Scott Johnson; founder of the Low Tech Institute; checks on the health of his bee hive.
We don’t like to think about it, but someday, fossil fuels will run out. That means no more oil, coal, natural gas to power our everyday lives. What kind of future is there without fossil fuels? Scott Johnson, founder of the Low Technology Institute, looks to the past for answers.
After a career of teaching anthropology at colleges across the U.S. and Canada, Johnson started the Low Technology Institute two years ago. His study of how different cultures lived sparked an idea — using that sometimes forgotten knowledge to find sustainable, do-it-
Woodworker Tom Bartlett will teach classes in spoon carving at the inaugural Sustainability Skill Share.
yourself solutions in modern life. He aims to share knowledge about basic skills such as toolmaking and beekeeping to show how simple changes make an impact.
“I’m moving toward a future of being less dependent on fossil fuels and eventually not using them at all,” says Johnson. “But I’m not a holier-than-thou monk.”
Johnson lives in the tiny village of Cooksville, south of Stoughton, and it’s like stepping back in time. When you stand on the square and look out at the commons, you can see the same houses that were there more than 150 years ago. Cell service isn’t great, and there are only about 60 residents. Cooksville was built before electricity, and that’s one of the big reasons Johnson loves it. “Our house existed before fossil fuels and it’s going to exist afterward,” he says.
This setting is perfect for the Institute’s first-ever Sustainability Skill Share on June 1-2. Johnson has built a network of colleagues from around the country who teach classes in everything from scything basics to spoon carving, sustainable beekeeping to “The Wonders of Wool.”
Class prices range from $32 to $112 per person.
Attendees are invited to pitch a tent for the weekend in a nearby field and enjoy farm-fresh
The Low Technology Institute makes and sells beeswax food wraps, an organic alternative to plastic wrap.
meals catered by Wendigo, a family-owned restaurant in nearby Stoughton. In keeping with the weekend’s focus on sustainability, participants are encouraged to bring their own non-disposable forks and plates.
The Low Technology Institute maintains a tool lending library for members and area residents, an eco-conscious online store (shoppers can buy plans to build a beehive, for instance, or the Institute’s beeswax food wrap as a sustainable alternative to plastic wrap — it’s made of organic cotton covered in beeswax, pine resin and jojoba oil). Johnson also hosts the Low Tech Podcast to share ideas about how people can clothe, feed and house themselves in a future without fossil fuels.
Sustainability Skill Share
Registration and event details at lowtechinstitute.org, June 1-2, Cooksville
