The Community in the Quarry
Amanda reflects on years of campaigning against planetary destruction and her decision to live a sustainable life in a hobbit house in the heart of Wales.
"Chopping wood may not be everyone's idea of fun, but to me it's a luxury. First I chop, then I build my fire, light it, sit back and relax. An hour or so later I have a toasty warm house and piping hot water for a shower.
There was a time when my favourite food took three minutes to cook in a microwave but now I love slow food - soaking the beans and slicing the vegetables, to cook a big meal to share with the community.
Our community meals are an important occasion to catch up share news get to know new people and appreciate the old ones, while planning the next project. We all take our turn to cook and wash up a tradition that has been going on for 30 years. We share much more than meals. Everyone has a different responsibility: the accounting, the food order, getting the wood in and we also have work days where we pool our resources to fix a house or plant a garden. We all have skills to offer each other and between us we achieve the impossible and of course we come together for fun, camp fires, music making and parties.
We try to live in an eco-friendly way. Our power comes from the sun, the rain and the wind, our water from the reservoir, our waste is recycled and we make plenty of compost!
I feel passionately about the environment. I have spent years of my life campaigning to stop pollution, shouting about climate change, deforestation, and genetic engineering, demonstrating against bombs and mobilising others to join me in the fight against planetary destruction. But a life of constant battle left me exhausted.
Now I work for positive change at the Centre for Alternative Technology and I take time to enjoy the land that I want to protect while attempting to live a sustainable life in my low impact, solar/wind powered hobbit house."
