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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] KISS, the quest for simple solutions
  • Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2007 07:48:27 -0700


On Jun 17, 2007, at 6:02 AM, Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:

The "negativism" is actually just a form of the $239 tomato, says I. . . .

No, it isn't negativism, it's realism. It's the insight and courage to look
the matter clear through to the end and see that many (most) of the proffered
low tech solutions use more energy, cause more pollution, and require more
cash (the obtaining of which itself uses energy and causes pollution) than just
limiting oneself to that lower amount of energy and obtaining it from
conventional sources. The real low tech solutions are shunned as some sort of hellish
curse.

The seductiveness of high technology is increased with each year of new offerings by entrepreneurs hell bent on becoming the latest mega- billionaire. The masses have become conditioned to media advertising in its myriad forms. It is easier to throw money at a challenge than to research the possibilities and make something out of found material.

How to regain our sense of keep-it-simple? My bet is it will happen as it most often has before, the frog-in-the-heating-pot scenario. Like political "leaders," the media mostly follows the noise of the people. High gas price angst predictably increases column inches devoted to myriad explanations and excite DC Whorehouse residents to call for investigation of "price gouging." Live close to work? Work close to home? Why, there are finger-clicking reasons why that just can't happen.

The early philosophy of The Mother Earth News is still sound and is appropriate for today's energy challenges. TMEN archives are full of good ideas by people who walk the talk. Use technology, sure, but use inexpensive, simple technology. Although I have dreamed for years of having a ram pump put stream water up on the hill behind the house, I am now considering simply building a roof up there to collect rainfall, a plan that is about as low-tech as I can imagine. Anyone with a hill near their house can do the same. Although rain is no longer pure, it is cleaner than stream water, so needs less treatment to be safe for household use. The amount of pipe needed is the same. Greater storage is the only offset I can think of.

Can anyone think of a simpler, lower-cost water delivery system?







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