on>
Advance Praise for Tales from the Sustainable Underground
Food is too fundamental, and food security too critical to be bound by a law built to serve corporations and agribusiness. A growing movement based on the civil right to good, save food is standing outside the law — and pointing up the law’s injustice. This is an important and necessary book about a resistance movement as fundamental as any social justice movement in history.
— Sharon Astyk, writer (scienceblogs.com/casaubonsbook), farmer and
author of Depletion and Abundance, Independence Days and Making Home
Off-grid, offbeat, but right on target, Stephen Hren’s glimpse into the lives of those making viable choices at the fringes of society is a real revelation. Hren’s accounts of neo-primitivists, green anarchists, urban squatters and other pioneers working towards a sustainable future is consistently inspiring and informative.
— Richard Freudenberger, Publisher, BackHome Magazine
In Tales from the Sustainable Underground, Stephen Hren proves that plenty of Americans are ready to take back their country — one plot of land at a time, if necessary. Through personal insight and engaging interviews with sustainable citizens, Hren masterfully spins a cross-country tale about the “doers” who are helping to bring sustainability out of the shadows and usher in a return of this country’s “can-do” attitude.
— Roger Sipe, Editor, Urban Farm magazine
Stephen Hren stitches together stories about the option open to each of us faced with resource depletion, energy descent and climate change— doing things differently even if it is against the law or socially unpopular. This book will inspire you to explore that option. Thanks to Hren for being brave enough to write it.
— Aaron Newton, farmer, activist, outlaw chicken raiser
and co-author of A Nation of Farmers
Most activists and counter culture types have their ups and downs, sometimes I feel less hopeful and then... along comes a book like this... WOW! Tales From The Sustainable Underground is an amazing, magical tapestry of a multitude of different people’s “lifestyle” choices. Each story takes you deeper into hearts and minds of others who are willing to take the risk of not belonging in a culture that craves sameness while marketing it and fetishizing it as “individuality.” This book is inspiring, informative, educational, nourishing and uplifting, a must-read for anyone who wants to make a difference in the world!
— Dirk Becker, Activist, Farmer, Educator, Public Speaker
and Urban Farming Local Food Advocate
TALES FROM THE Sustainable Underground
TALES FROM THE Sustainable Underground
A WILD JOURNEY WITH PEOPLE WHO CARE MORE ABOUT THE PLANET THAN THE LAW
Stephen Hren
Copyright © 2011 by Stephen Hren. All rights reserved.
Cover design by Diane McIntosh.
Hen © iStock (GlobalP); Sky © iStock (dlerick)
Printed in Canada. First printing September 2011.
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-86571-687-2
eISBN: 978-1-55092-487-9
Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of Tales from theSustainable Underground should be addressed to New Society Publishers at the address below.
To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America)
1-800-567-6772, or order online at www.newsociety.com
Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to:
New Society Publishers
P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada
(250) 247-9737
New Society Publishers’ mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment, in a manner that models this vision. We are committed to doing this not just through education, but through action. The interior pages of our bound books are printed on Forest Stewardship Council® acid-free paper that is 100% post-consumer recycled (100% old growth forest-free), processed chlorine free, and printed with vegetable-based, low-VOC inks, with covers produced using FSC® stock. New Society also works to reduce its carbon footprint, and purchases carbon offsets based on an annual audit to ensure a carbon neutral footprint. For further information, or to browse our full list of books and purchase securely, visit our website at: www.newsociety.com
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION
Hren, Stephen, 1974–
Tales from the sustainable underground : a wild journey with people who care
more about the planet than the law / Stephen Hren.
ISBN 978-0-86571-687-2
1. Environmentalists — Biography. 2. Sustainable living.
3. Green movement. I. Title.
GE55.H74 2011 333.72092'2 C2011-905174-5
To the doers.
“To live outside the law you must be honest.”
—BOB DYLAN
Contents
Foreword, by Lyle Estill