By Brian Skeele, on April 12th, 2011
How can we have more time?? How are we going to live lighter on the Planet??!! Significantly lighter?? SHARE YOUR IDEAS! (comment below, or go to Share Your Vision!)
Creating More Time-It Takes a Sustainable Village!
Here’s my take. If we were to create a great neighborhood, a convenient, mixed use, inspiring, supportive atmosphere, we would be richer. If we could find ways to downsize our financial needs, we’d free up time; More disposable income, more time.
To be able to walk, ride your bike, or take public transportation to work, requires a mixed use community. Now your family can let go of a car or two, and life becomes more affordable.
A mixed use neighborhood, with neighbors out and about, creates safer streets, so our children can get about without chauffeuring, freeing up time and peace of mind.
A short commute, or joining a meal share plan frees up and creates more time.
What would you do with more Time? Work on the new career…..lifelong learning…professional development….time to contemplate?
Spending time lingering over a cup of tea, or a beer, with a friend, reading a book, spending more time with children, or working in the garden; maybe these make for a more abundant life for you.
To have an end of life strategy, an aging in place program where I can help the elders of my neighborhood, and in turn, when my time comes, be assured of helping hands nearby, these are qualities money can’t by, but time can.
The trend over the last 40-50 years has been to make the home the center of life; Our theater, our library, spa, restaurant, entertainment center, a sanctuary, an isolated unit in suburbia; an increasingly bigger house connected to the world in a sprawl car dominated lifestyle.
My wife and I are a unit, a band of two, holding it together. As we’re both self-employed, even our offices are in our home.
When I contrast that with the stories I hear of long established village life is Europe, it gets me to thinking. How can I lower my expenses so I can have better choices? How can I lower my eco footprint? What would I be willing to share?
As I understand, in this European lifestyle, community life plays a bigger part of the home life. The home is smaller, the living room in the nearby restaurant. Many evenings are spent over a meal, enjoying the comradery of community. Maybe it sounds kind of gossipy and claustrophobic, and yet there is something alluring.
As we learn to live in balance with the planet, we’ll be learning to make choices that can give us more time and a higher quality of life!
My intention is for this website to become a living compliation of good ideas, what works, what makes sustainable real. SHARE YOUR IDEAS, STORIES!
Image courtesy of Virginia Tech