Adventures in Sustainable Living
191 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 days ago -There is one thing you will hear me say again and again. As long as someone else is in control of your resources, they are in fact in control of your life. Consequently, my solution to that problem was to develop a sustainable, self reliant lifestyle. Not only that, but I’ve lived off the grid for more than 20 years. This podcast is not only about sustainable living it is also about teaching you to take more control over your life by being in control of many of your resources. It is possible to live a life without debt, produce much of your own food, have much more personal freedom, as well as increased personal security and peace of mind. So join me as I discuss diverse topics associated with sustainable living, off grid living, and share some of my hilarious and sometimes incredible adventures. My goal is to make you realize that you can also have a wonderful sustainable life that is adventurous, enjoyable, challenging, and rewarding. I will also make you question why you live the way you do now. Besides this podcast, I have a companion blog at www.offgridlivingnews.com Enjoy!!!
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Episodes
175_A Green Foot Forward: Overcoming the Roadblocks to Sustainable Living Part I
April 17, 2024 06:00 - 37 minutes - 25.9 MBAdventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 175 A Green Foot Forward: Overcoming the Roadblocks to Sustainable Living If you happen to have in-depth training or knowledge in a particular area it is easy to forget that many others do not have that same expertise. For example, the knowledge I have about the care of animals is second nature to me. Sometimes I forget there are many people who just do not understand the basics. But the same holds true when it comes to sustainable living...
174-Tips for Success: The Little Things Make the Difference
April 10, 2024 10:00 - 31 minutes - 21.5 MBAdventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 174 Habits for Success: The Little Things Make a Difference Have you ever wondered why people spend so much time on social media and then get depressed because they compare and despair? Have you ever wondered why 75% of our population feels that it is important to focus on living a sustainable life but they never take the time or put out the effort to make it happen. Has there ever been a time in our life that you risk everything in order...
#173 How to Vote with Your Dollars
April 03, 2024 06:00 - 27 minutes - 18.7 MBAdventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 173 How to Vote with Your Dollars You have likely heard me say that our choices make changes. This is because our choices drive the market place. Now you may not think that your individual choices can make a difference. But, it is the cumulative results of the individual choices of the 7.8 billion people on this planet that has gotten us to where we are today. One of the easiest things you can do as a consumer is make better choices with ...
172 Would We Be Naked Without Synthetic Fabrics?
March 27, 2024 10:00 - 25 minutes - 17.4 MBAdventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 172 Would We Be Naked Without Synthetic Fabrics? What exactly is a Spinning Jennie? Have you even heard of it? Few people these days own a sewing machine but surely we all have a concept of what it is and what it does. And even though not all of us have taken a chemistry class, we have some concept of a chemical concoction? But do you know what all of these things have in common? Certainly there can be no argument that advances in technol...
171 Simple Rules Are All We Need
March 20, 2024 10:00 - 33 minutes - 23.3 MBAdventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 171 Simple Rules Are All We Need I so often marvel at the complexity of our society. It seems as if things were so much simpler when I was a kid. Even when I first moved to Colorado and was working a construction job, life was pretty simple. Now it seems as if there are rules, rules, rules and so many other things that complicate our lives. And everyone seems to complain about it. But are all these rules really necessary or is it simply...
170 The Cost of Convenience
March 13, 2024 10:00 - 34 minutes - 23.5 MBAdventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 170 The Cost of Convenience Few people would believe that I lived without running water and electricity for over 15 years. But I can tell you from first hand experience when you live that way it changes how you think. But the same is true with our modern conveniences. It changes how we think, or should I say don’t think. We no longer have to put any thought or energy into many of our daily activities. However, for that convenience we do p...
#169 To Whom Much Is Given
March 06, 2024 11:00 - 30 minutes - 21 MBWe live in a culture of over abundance. Unless you travel abroad, most of us have no concept of the level of poverty in the world. Yet 9.2% of the worlds population live on $2.15 a day. On a global basis 1.1 billion people live in poverty and in some countries as much as 80% of the population. But the question is do the people who live in wealthy countries bear some responsibility for those that are less fortunate? After all, part of the sustainability equation includes people. If we are to...
#168 Can We Live Without Trees?
February 28, 2024 11:00 - 40 minutes - 28.2 MBAdventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 168 Can We Live Without Trees How many times per day do you walk by a tree and never give it any thought. It is almost as if we take trees for granted. They have always been there and we never think that there may come a time when they are gone. From my previous episode you may remember how many trees we use versus how many we plant. It is obvious from those numbers we are consuming this natural resource faster than it can be replenished. ...
#167 Fourteen Tips on How to Go Paperless
February 21, 2024 11:00 - 28 minutes - 19.7 MBAdventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 167 How to Go Paperless Most people never realize that paper usage is directly related to a nation’s wealth. The US and most European countries rank the highest in the world for paper usage. And this of course has a significant impact on the environment. Although it is impossible to calculate just how many trees are cut down each year for paper, estimates range between 4 billion and 8 billion. Some of that paper usage is due to food packa...
#166 The Disconnect Between Justice and Sustainability
February 14, 2024 07:00 - 38 minutes - 26.8 MBThe three pillars of sustainability are environment, economic and social. Less formally these pillars are known as people, planet and profits. Knowing this, I do think that we fail at supporting a vital part of these three pillars. It is so easy to speak of fair pay and equal opportunity regardless of race, gender, marital status, religious beliefs, disability or political opinions. And yet this is a vital part of sustainability that often gets overlooked and consequently social injustice...
#165 14 Things You Never Knew About Grocery Store Produce
February 07, 2024 07:00 - 38 minutes - 26.3 MBAs you likely know by now I am a big fan of having a garden and producing as much of my own food as possible. It is the best way to be certain I am consuming fresh organic produce. Not to mention it saves me a considerable amount of money. Despite the many advantages of having a garden only 1/3 of people on a global basis engage in any sort of gardening activity. Whatever the reason may be, that portion of our global population finds it more convenient to simply purchase what they need. ...
#164 How to Detox Your Home
January 31, 2024 07:00 - 34 minutes - 24 MBDid you know that there are now approximately 150 chemicals in our homes that are connected to allergies, birth defects, psychological disorders as well as cancer. And this is actually old news. I have now met three different people who had numerous health problems, were on multiple medications, and were even given a poor long term prognosis for survival. But instead of accepting what their doctors said they took matters into their own hands. Each of them moved into a rural area, gave up a...
#163 How Self Reliance Builds Self Confidence
January 24, 2024 11:00 - 37 minutes - 25.5 MBIf so often hear the question “What is the world coming to these days?” And while I would contend that the world is not coming to anything other than what the world has always been coming to, I do think that people are more fearful today than ever before. And there are several reasons for this. Part of the challenge in our modern society is that most of us are not taught to think and live independently. Everything we need is easily available and we are completely unsure of what to do if so...
#162 Tips and Tricks for Container Gardening
January 17, 2024 11:00 - 30 minutes - 21.2 MBBeing sustainable often means providing a certain amount of things for yourself. Providing for yourself also has the added benefit of increasing your personal independence. A certain amount of independence also means more personal security. And few things provide more security than growing you own food. With the majority of our population now living in urban areas, most people have the impression that they cannot have a garden because they do not have a lot of space. If you are one of thos...
#161 Don't Pitch It Out! Plant It!
January 10, 2024 11:00 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MBThere was a time when I went to the supermarket three to four times per week. Now I go maybe twice a month. It is astounding how much I used to spend on groceries compared to what I spend now. So how exactly did I drastically reduce my supermarket trips and how do I now save so much money. My success is a matter of growing a lot of things at home, having access to organic game meat, and being very careful not to waste anything at all. You may think this success is because we live on a ho...
#160_How We Are Losing Our Self Reliance and How We Can Get It Back
January 03, 2024 11:00 - 27 minutes - 18.8 MBWith working farms in my family self-reliance was not something we talked about because it was just how we lived. Presently because the homestead is somewhat isolated, a certain degree of self reliance is mandatory simply because help is not instantly accessible. But in our modern culture the average person is no longer self reliant nor do they see the need to live that way. But I would contend that despite our modern culture there is even more insecurity than ever because our world change...
#159 The Rising Demand in Sustainable Food
December 27, 2023 12:00 - 30 minutes - 21 MBAs you have likely heard me say before, I do not tend to pay a lot of attention to the trends of society and public opinion. This is because such things swing like a pendulum right along with our values. Additionally most of the time I tend to focus my attention on entirely different things than the typical concerns of the average person. That said, there is one societal trend that certainly has my attention. More and more people are making sustainable choices especially when it comes t...
#158 One Nature One Future: The Five Biggest Threats to Our Natural World
December 20, 2023 07:00 - 28 minutes - 19.4 MBMost likely you do not know that it was the discovery and manipulation of fire that was the first step in humanity’s separation from nature. Among many other things fire enabled humans to use biomass as a source of fuel. Eventually our comfort level increased to the point that nature was viewed as a resource instead of a place to live. We are now more separated from nature than ever before. The vast majority of us never stop to think about, much less appreciate how every single thing we do...
#157_A Cultural Transition: What the Fossil Fuel Industry Doesn't Want You to Know
December 13, 2023 11:00 - 28 minutes - 19.6 MBAdventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 157 A Cultural Transition: What the Fossil Fuel Industry Doesn't Want You to Know Throughout human existence there have been several significant transitions which have truly defined our history. Although these transitions have often improved our standard of living such things have always been met with resistance. This is because typically someone has something to lose. Whether it be an individual, a big business or the government, losing your...
#156 Ten Steps to Net Zero: Can We Do It?
December 06, 2023 11:00 - 30 minutes - 20.9 MBAdventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 156 Ten Steps to Net Zero: Can We Do It? In the last two episodes I talked a lot about how as a global community we are over stepping the planetary boundaries that are responsible for our very survival. Hopefully by now we all realize the need to change a lot of the basic things in our lives that we take for granted. In other words, how we run our lives on a day to day basis. Part of the discussion about those changes needs to include t...
#155_Nine Planetary Boundaries Part Two: Living Beyond the Brink
November 29, 2023 11:00 - 35 minutes - 24.3 MBAdventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 155 The Nine Planetary Boundaries Part Two Living on the Brink Welcome back everyone to the Nine Planetary Boundaries Part Two. In last week’s episode we discussed the nine boundaries that we as humans need to operate within in order to live sustainably and thrive. It is becoming painfully obvious that due to our rapid population growth and our insatiable appetite for resources, that we are pushing the limits of what our planet can cope ...
#154: The Nine Planetary Boundaries: A Safe Operating Space for Humans
November 22, 2023 11:00 - 31 minutes - 21.6 MBAdventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 154 Nine Planetary Boundaries: A Safe Operating Space for Humans Over the period of 5 decades we have added 4 billion people to our planet. By 2020 our population was 8.5 billion. With the combination of more people and longer lifetimes our absolute numbers continue to rise. All of these people of course require the use of more resources. We continue to turn forests into farmland, wilderness into wheat fields and prairie into parking lots...
#153 The Road to 7 Billion: Should We Limit Human Population?
November 15, 2023 11:00 - 28 minutes - 19.9 MBAdventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 153 The Road to Seven Billion: Should We Limit Human Population? I bet you never really thought of an animal as being a consumer? And yet they are. They graze or hunt on a place, eat and consume what they need or what is available and then they move on. But the key word here is available resources because that is an important factor that keeps a given population in balance. It is no secret that humanity is consuming resources at a far g...
#152 Regenerative Farming Explained
November 08, 2023 11:00 - 27 minutes - 18.8 MBAdventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 152 Regenerative Agriculture Explained Did you ever think that maybe we should have left things alone? Surely you have heard the phrase, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” These are the sorts of things I think about and the sorts of questions I ask when I look at many things going on in our modern world. Granted our advances in technology have proven to be to our advantage in many ways. But there is a price to pay for that convenience. ...
#151 Meat Money: Why Do We Still Have Factory Farming?
November 01, 2023 10:00 - 31 minutes - 21.4 MBIn last weeks episode I discussed how important it is for us to know the origin of our food. Such knowledge empowers us to not only make healthier choices about what we eat but also to make choices that supports a sustainable food supply. That said, far too many of us are still completely disconnected from how our food is produced and what happens in order for us to have food on the shelves at the supermarket. This week I am going to continue that trend from a completely different angle. ...
#150 Have You Ever Heard a Cow Moo?
October 25, 2023 10:00 - 28 minutes - 19.5 MBAdventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 150 Have You Ever Heard a Cow Moo? Self sufficiency and sustainability are hot topics these days. But when I was growing up in Tennessee and Georgia there were two working farms in my family. We never really spoke about self sufficiency or sustainability because it was simply how we lived day to day. In fact, I have no memory of eating store bought meat until I moved away from home at the age of eighteen. Yet in our modern culture, a surp...
#149 A Time of Gratitude
October 18, 2023 10:00 - 21 minutes - 14.5 MBAfter the last two episodes where I gave you nothing but good news about our world, I have decided to continue on that trend. I have often said that if everyone in the world could come home to a place of peace and quiet and have the ability to just mentally shut down, the world would be a much happier place and people would be a lot less angry. There are a number of things that have been proven to increase our happiness and well being and one of those things is gratitude. Taking a little ...
#148 Ten More Stores of Good News About Our World
October 11, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 20.5 MBIn last weeks episode I gave you ten different stories of good new about our world. The reason I did that is because we are constantly bombarded by bad news. And because of that people are developing climate anxiety, depression, hopelessness, and apathy. If all we ever hear about is bad news that we get to the point to where we never expect a good outcome for any reason. But if you really start looking, there is plenty of good news all around us. Even today there are exciting new discoveri...
#147 Ten Stories of Good News About Our World
October 04, 2023 10:00 - 31 minutes - 22 MBMore than likely most of you know that I do not watch network television, I do not spend a lot of time on social media platforms, nor do I pay a lot of attention to the news. Constantly hearing about tragic events, inflation, the next weather related disaster, violence, and racial injustice, is not likely to put me in a good frame of mind. Consequently, filtering what I hear about everyday is my way of increasing my quality of life. That being said, I do not completely ignore the world aro...
#146 Ten Tips to Help You Focus on the Positive Things in Life
September 27, 2023 10:00 - 26 minutes - 18.5 MBAll we ever hear about these days is bad news. Approximately 95% of news media is negative and 90% of all news is centered around sensationalism. On top of that, almost daily we hear about some new climate related disaster, how our world food supply is in jeopardy, and how our entire planet is now contaminated. Unfortunately, all of this bad news has an affect on our mental health. Rates of anxiety and depression are increasing and so are the feelings of hopelessness. And because of that...
#145 The Pillage of the Pollinators
September 20, 2023 10:00 - 25 minutes - 17.5 MBRaise your hand if you love dandelions and chickweed. Well, I think many of us who have tried to maintained a well manicured lawn can at least share a story about the battle of the dandelions. I am almost ashamed to admit the lengths I have gone to in order to eliminate them from by yard when I owned property in South Carolina. Unknown to most people, these plants serve a vital function for the early Spring pollinators, especially bees. And in our over exuberance to maintain a pretty lawn,...
#144 How to Turn Your Home into a Wildlife Habitat
September 13, 2023 10:00 - 23 minutes - 16.1 MBAdventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 144 How to Turn Your Home into a Wildlife Habitat Even after living on the homestead property for 27 years, 95% of that property remains in its natural state. That was intentional because one of the best things about being there is the wildlife that we see. We not only want the wildlife to come around we encourage them to do so by leaving their habitat unaltered. But not everyone feels that way about their own place. In addition to clima...
#143 The Need for Wildlife Coexistence
September 06, 2023 10:00 - 35 minutes - 24.5 MBAdventures in Sustainable Living Podcast Episode 143 The Need for Wildlife Coexistence One of the best things about where we live is the amount of wildlife we encounter. In fact, if we stayed at home most of the time we would see far more wildlife than people. The majority of the time those encounters are benign. But one thought is always in the forefront of our minds. We live in the middle of the forest which means we actually live in the middle of what many creatures call home. Conseq...
#142 The Race for Resources in the Arctic
August 30, 2023 10:00 - 22 minutes - 15.3 MBAlmost daily we hear something new about the affects of climate change. One of the more interesting things from a scientific perspective is that global warming is not uniform. Europe is warming faster than the US. Canada is warming twice as fast as other parts of the globe. And the Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the planet. Global warming is producing some widespread affects many of which we are just starting to understand. The affects in the Arctic have been particul...
#141 Green Country of the Month
August 23, 2023 10:00 - 19 minutes - 13.3 MBHave you ever been around someone that was so overtly negative that it made you cringe just to be in the same room with them? It’s that person you see in the break area at work and you turn around and go back to your desk. You see them walking down the hall and you try not to make eye contact. If they start a conversation you are quick to come up with excuses to get back to what you were doing. We have all been there. So why is it we are so glued to the news media when 90% of all news repo...
#140 Sustainable Stress
August 16, 2023 10:00 - 24 minutes - 16.8 MBMany times I stand on the back deck of the cabin enjoying the unobstructed long range view of the mountains and listening to the quiet. The only thing that interrupts the quiet is the sound of the creek that is at the height of Spring run off. It is the middle of June and there is still plenty of snow above timber line which means it was a productive snow filled winter As I sit here I think about how Colorado has changed since moving here many years ago. But despite those changes I can stil...
#139 The Happy Stranger
August 09, 2023 10:00 - 24 minutes - 16.7 MBJust the other day I was up on the hillside above the cabin working on the greenhouse. I would take intermittent breaks, sit at a home made table, enjoy the view of the peaks and soak in the peace and tranquility. The only interruption to my silence was the sound of the distant creek that is at the height of Spring run off. I distinctly remember when I first moved onto the property how all my friends and family thought I was crazy. Twenty seven years later I am often curious why so many peo...
#138 Fourteen Tips for a Green Sustainable Kitchen
August 02, 2023 10:00 - 30 minutes - 20.8 MBToo many times I hear people complain about the cost of a sustainable lifestyle. But what most people frequently overlook is that making the right choices for your well being is quite often easier on your bank account, better for your health and better for the planet. The same holds true for your kitchen. The vast majority of our household waste is related to what we do in the kitchen. But changing that is yet another way that can easily be apart of our green transition. Eating green, ener...
138 Fourteen Tips for a Green Sustainable Kitchen
August 02, 2023 10:00 - 30 minutes - 20.8 MBToo many times I hear people complain about the cost of a sustainable lifestyle. But what most people frequently overlook is that making the right choices for your well being is quite often easier on your bank account, better for your health and better for the planet. The same holds true for your kitchen. The vast majority of our household waste is related to what we do in the kitchen. But changing that is yet another way that can easily be apart of our green transition. Eating green, ener...
137_Toxic Textiles: Beware of Your Wardrobe
July 26, 2023 10:00 - 28 minutes - 19.6 MBIn our litigious society people commonly file lawsuits after an injury obtained while using a product. Much of the time the lawsuit is based on some version of “Well you did not warn me that could have happened therefore you are responsible and you owe me.” And yet the one thing about our so called modern lifestyle that never ceases to amaze me is how many toxic substances we are exposed to everyday without our knowledge and without any warning. Many of the chemicals we are routinely exp...
#136 The Simple Truth About Bugging Out
July 19, 2023 10:00 - 32 minutes - 22.7 MBIn the last couple of months I have produced several episodes geared toward helping you be prepared for the unexpected. Even though survival and prepping are not the subject of this podcast, self sufficiency is related directly to sustainability and part of sustainability is being responsible for yourself and being prepared. In my search for articles related to all things sustainable I repeatedly come across is this term bugging out. This term is usually related to some survival or disast...
#135 Stop the Rot: How to Avoid Food Waste
July 12, 2023 10:00 - 42 minutes - 29.4 MBFor most of us that live in a developed country and have an adequate income, we never think much about having enough to eat. However, there are millions of people in the world that go hungry and millions more that experience food insecurity. We don’t think about it because we don’t see it. It is out of sight, out of mind. In the face of such widespread hunger and food insecurity there is also a tremendous amount of food that is wasted. In fact, if we were able to recover all the food that...
#134 Thirty-Five Tips and Tricks to Save Electricity
July 05, 2023 09:00 - 37 minutes - 25.8 MBElectricity or not? That is the question. I lived without it for about 16 years at my off-grid cabin. Consequently I know from personal experience that it is very possible to do so and at the same time be very comfortable. But I remember all too well just how happy I was when my solar electric system went online. Although I cannot complain about how I lived before that, having electricity certainly was a game-changer for me. But once I had electricity, I suddenly found myself becoming ve...
133_Twenty-One Ways to Save Money at the Supermarket
June 28, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 20.3 MBSince I have been self employed for many years, I always have a certain amount of year-end accounting work to do in order to prepare for my tax return. Whenever I do this it is a perfect time for me to look over the past year and review where my money came from as well as where it went. Then I modify my budget accordingly in order to save money. This year I decided to take a much close look at just how much money I was spending on food. I reviewed my grocery budget over a period of 6 month...
132 The Psychology of Sustainability
June 21, 2023 10:00 - 36 minutes - 25.2 MBWith all the hype in the news media these days about nuclear war, economic recession, another banking crisis, food shortages, prolonged drought conditions, and yet another storm wreaking havoc, it is easy to overlook the biggest threat of all. Most scientific experts would agree that the biggest threat to our social structure and way of life is climate change. And we hear about this also everyday. But despite all the policy changes and improved technology, the underlying cause as well as t...
131 The Path to More Personal Freedom
June 14, 2023 10:00 - 31 minutes - 21.8 MBIn my previous episode I discussed 12 reasons why we make our lives so complicated. Then I gave you solutions to each one of those challenges. If you put a little further thought into that episode, it should have occurred to you that it is all the complications in our lives that limit our personal freedom. I think a good definition for freedom is the ability to live your life the way you want. In other words, the ability to design a lifestyle that nurtures who you are and what you value. B...
130 Why Do We Make Things So Complicated?
June 07, 2023 10:00 - 35 minutes - 24.6 MBVery few people that I know have simple, slow-paced, uncomplicated lives. Even after most people retire, they go through a period of simply staying busy. It is not until several years into retirement that they give themselves permission to slow down and relax. Even in the complex world of today, it is possible to live a simple life. So why is it that humanity defaults to making things complicated. A simpler life is often easier, less expensive, and less stressful. Yet time and time again w...
129 Ten Tips for Building a Cabin on a Budget
May 31, 2023 10:00 - 29 minutes - 20.5 MBIf you have never lived outside of your home country most likely you have no appreciation for just how expensive it can be to live in the United States. While most people view the US as the land of opportunity, there are plenty of places in the world where life is much more simple. We get so caught up in just living day to day, that we never stop to realize that life could be so much different. In this episode, I am going to give more practical advice on just how you can cut your cost of ...
128 Ten Ways to Test Drive the Off Grid Life Before You Commit
May 24, 2023 10:00 - 25 minutes - 17.4 MBIf you have been following me at all, you already know that I have lived off the grid for many years. In fact, as of August 2023, I will have owned my homestead property for 27 years. I greatly enjoy the lifestyle that I have and would not have it any other way. It is one of the few things that has been a major driving force in shaping my adult life. Often times I wonder why more people do not choose to live the way I do. Perhaps it is fear of the unknown because it is such a different lif...
127 How to Get Started With Chickens
May 17, 2023 10:00 - 42 minutes - 29.4 MBHaving grown up with two working farms in my family, raising and processing our own food was a way of life. In fact, I never really gave it much thought. I figured this was what everyone did. It was not until I was in my teenage years that I realized it was actually more common for people to purchase their meat and other staple items from a supermarket. As you well know, I am a big fan of being as independent and sustainable as possible. A big part of that is managing my own food supply. B...