Green Wizardry: Conservation, Solar Power, Organic Gardening, And Other Hands-On Skills From the Appropriate Tech Toolkit

There is one line at the end of this wonderful book that outlines so well our societies Gluttony and Laziness, and what this book sets out to begin counteracting is thus, "The one thing you don't do is the one thing that actually matters: changing the way you live here and now." Pg 220Green Wizardry is a wonderful book and the topics and solutions couldn't be presented by a more down to earth and wise individual. Greer has presented a beginners guide, with a list of recommended reading worth buying the book alone, to get our heads out of the sand, quit ignoring our guilty conscience and begin to make positive changes for our lives, our children's and grandchildren's, with a set of skills outlined to cut our energy use to a fraction and begin embracing the mantra "less is more."The skills and techniques presented are very simple and straightforward; I found many ideas in here were "dah" moments for me, where as I was sharing them with friends, there first responses were, "wow that's a good idea". Adapting a way of living with the appropriate tech in this book, will not have you living in a van down by the river, it will bring to you a honest living where you use only what you need, and become much more self sustaining and dependant on yourself and doing it now.What this books sets out to do and in a very practical way, is give us some great beginning solutions to using less and begin living a lifestyle which is not dominated by a dependence on abundant energy which WILL wane and eventually disappear.For me the best thing which sums up the premise of the appropriate tech which is presented in this wonderful great start is the old saying, "Hope for the best, but expect the worst." The Best is taking the initiative now and making the changes with a Green Wizards work and initiative, and the worst is continue to do nothing.Granted this book is not a cure all, and doesn't cover everything, but like every home, there must first be a foundation and the Green Wizards work, appropriate tech, is one very sound and reliable way to do just that!

Where do I begin? John Michael Greer lays out not only a convincing argument for ecologically sound principals and how to apply them, but does so in a way that is an iron clad argument that even the most unbelieving will find hard to resist. This work has been transformative to my own personal life as I grasp what kinds of technology I can use moving forward to reduce my energy footprint without resorting to solar power. I always thought I had to convert to solar first and figure out the rest later. He makes it clear that just by reducing how much energy we use through a variety of older technology, we can make living as we do more less costly to ourselves and to the planet. After making the home as energy efficient as possible, then solar might be an option. After reading this, I have committed myself to making the most of design and natural advantages before pushing through to use solar to power our lives and make our lives comfortable. We are installing numerous add ons to our home that use passive solar power. We are also using plants to help keep the sun off our house in the summer. I know it seems like basic stuff, but until you take in every single small thing, you will never be able to live completely off of solar power alone. This winter we hope to have wood fired hot water to go with our wood cook/heating stove.

Greer's point of view is one many people find hard to agree with, that humanity missed its chance to develop sustainable lifestyles and now faces a sharp decline in fossil fuel availability. This mistake will be costly and for many it will be catastrophic. Greer offers a tried and true toolkit that can dramatically increase our ability to survive the coming decline.While this is not easy medicine to swallow, it is crucial that we remove our rose coloured glasses as we look at our personal futures. I personally am struggling with how to implement this path in my life. My present house, while comparatively energy efficient, was not very liveable during a 3 day blackout a year ago. Most likely I will need a different house that will adapt better to alternative energy sources to have minimal discomfort in the next blackout.Greer looks at ways to provide our own basics (food, fuel, shelter, barter) not at the level we are used to, but at a level that allows survival in the event our traditional access to these is cut off.Another book I've read, "The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from The Union of Concerned Scientists" offers ways to reduce impacts within our current consumption model. But once you accept that this model is headed for the dustbin, it seems embarrassingly inappropriate. Green Wizardry is exactly right for our time, but how many will find this and take it to heart?

I was exposed to John Michael Greer through his various appearances on podcasts that I listen to, mostly dealing with peak oil, resilience, and druidry. And really, what better person to take environmentally sensible advice from than a grand arch druid? I was in the midst of sealing my current HVAC set up to prevent the forming of ice dams on the roof of my house when a google search turned up this book. Comes with sensible advice, it's a good introduction to practical ideas on how to retrofit your house for optimum energy conservation, good lists of recommended reading, and skills to center on. Mostly, Greer's experience with the envrionmentally conscious ethos of yesteryear that has largely been forgotten is a great boon to this Gen Y reader, since I straddle the line between the Xer's and millennials, for whom the consumer culture has eclipsed most common sense. Also, Greer doesn't just give you sensible solutions to energy problems, he goes into comprehensive detail about how the laws of thermodynamics come into play and how energy systems work from a holistic sense. I enjoyed this work and will be reading more from this author.

Review of “Green Wizardry” by John Michael Greer. New Society 2013 John Michael Greer is the ArchDruid of the Ancient Order of Druids of America (don’t go!) A highly respected author and one of the key voices in the Peak Oil movement. Despite (let’s face it) the handicap of being an ArchDruid he is a key speaker and one of the most influential writers involved in Peak Oil. This is no wishy-washy patchouli smelling new-ager but a ferociously clever mind relentlessly living in the apparent (or real) world who won’t give you any where to hide your beliefs or assumptions. Though he makes no claim to pre-historical descent he is very much in the mould of the Druids that Caesar described; intellectuals and natural philosophers of enormous sophistication. The book is divided in four the first part starts with principles, then food, energy and lastly whole systems. He starts with a description of the challenges that Western civilization faces. How energy, matter, information flow through systems and what actually constitutes sustainability. Food deals with growing and raising food., storage, manuring and other skills. Energy deals with conservation of energy and alternative power sources for the individual family. The last section deals with how to put things together, the value of discensus and a realistic appraisal of solutions and then why it all matters. The book is enormously easy to read and is filled with JMG’s subtle, gentle sense of humour, he only writes about what he knows works and is attainable in a garden or workshop. JMG is American but much of what he writes about is easily transferable to other countries based as it is on backyards and small workshops . This is not a book for massive scale change, whether technological or social and in fact JMG gives such works short shrift. His writing on why movements fail is particularly good, he concentrates on the Global warming movement and singles out the leaders of the movement especially Al Gore for particular admonishment. He is also scathing of those nauseating eco-home types, rightly pointing out that the very large sums of money required mean such change is well beyond the ability of most of the population, and in the UK at least very difficult in terms of planning permission. The concept of the Green Wizard is of small, unimpressive overlooked people busy keeping unfashionable but fundamental skills alive during the Dark Age he believes we have entered. He bases this on his research onto actual Wizards (the word means wise) who roamed Europe during the medieval period annoying the church and advising kings. They were, he has found, repositories of all the arts essential to civilization, many of which were lost during the collapse of Rome. He believes that organic gardening and many of the appropriate tech skills developed during the response to the oil crisis of the ‘70s are the skills that should be carried forward into the future. He also states that these skills add a great deal of richness to life and will greatly improve the lives of individual families over the next few decades. The book provides superbly laid out principles advice on key skills, experiential wisdom and most importantly lists of resources. Though nearly anyone picking up this book will be at least passingly familiar with gardening and other green skills I have to admit that it is very hard to think about how to apply much of what he writes about to my already downsized and greenified life though I am going to work a bit harder on closing my allotment “loop” and am looking at applying some of his energy principles. His work on pest control “the outsiders” was also fantastic. JMG is very much an agriculturalist, which is apt for life in countries or regions with large populations. I wondered why hunting or fishing was not mentioned in the book as he does talk about the importance of meat hunting and fishing in the small town he lives in. I also have to disagree with the idea that Paleolithic humans were engaged in any kind of “limited farming” his source for this was also not especially impressive or indeed up to his usual standards. That said I believe Australian Aborigines were aware at least of the potential for cultivation they just chose not to do it and while the enormous (1Million) population of medieval Edo was fed successfully by intensive agriculture health in the metropolis was far from ideal with famine and nutrient deficiencies being commonplace. His concept of L.E.S.S less energy stuff and stimulation is very useful if JMG is correct about civilization’s path less is going to be the norm anyway an element of voluntarism in the process can only be good, going with the flow rather than struggling against it. Not so much a “how to” but more like a series of “why tos” with guideposts and very helpful pointers this book won’t really be saying anything new to readers of his other work but is still a worthwhile read, and while those in the “paradigm” will rail and yell the strength of the message and logic of his arguments is hard to resist

This book was useful as a framework but in terms of the actual skills however I feel confident i already knew much of what he was talking about. The part i benefitted most from was his identification of three strands of thinking or styles of appropriate technology from the 1970s etc; i'd never seen that before and it's helped to develop my thinking about what approaches to take with my own urban homesteading whilst keeping the other foot in the 'real' world and the cash economy. You have to balance what appeals to your sensibilities with what is suitable for the socio-economic conditions. I suppose i prefer 'down home funk' as i'm generally pessimistic regarding how technology can diminish rather than extend human beings' potential. However going for the 'Retrofit' style might be more realistic, even if what i'm trying to retrofit to might be shifting substantially in the years ahead...'New Alchemy' is closest to the current technophile zeitgeist so doing projects along those lines might cross-subsidise the other two.

A really helpful guide to LESS as a way of surviving the times ahead. To find out what LESS stands for, you will have to read the book.

Very nice and just as i expected. I would reccomend to all that this is a very reliable Retailer. Thanks.

Pocos expresan la idea de adaptarse a la naturaleza y al planeta como Greer con tanta claridad (además de proponer ejercicios para probarlo uno mismo). No puede recogerlo todo en un libro pero aporta una estupenda y larga biografía de cada tema para ampliar la lectura. El único punto malo es que no es la mejor encuadernación del mundo.