193_The Integration of Core Life Skills and Sustainability

Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast

Episode 193

The Integrations of Core Life Skills and Sustainability

Most people think our technology driven world is so much better than how things were in the past. If you have been around long enough to see substantial changes in our society and culture, it truly seems that even 40 years ago we were living in the dark ages.

And honestly,  many of the things I do these days would not be possible if it were not for modern technology. But the challenge is that technological advancements and all of these time-saving products and gadgets have produced a life of ease and convenience that has actually robbed us of some very important skills.

Most of us no longer have core skills that used to be considered basic everyday knowledge. Furthermore we have no concept of sustainability. What I want to examine in this episode is the integration of core life skills with sustainable living.

Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is E193 which is called The Integration of Core Life Skills and Sustainability.

What I want to accomplish in this episode is to compare self reliance, self sufficiency and sustainable living versus core life skills. I want to show that all of these concepts are no great mystery. It is not as difficult as most people imagine. In fact, they are all integrated. There is a lot of cross over in all of these areas. So even if you simply focus on the necessary skills needed to get by in every day life you also possess the skills to live sustainably. Its just that your focus is a bit different. 

But before we do that lets first start with the sustainability question of the week.

Do we really have toxic products in our homes? If so, what are the potential effects of those products?

If you stick around to the end I will give you the answer to that question. The answer will likely surprise you.

Good news story of the week 

Once again this week, the good news story comes our of the United Kingdom. And this time it is focused on the return of salmon after a 100 years absence. 

It has long been known that industrial activity and the creation of large obstacles on waterways, such as dams, prevent salmon from migrating upstream. One such place is the River Derwent in the English county of Derbyshire. After the removal of the dam and other obstacles, the salmon are once again able to migrated hundreds of miles upstream.

Wildlife organizations such as Wild Trout and Derbyshire Wild Trust are responsible for the removal of various obstacles in the stream. Consequently, many local residents are seeing salmon for the first time. In fact, the salmon are becoming local celebrities as many residents go out at night to see them.

Dam removal has actually become a widespread conservation practice in both Europe and North America. In the US, three dams on the Klamath River are set for demolition in the largest operation of it kind in history.

So, the round of applause this week goes to the salmon celebrities of the River Derwent in the UK.

So, let’s move on to this weeks episode on the integration of core life skills and sustainability.

As most of you know by now my primary profession is veterinary medicine. I have been self employed for 24 years now. During that time I have performed contract work for hundreds of different clinics, several universities, and multiple shelters and non-profits. Needless to say, I have seen a lot of different ways of doing the same thing. I experience a lot of different philosophies and worked with multiple different cultures.

One very important thing that I’ve learned during this time is I always have to be open minded. I have to be flexible in how I do things and  always be open to learning new things. That said, one of the things that has been consistently frustrating to me is to go into a clinic with an older practitioner that is narrow minded and unwilling to embrace anything new.

Commonly I hear the phase, “Well I’ve been doing this for forty years…….” And that is followed by some strong statement of how they are not going to change. I learned a long time ago that my response should never start with, “Well, current literature says there is a better way that produces an improved outcome.” Then I just get stone walled.

So what I don’t want to do in this episode is to sound like that type of person. I don’t want to come across as lamenting the loss of the sunny slopes of long ago or reminiscing about how things used to be. While I do believe that our advanced technology has made our lives easier, we have traded one challenge for another.

For example, I distinctly remember a time when no one had a phone. I was very young at the time and helping my grandfather on the farm. If he needed help with something he would drive to another local farm then have to wander around to find the farmer. Then we would drive back to the farm to accomplish whatever we needed.

I remember when I graduated from veterinary school and got my first job. Because I was on call a lot I was given a cell phone. That cell phone had a battery pack the size of a large brick and was anything but convenient.

These days we have smart phones that are essentially  hand-held computers that fit in our pockets. We have text messaging, voicemail, email, and all sorts of social media. All this connectivity has made our lives easier and much more convenient.

If you don’t know how to do something you have instant access to information online. If you don’t want to do the task yourself it has now become easy to find someone who can help. And because of modern technology I can now sit at the cabin, bounce a signal off a satellite that is 20,000 miles out in space, and work from my home in the middle of the forest. How fantastic is that!!!!

But here is the downside. How many of us know how to purify our own drinking water or start a fire in an emergency situation? How many of us know basic first aid and CPR. How many of us know how to can and preserve our own food, make home made bread or jelly? How many of us know how to raise chickens, plant a garden, or even cook from scratch like grandma used to do?

Hopefully you see my point. I am not lamenting over how things used to be or regretting many of the changes due to technology. I am simply referring to our loss of basic life skills. In today’s world of advanced technology we’ve lost numerous core life skills,  basic knowledge of sustainable living and most people have absolutely no sense of survival skills. Our lives have been improved by modern technology but ultimately we have been robbed of something very valuable. We are now a society that is no longer self sufficient, no longer self reliant, and no longer sustainable. Furthermore, these types of skills are no longer even taught at home.

Annette’s son Erik is turning 20 years old this year and has been living on his own for a couple of years now. A good portion of his childhood was spent growing up at the cabin. And believe me when I say it was a struggle at times. There was anger, frustration, crying and a lot of resistance to help with the chores necessary for the three of us to live there. But there was one thing I kept telling him over and over again. If you can learn to live like this you will be prepared to live anywhere you want. Cultivating the creativity and determination to live off the grid will prepare you for far more things in life than you can imagine.

Now that he has been out on his own for several years he frequently comes back to us says that people in the world don’t know how to do anything anymore. He has turned out to be very independent and self reliant. So, I think we did at least one thing correctly. 

But as I said before, I think the underlying challenge is that basically there are far too many people who do not know how to take care of themselves. There are far fewer people that possess any concept whatsoever of  the most basic survival skills. And this is because we depend so heavily on technology. We think such skills are no longer needed or even necessary.

But there is a good side to this. There is tremendous cross over between basic life skills and sustainable living skills. Consequently, in many respects if you want to live more sustainably all you really have to do is focus on learning some of the more basic life skills.

But there is a lot of talk these days about self-reliance, self-sufficiency, sustainability, and even core life skills. So let’s take a moment to define what each of these really mean because they are all related but not exactly the same.

The philosopher John Stuart Mill is credited with first using the term self reliance in an 1883 letter where he described this as an essential quality of “a free man.” The basis of self reliance is depending on yourself for things without relying on others. This is of course what we try to achieve when we first leave our parents behind and move out on our own. But you may also prove your self reliance by cooking your own meals, taking the bus by yourself or hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Self reliant people tend to be creative and innovative. They tend to be coordinators, organizers and make decisions easily. Such people can provide for their own needs independently for extended periods of time.

Self sufficiency on the other hand tends to focus on meeting your own needs without relying on any external sources. For example, providing sufficient resources such as power, water, shelter, and food without any outside assistance.

A good way to look at this is that self-reliance emphasizes individual skills and resourcefulness. It is about developing personal skills and abilities to take care of yourself. It is about relying on your own power and initiative. Self sufficiency leans more toward independence from external systems and providing for yourself in a comprehensive manner. It is about achieving a high degree of independence and autonomy.

For example, at the cabin I am highly self reliant. I have done virtually all the construction work, learned how to design and install solar electric systems, build a greenhouse, and I even learned how to run heavy equipment so I could do road repairs. Rarely have I relied on anyone else to help me do these things. I have had to be self reliant because I did not have a choice.

On the other hand, we are 100% self sufficient when it comes to our water supply and electricity. We have systems in place to supply these needs for ourselves without relying on external sources. We supply 100% of our own wood to heat the cabins. We are self sufficient in that respect. But we of course have to purchase propane.

We raise chicken and turkeys and have the greenhouse. We do a considerable amount of home food preservation. We acquire large amounts of organic meat from a Colorado ranch. We make about 90% of our own bread products and spice mixes. We also keep a large store of basic dry goods. So in this sense, we are about 50% self sufficient when it comes to our food supply. But, we have enough supplies on hand that we could be completely self sufficient for about a year. Our focus is to be able to live at the cabin for an extended period of time without any reliance on the outside world in the unlikely event that we ever had to do such a thing.

As you can see there is a lot of cross over between self reliance and self sufficiency. But with the self sufficiency mindset the intention is completely different. However, you are never going to be self sufficient without possessing the needed skills to be self reliant. You can actually be a very self reliant person without ever being self sufficient.

By now I hope you get the point. So, let’s transition into talking about core life skills and then I would like to show how that helps us develop sustainable living skills.

In a very academic sense, core life skills refer to a set of essential abilities that enable all of us to adapt and deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. These are the types of skills we all need to successfully manage our personal, social, and professional lives. Honing such skills enables all of us to grow into productive members of our community and society as a whole.

According to the World Health Organization, there are 10 core life skills:

1.  Self-awareness
2.  Empathy
3.  Critical thinking
4.  Creative thinking
5.  Decision making
6.  Problem Solving
7.  Effective communication
8.  Interpersonal relationship
9.  Coping with stress
10.  10.Coping with emotions

What you should note about these skills is that they focus on personal development and adaptability. Such skills are developed through education, training, and life experiences.

On the other hand, sustainable living skills focus on developing an environmentally friendly lifestyle, minimalism, and even social responsibility. Good examples of sustainable living skills are resource conservation, utilization of renewable energy and other sustainable technologies, waste reduction and recycling, sustainable consumption, reduction of your personal environmental footprint, growing your own food, learning to cook from basic ingredients.  Again, these skills are developed through education, training, and especially through the practical application of these skills in your daily life.

In a broad sense, core life skills focus on individual development and adaptability while sustainable living skills focus on a more collective responsibility concerning our environmental impact. Core life skills tend to be more general whereas sustainable living skills are very specific. Core life skills are essential for personal and professional success. Sustainable living skills are crucial for protecting the planet for future generations.

A great example of the cross over between core life skills and sustainable living is saving money. Managing your money could certainly be considered a important life skill. But the many ways you can save money are also environmentally friendly. For example:

-Set a budget: This means living within your means and being conservative about what you spend. This also means avoiding any impulse buying and over consumption. Setting a budget means you also go easy on the environment.

-Downsizing your home will save you a substantial amount of money. Living in a smaller home also greatly reduces your environmental impact. You use less water, burn less fossil fuels, have fewer personal possession, and use far less electricity.

-Cook meals at home. The average person spends more that 50% of their monthly budget on restaurant food, take out, and food delivery services. This produces a tremendous amount of waste and has a significant impact on the environment. You can avoid all of that by cooking at home.

-Buying second hand products; Far too many things end up in our landfills for no reason. Instead of buying something new consider shopping at a thrift store, or garage and estate sales.

-DIY; People spend far too much money paying other people to complete various home projects that you could like do yourself. I have saved tens of thousands of dollars by learning to do things myself. And chances are, that has significantly less environmental impact than hiring someone else.

-Use public transportation is far less expensive than operating a personal vehicle. This not only saves you money but also significantly reduces your ecological footprint.

-Using energy efficient appliances: This is also a great way to reduce the carbon footprint of your home.

The whole point here is that so many people still think that living sustainably is some big mystery. But the bottom line is that there is a lot of cross over with core life skills and sustainable living. I think the challenge is that due to our technology based society we are no longer taught some basic life skills. Consequently, living sustainable seems difficult concept.

When it comes to living off the grid I can tell you for certain that critical thinking, ingenuity, and creativity have become my best friends. But as a general rule,  the same could be said about most things in life. Core life skills also require critical thinking, problem solving and adaptability. Developing sustainable living skills further enhances your core life skills. The benefit of integrating core life skills and sustainable living is that it can provide a comprehensive and holistic approach to both personal and professional development.

If you take a minute to look at important life skills you will quickly realize that each of those skills can be incorporated into a sustainable lifestyle. For example:

Doing laundry: Having clean clothes is an important part of personal care and being self reliant.  The sustainability part of that equation is using environmentally friendly detergents, doing laundry only when you have a full load, and even hanging clothes out to dry in order to save electricity.

Food preparation: Cooking meals at home is not only healthier but also much more sustainable. Eating out, eating fast food, consuming pre-packaged foods or other highly processed foods are less healthy, costs more money and produces a lot more waste.

-Shopping for groceries on a budget: This goes along with food preparation. So many people think that eating healthy is more expensive. That is simply not true. If you learn to cook using basic kitchen staples you can still produce a huge variety of meals and save yourself a considerable amount of money.

Purchase perishable foods only in the amount you think you will consume in less than one week. This is the best way to prevent food waste. Purchase only fruits and vegetables that are in season. Doing both of these things will save you a lot of money and is also easier on the environment.

-Minimalism: I strongly recommend adopting a minimalistic attitude toward life. This means purchasing only what you need. Everything you own should have a specific purpose. This minimizing clutter, saves you a tremendous amount of money and also means you utilize fewer resources.

Summary

So, I hope you are starting to get the picture here. Living sustainably is not all that difficult. There is no big mystery. Sustainable living can easily be integrated in the things we should be doing anyway. It is perhaps just a little bit of a different mindset.

In summary:

-Core life skills refer to a set of essential abilities that enable all of us to adapt and deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. These are the types of skills we all need to successfully manage our personal, social, and professional lives.

-Self reliance: Self reliant people tend to be creative and innovative. They tend to be coordinators, organizers and make decisions easily. Such people can provide for their own needs independently for extended periods of time.

-Self sufficiency: Self sufficiency on the other hand tends to focus on meeting your own needs without relying on any external sources. For example,  providing sufficient resources such as power, water, shelter, and food without any outside assistance.

-Sustainable living: focusing on minimizing your environmental impact and maximizing the use of local resources while focusing on the conservation of the environment. 

So, think of it this way. Core life skills are the things that enable us to take care of ourselves day-to-day. Developing your core life skills makes you a self reliant person. That self reliance can then be used to make yourself as self sufficient as possible in the context of where and how you live. You can then incorporate sustainable practices which minimize your use of resources and reduces your environmental impact as much as possible. And this would turn you into a modern day sustainable living expert. People would start asking you how you do what you do?

Now what I want to do is to answer the sustainability question of the week.

Do we really have toxic products in our homes? If so, what are the effects of those products?

Since 1950, approximately 70,000 new synthetic chemical have been invented and are now dispersed in the environment. On average there are about 150 chemicals found in our homes that are directly connected to specific health problems. 

Many of these chemicals have been directly connected to allergies, psychological disorders,  birth defects, endocrine disruption, various types of cancer, and reproductive disorders. Just another reason to live sustainably.

Well folks in closing I hope this episode has proved there is no big mystery to living sustainably. Core life skills added to self reliance added to self sufficiency added to sustainable living would turn you turn you into a well adjusted, stable, creative, ingenious individual that could survive almost anything. But in the end it is simply a choice. Our choices make changes. Given the right choices you can change your life and be a part of changing our world.

Until next week this is your host Patrick signing off. Always remember to live sustainably because this is how we build a better future.