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4. Walking.

A bit less minimalistic: ride your (non e-) bike, scooter, skateboard, kayak, sled, basically anything non motorized. Use best tire quality so you don’t change then often.

A bite more minimalistic: prefer walking barefoot anytime you can. Shoes are tire that wear out.

King of related: still looking for shoe/soles that last. My grand mother used to wear wood clogs, not sure where to find some that fits me.

4 comments

Do you wear a hair shirt too?

How are you going to transport heavy goods without some kind of motorized or motor-assist vehicle? Unless you want to keep horses or donkeys.

Ebikes are a godsend. Without one I'd have to get things delivered by van.

This is the problem with environmentalism-as-actually-practiced -- the conversation starts with plastic pollution, you look away for five seconds, and suddenly there are a bunch of ascetics one-upping each other in the "LARP as a third-world peasant" game. There is no social defense mechanism against it. Normal people look at this and think "no thanks". It's all about focus on minimizing downside and (implicitly) self-flagellation for the sin of living in a rich country; there is no focus on things with upside potential, like "how do we increase the supply of clean energy so we can have cheap material abundance".

I don't want to live in squalor. I want to enjoy a hot shower of crystal clear desalinated water, heated by electricity made in the searing heart of a nuclear reactor, and it all costs a fraction of a penny to run.

I want to live in the same world as you but we’re not here yet! Our best way to get there is to use our current tech and ressources as they are precious while keep on advancing tech, instead of using those ressources to build the maximum throwable stuff we can and disperse the waste.

It’s not about copying thinks third world but about health, resource management and public space enjoyability.

For shoes, due to my health they get limited use and I can't really tell how durable they are but my first pair of Ahinsa shoes has lasted a couple of years without much wear. Not minimal in that they use high-tech ingredients (and are made on the other side of the world from me :/ ) but very nice shoes that seem likely to be reasonably durable (the thin sole takes some adjustment if you aren't used to it) and are produced in the EU (less labor exploitation than many places).

https://ahinsashoes.com/

The most environmentally friendly would be used shoes if possible, even if they don't last that long.

Gobi boots from VivoBarefoot are my favorite. Re-used ones are available at revivo.com, and I've worn each pair continuously for 3 years: working, hiking, sun, rain, etc.

I have a pair of ENIX Sandals I bought 6 years ago that I wear when it's really hot. They're also great.

Also https://www.lemsshoes.com/

Wood clogs sound terrible for the health of your feet.

There's guides for making huaraches with tire rubber.

And there's also barefoot sandals that claim to last a life time (but cost like 100 bucks).

Thanks! Septic about wearable industry claims but definitely not cynic and I’m going to find more about those. Any experience feedback here?

I want to make a case for the e-bikes: they are less strenuous than the traditional bikes but require a good degree of cardiovascular exercise. This is a good incentive for older people