Lebanon - Beyond Resilience
The Great Simplification #73 with Joslin Faith Kehdy
This week…
Today, I’m sharing a conversation with Joslin Faith Kehdy, a changemaker and citizen of Lebanon which was equal parts terrifying and inspiring. As viewers of this podcast may or may not know, over the last 3 years, Lebanon has experienced a 50% drop in GDP and 98% devaluation in their currency, massive unemployment, and - among many other things - an ongoing waste crisis. Throughout this, Joslin has been a leader in coming up with new (and old) ways for living a dignified and simplified life. Joslin is an environmentally concerned human currently living ‘The Great Simplification’ - she offers a valuable perspective on what ‘sustainable’ living really means and insights for what may come to the rest of the world.
Joslin Faith Kehdy is the Founder and Director of Recycle Lebanon, whose goal is to make a circular system change to “re-psyc’le” our mindset towards action. Since 2015, Recycle Lebanon has been organizing projects focusing on reducing plastic usage and pollution in Lebanon, while building initiatives to expand nature based consumption & production alternatives. A hands-on unlearner with a devotion for land & water stewardship, Joslin lives off-grid, homesteading in the rural village of Baskinta, Lebanon.
Joslin’s organization, Recycle Lebanon, is fundraising for their newest initiative: TerraPods. If you’d like to learn more or support this project please visit: Sustain Lebanon - TerraPods
Is the rest of the world prepared for similar situations that are now being faced in Lebanon (along with several other countries)? What can we learn from those who have gone through a Simplification already? How can we help ourselves and our communities to find new ways of living?
In case you missed it…
Last Friday, I posted an analysis of Energy Return On Investment. EROI and its corresponding metric Net Energy, are a great way to understand the energy surplus of a technology - and ultimately of a society. Yet, this way of interpreting the efficiency of an energy source is increasingly being wielded as a precise instrument to compare energy types, especially oil, gas, coal, and renewable technologies. In an increasingly politicized world, there are traps that researchers fall into, resulting in misleading conclusions that can be used to defend ideologies rather than contribute to the body of science. Understanding net energy and its fundamental importance for human societies is critical for understanding the challenges of the future, but if not used thoughtfully EROI may only end up causing more confusion and rancor.
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It was inspiring to hear how some folks in Lebanon are working collectively during their Great Simplification