Do you know how to make a pizza? Lets look at the different ways you could do it:

If you’re feeling lazy or short on time: Take the frozen pizza out of the box, and put it into the oven.

If you want something a little more original: Go to the grocery store. Buy a crust, a can of tomato sauce, some cheese, and a few toppings. Put everything on the crust, and stick it into the oven.

If you want to make something from scratch and impress your friends: Go to the grocery store. Get some flour, olive oil, yeast, salt, honey, cornmeal, tomatoes, garlic, vegetables, cheese, toppings. Put the honey in a bowl with some warm water and yeast. Add the oil, salt, and flour until it forms a dough. Knead the dough for a bit, and set it in a warm place to rise. Mash up the tomatoes, and shred the cheese. Put everything on the crust, cover a baking stone with cornmeal, and put it into the oven.

If you REALLY want to make something from scratch: Grow some wheat, grind it in a mill, pick some olives, mash them up until the oil separates. Cultivate some wild yeasts, collect some sea water and evaporate it. Find a beehive and collect the honey. Grow some tomatoes, garlic, herbs, and vegetables. Find a cow, and milk it. Pasteurize the milk by slowly heating. Grow a lemon, juice it, and add to the milk in order to acidify it. Add some rennet and wait until the curds separate from the whey. Squeeze out all the water, and form the cheese into a ball. Put the honey in a bowl with some warm water and yeast. Add the oil, salt, and flour until it forms a dough. Knead the dough for a bit, and set it in a warm place to rise. Mash up the tomatoes, and shred the cheese. Put everything on the crust, grow some corn, dry it out, and grind it up, cover a baking stone with the cornmeal, and put it into the oven.

“Ok enough already, what’s your point?”

My point is not to suggest that we should all turn our backs on the modern world, and live off the land, shunning anything that we didn’t grow or make ourselves. (But, if that’s your cup of tea, then by all means, go for it.) What I do think is important, however, is for us to become more resourceful, more self-reliant, as well as improve our understanding of the history behind everyday conveniences.

When you discover where certain things truly come from, you’ll see the interconnected relationship that we have with the environment, and why we should all have the desire to conserve our planet’s resources, and learn to use only what we need to live our lives.

Whenever we attempt to figure out how to make something that we could just as easily pick up at the store, we give ourselves the opportunity to learn the science, and more importantly, appreciate the art that has been left out of the goods made by our ultra-efficient consumer economy. Technology isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it is most certainly a crutch that many of us don’t realize that we are standing on. By examining something as simple as the making of a pizza, we can increase our level of awareness in this regard.

“But time is money! This isn’t practical or worth my time and effort!”

Sure, instead of delving into lost arts, you could use your specialized skills to earn extra money by working longer at your job, and in turn buy more than enough pizza. That’s definitely the most efficient solution, but not one that broadens your perspective or enhances your independence.

We are all consumers to some extent, but if that is the only thing that you know how to be, then you will have limited your autonomy in such a way that makes it very difficult to find personal and financial freedom. If you need proof of the dangers, just look at how many people have become slaves to their debts.

You just might find that the extra time you devote to these sorts of activities is truly meaningful, and time well spent.