Jim Merkel: Radical Simplicity Part 2

Personal Planetoid We each get 4.4 acres Excluding the needs of the estimated 25 million other species

Footprints 4.4 Exists 6 Humans use 1 80% wild 0.75 Afghanistan 2 India 3 Global Living Project 4 China 6.25 Mexico 11.5 Spain 13.5 UK 24 USA Footprint – acres Nation or group

We are alive at a unique time! Exponential Growth of Population and Consumerism IPAT

What will we do about it?

100 Year Plan 0.7 acres 9 Billion Two-child families 6 acres 1 Billion One-child families Footprint Goal with 80 % Wild Projected Population in 2100

One New Idea

On average, single child families for the next 100 years.

Average footprints worldwide stable, but much better distributed.

In 100 years, 80 percent of Earth’s bioproductive space would be available for the estimated 25 million other species.

The primary factors that drive impact are in our control. (IPAT) I mpact = P x A x T

A – Affluence . How much we consume.

P – Population . How many children we have.

T– Technology . How efficiently we employ tools.

Quantum Reductions

Sharing – Two in car (1/2 footprint)

Caring –Halve travel (1/4 footprint)

Conserving – 2 x the mpg (1/8 footprint)

More sharing – 4 in car (1/16)

Caring – Half travel again (1/32 )

Bike Commuter Car Commuter Bus Commuter #1 Impact Item: Transportation Factor 24

Zero Emission Vehicle

#2 Impact Item: Housing (sq-ft. & embodied energy) 1/5 area/person X 1/5 impact/area = Factor 25 $1,500

Leveling foundation

First bale

Peeling rafters from the land

Alaska Mill – clear-cut free lumber

1 st of 3 coats of adobe

Adobe – clay, sand, lime and a pinch of concrete

Scavenger species in action

#3. Impact Item: Utilities One cord of Wood (R45 Walls)

Micro solar homestead – Vermont

Thermo-siphon solar hot water

A solar cooker or a UFO? Playing with renewables demystifies them.

Wood-fired cob bread oven

Hand washing clothes

#4 Impact Item: Diet Localvore Food Factor 25 Vegan 1/15 – 1/30 Local/Organic --¼ - ½ Organic -- ¼ -½ Veganic

WINTER Root Cellars Sprouting Grains Canned and Dried Syrup FALL Wild Edibles Garden Root Cellars Canning/Drying Fermenting SUMMER Wild Edibles Garden Canning/Drying SPRING Wild Edibles Root Cellars Purchasing (for Winter) Sprouting

Root cellar Stores vegetables for 6 months without energy

Rutabaga wrestling Sunday entertainment

Sometimes you just have too many carrots

Sprouting – live food all winter. Peas Lentils Alfalfa Fenugreek Sunflower seeds Mung beans Radish

Harvesting rye

The threshing floor

Winnowed winter rye

February’s Blueberries

Gathering wild foods

Wild Sandwich

Common Edible and Medicinal plants

Burdock - Use first year roots as a vegetable and second year roots medicinally. A powerful blood cleanser and overall tonic to the lymphatic system.

Chickweed - Delicious and nutritious. Cooling, helps to absorb nutrients, neutralizes toxins and dissolves cysts.

Dandelion - Helps to remove toxicants from the body through strengthening the liver. The delicious young leaves are packed with vitamins and minerals and the root is nice to eat in soup or stir-fry or roasted and used as a coffee substitute.

Fiddlehead ferns - Formally known as the ostrich fern, this delicious spring treat. I love to sauté the young, unfurling heads with garlic and olive oil.

Goldenrod - Fresh or dried leaves and flowers make a ice tea. Useful for dispelling flatulence and treating colds.

Jewelweed - Best known as an antidote for poison ivy, it is generally soothing to the skin. Young shoots can be boiled in two changes of water and eaten as a spring green.

Lambs Quarters - One of the most nutritious plants you can eat. Early, everywhere and delicious, lambs quarters will nourish you completely. Long live the weeds!

Milkweed - Edible in all phases of its life cycle. Early shoots can be cooked like asparagus, the flowers can be steamed or stir fried, and the seed pods can be boiled. When cooking young shoots and seed pods, cycle it through a few changes of water..

Nettle - Overall one of the most nourishing plants out there. Gentle enough for everyday use, it strengthens and fortifies kidneys, adrenal glands, lungs, intestines and arteries. Also stimulates digestion, good for urinary tract. Nettle is especially good for women during pregnancy, childbirth and lactation.

Ox-eye Daisy - Very common, the leaves are a delicious addition to salads.

Plantain - The young leaves are tasty in an early spring salad.

Raspberry - A yummy tea can be made of the leaves - good support for women's reproductive systems. The root is helpful for digestive issues. The berries are not only delicious, but are also mildly laxative.

Red Clover - High in protein, the whole plant can be eaten, preferably cooked. The flowers make a lovely tea good for respiratory issues and stimulating to the liver and gall bladder.

Rose - The hips contain a lot of vitamin C - infuse in honey for optimal nutritive value.

Sorrels - Wood sorrel and sheep sorrel - both very common. The leaves are a nice, tangy addition to salads.

St. John’s Wort - Useful in treating nervous conditions such as insomnia.

Violet - The leaves are nourishing (two of them contain your daily dose of vitamin C) and are great in early spring salads. They help support digestion, the immune system, nerves, lungs and the reproductive system.

Barbequed road kill deer

Sandy likes it!

#5 Impact Item: General Consumerism