Earth Home 40202 is a developing, local, urban*, residential, incubator of aspiring, non-mystical, deep ecologists*. Building environmentally sustainable lifestyles requires community – it takes a village. Central to building environmentally sustainable lifestyles is the concept of ’embodied energy’ – https://www.bikecourier.org/embodied-energy/. Earth Home 40202 is not the effort of communist luddites, not a commune, not a cult, just citizens attempting to live lightly on Earth, 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 seeks to play a role in the radical transformation of individual lives and of Louisville, Kentucky.
Earth Home 40202 partners with Deep Ecology Louisville https://www.facebook.com/people/Deep-Ecology-Louisville/61581836699217/ and the periodic Parent, Child, Climate Change program exploring the challenges of raising or being children facing climate change.
Earth Home 40202 is based in two adjacent Highlands houses. A third site will accommodate four to eight residents downtown – 107 W Market St.. The rehab of that site starts soon.
Action is central to Earth Home 40202. We garden, advocate with the city and Metro Council, assist nonprofits, generate much of our electrical needs, pool funds to buy and convert distressed urban property into greenspace, volunteer, etc..
Earth Home 40202 is a work in progress. The concept continues to evolve. Come 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’ ?
Our hypermobility is:
… destructive to nature,
… energy intensive,
… infrastructure demanding,
… deprives local community of members’ focus, investment, and care,
… hastens climate change morphing into climate chaos.
Our personal travel experiences are not that important.
We are needed at home.
You are needed in Louisville, Kentucky.
* ? What is current energy production ?
One house hosts 16 solar panels.
We have an option on a fourth 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, a small vegetable plot, apple, cherry, peach and fig trees, and a 25′ x 200′ micro forest containing persimmon, pawpaw, service berry, mulberry, passion fruit, non-fruiting trees, and volunteer pumpkins and tomatoes.
? Why is Earth Home 40202 housed in bikecourier.org ?
This website has been a digital public face of efforts to create a more sustainable Louisville, a more sustainable Earth, for over twenty years. Transportation and land use have been central to bikecourier.org . Road and traffic calming, reducing surface parking lots, increasing cycling, walking and public transit, are all components of a sustainable city. Realizing those goals requires a small army of committed, local, urban environmentalists. Earth Home 40202 is an effort to contribute more human capital to the local sustainability efforts.
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Addendum
Deep ecology’s Louisville Kentucky presence is being developed at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581836699217
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.
Key Principles and Concepts
Inherent Value: Deep ecology asserts that all living things—plants, animals, and entire ecosystems—possess intrinsic value, meaning their right to exist and flourish is independent of their usefulness to humans.
Ecological Self: A core idea is the “ecological self,” where individuals realize their true nature as interconnected with the entire web of life, rather than being separate, atomistic beings.
Interconnectedness: It highlights the interdependence of all life forms and emphasizes that what happens to the natural world also happens to humans, as we are part of its biological foundation.
Critique of “Shallow” Environmentalism: Deep ecology emerged in opposition to “shallow” environmentalism, which focuses on protecting the environment primarily for human benefit, such as resource access and a stable climate.
Radical Change: It calls for fundamental shifts in our economic, technological, and ideological structures to achieve a state where human impact is significantly reduced, allowing other life forms to thrive.
Focus on Quality of Life: The philosophy advocates for appreciating life quality over a continuously increasing standard of living, recognizing the profound difference between what is “big” and what is “great”.