources by 50% every year. So what we need to do folks is start focusing on a sustainable future. Now, folks, as I start to wrap things up here, I want to leave you with a challenge. Take some Lme and. Go to the blog post that's associated with this podcast episode, follow some of the links I've provided you.
Some of the tools I provided and your challenge is to examine your own lifestyle and come to a full realizaLon of the impact that your own life has on the environment. And once you realize that. Simply make a change, simply make a change. [00:48:00] I also, I have a, a, a post on my blog of off-grid living news. Uh, that will be of some value.
And it's Ltled the importance of simplifying your life. There is a lot of good informaLon in that post. And remember, I also have a resource, a free resource that is called seven steps to live your life the way you want. It may not be what you think. So to wrap things up folks, now that I've, um, taken the Lme to bash the consumer society and our over-consumpLon of resources, you're likely saying to yourself, well, then what is the answer?
Because, you know, if we all suddenly stopped consuming the economy, of course would collapse. So what is the answer? Well, if you want to know that, then stay tuned. [00:49:00] Please stay tuned to my next episode, which is going to be about sustainable alternaLves to a consumer society. And in that episode, I also want to introduce the concept of a zero waste lifestyle and well folks, of course, if you have enjoyed this podcast today, please sign up for my podcast, the adventures in sustainable living.
And if you want some even further informaLon, Sign up for my blog off grid, living news. That's it for today, folks. This is your host Patrick, signing off, have a fantasLc week and I will see you with the next episode. [00:50:00] .
