<earth.home.40202@gmail.com>
Earth Home 40202 is an urban* Louisville space in which to grow non-mystical deep ecologists. Building environmentally sustainable lifestyles requires community – it takes a village. Mainstream Louisville does not embrace ‘Live Local** Lightly’. 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/. Few who know the term 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 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 people to help define and develop the concept.
The following may be distributed as a flier.
Housemates – aspiring deep ecologists (non-mystical) sharing two houses near Eastern Parkway / Bardstown Road with others in creating lifestyles that minimize human impact on Earth. <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’ ?
Travel is:
… energy intensive,
… infrastructure demanding,
… deprives local community of members’ focus, investment, and care,
… hastens the evolution of climate change to climate chaos.
Our personal travel experiences are not that important.
We are needed at home.
*** ? 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, apple, cherry, peach and fig trees, a small vegetable plot, and a 25′ x 100′ micro forest.
? 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 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”.