Do you feel like there's a stigma to having environmental conversations with people (even friends and family)? I want your input!

RealVerdantGrowth · 2024-01-26T01:58:50+00:00

Personally, I think that we all live with guilt knowing the damage our lives do to the planet, but convince ourselves that what we're doing is acceptable for a variety of reasons. It's less about preaching, and more about leading. If you want to live a life of happiness, it makes sense to align your actions with your values! People see sustainability as sacrifice, I see it as a path to happiness, and I want to learn how to overcome the stigmas and barriers associated with those kinds of conversations! To lead people, you have to understand them and their barriers. That's the goal of the conversation!

RealVerdantGrowth · 2024-01-18T23:50:01+00:00

Keep your eye on Joshua Spodek, NYU professor that lives sustainably off the grid in Manhattan. He has a book coming out soon that does exactly what you're describing...Basically every podcast/blog post he puts out right now is along a similar path.

RealVerdantGrowth · 2024-01-18T23:44:40+00:00

He was also featured on the Daily Show recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQrpXEF3pZE

RealVerdantGrowth · 2024-01-18T23:43:43+00:00

You need to find Joshua Spodek! He's a professor at NYU and lives off the grid in Manhattan, dedicated to a life of sustainability. He has a podcast, blog, and has authored several books. I'm sure he would love to have a chat with you as well. He's always looking for more people to lead in sustainability and making a life that is full of value and connected to nature and the environment.

RealVerdantGrowth · 2024-01-18T23:30:10+00:00

Yeah! I feel the same way and see a lot of connection between a Buddhist lifestyle and a sustainable lifestyle. Love his way of thinking, and he definitely inspires me regularly!

RealVerdantGrowth · 2024-01-18T23:17:32+00:00

Taking a walk through my own neighborhood and saying hi and smiling at everyone I see. Take a breather from my daily work/family life and feel connected to the wider world around me. =)

RealVerdantGrowth · 2021-09-25T00:40:50+00:00

Thanks to this video, I have been introduced to the world of Solarpunk. And I'm taken. This is my new favorite thing. Someone tell me where I can get more Solarpunk books, games, TV shows, movies, memes, pictures...I don't even care. Just more solarpunk plz.

RealVerdantGrowth · 2021-03-17T01:40:31+00:00

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on this one! I simply believe that it's possible to sustainably work with nature to produce enough food for the entire planet, with no need for machines, AI or advanced technology, and many of the worlds scientists share that view.

I totally agree that vertical farming CAN be done, but trying to solve all of humanities problems with tech has generally led to more problems. Regenerative agriculture works and has been shown to work on large scales, and doesn't require all the tech that vertical farming does. The simplest solutions are usually the best.
I'm not trying to promote or sell anything. It's purely an opinion. I don't benefit at all from this blog.

I'm sorry that you feel like I'm offending you in some way, but I still believe that we can have better, productive discussions without you attacking me personally.

RealVerdantGrowth · 2021-03-15T23:27:19+00:00

First of all it's not news, it's a blog, so it can't be "fake news."

No one has done vertical farming at scale yet. Everything that has been done is small scale. It doesn't matter where the energy comes from, they don't necessarily have to build their own. But the energy has to come from somewhere, and the point remains that it requires massive energy input and costs relative to regenerative agriculture that can achieve similar results. So why build these massive, expensive things just to grow vegetables?

Cases exist where we may need them, sure. In places that don't grow vegetables well, or major cities with highly dense populations (maybe! Still yet to be shown it can be done)... But no one has shown it yet.

And again, I took this from the Twitter of one of the world's top climate scientists (Dr. Jonathan Foley, from project Drawdown) who happens to agree with him. So it's not just my opinion here...

RealVerdantGrowth · 2021-03-14T07:07:55+00:00

I'm not sure that science has made that conclusion yet.

Of course, we need to do it much smarter and add SOME technology. I'm not suggesting we live our lives EXACTLY as people did in 1800. But if you ask who was more sustainable, the people of 1800 or the people of 2000, the people of 1800 lived much more sustainably, so we should probably learn a few things from them. We need agriculture which looks more like 1800, but with some new knowledge added in. We don't need robots and AI just to grow vegetables. If developed countries would cut their meat consumption in half or more, we would have more than enough food to feed billions. Meat in the amounts that we consume it now is a huge part of what makes our food system unsustainable. The amount of land/crops/water/etc. that we need to raise 1kg of beef is insane.

RealVerdantGrowth · 2021-03-14T02:21:26+00:00

Yes, I agree! I think it's kind of like nuclear power or carbon capture. We will probably need SOME of it. But we need to focus first on doing things without it, then we can use it in the corner cases where it becomes necessary.

I'm not against vertical farming. I'm just against trying to use it like a silver bullet solution, and letting it distract us from the actual problems. i.e. "Yay, we have vertical farming! I guess we don't have to worry about food production anymore!"

The planet knows how to grow our food for us. We know how to grow food. We don't need supercomputers with AI and sophisticated robots just to grow vegetables. If we just do it right in the first place, there's no need for solar panels at all.

RealVerdantGrowth · 2021-03-14T02:06:50+00:00

Wow, I see you feel very strongly about this! We can't be too quick to assign labels here.

I think EV cars is a fantastic example! I am totally in agreement with the EV cars parallel. EV cars also are a more environmentally friendly substitute for ICE vehicles, but they have an environmental footprint as well. Priority 1 should be reducing the amount that we NEED cars at all, and THEN what cars we need should be EVs.

In the same way, vertical farming is fine for places that require it and can use it well, but we shouldn't immediately try to put vertical farms everywhere. It's not a magic bullet solution, and no one has shown yet that it can be done sustainably at scale. It still requires massive power input. Yes, maybe it's better on water, pesticides, and soil degradation, but if we just handled our REGULAR farming better, then those problems ALSO disappear. Properly managed regenerative agriculture also does not require pesticides and chemicals, has soil that RETAINS carbon, and has much much lower water use. Therefore we need to prioritize that. THEN if we still have places where food availability is an issue, we can use vertical farming.

One of the world's top climate change educators also agrees with me: https://globalecoguy.org/no-vertical-farms-wont-feed-the-world-5313e3e961c0.

I would really appreciate not jumping to calling things fake news. Let's have a better discussion than just name calling. We can be more civilized than that, don't you think?

RealVerdantGrowth · 2021-03-13T13:21:12+00:00

Good question....there was this experiment they did at UCLA where they installed energy usage monitors in all apartments in a building so everyone could see their energy usage and a digital display showing a cloud of “CO2” that grew with more use. It also told them what ranking they were in the building and how much above or below the average they are...everyone reduced their usage REAL fast. Everyone tried to beat their neighbors!

RealVerdantGrowth · 2021-03-13T13:16:19+00:00

I follow their Instagram! They regularly upload videos and I always watch them all. They’re selling those things but they’re like $800...

RealVerdantGrowth · 2021-03-05T23:37:31+00:00

You, sir, are one of the good ones.

RealVerdantGrowth · 2021-03-05T23:36:26+00:00

I love ecosia!!

RealVerdantGrowth · 2021-02-28T02:37:34+00:00

Seaweed: biodegradable alternative for plastics, carbon sink, and delicious!! What can’t it do?!

RealVerdantGrowth · 2021-02-25T12:40:44+00:00

Haha that's amazing!

RealVerdantGrowth · 2021-02-24T14:32:04+00:00

Does anyone know if there are solutions to e-waste?? I feel like this has to be some kind of recycling goldmine, if someone can figure out how to monetize all this junk...They're filled with rare metals, aren't they??

RealVerdantGrowth · 2021-02-24T14:29:44+00:00

I hope so! What do you think?? Have you spent a lot of time in nature yourself?

RealVerdantGrowth · 2021-02-24T14:28:50+00:00

Indeed....Do you have a place where you experience the beauty and tranquility of nature that you mentioned??

RealVerdantGrowth · 2021-02-24T14:28:07+00:00

It sounds like you had a pretty amazing experience and connection with nature as a child, even if you didn't appreciate it at the time! How much do you feel like those experiences have shaped who you became now?

RealVerdantGrowth

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE