pretty well sums up....

My beliefs!

Yes its a corny post from fb, but good advice

I could make that my own motto too . It needs something added about choosing self responsibility and using alternative power as our energy source and transportation .

I agree!

Ok, thats tw of us, only a few billion more to convince!

great list, Mick! We have followed or tried to something like that list for forty years.

This is why I love coming here. For the inspiration, information, helpful feedback, uplifting posts. Finally i have found my way!

Except for number 10, we have been doing all those things for 30 years. On #10... I already know enough about my neighbors here in the "wild west" of meth labs and shoot-outs to know that I really don't want to know them better! I prefer my neighbors on the east side of our property -- the ones in the national forest with four feet and fur.

Deb Stephens wrote:Except for number 10, we have been doing all those things for 30 years. On #10... I already know enough about my neighbors here in the "wild west" of meth labs and shoot-outs to know that I really don't want to know them better! I prefer my neighbors on the east side of our property -- the ones in the national forest with four feet and fur.

yes the four feet and fur sounds like a better contribution( the ones on the east i mean) >

Yes, but your "neighbors" do not have to live right beside you.

I am very fortunate in that i have good neighbors, for the most part. Humans are a community based animal, and i am very convinced that it is needed for our survival. Helping others is absolutely one of my keys to happines.

I am mainly viewed as the weird nice guy, that has good 'maters and can fix stuff.

We don't change the workd through condemning others, but by showing them a better way.

Yes i know i am being a plagirist! Lol

This lifestyle gave me my power back. I can not keep it to myself.

mick mclaughlin wrote:Yes, but your "neighbors" do not have to live right beside you.

I am very fortunate in that i have good neighbors, for the most part. Humans are a community based animal, and i am very convinced that it is needed for our survival. Helping others is absolutely one of my keys to happines.

I am mainly viewed as the weird nice guy, that has good 'maters and can fix stuff.

We don't change the workd through condemning others, but by showing them a better way.

Yes i know i am being a plagirist! Lol

This lifestyle gave me my power back. I can not keep it to myself.

Don't worry, we have been "preaching the gospel" of independence and environmental responsibility since we were teens (a LONG time ago) but when family and friends have not been rolling their eyes and sniggering into their sleeves, they are usually humoring the "crazy people". The locals call us "those weird people up on the hill" -- even though we have been an integral part of this community for decades. The problem is that you can't teach people anything when they all have 8th grade or lower educations, they're mostly strung out on drugs and legal booze (or moonshine) and they greet you at the driveway with a shotgun and a pack of junkyard hounds. You should hear what they say when we tell them we don't own guns, believe in taking care of the planet, love our animals and don't eat them and we don't kill every snake we see. (And for real laughs, you should be a fly on the wall when we mention that we're vegans!) Around here the only education anyone needs is how to shoot a semi-automatic weapon, poach out of season, drive a tractor (or monster truck and ATV), and make meth. Anything else is suspicious.

That is unfortunate.

I think i face challenges here preaching alternative farming methods in the heart of farm country!

Build a better mouse trap, but you cant educate those that do not want to learn.

...

What is the connection between Chinese imports and inflation?

If anything, Wal-mart is helping keep inflation low by keeping prices down and suppressing wage growth.

Well they certainly do thier best to keep wages low, except for the ceo's and owners.....

I am not a nunber cruncher, i dont really know the direct answer to your question. I am sure i could search for an explanation , but i suspect it has something to do with buying more of less.

That wal mart sells the lowest quality merchandise they csn find, exploits foriegn workers, treats thier employees terrible and just in general sucks, is enough for me to not use them.

Oh and me buying local does help. Buying from walmart does not help anyone .

mick mclaughlin wrote:Oh and me buying local does help. Buying from walmart does not help anyone .

That's another one good for a belly laugh around here. You ought to hear the comments when we say we NEVER shop at Walmart (haven't for over 15 years) and tell them why. The usual response is "Yeah, I know... but I can't afford to shop anywhere else."

I am not convinced money is why people use them.

That is what they tell thrmselves, i know.
Its gotta be convienence.

Yes stuff can be chesp, but its not that cheap, and thats not tsking in to account the real cost.

Clothes- i buy either really good shoes. I wear keen in the summer snd mainly danner boots in the fsll in the winter. Exspensive, but last years. I only buy other clothes from thrift or garage sales. I do buy good quality socks from the same local shoes were i buy my keens.

Food -all grown my own or bought local

Basicslly anything i could buy at wal mart i can find comprable prices elsewhere or buy used.

Jmo, for what its worrth.

mick mclaughlin wrote:I am not convinced money is why people use them.

That is what they tell thrmselves, i know.
Its gotta be convienence.

Yes stuff can be chesp, but its not that cheap, and thats not tsking in to account the real cost.

Clothes- i buy either really good shoes. I wear keen in the summer snd mainly danner boots in the fsll in the winter. Exspensive, but last years. I only buy other clothes from thrift or garage sales. I do buy good quality socks from the same local shoes were i buy my keens.

Food -all grown my own or bought local

Basicslly anything i could buy at wal mart i can find comprable prices elsewhere or buy used.

Jmo, for what its worrth.

I agree. I think people are too lazy to look around for alternatives, and they really don't give a darn if most of WalMart's goods are cheap because they exploit their employees and use virtually slave labor to produce them. They say they can't afford to shop elsewhere because they don't want to shop elsewhere. I tell people that WalMart is putting main street out of business and all the people whose jobs are in those business really need local support to stay afloat -- people many of them know (sometimes even family members). Then you know what they say? Something along the lines of "Well my cousin Joe works at the local hardware store and HE shops at WalMart because its cheaper!" And sadly, its true. The local businesses don't even have the brains and determination to support themselves. Sometimes I think they deserve to go under, but I still keep preaching the buy local mantra -- even if it seems I am only talking to myself.

I haven't bought anything new in the way of clothing for I don't know how many years. I only shop thrift stores for stuff like that. I know it isn't possible to get everything there, but the amount we spend elsewhere is not even a drop in a lake compared to most people. Like you, we reuse and make do, raise most of our food and make most of what we need (I even make our shoes). A lot of the time, we simply do without things. (For example, we have no air conditioning or central heat, etc. -- things most people these days think are necessities. I wouldn't know what to do if my house was 65 degrees inside when its 104 degrees outside! I would think I had stepped into some kind of parallel universe or something! We just deal with the heat and keep going. I hear so many people complaining about how the heat is killing them and I think, it probably is because you are no longer a part of your environment. You're like an alien creature who has to take its climate-controlled shell with it everywhere it goes.)

Well, I need to get to work now. Didn't mean to get sucked into a discussion so early in the day, but you know how that goes sometimes...