appropriate technology + downshifting as illustrated by the pulley airer. the journal of small work*
the quintessential pulley airer is the starlet of the third episode in the journal of small work* and like its siblings, serves to illustrate a pairing of concepts that could serve us well in facing the challenges of living in this moment.
what i love most fiercely about the principles of appropriate technology and its dear friend, downshifting, is their possibilities as ways of reckoning with the underlying patterns of the dominant culture at the same time as they actually practice a whole other vision of what life could be like.
if this gets at the core of why downshifting movements that draw resourcefully on appropriate technology —- like slow food, slow fashion, simple living, intentional living, mindfulness practices, radical homemaking, homesteading, minimalism, zero waste, community reliance, self-sufficiency, reskilling, homeschooling, permaculture ethics, sustainable and regenerative living —-resonate so deeply and so widely, why they feel like a sane response to converging crises, then this little film has done its work.
as ever, that little apostrophe accompanying the small work* indicates a body of knowledge these films draw upon.
do follow along here and at patreon (you patrons! ♡ sustain me) for a growing collection of companion pieces and references (books! podcasts! letters! interviews!) that expand on ideas i’ve translated into the films, by way of practical things we can do now to activate the core household economy.
*find small, slow solutions amongst the principles in permaculture
*with great thanks to kate raworth and jason hickel for their work into doughnut economics and degrowth
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