Part Three (6-9) : ConvertedFine's converted from non-local to local, so local in fact, he gets his truck fuel a mile down the road at a cafe. Somehow this SNAG once again has enough money to buy himself an enormous truck that he gets converted into a bio-diesel truck. The one fun fact I took from this part was how MESSY it sounds to have a bio-diesel car (or big truck). Unless Fine was just a slob about it, which I could see being true since he's too busy trying to find a wife and playing with his goats to do much else. The Jetta is coming out with a new diesel version in 2009, so there will be smaller options for bio-diesel. Plus, I think there are Saabs and Volvos and VW Rabbits that are as well. (FYI - It turns out the biggest carbon footprint most people leave is in procuring food for themselves, not in actual personal driving time.) Fine is shopping for a "working farm" so I guess a truck or vehicle with moving space is needed. I just wonder if an over-sized truck with a step ladder was necessary?
Part Four ( 10 - 12 ) : Solarized
Fine seems to have the ability to turn everything into a dramatic adventure with the added surfer tone and lingo. Installing his solar panels is a life or death situation, and the wind storm he chooses to do this in lends to that effect. In this chapter, Fine introduces us to the local town weirdo who turns out to be a really intelligent, Buddhist type guy who goes around doing good deeds, like building a solar box unit to heat water for the interior of the house. I will give Fine this one credit - he seems to really do well at reaching out to his neighbors and people he meets, truly building a community where he is. His laid back ways and friendliness are good for this.
How well do you know your neighbors? Your landlord (if you have one)? What are your ideas on community? How do they match up to the community/ies you are a part of now?
To join next week's discussion, read part V to complete
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4 comments:
I promise I'll comment tomorrow! I still have two chapters left!
I got an email from my library that my copy of Subaru is in. I'm still working my way through Break Through though so I won't get to it in time. I'm interested in your readers' comments though.
As to community, I know my next door neighbors fairly well and a few across the street so-so. I know a couple up the street very well. Only one would I call a true friend but I know all the others well enough to go ask for a cup of sugar or such. Replacing our front lawn with a garden and being out there working in the garden has really helped me get in touch with my neighbors. I'm out there . . . so we talk.
Oh, the constant "clever" phrasing drove me crazy! He couldn't just say putting up a fence was hard work because the fencing had to be pulled tight. He had to say that the fence had to be pulled tight or it would dip in the middle like Bush's approval ratings. Which would be okay if there weren't a "clever" turn of works like that on every single page.
I did like some of the people he wrote about -- as you said, he seems to be good at reaching out to people. I really do think I'd like Fine as a person, I just had a hard time digesting his writing style. The very end of the book was kind of a wrap up of what he'd learned. He was passionate, informative, and relatively succinct. I wish the whole book had been like that.
I also really wish he'd been more transparent about the finances involved. It was very frustrating to know that all of this was cost an exorbitant amount of money, without an idea of the financial planning it takes to go off grid. He mentioned how his water was going to cost him $1 a sip. How does he plan to maintain all of this?
He also makes New Mexico sound like a barely inhabitable place. I wish he'd gotten in to why he chose to live there a little more.
And the recipe for rattlesnake was unnecessary. He didn't even actually kill one, if I read correctly, so it was just about the skeeve factor.
Walking my dog gets some of the neighbors out to talk. We know the mail lady pretty well now, and have a few regular stops to say hi to people who are out in the yard. My next door neighbors on one side are die hard gardeners, and while we had a rocky start, now that I'm gardening, they've been helpful and supportive. The neighbors on the other side drive me up a wall, because they have four kids and don't supervise them well (scooter through my strawberry patch recently). I'm not happy with the community we live in. There are a lot of lawn chemicals and a lot of wasted water. We don't live in a community that shares our values, and that's frustrating. I hope in the future we can find a place where we fit in better.
Green Bean - comment on the book even after we're done. (well, maybe not way back here, or I might miss it but on whatever is current post) I'd love to hear your thoughts on the book.
Allie - I wonder if part of his book deal was that he couldn't talk about the price tags and such, or where the money came from...I hope it was this because really, I think he just didn't talk about it much because it would ruin his SNAG status. :)
He did say, about choosing NM, that he chose the place that is sort of known as an oasis in the desert. The valley is really lush and fosters vegetation and plants. However, in the next sentence, he also mentioned how EVERYONE is moving there and people are totally overpopulating and overusing the natural resources. This made me stop and say, then how sustainable is any of this project!?!? Geesh. Because seriously, I've considered at times how sweet it would be to get some remote piece of land that I can jet off to when everything collapses but you know what, there isn't room for all of us out there! And does that mean survival of the fittest? Am I weak and naive for wanting to stay where I am, see it through and be at the heart of the problem? I don't know...
Do you feel like you don't fit in due to attitudes and actions toward you from others or is this just you internally not feeling connected to people? I'd like to steer you to this other woman's blog - http://gruppiegirl.blogspot.com/. She is not as far along the sustainability path as you, but she is there and she's in a community that is only now learning about this too. There have been a few posts where she unexpectedly connects with neighbors and it is really great to read.
I guess what I am saying is...depending on how you meet people, and what you place on them as expectation, can limit what has potential to unfold and grow.
either way (if you stay or go) good luck. where do you think you could move and find a community more connected to your ideas?
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