Hopefully we don’t have to always be dependent on so many other people and services to have basic dignity and sanitation.
People who live off-grid, van/rv/etc., homestead, etc. lifestyles are pioneering a future where we don’t need services that aren’t likely that great for the environment - such as public sewage, our reliance on fossil fuels to power and heat our homes and electronics, or unsustainable agriculture that isn’t in balance with the environment or even nutritionally-dense.
I am grateful to the people who enable our standard of living to survive with some semblance of dignity, and especially those focused on solutions, so we can get to the point of self-sufficiency, sustainability, and balance in our environment as a species and planet.
There’s nothing wrong with relying on one another so long as we can, you know, rely on one another.
That’s the whole point of society and why we’ve been so successful as a species. Division is our only real weakness.
We need to redefine society if we want to truly unify, and it starts with an universal human bill of rights. Ensuring individual and community-based sovereignty with guiding concepts like direct democracy are important first steps. Dependence on externalities and reliance on impersonal entities like corporations (which largely capture governance, science, and everything else they can) needs to stop if we want to realize a world that is worth living in for ourselves and future generations.
Society is our doom if we continue to allow pollution, waste, and destruction of our environments on levels we have never seen before, while experts and other people in the know stand silently and cover the situation up, or are largely ignored if they are actually crying out. Environmentally-caused disease and chronic illness are rising to levels that we can no longer ignore or cover up.
Off-grid living more environmental than proper municipal water treatment? How do you figure?
I’m of the opinion/understanding that we can’t fully purify water at scale with current/emerging practices or meet increasing water needs with a shifting climate and lower precipitation using the means we rely on currently.
Off-grid/etc. lifestyles push the envelope on what is possible on a smaller scale. As most people have to get very creative to meet their needs, such as where their water comes from and solve their waste in a sustainable way. Some people have very primitive and environmentally-unfriendly setups (even when considering the small scale of their pollution/etc.) and I’m not pointing to them, I’m pointing to the people who eliminate their black water output (through composting or other means), and limit the chemicals/etc. that go into their grey water and find ways to reuse it.
I’m of the perspective that we put far too many things down the drain and that sewage/black water shouldn’t be circulated in the way that it is, because it is too contaminated for further use - be it used for irrigation, as a fertilizer, or as a soil additive. Even grey water I doubt can be fully purified at scale with the amount of chemicals being dumped by the average person or industry.
I’d like to point to rising cancer rates and general levels of disease as evidence that our practices aren’t sufficient. People aren’t magically getting cancer at massive and increasing rates because they are simply genetically-prone, I believe there are major environmental factors and uncomfortable truths that are not being accounted for because our government is not operating in the best interest of the public that it serves.
The way I see it, people who implement these setups on a smaller-scale will be positioned to influence their local policies and governments, alongside the people they share their lifestyle and solutions with, for a better future.
I see what you’re saying. I find it hard to believe vanlifers and offgridders are the vanguard of a more sustainable future though.
I don’t see how all the world’s people individually handling waste can work better than centralized expert processing, especially in more dense areas.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the world’s emerging situation will allow people to live en-masse (in ever-growing numbers) in cities in their current form for too much longer.
Cities are more efficient than rural communities. Concentration of people is better than spreading everyone out. You’d see much more environmental destruction if everyone moved rural. Plus it’s much harder to get resources to rural communities. Modifications should be made but everyone pooping in the woods in a bucket isn’t a good idea either.
Well we should recognize cities and rural are basically different countries that needs different laws, policy and governance.
We already do. Lots of rural communities already use septic tanks for waste management instead. And there really isn’t a good alternative for landfills. You can compost food but that’s only like half the waste.
I have been planning to homestead for close to 20 years, and just jumped into the lifestyle 2 months ago.
My wife and I are living in a tiny SUV with our cat. We have a fridge, twin bed, warm blankets, plenty of food and water. We have an outhouse tent for our business. It has a $4 bucket with a $15 toilet lid. I added a container and a funnel in there for liquids, and we use bags for the solids. Works for us.
We have explored the state and went to some really cool places, until we found land we purchased.
As soon as the septic is installed we can legally live in an RV, we can start a compost pile, start a garden, get chickens, and try being as self sufficient as we can.
I also want to make and design my own off grid things, for example making a wood gasifier. Then in an emergency we can run gas things from wood (generator, truck, tractor, etc).
I plan to share my experience on YouTube once we have an RV, hoping I can help people to live a more sustainable life.
If you haven’t already you may wish to read The Humanure Handbook by Joe Jenkins. It outlines a practical diy composting toilet system that is low-odor and sanitary when maintained properly.
I have that book in storage, soon after septic is installed I plan to get my stuff here, need the tools to build.
We have been planning on a composting toilet in the house.
The septic will be used for the kitchen sink (it’s considered black water here) but everything else can be used for plants if we use safe soaps for the liquids and compost the solids long enough.
Not everybody craps in plastic trash bags and throws them in the trash. There’s a number of setups that do not rely on landfills/etc. to do the disposal. I think campgrounds or other parking spots for RVs/etc. and those who live in them, are a perfect first-target for regulation that rethinks waste disposal and the implementation of environmentally-friendly disposal, reuse, and remediation.
I’m so slow, my first reaction was:
What kind of disgusting new behavior are the weirdos getting up to now? Shitting indoors. The very thought of it!
Blizzard?
Climate change is erasing those. Now it’s just do shit outside in modest cold
Personally I live in Texas so the only people enabling me are the Oil companies ensuring I never see a blizzard, from Global Warming.
Jokes on you, climate change means unpredictable weather, so you’ll actually get worse blizzards.
My response isn’t showing because I’m a dipshit: I said:
I’m with you.
I don’t think I meant to delete my comment; I’ve been drinking too.
😊
