Sustainable Living Strategies for a Self-Reliant Future
When you have everything you could ever grow and more in local grocery store produce section, why bother gardening? Despite our modern society’s incredible abundance, growing and gardening at home has been on a consistent rise each year across North America and in other nations around the globe, even amongst younger age groups.
“Sustainability” is an industry buzzword, but it essentially means to endure or exist at a minimal cost, whether that cost is financial, environmental, or even psychological. Living a sustainable and self-reliant lifestyle is not about moving backwards to a less industrialized or convenient time, it’s about utilizing the incredible technology and knowledge society has amassed to find new solutions using the oldest of methods.
How do I get started?
The first step in this process is to evaluate your life and lifestyle.
Consider the ways in which your lifestyle could be optimized or improved to have a greater positive impact on your home, community, and environment. It could be as simple as recycling and composting to help your local waste management, shopping locally and checking labels to ensure products are ethically-sourced and safe, implementing renewable energy sources and energy-efficient products into your home, or even growing your own food to turn your backyard into its own produce aisle.
Your next step is to research.
The sustainability economy is large and growing, with new technologies and options to explore every year. With so many options available, it can be challenging to find the perfect solution for your situation. As you research online, ask others for their input, and see what products/services are available, you’ll find yourself gravitating towards the ideal solution for you. If you’re unsure, it is always great to get inspired by online influencers like My Self Reliance or blogs/magazines like Inhabitat, Tree Hugger, or the creators of the Growing Dome greenhouse, Growing Spaces.
Once you have ideas in mind, the only thing left to do is plan and work.
It’s ideal to break down your plan into stages and approach each new task as it’s own small project. Remember that a sustainable and self-reliant future is something that will compliment your lifestyle, rather than replacing it altogether.
Is this just a hobby, or a necessity?
If you do not have friends or family who garden, it is worth it to join an online community or speak to someone who does. When you do, you’ll hear about the lifestyle of growing and gardening for yourself, the work that it can take, but also the incredible benefits of growing from home!
Research has consistently found that gardening is good for your physical and mental wellbeing. Gardening reduces stress, is a great form of exercise, helps promote positive mental health, connects us to nature, gives us a feeling of satisfaction, and that is just the gardening process - next comes the results themselves.
Home gardens help your wallet by offsetting grocery shopping costs, increase your property’s value, and fresh, organic produce available year-round can do wonders for your diet and nutritional health.
In addition, a common problem amongst home growers is having too many fresh fruits and vegetables or other crops, making gardening a great way to give back to your community and share your success with others.
What is a Growing Dome greenhouse?
Growing Domes are state-of-the-art geodesic greenhouses that were designed with sustainability in mind. These greenhouse domes are expertly engineered, rigorously tested, and utilize many techniques and technology that make them ideal for home growing and gardening, horticultural operations, local tourism, community gardening, urban gardening, and more.
Beyond their unique appearance, Growing Domes are an amazing tool for low-energy growing. They are even capable of growing food year-round without the need for electricity at all, using simple but effective technology to trap and circulate heat inside, while protecting the crops or materials inside from the elements.
Available through Arctic Acres in Canada, and Growing Spaces in the United States, they are currently enriching the lives of many, even being utilized in Canada’s northern territory of Nunavut to help end food insecurity and sustain remote communities.
We may be a little biased, but we use Growing Domes because they work, can last decades, and we’ve seen the positive impact it can make on a household or community. They make growing easier, more enjoyable, and are a fantastic investment in a sustainable future.
When should I start?
Living a sustainable lifestyle is something we often think about, but at some point in this journey, we each need to make a decision and take action. This might be a simple change to your daily routine or a whole new way of seeing the world.
Regardless, your life can be greatly enriched by considering a more self-reliant future. It is an investment in not only yourself but the world around you.