How do we wish to be?

We wish to live more from those things creation gladly gives us, sunlight, wind, soil and weather; food we grow, shelter we create, music from our hearts. We imagine a woodland idyll. A humble home in a clearing by a stream, a welcoming flower lined walk through a kitchen garden, the warmth of a fireplace, honey from our own hives, eggs, milk and and cheese of our own manufacture.

Would we be content?

We remain dependent on those things which must be violently claimed from the Earth, petrochemicals, mined minerals and metals. We rely on electricity, on piped-in gas and water. Would we, or even could we, give up the data that streams to us through the air or through the miles of fiber and copper that connect us to the world? We acknowledge that we are far from able to do without them.

But do we need so much?

We are mindful of the impact of our needs. We visit rivers and see that they are fouled and empty of fish. We smell the rot and death along once wild and clean ocean shores. We breathe in the smoke and dust of the city. We switch on a light, and somewhere something dies. We light a candle and reduce to smoke the labor of a thousand bees.

But we try. As we try, we learn, and as we learn, we hope to do better.

So here we record our trials. Here we examine what we do and how we hope to improve.