by George Lazar

Created on: July 20, 2010

As far back as I can remember, I used to stay for months with my grandparents, who lived in the countryside. Even now, in 2010 they rely on self-sufficiency to provide them with natural organic food . Nowadays they don't make their own bread anymore but.. back then, they used to.

They had a big yard and dozens of acres spread throughout the entire region. Each year was cyclical - in the spring they started with potatoes, corn, tomatoes, beans etc. In the summer they would make tons of hay, in the autumn they would harvest everything.

They didn't even use the word self-sufficiency. It was their way of life and that's that. Even now, at 80 years old, they probably know more than most self sufficiency book writers. They spent their entire life in the countryside so they know all the tricks to growing juicy red tomatoes, pears, apples, plums and everything else you can imagine.

Now I'm all grown up and I live in a big city. I rarely see them. I guess this mirage of living in a city makes us forget that a simpler life is sometimes more beneficial to our health.

But I haven't forgotten my childhood days. Even now, as I live in a cloud of pollution I try to remember what it was like then and.. become self sufficient in any way that I can. Being an urban homesteader is not as easy as it seems but it's well worth the effort. Self sufficiency simply gives you a feeling that you and only you are in charge of your life.

At first I overlooked self sufficiency. I thought it was something for people disgusted with the capitalist world. Something that's outdated and couldn't possibly work. Then I read some article telling me to start small, go slow and don't expect to be 100% self sufficient.

It made sense. I mean, my grandparents weren't 100% self sufficient either. They still bought food (especially sweets, most of which were for me) and they had plenty of contact with the big cities. I mean, if you're ill, you're not going to treat yourself, are you?

Reading that article is when I got the motivation to actually get into self sufficiency and green living. I simply started applying some tips. For instance, a green traveler's guide says that, once you go into your hotel room, the first thing to do is to turn off your appliances to save power. I mean, that's a GREAT tip.

Or, how about this: when you want to eat out, eat local. Don't go for big fast-food franchises. That's an awesome tip, by the way, because you encourage local small businesses to develop. More cash-flow will go in their direction, instead of some big corporation.

Those two green travel tips are pertaining to self-sufficiency and green living, they they apply to people living in big cities. This is proof that, if we want, we can help the environment and don't give up (yet?) our urban lives.

Learn more about this author, George Lazar.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.