Such a helpful piece, and so insightful regarding the capacity to notice, fight for and invest in "places" we know intimately and plan to remain in.
I was surprised and heartened to see your use of "untethered" to describe the transience so many of us experience under capitalism — I started my Substack a few months back exploring community, connect and crisis, and Untethered is the descriptor I landed on as the name.
My project comes from the angle of our relationship to community and mutual obligation — especially for those who have become Untethered by necessity (escaping coercive or harmful forms of community, economic necessity, etc.), and intially discover liberation but often face difficulty forming meaningful community on the other side in a world driven by scripts of autonomous individualism.
Thanks a bunch for your work, I'll be sharing this around!
Great insights. In the 4 elements that determine relationships, I would rearrange them in their order of importance - as the intensity of one's experience has far greater weightage in determining the change in consciousness.
"I believe that more people staying put, learning their place, and taking on some more active role would improve our social and ecological life. I have said that people should try to become paysan, paisanos, péons, in the meaning people of the land, people of the place. But note: there's no limit to how big the place can be. The size of the place that one becomes a member of is limited only by the size of one's heart. We speak of watershed consciousness, and the great water-cycle of the planet makes it all one watershed. We are all natives to this earth. / Yet one has to start where one is and become nature-literate to the scale of the immediate home place. With home-based knowledge, it is then within our power to get a glimpse of the whole planet as home. As a rule though, local knowledge (combined with an understanding of the dynamics of systems) remains the most useful and the most delicious." Gary Snyder, Sustainability Means Winning Hearts and Minds
Thank you for your thoughts, they really resonated with me in a time where I have been feeling isolated in my wartime mentality. I think we are called upon to find new communities that are sailing to our same winds while also talking to everyone about this great cultural shift that is already underfoot. We desperately need to change "what is cool." I think you and Gary Snyder are cool, and I have kept coming back to this Snyder quote as I try to figure out my relationship to home. Currently living on a sailboat and calling the California Current system home.
I feel this deeply having come from a community and family that has rooted itself in the land for some time. I wonder if you have insight about this framework from a climate perspective (and, perhaps, from a fundamental being perspective lol) when juxtaposed against a community that actively fights back against your efforts (climate deniers, conventional farming, policy that rewards pollution, etc.)? To be place-based is certainly to accept its flaws as well as its possibilities, but can a person hope to thrive as part of an ecosystem that is largely in contrast to their values? So curious and so grateful for the thoughtfulness you've invoked here!
That is a really tough situation. Katherine Hayhoe is really the authority on this particular type of issue, so I would definitely recommend following her work. I believe perhaps the best way to broach that subject is not directly; true deniers are not going to be turned by confrontation, but by example. People will respond to results if you leave the door open. I tend to approach most of these resistances to fear, which humanizes the people and their cause. As far as they are concerned, their practices have helped them survive, and deviation from the norm can smell like disaster. Through example, you have to show that a more sustainable method is both safe and superior without undermining their self worth..... good luck! haha
In my twenties I followed the untethered way - moving to a new city felt like the right thing to do. After having kids, I realized I wanted to create the "tether" to one place. We moved to a small farm and have planted trees and can feel the difference in the long-term thinking and feeling.
I've forwarded this to at least 6 people and I think I will return to it often - so interesting, so hopeful, so helpful
Coming here from a forward from Shanti, and have again shared it with a bunch of people - this was so energising to read!
So happy to hear that, thank you so much Shanti!
Such a helpful piece, and so insightful regarding the capacity to notice, fight for and invest in "places" we know intimately and plan to remain in.
I was surprised and heartened to see your use of "untethered" to describe the transience so many of us experience under capitalism — I started my Substack a few months back exploring community, connect and crisis, and Untethered is the descriptor I landed on as the name.
My project comes from the angle of our relationship to community and mutual obligation — especially for those who have become Untethered by necessity (escaping coercive or harmful forms of community, economic necessity, etc.), and intially discover liberation but often face difficulty forming meaningful community on the other side in a world driven by scripts of autonomous individualism.
Thanks a bunch for your work, I'll be sharing this around!
In case you're interested, here's how I came to use "Untethered": https://open.substack.com/pub/theuntethereddilemma/p/the-amorphous-feeling-that-sparked?r=1f7q2z&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Hi Spence, good read. Sharon your aunt😍
Thank you Sharon :)
Great insights. In the 4 elements that determine relationships, I would rearrange them in their order of importance - as the intensity of one's experience has far greater weightage in determining the change in consciousness.
"I believe that more people staying put, learning their place, and taking on some more active role would improve our social and ecological life. I have said that people should try to become paysan, paisanos, péons, in the meaning people of the land, people of the place. But note: there's no limit to how big the place can be. The size of the place that one becomes a member of is limited only by the size of one's heart. We speak of watershed consciousness, and the great water-cycle of the planet makes it all one watershed. We are all natives to this earth. / Yet one has to start where one is and become nature-literate to the scale of the immediate home place. With home-based knowledge, it is then within our power to get a glimpse of the whole planet as home. As a rule though, local knowledge (combined with an understanding of the dynamics of systems) remains the most useful and the most delicious." Gary Snyder, Sustainability Means Winning Hearts and Minds
Thank you for your thoughts, they really resonated with me in a time where I have been feeling isolated in my wartime mentality. I think we are called upon to find new communities that are sailing to our same winds while also talking to everyone about this great cultural shift that is already underfoot. We desperately need to change "what is cool." I think you and Gary Snyder are cool, and I have kept coming back to this Snyder quote as I try to figure out my relationship to home. Currently living on a sailboat and calling the California Current system home.
What a wonderful way to explain the importance of place and community in the fight for our future. Thank you, Spencer!
I feel this deeply having come from a community and family that has rooted itself in the land for some time. I wonder if you have insight about this framework from a climate perspective (and, perhaps, from a fundamental being perspective lol) when juxtaposed against a community that actively fights back against your efforts (climate deniers, conventional farming, policy that rewards pollution, etc.)? To be place-based is certainly to accept its flaws as well as its possibilities, but can a person hope to thrive as part of an ecosystem that is largely in contrast to their values? So curious and so grateful for the thoughtfulness you've invoked here!
That is a really tough situation. Katherine Hayhoe is really the authority on this particular type of issue, so I would definitely recommend following her work. I believe perhaps the best way to broach that subject is not directly; true deniers are not going to be turned by confrontation, but by example. People will respond to results if you leave the door open. I tend to approach most of these resistances to fear, which humanizes the people and their cause. As far as they are concerned, their practices have helped them survive, and deviation from the norm can smell like disaster. Through example, you have to show that a more sustainable method is both safe and superior without undermining their self worth..... good luck! haha
**approach most of these resistances as if they are caused by fear.
In my twenties I followed the untethered way - moving to a new city felt like the right thing to do. After having kids, I realized I wanted to create the "tether" to one place. We moved to a small farm and have planted trees and can feel the difference in the long-term thinking and feeling.