A Simple Guide to Sensible Living

Cycling home from my shopping trip to the local community farm, it struck me how simple it really is to do what needs to be done to create healthy communities and lives. The list started unfolding so I thought I’d write it down and share. Feel free to add to it in the comments!

Nourishment
Buy and eat food that is:

• grown as locally as possible
• grown organically, ideally bio-dynamic
• plant-based with additional dairy and meat if needed
• wholegrain
• as unprocessed as possible

Travel
If travelling, then use the following modes of transport in this order of priority:

1. walk
2. cycle
3. public transport (bus, train, ferry)
4. car (i. hydrogen ii. electric iii. petrol – electric cars charged from renewable energies)
5. fly

Housing

• Reduce energy consumption through energy-saving devices and insulation (do allow for a free flow of fresh air)
• Source energy from renewables, as locally-owned as possible (e.g. solar power cooperative)
• Recycle grey water
• Share resources (e.g. tools, cars, pizza ovens) with the neighbours so not everyone needs to own everything
• Design neighbourhoods for a healthy balance of autonomy and community, with lots of nature, edible trees (fruit and nut) and plants, water catchment

Communities

• Design for ecological and human vitality (and support all the other sections)
• Provide for collective needs as locally as possible, keeping ownership of business as close to the consumer as possible, ensuring greater accountability

Education

• Immerse kids in nature
• Understand developmental stages and design learning habitats to reflect relative amounts of structure and freedom
• Make it more about discovery than dictatorship
• Focus during in-person learning on development of core soft skills through interaction

Healthcare

• Breathe through your nose and learn to use your breath consciously
• Stretch and exercise
• Meditate
• Promote vitality and prevention through healthy diet, lifestyle, exercise and habitat
• When support is needed, make the assessments and interventions as holistic as possible

Work

• Encourage matching between people’s passions and skills, and real needs in the world
• Find ways to discourage over-production and waste
• Reward more ecologically beneficial products and services and internalise real costs of negative impacts
• Provide a basic unconditional income to cover fundamental needs

Spirituality

• Support all communities and practices that help people connect to their inner worlds (e.g. religions, wisdom traditions, modern spirituality) as long as they are respectful of other communities
• Raise awareness and provide experiences of our interconnectedness with all life