Ecology: Basic human needs as a basis for our society

A lot activism lately, so didn't have much time to write. It's snowing quite heavily today and the rooftops I can see from out of my window or turning into a beautiful white landscape. This night it's going to be really cold and I really hope that everybody has a warm place to stay the night. I've been working as a volunteer for about three months now in the shelter for the homeless. Sadly enough we can only give them a place for a maximum of five days. After that they have to go outside again for seven days before they can return in our shelter. An absurd rule in my opinion, because sometimes we even have empty beds because of this. Luckily the squatters opened a new squat a few days ago entirely for the homeless, so hopefully this will get them off the streets. It even got in the newspapers. Sadly enough at least one politician had to reply in a rather negative way. She even stated that there was no need for extra shelter...Apparently they are completely oblivious to the problems the homeless are facing. So yeah, I'm completely in favor of the new squat. Way to go guys!

It also got me thinking about our society and how it fails in giving everybody the basic human needs (oxygen, water, food, shelter, warmth and sleep). Why don't we have a society that is based on these needs instead of our economical system? It makes way more sense. Imagine a society where all of these needs are easily met. A utopia? Not really. The fact is that nature has been giving us all these things for free for thousands of years. It is only a small part of humanity that decided to put an economical system on top of this abundance. It is only a fraction of one species of millions of species on this planet that decided that we should work long and hard to earn ourselves a water, food, shelter, etc. None of the other species had a say in this matter, even most of our own species didn't have much say in it. Completely absurd...        

"But look at our ancestors. They had to work hard for everything and had a very hard life altogether." I hear you say. Well, do you think they had to work for eight hours a day to get all their food? Research says this would've been done in about two to three hours. 

"But they lived in very primitive conditions without any comfort! We have to work this hard to have the comfort we have now" Well, you're maybe right about the first part, but having to work hard to have the comfort we have now is an illusion. The reason why we have to work hard, is because we are doing all the work that nature did for us thousands of years ago or we're doing it in an absurd inefficient way. To give you a couple of hints:

Food: Instead of agriculture, permaculture is the way to go. Where agriculture is invasive, unecological and the farmer has to do all the work, with permaculture you work with nature and after a couple of years you pretty much have a food paradise.

Warmth: Instead of radiators, which are based on non-renewable fossil fuels, go for rocket stoves and rocket mass heaters. These types of wood-burning systems are way more efficient, ecological, comfortable and pretty. 

Shelter: Instead of using cement, concrete, bricks and a lot of wood, you can use cob, strawbales, adobe and other more ecological techniques. My favorite is cob, because you can pretty much sculpt your house.

There are a lot of other examples like this. The low-tech knowledge is also evolving, but is overshadowed by our tendencies to use high-tech. If we would choose to go primarily for low-tech solutions, in my opinion it's perfectly possible to create a society that has an abundance to meet every basic human need very easily and even for free. It is just a matter of applying this knowledge.

Ecology: The bitter taste of chocolate

Just saw this documentary on chocolate and its origins. Suddenly I'm not that proud anymore of our "fine" Belgian chocolate... Makes you think twice before eating chocolate again.

See for yourself (it's in German).

If you don't want to see it, I can summarize it for you: Child labor. And a lot of it.

Ecology: But alcohol is fun and tastes so good!

Yesterday evening I went out with one of my eco-hosts to a gig in de Blauwe Kater, a jazz and blues pub. On our way to the pub we were, not so coincidentally, talking about Spinoza. She studies philosophy and had to write a paper on this philosopher. When we arrived at the bar it was almost completely empty and the band was testing the equipment. We decided to talk further about Spinoza outside for a while because of the loud testing. Soon we were joined by another nationality. An Italian guy, I recognized from a party before. The three of us went inside after a while, because the pub was slowly getting more crowded and we wanted to sit down. We ordered our drinks. They got beer, while I ordered a fruit juice. I've stopped drinking alcohol a short while ago, but maybe you still remembered that from one of my previous posts. After my second drink my host suddenly said something along this line: "I don't think you should deprive yourself from too much stuff." She was talking about me not drinking alcohol in combination with the vegan cooking and other things I do.

Well, I certainly understand her point of view, because I also loved to drink a pint or two, maybe three, until my recent decision. I still really like the taste, but there are other things involved here which make me chose otherwise, which I'll explain with a little story.

Imagine yourself sitting in that bar next to me and suddenly a starving, little, African kid stumbles into the bar, walks in your direction and stops right in front of you staring with his big white eyes right into yours. Let me help you imagine that little kid:

Now, with those big eyes staring right into yours he opens his mouth and with a soft, crumbly voice he asks you a question: "Can I please have that glass of beer in your hand? It would feed my family for at least a week..." 

You're probably thinking the thirst and hunger got to him and he's talking gibberish. How can a glass of 25 centiliters feed his whole family??? Well, he's not talking gibberish. In fact, he's completely right. That glass of beer of 25 centiliters you're holding in your hand needed 75 liters of water to get produced. More than enough to have produce and water to feed his family for a week.  

Now, I ask you, are you able to look him straight into his eyes and say "No, I will not give you your 75 liters of water you need so desperately. I am going to drink my glass of beer because it's fun and it tastes good." Are you capable of doing that? I am not. And that is one of the main reasons why I don't drink alcohol anymore. Every time I want to order a beer I see this little kid's image in my mind and I just simply can't order beer because of this.

I guess this is something Spinoza meant with at least one of his higher types of 'knowing' as he called it. To think in function of yourself as a part of a bigger whole instead of just thinking in function of yourself. The latter comes from the ego and creates the illusion that you are separated from the rest of the world. You aren't. Every action you take has an impact on your environment, be it a negative or a positive one. It's that simple. Every time you chose for beer or wine, you are taking water away that could have been used to give a little kid in Africa the food and water he needed. It's that simple. And if you thought beer, with its 75 liters of water, or wine, with its 120 liters of water, are bad, 1 kilo of grain-fed beef equals 15.000 liters of water!      

Like the taste? Maybe find something that replaces it. More than enough tastes to choose from in my opinion. 

Like the fun that comes from drinking alcohol? Well, if you find your life dull without alcohol, maybe turn around your life so it becomes fun, instead of going for the temporary fun that alcohol gives. 

If you're still thinking I'm depriving myself from these things, then let me tell you how I experience it. First of all I do this out of free will, no one is forcing me to do this. It is my own choice and I don't feel obligated to do this. 

Secondly, I find it enriching. I find myself becoming happier and happier because I constantly reduce  the things I need out of free will. The fewer things I need, the fewer things I need to be content.  

Lastly I am happy that I can give more this way. What would you do? TAKE a glass of beer of 25 centiliters or GIVE 75 liters of water to those who need it? I prefer the latter and I know that I'm making a difference by making that choice even though I may never see the direct result with my own eyes.

The gig in de Blauwe Kater wasn't my cup of tea, too much of the same in my opinion, which is good thing for some genres but not for this one, so my philosophical companion and I went back home before the second set started. It got pretty cold compared to a couple hours earlier. We talked about the dialects from Belgium as well as those from Germany (she's from there). Apparently her grandmother speaks something called Plat, which some say is a dialect, while others categorize it as another language. When her grandmother speaks it, my host can't understand it. Apparently it even has some Dutch influences! I really find it interesting how connected we are to the rest of the world even if we don't know it at first. 

Ecology: Rocket we go!

Bright orange and sudden pain. That pretty much describes what I saw and felt the moment I almost got a hot spark in my eye from the circular saw. It luckily missed my eye by a centimeter. Definitely taught me a quick lesson in why safety always comes first. I was holding a piece of metal when Bernard was cutting it in the right shape for our rocket stove. Of course he had a pair of safety goggles on. Next time he won't be the only one. Working gloves would've also been nice. Certainly when a piece of your skin gets between the chisel and hammer you're working with.

"Wait, rocket stove you say? What's that?"

Glad you asked. It's a type of wood stove that I came across a while ago during my never ending searches on the internet on ecological practices. I'm very enthusiastic about this type of stove because it's extremely efficient, very ecological, really cheap (even free if you play it well) and is pretty easy to build, which we are doing right now in a sauna.  

The only basic materials you need are a couple of steel barrels, steel pipes, common bricks, sand, clay (in our case we're using loam), straw, water and some tools. That pretty much covers it.

The basic principle that makes a rocket stove different from a regular wood stove is the chimney, also called the heat riser. Instead of placing the chimney outside of the stove you put it INSIDE the stove. Because of this simple principle almost all the exhaust gasses are captured and thus a lot more heat. With a regular stove all the warmth goes through the chimney and up to the skies, which is pretty inefficient when you think about it.

You'll here two different names pop up often for this type of stove: "rocket stove" and "rocket mass heater". The difference between the two is the purpose of the stove. If it's mainly used for capturing heat through mass and thus keeping the warmth inside your house, you'll here rocket mass heater more often. If it is mainly used for other purposes, like cooking for example, you'll here rocket stove. It's also often used as a synonym, though.

With a rocket mass heater the heat goes up the heat riser and is then pushed down through a long pipe system encased in cob (mixture of clay, sand, straw and water) which captivates the heat inside it. Most of the time the cob is shaped like a bench, so people can sit on it and enjoy the warmth coming from it. Because of this you are able to capture a multitude of heat compared to a regular stove and you need up to four times less wood. Yes, four times less sounds crazy, but it's really that efficient!

Here are some pictures from our visit to a rocket mass heater and our first work day: link  

My advice to anyone who's building or wants to build a heat system for their house: Go rocket! You'll make your life much easier! Check Youtube if you want to see some rocket stoves or rocket mass heaters into action.

Ecology: Becoming an eco-nomad: Knowledge

The first thing you have to do to become an eco-nomad is to read up on ecology and sustainability. It's something you can do while still living a sedentary life and working a full time job, although it's going to be easier if you have more time at your disposal (more on 'time' later). This is the most important step because if you skip it you would just become a nomad, maybe equally destructive in your lifestyle as most sedentary people in our society nowadays. Even if you're not directly planning to become a nomad, I still suggest reading up on these topics. It is so incredibly important to have this knowledge, because it changes your entire view on the world and your place in it.

You become aware that everything is connected with each other in this world. You are connected with everything in this world. You don't live in a bubble. Every action you take has an effect on others and your surroundings. Because of our recent globalization you can quite literally say that an action you take can be felt on the other side of the world. It is so important to know this. Every unecological action you take has an unecological effect somewhere on this world and on others, be is close or far away. The same goes for every ecological action.

It's also important to know that every individuals action does matter, including yours. The sum of every individuals action on this planet created the state we are in now. If you change your actions it will have an effect on the sum of all actions. You do make a difference, be it positive or negative, no matter what.

Now, if we take the previous into account it is important to know what exactly is ecological and what isn't. Yet, most people in our Western society rarely think about this, which is why we are so destructive in nature. To help you on your way to become a nomad I suggest reading up on 2 topics: Mobility and food.

Mobility to know how to travel as ecologically as possible, which is pretty important if you're going to be a nomad. Food, simply because you have to eat like any other person on this planet.

Now read up! It's important! If you really don't know where to start, let me know and I'll give you some further advice. ;)

Ecology: "Parkveld", a personal threshold

The reason why I posted nothing last week was because of the Climate Action Camp in my hometown. We were stationed on a location called Parkveld (translated: Park field). This is a field normally used only for agricultural purposes, yet somehow it got sold to a company who wants to build housings and industrial buildings on it. This without asking the opinion from the neighborhood. There isn't much green left in Leuven and yet they keep building and building and building... 

Besides that, this isn't just any farmland, it's part of the place I grew up and therefore I consider it a part of myself. I do not want to see the land that I grew up on being reduced to a slab of concrete with some ugly industrial buildings on it. This activity was more to me than a random ecological activity. It was something personal.

So this is to all companies, politicians, etc. who are willing to step onto the land I grew up on and do whatever they please without asking the local community what they think: 

This is land that belongs to the local community, which I'm part of because I was born and raised here. I do not care what rules have been made up that give any individual or collective the right to take away this land and use it for purposes that have a negative impact on the community and nature. If these were rules that would have a positive impact I would happily comply, but that just isn't the case here. These rules are made up by only a very small fraction of one of the millions of species on this entire planet. None of the other species EVER agreed upon these rules. Even the majority of our own species haven't agreed upon it, yet we act like these rules are made by God himself. These rules are made by man and can by changed by man. I do not care who made these rules, but I do know one thing: You do NOT have the right to remove people from the land they dwelled upon for hundreds of years. You do NOT have the right to remove rare species, or any species for that matter, from their territory. You do NOT have the right to remove our precious nature, from which some trees are even way older than you.

You have gone too far and now there is at least one extra activist you have to deal with. I will undertake whatever actions necessary to protect the land I grew up on and its people, using all my skills and all my contacts. See you at the green front line.

Ecology: "First Earth", The best movie I've seen to date on ecological architecture

Yesterday I saw the movie "First Earth" again with a friend of mine who didn't know about it. I've seen this movie a couple of times now and know it for a couple of years, yet it keeps inspiring me. At the end I always want to run outside and start building my own house.

If you are into ecology, or even if you aren't, this movie is a MUST SEE when you want to build your home in an ecologically sound way. It focuses on building with earth, which is in my opinion still the best material to work with when it comes to building houses.

If you've got a bit of spare time I highly recommend watching it. It will certainly change your view on housing in general. It is available for free on this website: First Earth
Enjoy and let me know what you think!

If you know another movie about ecological architecture, please let me know! I'm very interested in these things. :)

Ecology: The start of an ecological mindset

"I studied business management, marketing for two years." I mostly get raised eyebrows when I tell this to people, because most people who got to know me now really don't expect that. Yet, the reason why I did only two years instead of the full three years to finish the course and get a bachelor degree was because of the lack of ethics involved. Everything was reduced to numbers, including people, and the only thing that counted was the profit of the company of which you were making a study case. After two years of mindless studying my conscience couldn't take it any more. I still remember that moment very vividly. "What the h*ll am I doing?" I asked myself. "Why on earth would I go down a path that would make me regret the things I will be doing in the future?" That moment I made the decision to not go further down that path. I still remember how I literally fell a weight being lifted off my shoulders.

That moment was the beginning of an intense period full of change. I quit my studies and started to go in the direction my conscience was taking me. I really didn't know where it would take me but it felt right. This direction appeared to be very nature friendly. I soon became interested in everything that had to do with ecology, from nutrition to architecture, from agriculture to mobility. During a period of several months I started reading everything on this topic that I could get my hands. Not much later I moved out of my parents house, to go live in the Bereklauw for a short time. A wonderful experience that strengthened my new ecological mindset.

Most of my family still regret that I quit my studies, but I consider it one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. It has enriched my life in ways I couldn't imagine. It was a decision made purely from the heart on which followed a big leap into the unknown. I made a similar decision not too long ago, which made me the traveler I am now. It are those decisions that have the strongest impact on your life, in my opinion. They can be very confronting at times, but it's worth it. Following your heart is always worth it. If you feel you're in a situation where your heart is being neglected and your conscious acts up, I would suggest to listen to them and act accordingly. I'm not saying it won't be difficult, I certainly had some hard times back then, but you're staying true to yourself that way and that's what's most important.

My ecological activities have now changed because of my travelling. I used to volunteer in quite a few organisations which I sadly can't do anymore. On the other hand, now I sometimes encounter other people who also have an ecological mindset, which is also a way of spreading the green word. I learn from them and they learn from me. I also always cook vegan when I'm staying with people and travel as ecologically as possible.

Ecology: Ecological traveling through Europe

This time I'm not going to write anything about ecological travelling, although that certainly is a good idea for the near future. This is a referral to an article on a website called Lowtech Magazine. It's my favorite website when it comes to ecology. The articles are well-written, innovative and in depth. Love that website!

Here's the link to the latest article he wrote about how he traveled on his vacation through Europe: link
(My apologies for the English speaking crowd, this particular article is written in Dutch, but there are English articles on there as well! ;)