In my opinion, one of the most significant social issues of our time is social media and the effects it has had on our culture and how it has fundamentally changed the fabric of our society.

Social media came rolling into our lives and promised a new way to communicate, make new friends, promote your business, and keep in touch with family. But years into this social frenzy, experts are now discovering that this trend actually has a significant down side.

That being said, just like most things, there are ways to use this technology to your advantage instead of allowing your life to run by an algorithm.

So join me for episode 273 Life Without Social Media Part Three.

Sooner or later the circumstances of your every day life are going to force you to make a trade off. It is part of being an adult, managing your own life and taking responsibility for your choices. Some times those trade off are beneficial. At other times we look back and say to ourselves “I’ll never to that again.”

Our modern lives are full of trade offs, many of which are the result of our choice of short-term convenience. From the foods we eat, the recreation we choose, the employment we take on, all are based on convenience.

While some of these examples may be obvious, other things such as the internet and social media are far more subtle in their detrimental affects on our lives. So join me for episode 272 Life Without Social Media Part Two

Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is E272 Life Without Social Media Part Two.

Who cares about the price of tea in China? This is something my father said quite frequently. He used this whenever we were concerned or focused on something that had no bearing on what was actually going on in front of us.

Yet with the advent of the internet and especially social media, we are constantly bombarded with news feeds, friends, messages, posts, and everything else that fragments our attention and distracts us from what is going on right in front of us. Few things have influenced our culture and behavior more than the internet and social media.

Granted, there are many advantages to our technology. However, we are only beginning to understand the detrimental affect on our culture, daily behavior and even our mental health.

So please join me for E271 Life Without Social Media.

I am always astounded when one single event in our world has a profound impact on the entire global economy. It is now possible for one small disruption in one country on the other side of the planet to affect our daily lives. How can this possibly happen?

You may not realize that this is the direct result of globalization. Many of our goods and services are dependent on a long supply chain that we cannot understand much less control.

In my opinion this is extremely poor planning. Would it not be better to keep our resources local instead of global? Would we not have much better control over those resources?

That is the subject for this week so join me for Local First, Build Your Life Around Place, Not Convenience.

Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast

Episode 269

A 12 Month Plan for Sovereign Living Part Two

Most certainly we have all at one point in time come to the realization that we were tired of someone else telling us what to do. We become weary of someone making decisions that affect our well-being when we have no say in the matter. No where does this come more to the forefront of our lives as when we are teenagers.

We reach that point where we long to be adults, make our own decisions, go where we want, when we want and do what we want. We want to have ultimate power and responsibility over our lives. We celebrate the day it finally happens when we are adults. We are finally sovereign individuals. But, is this really what happens. So join me for part two of a 12 month plan for sovereign living.

Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is E269, which is part two the the 12 month plan for sovereign living.

Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast

Episode 268

A 12 Month Plan for Sovereign Living Part One

As you well know, independence, self sufficiency, and sustainable living are at the heart of much of my life. I talk about it, write about it, podcast about it and live it everyday. But I also accept the fact that if everyone lived the way I do, our society and economy would simply not work. Furthermore I realize that how and where I live is not possible for most people in our culture.

But what is possible for everyone is what I call sovereign living. This is simply a philosophy of self-ownership, where we take full responsibility for our lives, our values, and our decisions. It is about independence and not dependence. So join me for E268 A 12 month plan for Sovereign Living.

Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is E268 A 12 Month Plan for Sovereign Living.

Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast

Episode 267

The 30 Day Stop the Consumption Challenge Part Two

In last week’s episode I laid the foundation of why and how we shifted to a consumer culture. Although this was a gradual shift, it was also highly planned and organized. The Industrial Revolution was only the beginning. For the first time in human history our societies were able to produce more than we needed to live day-to-day. Then the problem shifted from “Do I need this?” to “How do we sell all this stuff?”

The challenge we now face is the constant extraction of materials and production of products is pushing planetary boundaries. We are reaching ecological limits and facing resource depletion and environmental damage. Despite this we seem to ignore the need for change.

So stick around for the 30 Day Stop the Consumption Challenge Part Two.

Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast

Episode 266

The 30 Day Stop the Consumption Challenge Part One

Most everyone alive today has either grown up in or been conditioned to a consumer culture. We constantly purchase more than we need which of course requires the on-going production of more products. This in turn requires the extraction and processing of more resources which results in an enormous detrimental impact on our environment.

But as usual, I like to ask “How did we get here?” Furthermore, how do we change this part of our culture? Human existence was not always like this, that is a life that is organized around consumption. What most people don’t know is that this shift toward consumption was gradual, structural, and highly engineered.

But there is a way to change this cycle and it starts with the 30 day stop the consumption challenge.