An Earth Day Reading/Listening List
Creating local, going solar and more cheap land!
Our teen daughter woke us up screaming “Earth Day” at dawn this morning, which gives me some hope.
Actually, while cynicism and doomerism seem to be the hottest trends in a lot of circles today, I do find quite a bit to be hopeful about. In honor of the 55th Earth Day, here’s a few topics that have been bright spots recently, accompanied by a few portals to draw you down the rabbit hole of each:
Localism
Localism can mean different things and take many forms, but I consider anything responding to the old invocation to “think globally, act locally” to fall under this umbrella.
In the blockchain/web3 universe that I work in, Ethereum localism has been picking up a little bit of steam again lately. This is a movement that I’ve kept something at arms length until recently, as I’d seen a number of false starts on this front over the past four years and such efforts often seemed to be initiated in communities with the least need of such organizing (not immune from that trendy cynicism after all).
But the buzz coming out of the Ethereum Localism movement now feels both undeniable and increasingly pragmatic.
For a great primer on all of this, I strongly recommend the latest episode of the Green Pill podcast, which dives into Ethereum Localism in a very thoughtful way, and also introduces the useful concept of “cosmolocalism,” which gives that old “think global, act local” adage a 21st-century update. The concept can be summarized along the lines of systems that involve instead designing globally and creating locally.
So much solar
We’re expanding our off-grid homestead, and more roof space means more new power generating potential. Renewable energy is the central theme of Earth Day 2025, and I’ve been diving into some of the new tech that’s been making it to market and becoming more affordable: things like thin-film, flexible and even foldable photovoltaics.
I’ve shared this here in the past, but it seems an appropriate time to reshare our off-grid origin story, which includes our first solar power adventure.
Also, here’s a breakdown of some of the coolest solar tech I’ve been looking into.
And for a deep dive into our solar lifestyle, I’m resharing this great convo from last year:
Cheap Land
Another quarter-acre lot in our funky little off-grid community came up for sale a few weeks ago. The listing went out in an email newsletter and we recognized the lot as just down the road and within an even shorter stone’s throw of public lands than our current home or our Hummingbird Project property.
We grabbed some coffee and shoes and drove 2 miles down the road to check it out and make sure everything was in order. The price and location were right, so I snapped it up off the listing agency’s website on my phone as we drove home. We continue to dream and scheme of ways to put it to good use in the future, ideally we’ll be able practice some form of localism and will definitely deploy solar in the process when the time comes.
In times of housing crises when the vibe definitely seems set more to scarcity than abundance, there are pockets where the paradigm can be reverse, if you’re willing to make certain compromises. Although, I’d argue that in the end the sacrifices don’t represent giving up something so much as they do gaining a new sense of resilience.
A great read or listen I’ve been working my way through is Cheap Land Colorado by the veteran journalist Ted Conover. It’s a deep dive into an off-grid community that’s about 40 miles upstream of us on the other side of both the Rio Grande and the Colorado border. I’ve visited and it’s a more remote and rugged community that Conover seems to capture well.
Happy Earth Day! Please share any other recommendations!
And if you’re also a writer, consider signing up now for Johanna’s next EcoWriting course:
It is a dream of mine to get land in Colorado one day. Gods willing. May it be so! Who knows, maybe we can collaborate one of these days. All blessings!!