Wind : Solar : Organics

Michael Glade Baird

This is a question I have been thinking about for the past several months, that and how does it translate into one’s own sustainability. So the question that kept popping into my head was “what is Freedom?”

I am free to vote. I am free to voice my opinion. I am free to own a car and property. I am free to travel and so on and so forth, but does that truly make me free? At first thought I would say yes, but after further consideration I believe I, like many, are living a life of illusion.

Why do I say this? How can I be living a life full of smoke and mirrors? It can not be that bad, I am healthy, happy (for the most part), eek out a living and want for naught, right? Maybe the better question here is, I am free to a point and if I am sustainable then that would make me truly free. There is just one problem with this line of thinking, again like most people, I am not 100% sustainable so how could I then be possibly free? “Houston we have a problem!” I now realize I need to look at my own sustainability, lifestyle and environment to decipher this code of lies. Fine. Let us begin. Do I own my own home, “yes”, ummm “No” the bank owns it. Alright, well I own my own car…..Sorry, wrong again, my Credit Union owns that. Water, water is free! Nope, wrong again, I pay the city for that as well. Heat, we all need heat and I used to own a wood stove and all the trees required for fuel…Used to Own! I have solar for my energy consumption, but alas, not for all of it! My car is powered by gas, which I do not produce. Ah Ha, I grow my own food!….Yeah about 20% of it, the rest is coming from 1500 miles away…Damn! We own a sewing machine and all the fabric ever needed for our clothing….Yes, a victory….which is short lived due to it’s need for electricity. I do not grow enough herbs for medicine. I do not have a creek, pond or any water supply on my property (unless an irrigation system counts), of course it does not when it is the city’s water.

I now see my own life illusion. To be truly free one must produce and outright own his/her own energy, food, clothing, fuel, water, home, land, heat, transportation, and medicine. We are not free if others own and control our most basic needs to survive. We can only be truly free if we are completely sustainable in all facets of our lives. To this, I strive to be, it will be my main mission in life to once and for all be TRULY FREE!

- Michael Baird

417-209-3227

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