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. Mainstream Louisville Kentucky does not embrace ‘Live Local** Lightly’ lifestyles. 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/. Those who are aware of ’embodied energy’ do not relate it to our life practices. Few 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 seeks to play a role in the radical transformation of individual lives and of Louisville, Kentucky.
Earth Home 40202 is partnering with Deep Ecology Louisville (see the Deep Ecology Louisville facebook page) to form a two-component project. Both components explore the ‘how to’ of living an environment-nurturing lifestyle. The Deep Ecology Louisville component is not unlike a graduate seminar – small, discussion-based, actively engaging with topic focuses and material, immersing participants in the issues, providing opportunities to discuss, debate, research and explore new ideas, inviting and expecting researched contributions, questions and critiques. Hands on, physical projects will also be part of the experience.
The other component, Earth Home 40202, will couple the seminar with a residential opportunity at one of the Earth Home 40202 sites.
Action, tempered by Reinhold Niebuhr’s “grant the serenity to accept the things that cannot be changed, the courage to change the things that can be changed, and the wisdom to know the difference”, is central to the Deep Ecology Louisville / Earth Home 40202 project. Action, personal and social, will be the focus. Action will supplant hand wringing, pearl clutching, whining, and complaining. Actionable projects may be modest or ambitious, such as advocacy with the city and Metro Council, assisting nonprofits, gardening, sewing window quilts, installing solar panels, or pooling funds to buy and convert distressed urban property into greenspace.
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 resident participants to help define and develop the concept.
There are currently available in the two houses:
…a huge furnished bedroom with a private bath, and
…a second furnished bedroom with a shared bath.<earth.home.40202@gmail.com>
* ? 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 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, 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”.