The Degrowth Paradigm

...element of faith. It’s so deeply ingrained into our cultural narratives. Growth is something that is seen as necessary, where in actual fact, we could probably be a lot happier with less consumption. The show begins with an interview with Jim Merkel, author of Radical Simplicity, Small Footprints on a Finite Earth and concludes with a visit to the radical degrowth activists of Catalan, Spain. To those of you who haven’t jumped on the podcast bandw...

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What Epuipment Do You Need to Bake Bread?

...arket bread. The ingredients you need to make bread are elemental in their simplicity: water, flour and salt and you can make a perfectly good loaf of bread with no equipment at all. But there are a few inexpensive pieces of equipment I like to use: 1. A digital Scale Measuring flour and water by volume is so inaccurate that both of the professional bakers I took classes with last year refuse to give cup equivalents in their recipes. Using a digit...

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The Other Kind of Fencing

...locally reminded me of Eskrima–Filipino stick fighting. I admire Eskrima’s simplicity. All you need are two sticks and lessons are typically conducted informally in backyards. Then there’s Haitian machete fencing which I had never heard of until I ran across this trailer for a upcoming documentary on the subject. Could machete fencing be the perfect synthesis of gardening and martial arts? What did I leave out? I know many Root Simple readers are...

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A Primitive Bow Workshop

...re I’ll check the “tiller” i.e. even bendiness of the bow. I normally use a very modern, Olympic style recurve bow. But lately I’ve had more fun with Kelly’s more primitive Hungarian horse bow. There’s a lot to be said for the simplicity of a primitive bow. Plus, it’s good to know that in a pinch, a functional bow can be thrown together in a day. For more info on Nyerges’ informative and entertaining classes see his website: www.christophernyerges...

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