#capitalist

And Then There Was One: Three People Lived in This Village Until Two Were Murdered.

"Thirty years ago, 200 people lived in the Moldovan village of Dobrusa. But most have since left or died. After a twin killing in February, there’s only one survivor still standing.. Grisa Muntean, a short, mustachioed farmer often found in a flat-cap, a checked shirt and a ripped pair of blue trousers held up by a drawstring. For company, Mr. Muntean has his two cats, five dogs, nine turkeys, 15 geese, 42 chickens, about 50 pigeons, 120 ducks and several thousand bees. The other humans have either died, left for larger towns and cities in Moldova, or emigrated to Russia or other parts of Europe. “The loneliness kills you,” Mr. Muntean, 65, said on a recent afternoon. His former neighbors’ houses are vanishing almost as fast as their owners. With few animals to graze the roadsides, and with only Mr. Muntean to prune the orchards, the buildings are sinking below a canopy of walnut groves and apple trees. “When I work, I speak with the trees,” Mr. Muntean said. “With the birds, with the animals, with my tools. There is no one else to talk to.” Dobrusa was once a village of 50 houses that lined two parallel streets at the bottom of a shallow valley. Like many settlements across Moldova, it emptied out after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, an exodus mirrored across Eastern Europe, which has the world’s fastest shrinking population. Now only a few corrugated iron roofs can still be seen in Dobrusa, poking above the undergrowth. They are visible from the dirt track that connects the village to the nearest tarmac road. Even the village graveyard, set on the other side of the valley, is slowly receding into an undergrowth of nettles and brambles, grass flowers and cow parsley. Plants like these are the closest Mr. Muntean has to neighbors. Until February, Mr. Muntean relied on the company of Gena and Lida Lozynsky, a couple in their early 40s who lived at the other end of the village."

1. Start a garden

It doesn't have to be a big garden. You don't need a full on green house. But start growing vegetables and spices. Start with cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. Learn about what grows locally to you and when, and plant them. Expand over time and grow more plants. Consider becoming vegan or vegetarian as well so you can rely on your own garden rather than grocery stores as much as possible.

2. Learn herbal medicine

Learn what plants have what physical and medicinal benefits. Aloe vera is good for burns. Chamomile is good for insomnia and inflammation. Star anise is good for coughs. Calendula is good for small wounds. Ginger is good for nausea. Learn all this stuff! These are all things you can grow for yourself in your garden and benefit from

3. Learn to sew

Sew your own clothes! A lot of clothes in stores now are very low-quality. They are created to deteriorate and break easily and quickly so you have to buy more. So learn to sew your own clothes (bonus points if you learn to dye your clothes with natural ingredients like woad or safflower). If you have kids, sew their clothes as well

4. Use cloth diapers and reusable wipes

If you have a baby, don't buy diapers and wipes. Use reusable ones. Diapers can cost $1000-1300 in a year but you can get cloth diapers for $300-400 that can last you through your baby's first years and can be used for all of your kids. (Just to put that into perspective: if you have three kids, you would be spending roughly $6,000-7,800 on diapers compared to maybe $800-1,200 if you replace old ones. That's a lot less money given to capitalist companies). Breastfeed if you can as well. Breast milk is free, whereas you can spend upwards of $1200 on formula in the first 6 months)

5. Buy anything second hand if possible.

Look for anything you need second hand if you can before buying from a retailer. This is pretty self-explanatory. It also reduces waste so double win

If you are anti-capitalist, put your effort into being self-reliant and not needing as much support from companies. It's not easy and it requires consistent effort but it is incredibly worth it