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Living Lightly

LIVING LIGHTLY

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CANTOBRIA a land for living lightly. This means leaving no mess behind, and that mess is the better part of all we have filled our homes, our bodies, and our minds with. That is why our world is such a mess.   

Is living lightly synonymous with frugality or austerity? That will depend on our beliefs about what is most desirable in life. 

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Consumerism has robbed us of a certain form of natural abundance that we can choose to reclaim. It can be found in the taste of a real tomato, the refreshment of pure, living waters, the boundless manifestations of the natural world, and also within ourselves.

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Living lightly thus opens a path to a more enduring abundance and an unexpected luxuriance. 

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CANTOBRIA is a place--both a habitat and a habitation--where we replace our consumerist comforts with sustainable practices informed by nature, where there is no such thing as waste. It is a place where we regenerate the earth, but also our health and our humanity.  It invites us to spend more time close to nature, near to other people sharing that same aspiration, and in quiet communion with ourselves.   

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"Inhabit the change."

Manifesto

THE CANTOBRIA WAY

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I believe that a more beautiful world is within sight, flickering ever so faintly like a mirage. The manifestation of that new world starts at our doorstep. 

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Welcome to CANTOBRIA, a place to manifest the change we want to see in the world. On a personal level, that change involves our habitat, our habitation, our health, and our human potential. 

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In the land of CANTOBRIA, we preserve and cultivate our precious resources. They are the source and the significance of our life. 

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1. Our Habitat. Let's reverse the impending environmental and climate catastrophe by regenerating the soil and restoring biodiversity.  

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2. Our Home. Inspired by the elegance and simplicity of nature, we make our homes and live our daily routines with respect for the environment. To fit with the idea of living lightly, I've called this a Light House.

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3. Our Health. The optimal functioning of our supremely sophisticated bodies is the foundation for well-being and effectiveness in action. It requires some care and maintenance.

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4. Our Human Potential. Whatever it is we wish to feel within us before we die, it will not come from power, possessions, or technological progress. We need a place to cultivate the art of being human.

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Read more about the impetus and mechanism for change in this mini-manifesto.

More about the discovery of Cantobria here.

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"Living lightly opens a path to more enduring abundance."

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WHAT WILL CANTOBRIA OFFER?

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Here's what Cantobria will have to offer you:

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- Gîte or B&B accommodations for a short or long stay in remarkable natural surroundings, with private river access and endless hiking possibilities.

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- A Cooperative for the cultivation of a forest garden and for the development of other crafts and low-tech needed for sustainable living.

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- A place for seminars/retreats for groups of 10 to 20 persons.

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- The unique experience of a stay in the Light House: an ecolodge nestled in nature.

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At this stage, ask not what Cantobria can do for you, but what you can do for Cantobria!

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What we will offer
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"Nature is our origin and our destiny." 

The Founder

THE FOUNDER

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carsten Sprotte

American and French by nationality, the son of a Danish father, I was born smitten with an acute ecological and aesthetic sensitivity. As a boy, I climbed trees, and they were perhaps my best friends. I learned to play the violin, made from the substance of those trees. I loved the abundance of apples on their branches. I basked in the mellow glow of their autumn leaves. 

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Then I became a man in this world.

After a multiple-facet career as a management consultant, a corporate learning director, an entrepreneur, and an independent real estate broker, the time has come for the real work to begin. That work is to restore the Earth, starting small and living lightly. 

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More about me on carstensprotte.com

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Find me in the river flowing cold and pure.

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