The Good Life Lab
Page 22
www.radiolab.org
Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping
www.revbilly.com
Work Less Party
www.worklessparty.org
Friends/Blogs We Like
Alyce Santoro: Center for the Improbable & (Im)permacultural Research
www.alycesantoro.com
Art Is the Proper Task of Life
artisthepropertaskoflife.blogspot.com
Cameron, Heather
True Stitches (blog)
truestitches.blogspot.com
The Common Milkweed
thecommonmilkweed.blogspot.com
The Essential Herb Blog
theessentialherbal.blogspot.com
Growing Heart Farm
growingheartfarm.com
Hess, Anna and Mark Hamilton
blog.homemadespaceship.net
Homemade Spaceship
blog.homemadespaceeship.net
Iris Herbal
www.irisherbal.com
Lazuli, Gianni (FluxRostrum)
Fluxview, USA (blog)
fluxview.com/USA
Luke Iseman
lukeiseman.com
Old Monticello Organic Farms
oldmonticelloorganicfarms.com
Reinish, Libby
Whittled Down (blog)
www.whittleddown.com
Shiva, Vandana
www.navdanya.org
Vela Creations
www.velacreations.com
Zielinski, Julie, and Eric Wilson
d.i. wine & dine (blog)
di-wineanddine.blogspot.com
Gift Economy and the Commons
Hyde, Lewis. Common as Air: Revolution, Art, and Ownership. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010.
———. The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property. Vintage Books, 1983.
Lessig, Lawrence. The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World. Vintage Books, 2002.
Creative Commons
creativecommons.org
Free Software Foundation
www.fsf.org
GitHub, Inc
github.com
On the Commons
www.onthecommons.org
Open Source Ecology
opensourceecology.org
WikiLeaks
www.wikileaks.org
DIY/Tutorials
Adkins, Jan. Moving Heavy Things. WoodenBoat Publications, 2004.
Tresemer, David Ward. The Scythe Book: Mowing Hay, Cutting Weeds, and Harvesting Small Grains with Hand Tools, 2nd ed. A. C. Hood, 1996.
Adafruit Industries
adafruit.com
Afrigadget
www.afrigadget.com
Dorkbot
dorkbot.org
Hack A Day
hackaday.com
“Hackerspaces”
HackerspaceWiki
hackerspaces.org/wiki
Instructables
www.instructables.com
MAKE: Craft
blog.makezine.com/craftzine
MAKE: Magazine
makezine.com
Swap-O-Rama-Rama
www.swaporamarama.org
Trimble Sketchup
www.sketchup.com
Fuel
Fillup4Free.com
fillup4free.com
Home of the Waste Vegetable Oil Network Map
Sklar, Mikey
“DIY Biodiesel: 5 Minute Microbatches.” YouTube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdHPbVh38SM
Lifestyle
Bay Laurel, Alicia. Living on Earth. Vintage Books, 1971.
Jenkins, Joseph. The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure, 3rd ed. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2005.
Nearing, Helen, and Scott Nearing. Living the Good Life: How to Live Sanely and Simply in a Troubled World. Schocken, 1970. Originally published in 1954.
No Impact Man. Directed Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein. DVD. Oscilloscope Pictures, 2009.
Steinfeld, Carol. Liquid Gold: The Lore and Logic of Using Urine to Grow Plants. Green Frigate Books, 2004.
Plants: Food & Medicine
Amrein-Boyes, Debra. 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes. R. Rose, 2009.
Bittman, Mark. “Bad Food? Tax It.” New York Times, July 24, 2011.
Cech, Richo. Making Plant Medicine. Horizon Herbs, 2000.
Desert Harvesters. Eat Mesquite!: A Cookbook. Green Press Initiative, 2011.
Ivey, Robert DeWitt. Flowering Plants of New Mexico. RD&V Ivey, 2003.
Kane, Charles W., and Frank Rose. Herbal Medicine of the American Southwest. Lincoln Town Press, 2006.
Katz, Sandor Ellix. The Art of Fermentation: An In-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes from Around the World. Chelsea Green, 2012.
———. Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods. Chelsea Green, 2003.
Knishinsky, Ran. Prickly Pear Cactus Medicine: Treatments for Diabetes, Cholesterol, and the Immune System. Healing Arts Press, 2004.
Lowenfels, Jeff, and Wayne Lewis. Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web. Timber Press, 2006.
Moore, Michael. Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West, rev. ed. Museum of New Mexico Press, 2003.
Neithammer, Carolyn. American Indian Cooking: Recipes from the Southwest. University of Nebraska Press, 1999. First published as American Indian Food and Lore by Macmillan, 1974.
Phyo, Ani. Ani’s Raw Food Essentials. Da Capo Press, 2010.
Pollan, Michael. The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World. Random House, 2001.
———. In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. Penguin, 2008.
———. The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Penguin, 2006.
Rose, Jeanne. Herbal Body Book, 2nd ed. Frog, Ltd., 2000.
Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World. Ten Speed Press, 2005.
Desert Harvesters
www.desertharvesters.org
National Young Farmers’ Coalition
www.youngfarmers.org
Organic Consumers Association
www.organicconsumers.org
Power/Energy
Chase, Jon. “The Grouse: Assault on Batteries.” Popular Science, January 29, 2008.
Solar Energy International. Photovoltaics: Design and Installation Manual. New Society Publishers, 2004.
DIY Solar Oven
DIY Solar Network
diysolar.dasolar.com/group/diysolaroven
Sklar, Mikey
“PV Solar (Off-Grid).” YouTube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Seaw5S3lhSs
Philosophy
Fadiman, James and Robert Frager, eds. Essential Sufism. HarperCollins, 1997.
Gandhi, Mahatma. The Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi. Edited by Raghavan Narasimhan. Iyer. Oxford University Press, 1993.
Inayat Khan, Hazrat. Complete Works of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan. East-West Publishers, 1996.
Inayat-Khan, Pir Zia. The Holy Mysteries of the Five Elements, 2nd ed. Sufi Order International Publications, 2008.
Meyer, Wali Ali; Bilal Hyde; Faisal Muqaddam; and Shabda Kahn. Physicians of the Heart: A Sufi View of the Ninety-nine Names of Allah. Sufi Ruhaniat International, 2011.
Novalis. The Novices of Sais. Translated by Ralph Manheim. Archipelago, 2005.
Steiner, Rudolf. Nature’s Open Secret: Introductions to Goethe’s Scientific Writings. Anthroposophic, 2000.
The Abode of the Message
www.theabode.org
Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions
www.parliamentofreligions.org
Seven Pillars House of Wisdom
www.sevenpillarshouse.org
Suluk Academy
sulukacademy.org
Water
Evenari, Michael; Leslie Shanan; and Naphtali Tadmor. The Negev: the Challenge of a Desert, 2nd ed. Harvard University Press, 1982.
Flow: For Love of Water. Directed by
Irena Salina. DVD. Oscilloscope Pictures, 2008.
Lancaster, Brad. Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands. 2 vols. Rainsource Press, 2006–2008.
Ludwig, Art. Water Storage: Tanks, Cisterns, Aquifers, and Ponds. Oasis Design, 2005.
World Condition
The Corporation. Directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbot. DVD. Zeitgeist Films, 2004.
A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash. Directed by Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack. DVD. Lava Productions, 2006.
Eisenstein, Charles. The Ascent of Humanity. Panenthea Press, 2007.
End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream. Director Gregory Greene. DVD. The Electric Wallpaper Co., 2004.
Food, Inc. Directed by Robert Kenner. Magnolia Pictures, 2008.
An Inconvenient Truth: A Global Warning. Directed by Davis Guggenheim. DVD. Paramount Home Entertainment, 2006.
King Corn. Directed by Aaron Woolf. Mosaic Films Inc., 2007.
McKibben, Bill. “Politics: Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math.” Rolling Stone. July 19, 2012.
Rushkoff, Douglas. Life Inc.: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take It Back. Random House, 2009.
Wilson, Peter Lamborn; Christopher Bamford; and Kevin Townley. Green Hermeticism: Alchemy and Ecology. Lindisfarne Books, 2007.
Wolf, Naomi. The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2007.
Zeitgeist: The Movie. Directed by Peter Joseph. GMP, 2007.
Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States: 1492–present, 20th anniversary ed. HarperCollins, 2005.
Carbon Tracker Initiative
www.carbontracker.org
Corporate Crime Reporter
www.corporatecrimereporter.com
Influence Explorer
www.influenceexplorer.com
James Howard Kunstler
www.kunstler.com
Naomi Klein
www.naomiklein.org
Post Carbon Institute
www.postcarbon.org
Truthdig
www.truthdig.com
The Yes Men
theyesmen.org
Acknowledgments
Loving thanks to my partner in life, Mikey Sklar, for weaving a magic carpet that I rode safely into my own dreams. Thank you to Pir Zia Inayat-Khan, my ideal. I thank you for showing me the way to travel, and for sharing the tools that led me to love the life of this world. To Tony Rubin, thank you for treasuring me. To the vibrant community in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, thanks for generosity of heart, friendship, community, and for welcoming Mikey and me into your family. Special thanks to Yarrow and Megan at the Little Sprout, Rhonda at the Black Cat, Jessica at Bella Luca, and all the folks at the Happy Belly Deli for providing great spaces for me to write this book and good company when procrastination was unavoidable. Sincere thanks to Susan Dunlap, Jodi Morgan Pantuck, Melissa McKinstry, Mina Lebitz, Mary Rose Bennett, Linda Greenberg, and Cheryl Ray for helping me find and shape my words as this manuscript came together. Thank you to Tara Sklar for advice from the other side of the globe. For believing in us as we took real chances, I thank my family and Mikey’s. My heartfelt thanks go to the wonderful people who live at the Abode and to the teachers of the Suluk Academy — Maliaka Julie Serrano, Gayan Macher, and Taj Inayat Khan — for the ease that followed their guidance.
Heartfelt thanks to Dale Dougherty, Christopher Bamford, Brad Lancaster, Sandor Ellix Katz, Alyce Santoro, Billy Talen, and Doug Rushkoff for imagining a better world and having the courage, imagination and determination to create it. Your leads gave me the inspiration to do the same. I treasure the words you gave to this book.
I am deeply grateful to the thousands of people who have volunteered creative energy to Swap-O-Rama-Rama, NO bUSH, and the Vomitorium, as well as other projects I produced while discovering a decommodified life. It has been a delight to create a world with you.
Thanks to all the great folks at Burning Man for creating the ground to materialize the myth of Atlantis in our modern age. Thanks to Black Rock Arts Foundation for supporting Swap-O-Rama-Rama in its beginnings and to the producers of the Maker Faire, and Craft and Make magazines for working tirelessly to usher in a world for makers of things.
I thank all the good people at Storey Publishing, with a special note for my editor, Pam Thompson, whom I thank for her kindheartedness and keen ability to sense what I most wished to express with this work. Thanks to Alethea Morrison for the creativity she generously gave to these pages. I thank the many illustrators who enlivened this book with their own imaginations.
I offer my deepest appreciation to all who conceive of and try to usher in a world freed of money.
— Wendy Tremayne
Credits
Photography Credits
© Holy Scrap except:
© Andy Potter, pushing Chance
© Judd Irish Bradley, fire trampoline
© Luiza Leite, Miranda Caroligne, Lukas, and upholstery garment
© Moshe Koenick, Truth or Consequences sign
© Scott London, Star Seed
© iStockphoto.com (masking tape images throughout)
Illustration Credits
Interior illustrations by:
© Allegra Lockstadt, Wildcrafting
© Andrew Saeger, PV Solar System
© Bert van Wijk, Remove Rust
© Christopher Silas Neal, DIY Biofuel
© Gina Triplett/Frank Sturges Reps, Everything That I Love Is Free
© Grady McFerrin, Start Even If You Don’t Know How
© Joel Holland, Gift Economy and When The Whole World Is For Sale...
© Josh Cochran, Hacking Appliances
© Julia Rothman, Make It Yourself, Make It Better
© Kate Bingaman Burt, Buy Things That Make Other Things
© Katie Scott, Abundance
© Kristian Olson, Daydreaming Is Time Well Spent
© Mattias Adolfsson, Papercrete
© Meg Hunt, Transform Trash
© Melinda Beck, Easy Juice Concentrate
© Miyuki Sakai, Living And Fermented Foods
© Rachel Salomon, Imagine Something Beautiful
© Sasha Prood/Illustration Division, There Is No Such Thing As A Last Good Idea
Flo McGarrell’s design of a greenhouse from water bottles, Sandy Drobny’s apron and caution-tape dress, and Andrew Martinez’s design of a bathroom cabinet made from a Coleman stove were used as sources for the Transform Trash illustration.
The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by publishing practical information that encourages personal independence in harmony with the environment.
Edited by Pam Thompson and Carleen Madigan
Art direction and print book design by Alethea Morrison
Cover illustrations by © Bert van Wijk (third panel), Grady McFerrin (inside front and back), © Kristian Olson (bottom panel), © Meg Hunt (second panel), and © Melinda Beck (top panel)
Photography and interior illustration credits appear on page 318
© 2013 by Wendy Jehanara Tremayne
Ebook design and production by Dan O. Williams
Ebook version 1.0
May 8, 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages or reproduce illustrations in a review with appropriate credits; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other — without written permission from the publisher.
The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the author or Storey Publishing. The author and publisher disclaim any liability in connection with the use of this information.
Storey books are available for special premium and promotional uses and for customized editio
ns. For further information, please call 1-800-793-9396.
Storey Publishing
210 MASS MoCA Way
North Adams, MA 01247
www.storey.com