Human-Scale Tools for a Sustainable World

[bigbag70]

Cracks me up, people take the fruits of years of commercial innovation by an economy fuel by petroleum and say they are making a difference.....Like they were the first ones to think of it...hypocrites

[MrMeanderthal]

having been a logger, a carpenter, and a cabinetmaker.. having used both hand and power tools of each trade I can say from experience that this is all a pipe dream...

good for a few but the reality is if everyone used hand tools you could not afford their work and you would go without..

[Rhinoch8]

"Tools for what?" TO BUILD TO GARDEN TO LOG!!! duh...... -_-'

Power to the quality handtools!

[georgio941]

Sometimes I wonder if we are moving forward or backwards. Really sad.

[ArcaneLogic]

@georgio941 Define "forwards" and "backwards". We're learning how to do things better - combining the best of the old with the best of the new. A lot of the time, we're just learning *why* what we knew worked, worked. Bio-intensive gardening, pastured grazing, earthen housing etc. looks a lot like what people did hundreds or thousands of years ago, but can now be done 5 times better - warmer/cooler houses with less energy, more food/area, more animals/area, etc. It's about perspective.

[sarah2007hood]

And regarding the transition movement, I haven't studied it but I think I could see people's land (including yours) being confiscated and divvied up to accomodate all the people stacked up in the cities. Esp. if this gets into legislature. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Transition vid says giving up the individuality for what's best for the collective, reskilling, how much food does an area need to produce, started to sound like communism creeping in. Again please correct me if I'm wrong.

[sarah2007hood]

I understand those of us that aren't stuck in big cities, gradually getting back to reality as this age of excess comes to a close...Learning the sustainable ways of centuries..but what about the people stacked on top of eachother in the inner cities? There's just not enough sq ft of dirt under them to feed them all. Nevermind if they would even WANT to stop what they're doing ..even if it meant survival.

[perunatic]

Counter argument: Electric hedge trimmers. Anyone tried to cut an eight foot cypress hedge with shears? Not fun, very boring in fact, and hard, and less precise. Wool blankets are very itchy. Good hand tools are beautiful and a pleasure to use but let's not get all new age about it.

[peakmoment]

No question some power tools make things faster and easier. I'd rather cut our firewood with the noisy, cranky, smelly chainsaw than with the big cross-cut saw. But the hand tools will be with us longer than petroleum-fueled tools...and they're worth having as backups, worth training the craftspeople who can make and fix 'em.

[perunatic]

Yes that's a fair point PM, looks like a great venture with some very fine products. Sorry for being a grumpy curmudgeon.

[peakmoment]

@perunatic, no curmudgeon, just a realist. I think a lot of life will become "A Life Made By Hand" as Jim Kunstler's novel portrays. There's some satisfaction in it, but a lot more hard work than most of us are used to. We put in a 4000 gal gravity-fed water system last year. Did the work ourselves, and our bodies sure knew it! See my journal (blog) on the peak moment website.

[vallonia2000]

Hi I left school in 1963 aged 15 trained as a carpenter at that time we had no power on site not even a cabin to brew tea in, we brewed on an open fire. We loved the American Diston saw it was far superior to any British saw, oh yes and the Estwing hammer.We built every thing by hand , nothing was to hard, or to heavy. There were no fat people in my youth.The pubs were closed all day and night on Sunday, and closed at 10 30 pm the remainder.This video makes sense.

[seemeenvymee]

granny is such a sweetheart!!

[offtheurbangrid]

P.S. Do you have an online shop?

[offtheurbangrid]

Awesome guys! What a cool idea for a business. I live in Lake Stevens, so I'll have to come up and visit your shop sometime. I just ordered a reel mower, so I'll have to check out that scythe next. ;)

[smithandspeed]

Please come visit ... our store is open tues- sat... 10:30 - 5:30...

[the1of0]

What can a man who is living in poverty in the city of Los Angeles do to move out and start living on their own?

Are there any eco villages nearby who will accept someone who has no money and will work for food and shelter?

[tuco98245]

Kathleen and Errol are the nicest people, and the best neighbors. They genuinely believe in what they are doing and it is almost impossible to go into their shop and not be inspired. I would hope that the local community and tourists alike support this couple and their quest.

[ariz9996]

its kinda weird,in my country (indonesia), we really try to change all our work tools to machinery. people buy tractors, hand tractors,cultivator, chemical fertilizer and pesticide. i had a company producing bokasi and business not soo good round here. anyway.. try to do abit for the world. peace

[tokyogopop]

Peakmoment is such an invaluable resource! Inspiring AND educational. I have slowly worked my way through many of the episodes. I loved this one in particular. Goes to show that we as humans still have the ability to look back (and forward at the same time) and realize that we CAN survive without fossil fuels. Soon, we may not have a choice......

[888zzz]

love this program

[freewithfire]

ive watched a lot of these videos and this is my favorite so far. It makes me want to visit their island and learn everything i can from them!

[NicholasJBrown]

I especially like this one, the peak oil and mostly the Alcohol episodes. I hope there are more to come because I am subscribed!

[peakmoment]

Plenty more to come...we've just produced our 89th program, so take a look at past programs. You can subscribe to our occasional e-newsletter at peakmoment (dot) tv. Shows are also on a couple dozen community access TV stations...contact us if you want to put programs on your station. info (at) peakmoment (dot) tv.

[NicholasJBrown]

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind :D

[VarinaFred]

Excellent. I just subscribed. What a wonderful series of productions! Great resource.

[vudumojo]

THANK YOU!!!!

[oldhacks]

yea you guys should have your own tv network instead of a "history" channel that glorifies war...

[peakmoment]

Thanks for the support! Perhaps we'll have more programming like this as people increasingly see the necessity for sustainability. Maybe our guests are the real heroes and heroines and celebrities of our world.

[oldhacks]

you might like my blog. it's a little more radical then you guys though.

oldhacks blogspot com

[arvadajohn]

Are you concerned with groups such as the Sierra Club attacking your movement. It seems to me that you are attracting people from the cities into areas that were once populated by few families. I, however, am a big fan of you postings and look forward to my many more. Thankyou so much.

[peakmoment]

Our goal is to bring forward stories of people working towards sustainability, wherever they are, in whatever forms they're trying. Many of our programs so far are set in rural areas because we traveled to such places in the Pacific Northwest in 2006. Our vision is to tape more in cities and suburbs. We welcome ideas for guests and projects, esp. in N. America. --Janaia (host)

[postpeakman]

I think people are beginning to question the viability of living in cities, that's all...

[jphwacheski]

I want to move to orcas island :( these guys roc!

tools that work with the land and the bodies that work them! organic wool insilation,. conections to the production of things we use and eat.

[fleshsniper1]

this is so eye opening, you guys are the future for a better future

[slilov]

Watching every episode and still can't get enough.

Keep up the great work. We love you.