Pennsif’s Progress #591 – Reducing my footprint, increasing my impact
As I get older and the days tick by I find I am increasingly refining my goals in life.
At a certain point in life one realises that the phrase "you have all the time in the world" no longer has any bearing. Time becomes your most precious resource. And every day counts.
So dreams of opening a restaurant, or building a house with a balcony, or learning six languages, or writing a science fiction novel, or travelling to every continent, while still valid and potentially possible, have to be filtered.
The realisation, and acceptance, that you are unlikely to achieve everything in life you had hoped to is harsh but necessary.
I have now signed that pledge of acceptance and am narrowing my life plan to those things I do so want to achieve.
In fact that want is more than just a want, it is a desire I am fiercely whipping up into a compulsion.
Compulsion can be read with a negative inflection but as I mentioned in a previous blog I only have two modes of operation - full-on or not at all. I don't do half-ar$ed.
So what I am going to do, I am going to do to the biggest, the best and the boldest of my abilities.
I have now settled on my two remaining goals - to minimise my footprint, and to maximise my impact.
Minimising My Footprint
I live on a homestead. We have our own water supply and we deal with our own sewage, we produce much of our own food and the percentage increases year on year, and we have planted 10,000 trees on our property.
We have traveled some fair distance on our journey to reduce our footprint on the planet.
But we still have a long way to go.
Our electricity usage is one area we are really keen to cut down on. In fact as I wrote about yesterday our goal is to move towards going offgrid - but frustratingly steem's low price is holding us back on that at present.
The second big area I want to deal with is our use of petrol for car transport.
Living in a very rural area, reliance on public transport is not viable, so getting an electric car would be the next best option.
And if we could charge that car from our own solar electricity even better still.
There are a thousand other ways in which we can, should and will reduce our ecological and carbon footprint. But we are on the right path and I relish the challenge of day by day getting better and better.
Maximising My Impact
I have always been an activist, campaigning in one form or another for a better world.
I think I got it from my mother. She wouldn't take any crap, and she was always getting involved in local community activities.
Much of my early adult life was spent working, at various levels, for one of Britain's major environmental campaign organisations.
Then I took a few years out to set up a business and raise a family. But these past few years I have been retracing my steps and rejoining the battle.
And in the past year steem, particularly through A Dollar A Day, has opened a new channel to bring about some worthwhile change.
Now I am ready for action and I want to do more.
And more.
And more.
I have just today launched a new @communityaction project where I will be focusing most of my activity bridging the on and the off steemchain worlds.
Hopefully this will give me one more route to make a positive impact on the world.
I don't want to have my name in lights or on a plaque on the wall, but I do want to do my bit.
And one day when my grandchild asks that fateful question "What did you do Granddad to save the planet?" I will be able to answer "Everything I could".
PROJECTS :
Introducing @communityaction - taking steem out into the community
A Dollar A Day charitable giving project : July 2018 - summary of donations received and given out
[CONTEST] A Dollar A Day charitable giving project : What can you buy for 1 SBD?
BLOGS :
Pennsif’s Progress #592 – Come on Steem, I want to save the planet
Pennsif’s Progress #594 – My first day at the Food Bank
Pennsif's Progress #596 - Should I, Shouldn't I ... tell him about Steem?
RADIO :
The Alternative Lifestyle Show - Friday 3 August 2018 - with @sndbox & @wwf [recording]
The Alternative Lifestyle Show - Friday 27 July 2018 - with @kennyskitchen [recording]
My Life In 8 Songs - 2 August 2018 - @jonmagnusson, @beatseb & @jamesgetsit [recording]
[ images by pennsif & pixabay.com ]
Good for you! I like your goals. I have always been the activist in a family of non-activists. It's cool that you got it from your mother.
I too want to leave a better legacy for my grandchildren. I don't want to be part of the problem. I want to be part of the solution.
Isn't that a question each one of us should be answering?
...And one day when my grandchild asks that fateful question "What did you do Granddad to save the planet?" I will be able to answer "Everything I could"
Good post @pennsif,
Looking back, I was 29 years old when I realized that I didn't have ' all the time in the world'. At that time, I had spent the past 12 years of my work life (then) working like a dog. Slaving away to save up for retirement, to do well in my career. But one day, the realization that I didn't have all the time, and that I had wasted much time on work. Since then I spent at least 1 hour a day on self studying, learning languages, improving my personal skills.
Our time is precious, there's so much that I want to do, life is really short but few will realize how precious time is until its too late. Mindfulness has helped me realize how important a moment is, and how to not waste time worrying.
BTW, it's amazing how you've been able to plan 10,000 trees! Keep up the good work!
Spot on my friend. Its the little things we do today that stand us in good stead fir the future. Like you when my (future) grandchildren ask me what I did to help I want to be able to tell them.
Im stuck in the "rat race", the race to the bottom where no one but big corporations win. I'm sick of it, but you've got to play the game to win the game (for now). The master plan is also off-grid, but that's on the back burner at the mo, but we will get there eventually.
Good luck and continue to do the great work you are doing.
Da iawn
You've certainly got the mental enthusiasm and motivation to continue on!
I would love to have an electric car too, but they are currently too costly and my Solar Array would never be able to charge one of those cars, so i am a bit restricted unless i vastly expand my solar footprint....
It is always good to try minimize your footprint. i am going to work at minimizing my footprint as well. Have a great day
you are already a legacy...❤