This image is a blurry photograph of my mother’s etching, “Summer Oaks and Porch”, which was used as the cover of the second Fuzzy Mountain String Band album cover in 1972 after the tragic death of my mother in a car accident.
My definition of Sustainable Living being ‘living in such a way that one is ecologically compatible with the environment in which one lives’ deserves a bit more information.
I have seen several examples of people who shared this aspiration with me. For example, Genes Cottrell and his significant other, in the Appalachian Mountains, in the early 1970s. Genes (pronounced Geen-Us) was a wood worker and furniture maker. All his machinery, saws, lathes, etc. seemed powered by foot pedal, His house, his workshop, and all his outbuildings were made of wood. His significant other, whose name slips my mind, cooked on a wood stove, and their water came from a well. Next, I saw in numerous demonstrations of the practicality and simple beauty of the spinning wheel and hand operated weaver’s loom, how thread and yarn was made the wool of sheep. from Then there was the ‘Solar Shower’, built by William Stark at Carolina Friends School, in the 1970s as well. There were the ‘Foxfire’ books, and today, I find there is a local Smith family who produce more solar power than they use, who compost all of their organic garbage, who recycle their paper, plastic, and metal waste, and who drive hybrid vehicles.
If I could put all of these pieces together, so that even my water came from a well, was heated by the sun, and the sun provided the fuel for my vehicle, that is what I would mean by sustainable living.
The problem with sustainable living as I have defined it, is that it may come into conflict with the definition of ‘economics’ — in other words, the study of the distribution of scarce resources to consumers with unlimited wants and needs.
Well, that’s it for now. Back to reality and the necessity of work.
Hello,
My name is Jessica T. Eustice, and I’m a longtime educator in North Carolina with roughly 40 years of experience in special education, caregiving, literacy support, and community-based work.
Like many Americans, I’ve been watching the rapid development of AI with both fascination and concern. Much of the public conversation focuses on jobs disappearing, automation, and economic disruption. But I think there may be another side to the story that deserves attention.
My idea is this:
AI may push society back toward more individualized, relationship-based work — a kind of modern cottage industry built around uniquely human gifts.
Instead of everyone competing for fewer standardized corporate jobs, more people may begin creating small, human-scale forms of work based on personality, trust, mentorship, creativity, and care:
- tutoring
- coaching
- caregiving
- teaching
- art
- storytelling
- local services
- companionship
- skill-sharing
AI lowers barriers to entry in ways that make this newly possible. Someone without technical expertise can now build a website, teach online, create educational materials, organize clients, or reach a niche audience.
In my own case, I’m exploring a small ESL tutoring practice called “Gentle English With Jessie,” built around patience, emotional safety, and one-on-one encouragement for adult learners.
It strikes me that many of the abilities AI cannot easily replace — warmth, presence, trust, reassurance, lived experience, emotional intelligence — are precisely the abilities many ordinary people already possess.
I wonder whether the future of work may become less industrial and more personal again.
I thought this perspective might be of interest to NPR or WUNC because most AI discussions focus on economics and technology, while fewer focus on the possibility of a human-scale social reorganization around individual gifts and local relationships.
Thank you for reading.
Sincerely,
Jessica T. Eustice
Chapel Hill / Carrboro, NC
I identify as a teacher of English for English language learners, EC, and Social Studies; I have expertise in the humanities, am experienced in studying Language Arts, Reading, Arithmetic-for-practical-purposes, and Algebra-I.
I have striven to broaden and deepen my capabilities to maintain my integrity as a worker in the American economy since 1977 when I started working, as a cashier in fast food. Since then, I have served as a camp counselor, a work-study student in college, a puppet-wagon lady in the summer. I tutored privately, and in an academic institution and with a Learning Center. I taught as an intern teacher, a licensed teacher, and a Community College Instructor. I have also been a retail administrative assistant, and a caregiver.
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