Minimizing the Consumption of Natural Resources (17)

xidai

Minimizing the Consumption of Natural Resources

-Series of the Bright Spots of the Second Home (17)

Yixian

(Translated by Ailian and Edited by Kaer)

January 28, 2014

In recent years, natural disasters have become more and more frequent and serious, and some have been the biggest disasters of the century. There are many abnormal weather phenomena such as typhoons, hurricanes, earthquakes, famines, droughts, temperature extremes, and haze. Mother Nature is warning us through all these different natural phenomena. People have plundered too much from nature and have broken her natural balance. If people do not change the current production and life modes, sooner or later we will destroy ourselves.

Protect the environment, care for nature, and reduce our consumption. These are everybody’s duties, and we cannot and must not delay.

Can the earth support all the world's human population? Yes! The resources on the earth are enough to support every person. However, most of the resources are currently controlled by a small handful of people. People's current production and life modes waste a lot of resources. For example, there is at least one TV in each household. This is waste! Another example is the transporting of food from one place to another. Statistics show that one third of it is wasted.

The Second Home lifestyle is a collective one. We advocate that “everyone have nothing yet own everything”. All our resources are shared among all our members. Because everything is publicly owned, everyone can use them when needed, and everything gets used to its maximum. In our 4th branch, there is a TV in the main hall, and usually there are dozens of people watching it together. In nuclear families, that number of people would require at least ten TVs. From this view, we can say that natural resource consumption in a collective life like the Second Home is far less than what are consumed by traditional small families.

In the Second Home, there are no leftovers, not even grains of rice. All the food waste either feeds the chickens and ducks or are used for compost, but nothing is ever wasted. As for the clothing, we dress appropriately and cleanly, but we do not pursue luxury brands. If we have unsuitable clothes, we usually put them in storage, where anyone who needs or likes the clothes can just take them. We have many other similar examples.

We revere life and revere nature. We try to take no more than we need. We never damage or pollute nature or the environment. Instead, we strive to care for nature and to maintain our environment tidy and clean, and we make the maximum use of everything.

Our 3rd branch was originally a farm stay. When we were cleaning the yard and fields, we found are all kinds of rubbish, including plastic waste and glasses everywhere, so we cleaned them all away. Only by revering nature from deep within the hearts and caring for the environment in every detail, can we have fresh air, clean water, and a good high quality of food. We are one with Mother Nature, and we are inseparable from nature.

We have enough fruits and vegetables in the Second Home.They are pure, natural, and pollution-free. This is because we applied permaculture and natural farming. We improved our soil with organic fertilizer, and this increased the vitality and fertility of the soil. We also did waste classification disposal. For example, some rubbish went to compost and some was used for burning. Sewage waste is filtered through certain plants before disposal and human waste is fully fermented before being used in the fields.

The Second Home’s production and life mode reduces the consumption of resources to a minimum. We not only enjoy the life quality, but also keep Mother Nature clean and pure.

vege garden

a corner of the hall

performance stage

dinning room

playground

wooden stairs

human waste are reused after fully fermented

reachable fruits

reachable fruits

reachable fruits