This week on Sustainability Now!, your host, Justin Mog, sits down with one of Louisville’s legendary sustainability advocates, Jackie Green, to discuss his new venture, Earth Home 40202 (https://www.bikecourier.org/earth-home-40202/) Get in touch at [email protected]. We also discuss Deep Ecology Louisville - Exploring what it means to 'Live Local Lightly' in a society that is diametrically opposed to the concept (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581836699217).

Earth Home 40202 is an urban* Louisville space in which to grow non-mystical deep ecologists. Building environmentally sustainable lifestyles requires community – it takes a village. Mainstream Louisville does not embrace ‘Live Local** Lightly’. Most are unaware of the term ‘deep ecology’ (see addendum below). Most are unaware of the term ’embodied energy’ – https://www.bikecourier.org/embodied-energy/. Few who know the term are ready to live a minimalist lifestyle. No, this is not the effort of communist luddites, not a commune, not a cult, just citizens attempting to live lightly on Earth. Earth Home 40202 is citizens striving to minimize material and energy*** consumption, to identify ‘green washing’, to garden**** more, to create more environmentally sensitive communities, to joyfully live Earth-centric lives.

Earth Home 40202 is a work in progress. The concept has yet to be fully defined. Earth Home 40202 will be piloted in two Highland homes. Success will result in reduplicating the effort in a larger downtown space. Continued success will result in more Earth Homes. We need people to help define and develop the concept.

* ? Why ‘urban’? If nature is to endure, humanity must not encroach on natural spaces. Sprawl is destroying agricultural land and nature. Urban living also encourages walking, cycling and public transit use. The embodied energy of automobiles and all the infrastructure supporting automobiles is unsustainable.
** ? Why the ‘local’ in ‘Live Local Lightly’? Travel is:… energy intensive, infrastructure demanding, deprives local community of members’ focus, investment, and care; hastens the evolution of climate change to climate chaos. Our personal travel experiences are not that important. We are needed at home.
*** ? What is current energy production? One house hosts 16 solar panels. We have an option on using a property near UofL with 30 solar panels (8.5kW, 11,500kWh/yr, 2025 inverter).
**** ? What gardening is done now? Current gardening includes a dozen grape vines, apple, cherry, peach and fig trees, a small vegetable plot, and a 25′ x 100′ micro forest.

Deep ecology is an environmental philosophy and movement, founded by Arne Naess in the 1970s, that argues for the inherent worth and intrinsic value of all living beings and ecosystems, not just their utility to humans. It promotes a holistic worldview where humans are seen as an integral part of nature and emphasizes a radical transformation of our societal structures, technologies, and lifestyles to reduce human impact and allow the richness and diversity of life to flourish.

As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW!

Sustainability Now! is hosted by Dr. Justin Mog and airs on Forward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at https://forwardradio.org

The music in this podcast is courtesy of the local band Appalatin and is used by permission. Explore their delightful music at https://appalatin.com

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