Human Nature? A Junky for Learning? What?
Went for a walk yesterday with Siris. I'm trying to put together a walking/hiking pack. In the past, when I have prepared for walks, I've just slung a small bottle of water in a carrier over one shoulder and stuck my cell phone in my pocket. And carried my camera. But carrying weight on just one shoulder always gave me a backache so I often just skipped the water altogether, and I've often been too lazy to even bring my cell phone. When I walked in the winter, not having water wasn't an issue, Siris and I just ate snow. Now that the warmer weather is here, I'm being more deliberate about bringing along the things that I need and that might come in handy in case of an accident.
Now that the snow is gone, I need to bring water for both me and Siris, and I need to constantly be on the lookout for rattlesnakes. I purchased one of those lightweight backpacks that come with an attached drinking straw. It carries two liters of drinking water. On my first hike with it I realized that it was going to be a major pain to use it for drinking water for Siris. I've had to bite the mouthpiece, hold the water in my mouth until I can get several sips gathered, then spit it into my folded hands for him to drink. Luckily he's not concerned about catching cooties from me, but it's still not a convenient way to hydrate him. So I purchased a dog water dispenser for him that I can carry in my pack. It's essentially just a plastic water bottle with a drinking tray attached.
I also bring a roll of toilet paper and a lighter in my pack. Let's just say that I learned the hard way over the winter that hiking stimulates the bowels, and it's very unpleasant when there's nothing around except snow and sagebrush.
I bring my cell phone now that the rattlesnakes are out of hibernation (though I should have been bringing in the winter, too, in case I had an accident). I recently read on DesertUSA that in spring when the weather isn't hot yet, rattlesnakes tend to be more out in the open during the day, since they're dependent on the sun and the ambient heat to maintain their body temperature. As it gets warmer and closer to summer, they seek out the shade of bushes and rocks during the day, and come out more at night. Both scenarios are dangerous, if you're inattentive. I try to look where I and Siris are putting our feet, but he often strays off a ways and, as I've said, takes periodic breaks under the bushes in the shade. He's had his first in the series of two rattlesnake vaccinations, but those shots supposedly just slow the process of poisoning after a bite, they don't remove the danger altogether.
I bring a journal and a pen, in case I have some ideas I want to write down and that I'm worried I'll forget later. I bring my camera and on good days I remember to insert its battery. Yesterday I brought a book, Against Civilization, a collection of essays edited by John Zerzan, with me and I sat on a rock and read an essay by Ivan Illich ("Toward a History of Needs"). I enjoyed the Illich essay very much, as I have his other works, but the other material I've read so far in this book has not been very illuminating and leaves me frustrated.
I've run into this problem before when reading material written by anarcho-primitivists: they often make what appear to be completely arbitrary distinctions between what is nature and what they consider to be non-natural, between human nature and degradation of human nature, between community and civilization. For example, in his Introduction to the book, Zerzan refers to the "obvious "mutilation of 'human nature'" and the "malignancy of daily life"(2005, 1). In the Foreward, Chellis Glendinning asserts not only that contemporary industrial society is dysfunctional, but civilization itself (xi). He says that our well-being depends on "our pursuance of our given place within the natural world."
I do not at all deny that there are problems with our society today or that many people are living lives that are not conducive to happiness or fulfillment; however, I do not understand how we are to determine what is human nature vs. a degradation of that nature, and malignant vs. non-malignant collective life. It's all a part of nature, including our impulses to use the environment and other forms of life for our own ends. And I believe that civilization has brought, along with its many problems, many benefits. And I think many people are living happy, fulfilled lives within our contemporary industrial society. It's far more complicated than they make it out to be, and I don't believe that simply returning everyone to a so-called state of nature is necessarily the best path to pursue for humans, other animals, or the earth. Even determining what that best path and what the best outcomes might be, and if there are such things, is fraught with difficulty. What is it that's best? The elimination of all human beings so that the earth can continue on without us, without the effects that our civilization produces? Or a selective breeding and education program to promote the development of maximum human intelligence so that we can more quickly learn how to manage the earth's resources in a sustainable way? Or our prolific reproduction, eventual destruction of the current eco system, and our extinction so that some new forms of life can develop that are the next stage of life adapted to the changes that have taken place in the environment? Do we want maximum happiness for a limited number of people, or to ensure a baseline of survival for all people?
Maybe it's human nature to seek more and more material goods, even as the environment is destroyed for future generations of living things. Maybe it's human nature to develop societies in which some are happy and many are deprived and unfulfilled. These are issues that need to be addressed and those who want to return us to our so-called original state of nature ought to address them in a more substantive way.
But there are (at least) two things that propel toward making my own food and drink from as scratch as I can. First, I know that these things are often much better with respect to flavor and texture than the pre-packaged mass produced version. There's also the whole rich, sensory experience of smelling things cooking, and feeling the dough or whatever it is your handling with your hands. That's a big one for me.
I suppose if you believe that societal and economic collapse are coming, you'd want to know how to make your own. But for many of the foods and drinks I've thought about, it would be just as hard to get the ingredients to make your own in that case as it would be to buy the packaged version of the finished product. This isn't true of all products; for example, everything I could preserve from my garden without additional ingredients, assuming I already had all the canning equipment, would be make-able after a collapse.
The main reason for me has to do with achieving competence in producing basic necessities of life. I enjoy and feel fulfilled when I learn how to create something myself. Yes, I can produce basic necessities of life by going to the store and giving them some money in exchange for a product, but that's a very different process than knowing which basic ingredients to combine and how to cook dough in order to produce English muffins. That process of giving money in exchange for product doesn't require that I know anything about that product, its components, or how to produce it. While there's some satisfaction with being able to generate sufficient money to exchange for the product, it's not the same satisfaction that comes with learning how and being able to make the product yourself. In the process of making English Muffins, today, I realized why they are always sort of broken and indented around the middle. I'd thought it was that way to make them easier to break in half for toasting. But I realized that English Muffins are grilled: they're cooked on a griddle on one side, then flipped and cooked on the other. Thus they cook inward from one flat surface toward the middle, then after you flip them, they cook inward from that flat surface. The middle is the least cooked and least compacted part. So, when you're done cooking them, there's a ring around the muffin where the two halves meet. I guess, then, my justification for reducing my consumption of pre-packaged, mass-produced items is this: I'm a junky for learning and making new things, and understanding how things are made.
Now that the snow is gone, I need to bring water for both me and Siris, and I need to constantly be on the lookout for rattlesnakes. I purchased one of those lightweight backpacks that come with an attached drinking straw. It carries two liters of drinking water. On my first hike with it I realized that it was going to be a major pain to use it for drinking water for Siris. I've had to bite the mouthpiece, hold the water in my mouth until I can get several sips gathered, then spit it into my folded hands for him to drink. Luckily he's not concerned about catching cooties from me, but it's still not a convenient way to hydrate him. So I purchased a dog water dispenser for him that I can carry in my pack. It's essentially just a plastic water bottle with a drinking tray attached.I also bring a roll of toilet paper and a lighter in my pack. Let's just say that I learned the hard way over the winter that hiking stimulates the bowels, and it's very unpleasant when there's nothing around except snow and sagebrush.
I bring my cell phone now that the rattlesnakes are out of hibernation (though I should have been bringing in the winter, too, in case I had an accident). I recently read on DesertUSA that in spring when the weather isn't hot yet, rattlesnakes tend to be more out in the open during the day, since they're dependent on the sun and the ambient heat to maintain their body temperature. As it gets warmer and closer to summer, they seek out the shade of bushes and rocks during the day, and come out more at night. Both scenarios are dangerous, if you're inattentive. I try to look where I and Siris are putting our feet, but he often strays off a ways and, as I've said, takes periodic breaks under the bushes in the shade. He's had his first in the series of two rattlesnake vaccinations, but those shots supposedly just slow the process of poisoning after a bite, they don't remove the danger altogether.
I bring a journal and a pen, in case I have some ideas I want to write down and that I'm worried I'll forget later. I bring my camera and on good days I remember to insert its battery. Yesterday I brought a book, Against Civilization, a collection of essays edited by John Zerzan, with me and I sat on a rock and read an essay by Ivan Illich ("Toward a History of Needs"). I enjoyed the Illich essay very much, as I have his other works, but the other material I've read so far in this book has not been very illuminating and leaves me frustrated. I've run into this problem before when reading material written by anarcho-primitivists: they often make what appear to be completely arbitrary distinctions between what is nature and what they consider to be non-natural, between human nature and degradation of human nature, between community and civilization. For example, in his Introduction to the book, Zerzan refers to the "obvious "mutilation of 'human nature'" and the "malignancy of daily life"(2005, 1). In the Foreward, Chellis Glendinning asserts not only that contemporary industrial society is dysfunctional, but civilization itself (xi). He says that our well-being depends on "our pursuance of our given place within the natural world."
I do not at all deny that there are problems with our society today or that many people are living lives that are not conducive to happiness or fulfillment; however, I do not understand how we are to determine what is human nature vs. a degradation of that nature, and malignant vs. non-malignant collective life. It's all a part of nature, including our impulses to use the environment and other forms of life for our own ends. And I believe that civilization has brought, along with its many problems, many benefits. And I think many people are living happy, fulfilled lives within our contemporary industrial society. It's far more complicated than they make it out to be, and I don't believe that simply returning everyone to a so-called state of nature is necessarily the best path to pursue for humans, other animals, or the earth. Even determining what that best path and what the best outcomes might be, and if there are such things, is fraught with difficulty. What is it that's best? The elimination of all human beings so that the earth can continue on without us, without the effects that our civilization produces? Or a selective breeding and education program to promote the development of maximum human intelligence so that we can more quickly learn how to manage the earth's resources in a sustainable way? Or our prolific reproduction, eventual destruction of the current eco system, and our extinction so that some new forms of life can develop that are the next stage of life adapted to the changes that have taken place in the environment? Do we want maximum happiness for a limited number of people, or to ensure a baseline of survival for all people?
Maybe it's human nature to seek more and more material goods, even as the environment is destroyed for future generations of living things. Maybe it's human nature to develop societies in which some are happy and many are deprived and unfulfilled. These are issues that need to be addressed and those who want to return us to our so-called original state of nature ought to address them in a more substantive way.
Homemade English Muffins
Lately I've been eating English Muffins or bagels for breakfast everyday, and today I made my own English Muffins. After reading lots of homesteading blogs, I've become more committed to reducing my consumption of pre-packaged, mass-produced food and drink. I don't think there is anything intrinsically better about non-pre-packaged, non-mass-produced food and drink. For example, it may be more energy efficient to mass produce English Muffins than for me to make my own. It may produce more non-compostable waste to make my own. I don't know. And there's nothing particularly horrible in Thomas' English Muffins according to LabelWatch (http://www.labelwatch.com/prod_results.php?pid=161008), for example. My local grocery store even makes their own store-brand in-house. This is true of many of the packaged foods I eat, so I haven't really seen any persuasive reasons to make my own, especially when making my own whatever is time intensive.But there are (at least) two things that propel toward making my own food and drink from as scratch as I can. First, I know that these things are often much better with respect to flavor and texture than the pre-packaged mass produced version. There's also the whole rich, sensory experience of smelling things cooking, and feeling the dough or whatever it is your handling with your hands. That's a big one for me.
I suppose if you believe that societal and economic collapse are coming, you'd want to know how to make your own. But for many of the foods and drinks I've thought about, it would be just as hard to get the ingredients to make your own in that case as it would be to buy the packaged version of the finished product. This isn't true of all products; for example, everything I could preserve from my garden without additional ingredients, assuming I already had all the canning equipment, would be make-able after a collapse.
The main reason for me has to do with achieving competence in producing basic necessities of life. I enjoy and feel fulfilled when I learn how to create something myself. Yes, I can produce basic necessities of life by going to the store and giving them some money in exchange for a product, but that's a very different process than knowing which basic ingredients to combine and how to cook dough in order to produce English muffins. That process of giving money in exchange for product doesn't require that I know anything about that product, its components, or how to produce it. While there's some satisfaction with being able to generate sufficient money to exchange for the product, it's not the same satisfaction that comes with learning how and being able to make the product yourself. In the process of making English Muffins, today, I realized why they are always sort of broken and indented around the middle. I'd thought it was that way to make them easier to break in half for toasting. But I realized that English Muffins are grilled: they're cooked on a griddle on one side, then flipped and cooked on the other. Thus they cook inward from one flat surface toward the middle, then after you flip them, they cook inward from that flat surface. The middle is the least cooked and least compacted part. So, when you're done cooking them, there's a ring around the muffin where the two halves meet. I guess, then, my justification for reducing my consumption of pre-packaged, mass-produced items is this: I'm a junky for learning and making new things, and understanding how things are made.
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