financial planning, 209–10
Flat World
Adams County resistance to, 18–19, 21, 40–41, 245
advantages/disadvantages of, 6–7
cultural diversity lost through, 175–80
Global South pillaged by, 47–48, 198
inner, 196–97
laptops and, 99
psychological effects of, 45–46
rural-to-urban movement and, 153–54
strength to resist, 180–81
suburbia and, 84
See also globalization; monoculture
Foer, Jonathan Safran, 185
Forbes, 249
forgiveness, 105, 119, 124
Fort Bragg (NC), 219, 220
Four-Hour Workweek, The (Ferris), 208
Fourth of July, 82–83
Frankl, Viktor, 233
Franz, Tom, 37
Frazier, Charles, 13
Freetown (Sierra Leone), 62
Fresh Air (NPR program), 70
Friedman, Thomas, 6
Fromm, Eric, 223
fruition, abandoning hope of, 231–35
G
Gaia (animate earth), 143, 145
Gambia, 150–51
Gandhi, Mohandas, 74, 89, 93–94, 215, 235
garbage, 208
Garlic Testament, A (Crawford), 86, 88
Gates, Bill, 249
Gauguin, Paul, 132
Germany, 96
gift-giving, and soft economy, 207–8
Glendinning, Chellis, 72, 198
globalization
cheap labor in, 108
as colonialism, 203
effects of, 6–7, 194
mindfulness in, 258
noncooperation with, 89–92, 204–5
suburbia and, 84
See also Flat World; monoculture
Global South, 44
author’s humanitarian work in, 56
car ownership in, 62
corporate colonization of, 76
environmental refugees in, 198
Flat World pillaging of, 47–48, 198
learning from, 57
leisure ethic in, 150–51
rural-to-urban movement in, 153–54
subsistence cultures in, 88
“vernacular aid” from, 154
See also Bolivia; Liberia; specific country
global warming, 7, 84–85, 169, 234
God, 48, 156, 214
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 203
Gold Kist Poultry Center
animal cruelty at, 42–43
health effects of chicken from, 44
Latino workers at, 40, 101, 107–9
smell from, 36, 42, 46, 73, 93, 162, 170, 230, 245
grace, 48
Graciela (neighbor), 101–2, 112, 163, 187–88, 259
Green Party, 90, 96
Greensboro (NC), 118–19, 122
Greensboro Police Department, 122
Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 122
Gross, Terry, 70
growth, 145
Guarasug’wé: Chronicles of Their Last Days (Riester), 176–77
Guarasug’wé people, 176–80, 191–92, 198
Guatemala, 142–43, 153
Guerrero (Mexico), 115–16
Guevara, Che, 21, 188–89
gusanos (worms), 21, 96
H
Habitat for Humanity, 39, 40, 102, 115, 167
habituation, 60
happiness
in developed vs. underdeveloped countries, 151–52
as general well-being, 151
the least thing as sufficient for, 16, 19–20
suchness and, 183
Happy Planet Index, 151
hawks, 41–42, 43–44, 110, 142
healing, 188–89
Helms, Jesse, 96
Hitler, Adolf, 169–70
holistic teaching, 160–61
Holman, James, 121
Holocaust, 127, 169–70
Homebody/Kabul (Kushner), 213
homeschooling, 159–60, 161
Hudson & Manhattan Railroad, 83
Humanure Handbook, The, 28
humility
of Benton, 212–13, 214–15
challenges to, 212, 216–17
gratefulness and, 217–18
simplicity and, 214–16
hunting, 128–29
I
identity niches, 212
Idle Majority, 150, 157, 158, 205, 210, 256
idleness
living well and, 150–52
open-ended chats resulting from, 155–57
poverty and, 152–53
as “underdeveloped,” 149–50, 153
wildcrafting and right to, 155
illegal immigration, 115–18
Inca culture, 256
individualism, 153–54, 216–17, 224, 234
Indonesia, 176
industrial agriculture, 7, 35, 43, 44, 202, 230
See also Gold Kist Poultry Center
industrial parks, 6, 7, 24–25
intentional communities, 21, 66
interconnectedness, 132
internet, 6, 161
intuition, 48
Iraq War, 71, 170, 219–20, 230
Ireland, 83
Iténez River, 176–77
Ivirehi Ahae (Amazon’s Seven Skies), 177, 178, 179
J
Jedis, 212
Jefferson, Thomas, 33, 35
Jesus, 90, 124, 252
jobs, outsourcing of, 6
Johnson, Chalmers, 222
Johnson, Lyndon B., 123
Journal of Happiness Studies, 151
Jung, Carl Gustav, 49, 50
K
Kenya, 176
Kerouac, Jack, 87–88
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 74, 105, 235
Kingsolver, Barbara, 86, 206
Kinnell, Galway, 213, 214
kinship networks, 151
knowledge, traded for bewilderment, 30–31
Koch, Ilse, 169
Krahn Bassa wilderness, 249
Ku Klux Klan, 118, 122
Kusasu (last Guarasug’wé speaker), 176–80, 191–92, 198
Kusasu and the Tree of Life (Powers), 180
Kushner, Tony, 213
L
Lamott, Anne, 111
language extinctions, 175–80
Lao-tzu, 125–27, 234
La Paz (Bolivia), 62
Latinos
community among, 108–9
housing projects of, 107–9
as illegal immigrants, 115–18
as poultry processors, 40, 107–9
racism against, 101–3, 112–13, 118, 129, 230
Lee, Spike, 106
Leela (divine play), 245
leisure ethic, 150
See also Idle Majority; idleness
Leopold, Aldo, 85
Liberia, 10, 56, 220, 247–54
libertarianism, 202
life energy, and soft economy, 208–10
litter, 68–69
Little Rock (AR), 239–40
living well, 57–63
leisure ethic and, 150–52
living better vs., 150–51
as underdevelopment, 149–50
wildcrafting and, 158
local economy, 205
logging, 198, 249–50
loneliness, 50, 195
Long Island (NY), 83, 84
love, 185, 186
loving-kindness, 238
M
Madidi National Park (Bolivia), 175
malaria, 251
Mali, 70
Mandela, Nelson, 123, 235
materialism, 152–53
material possession, 60
maya (illusion), 127, 130
Mayans, 142–43, 153, 194
Mayordomo (Crawford), 86
McCarthy, Cormac, 12
McDonald’s, 206
McKibben, Bill, 86, 206
meaning, 60
media literacy, 90–91, 96
meditation, 81, 191, 257–58
Mennonite homeschooling curriculum, 160
mental illness, 166, 170
Merton, Thomas, 215
meth labs, 161–62
mindfulness, 131–32, 203, 258, 259–60
“Mindfulness” (poem; Oliver), 20, 259
“mini-retirements,” 208
Misael (Bolivian park ranger), 176, 177
Mittal, Lakshmi, 249
Mittal, Vanisha, 248–49
Mollison, Bill, 140
monoculture
corporate colonization and, 75–77
deadness of, 24–25
and disconnect from nature, 44, 72
escape from, 41, 206, 245
slow food movement and, 206
suburbia and, 84
Monrovia (Liberia), 248, 249, 253–54
Monte Verde cloud forest, 11
“moodling,” 157, 208
motherhood, 185–86
Motley Fool (website), 210
Muir, John, 85
multitasking, 30
Murosuyo (Native American deity), 90
My Name is Chellis and I’m in Recovery from Western Civilization (Glendin ning), 72, 198
mystical experience, 132
N
Naipaul, V. S., 84, 174
National Alliance, 117
national Buy Nothing Day, 205
National Socialism, 169–70, 196
natural foods, 205
nature
earth mentors and, 85
fears regarding, 17
living in harmony with, xiii, 85, 151
manufacturing processes in, 73–74
monoculture and disconnect from, 44, 72, 82
permaculture and, 87
Nature (magazine), 139
negativity, 74, 124, 231, 233, 252
neo-Nazis, 117, 118
Nevada Atomic Test Site, 217, 220–21, 238
New American Dream, 18–19
New Economy Foundation, 151
New Mexico
carbon-neutral communities in, 95–96
media literacy programs in, 90–91, 96
New Yorker, 188
Nhat Hanh, Thich, 120, 213, 238
Nichols, John, 86
Nietzsche, Friedrich, 16, 156
Noel Kempff National Park, 176–80
noise, 219, 224–27, 230
No Name Creek, 14
author’s meditations next to, 49–51, 197–200, 215–16
during early spring, 29, 36
end of, 197
as ordinary, 214
surface noise vs. deeper stillness, 127, 130
translucent images in, 121–22
noncooperation, 89–92
nonduality, 127, 232, 234–35
nonjudgment, 128–30, 233–34
Norris, Kathleen, 239
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), 194
North Carolina
birdlife in, 33–34 drugs in, 162–63
homeschooling in, 160
Iraq War casualties from, 219
military bases in, 219
residence laws in, 223–24
taxes in, 5, 219
wildcrafters in, 96, 204–5
North Carolina wave, 58–59, 69, 98
Northern New Mexico Organic Farmers Association, 86
nuclear weapons, 222–23, 230, 238, 245
O
Obama, Barack, 106
O’Donahue, John, 217
Ogiek people, 176
Oliver, Mary, 20, 259
Onion, The, 59, 188
On the Road (Kerouac), 87–88
organic farming, 21, 34–35
organic food, 10
organizer cells, 97
Oriental Timber Company, 249–50
Orion nebula, 138–39
outsourcing, 6
P
Pacahuara people, 176
Paraguay, 176
peak oil, 21
permaculture
author’s mentorship in, 86–90
Benton’s farm, 15–16, 26, 36–38, 211–12
as challenge to globalization, 21
defined, 15
edges in, 140
El Bosque Garlic Farm, 86, 88–89, 91
natural curves of, 87
resources on, 261–62
sustainability through, 77
Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual (Mollison), 140
pesticides, 230
Petroleum Man (Crawford), 86
pilgrimage, 217–18
Pilgrim’s Pride, 42
plantation economy, 198
political organizing, 10
Pope Air Force Base (NC), 219
positive emotion,
positive psychology, 59–61
post-capitalism, 209
Pound, Ezra, 21
poverty, 152–53, 251
praise, enemy confused by, 254
prayer, 30, 192
“Prayer” (Kinnell), 214
predictability, avoiding, 157–58
presence, maintaining, 48–51
See also warrior presence
present moment, focus on, 60, 120–22, 133–34, 151, 157–58, 203
problems, convergent vs. divergent, 240–41
progressives, holier-than-thou, 212
“prone yoga,” 111
purpose, 60
Q
Quechua people, 108
R
racism, 100–103, 112–13
anti-black, 100–101, 106
anti-Latino, 101–3, 112–13, 118, 129, 230
denial in dealing with, 106
forgiveness for, 105
structural, 106
as teacher, 234
Raging Grannies, The (activist group), 203
rain barrels, 27, 109
rainforest destruction, 7, 10–12, 175, 230, 234
Raphael, 238
Raul (Mayan schoolteacher), 143
reading, 198–99, 213
renewable energy, 205
Research Triangle (NC), 35, 78–79, 160, 206
rhythm, world as, 137–38
Riester, Jurgen, 176–77
Road, The (McCarthy), 12
Robin, Vicki, 209
Ronark (AL), 37
Royal Hotel (Monrovia, Liberia), 249, 250–51
rubber tappers, 179–80, 198
Rufus’ Restaurant, 98–100
Rule Number Six, 217
Rumi (poet), 144
ruthhu, hiku (Bolivian hair-cutting ceremony), 180
S
sabbaticals, 208
Sacred Peace Walk, 220–21
sacrifice, 131
Sahtouris, Elisabet, 97
Samaipata (Bolivia), 255–57
Sam’s Barbeque (Monrovia, Liberia), 253–54
San Andres Peace Accords, 193
San Cristobal de Las Casas (Mexico), 194
Santa Cruz (Bolivia), 180
Santa Fe Indian School (Santa Fe, NM), 86, 89–91
Sartre, Jean-Paul, 188
School of the Americas, 49
Schultz, Howard, 145
selflessness, 252–53
Seligman, Martin, 59–60, 151
Selma-Montgomery march, 49, 123
Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, 123–24
Shakori Hills summer music festival, 232–33
sharecropping, 127–28
showers, 27, 55, 69
Sierra Club, 210
Sierra Leone, 10, 56, 220
Siler City (NC)
cooperative housing opposed in, 228
eco-community projects in, 78
immigration issues in, 117, 230
impact of monoculture on, 74–76
Latino immigrants in, 101–2
racism in, 117, 118
Silk Hope Catholic Worker, 21
simplicity, 57–63, 147, 209–10, 214–16
sin, 196
Sinoe wilderness, 249
slavery, 106–7, 127–28
Slim, Carlos, 249
Slow Food movement, 204–5
snakes, 66–68
social class, 101
Socratic thoughts, xiv
soft economy
farmers markets and, 201–3
gift-giving and, 207–8
life energy expenditure and, 208–10
personal shopping choices and, 205–6
as rebellion, 204–5, 208
resources, 262
Solace of Open Spaces, The (Ehrlich), 213
solitude
benefits of, 50–51, 195–97
as human shield, 192–95
as last speaker of a language, 191–92
loneliness vs., 50, 195
in prayer, 192
stillness in, 133
at 12 × 12 house, 191, 197–200
Sontag, Susan, 196
South Africa, 122–23
Southern Season, A (Chapel Hill, NC), 207
Southern Village (Chapel Hill, NC), 78–79
species extinction, 84–85, 181
spiders, 40, 73, 189
spirit, and clay, 237–41
Starbucks, 145
Star Wars, 212
stick season, 24
stretch-shouts, 158
subdivisions, 233–34
subsistence cultures, 75, 88, 153, 210
suburbia, 84, 233–34
suchness, 183, 185, 188–90
suicide rates, 152
Sulston, Elizabeth, 139
sustainability, 77, 243–44
sustainability movement, 93
sustainable timber, 10
synesthesia, 139
T
tadpoles, 120–21
Taoism, 125–27, 213, 234, 245
Tao Te Ching (Lao-tzu), 125–27
tax resistance, 3–5, 94
Taylor, Charles, 249
tea, heirloom, 55
Teachings of Don Juan, The (Castaneda), 155–56
Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre, 144
telephones, living without, 28, 53, 257
television, 76, 176
Teresa, Mother, 74
Thoreau, Henry David, 38, 53, 85, 132, 146, 223
Tibetan Buddhism, 195–96
Tijuana (Mexico), 154
toilet, 27–28, 56
Tolle, Eckhart, 196
Toupee (Liberian friend), 251–52, 253–54
transformation, 217–18
Truman, Harry S., 149–50, 151
turtles, 119
12 × 12 house, 3, 4
author’s first days spent in, 23–31
author’s first time in, 16–19
author’s last day at, 241–45
author’s return to, 138, 258–60
author’s transformation after time at, 247–54, 256
forest bulldozing near, 226–29
inside roominess, 17–18, 65
land surrounding, 18–19
laws concerning, 5, 223–24, 258–59
as living inside, 133–34
noise near, 219, 224–27, 230
outside appearance of, 16–17, 212
permaculture farm near, 15–16, 26, 36–38, 211–12
as rebellion, 208
sacrifices vs. seductions at, 131–32
simplicity and humility at, 214–16
solitude in, 191
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