[martin1986]

Hello to all,

My name is Martin Wright and I am a student at Huddersfield University. I am studying product design and am currently undertaking a research project based around sustainable domestic living. Below shows a questionnaire on………. If you could take a few minutes to give me your opinion it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

Martin.

1. Do you consider yourself self sufficient?

Yes No


2. Can you explain in which ways you are self sufficient?





3. Are you happy with your level of self sufficiency?

Yes No


4. Are there any ways you would like to expand your way of self sufficiency but cannot?

Yes No


Can you explain which areas these are?





5. Do you think that people who are not self sufficient in any way can be encouraged to do something to help the environment?

Yes No

Explain?





Finally could you give a few bits of information about yourself so that we can put your other replies in greater context?

Age (in years):


Sex:

[paul m]

Wish you luck with your surveys/study.
I suspect that this particular part of it will end with the conclusion, "No".

It is virtually impossible, I think, for anyone to be self-sufficient - and I include people who once lived in subsistence farming parts of the world.

The basic problem is that you would need a fairly large piece of land, several pairs of hands, and a lot of time to be truly self-sufficient. This is clearly not possible for most people living in urban societies - probably not even in rural areas where people would have to try to scrape a living on poor ("waste") land - thus destroying semi-natural environments, green belts and open land. Looking over the moors and dales of Derbyshire/Yorkshire you can see the remnants of farmland allotments started after enclosure in an attempt to make these areas useful for agriculture. They failed but at the same time destroyed the natural environment.

On can foresee the same thing happening elsewhere in the world where marsh, saline areas, mountains, sub-tropical scrub (&c &c) are suggested as potential farming areas ....

Will be interested to hear your findings/conclusions.

PS: our 'self-sufficiency' extends to growing our own herbs, providing our own garlic for 9 months of the year, salad greens for the summer, brassicas (kale, sprouts &c) for the winter along with a variety of beans/peas whenever we can grow them! A long way from self-sufficiency but a useful land-use ... also our crops are better than anything you buy grow in the shops!

[martin1986]

Thank you very much for your response. it is much appreciated and has been very helpful in gaining a further understanding about self sufficiency.

Thanks again.

Martin