I don't think that we can actually be 'settlers' in this day and age.  It's hard enough to find a piece of land with a bit of privacy.  Forget finding a spot that has been untouched completely unless we are interested in desert living (some people find a way to do this successfully!) or swampliving.  These seem to be the only kinds of land not being used. 

If we can no longer be settlers, can we still be homesteaders?  According to http://www.dictionary.com/:  'homesteader - squatter:  someone who settles lawfully on government land with the intent to acquire title to it.'  A squatter in the same definition as a homesteader?  Really?  I think of homesteaders with great respect and awe and I think of squatters with DIS-respect and awe-FUL.  The very same http://www.dictionary.com/ says 'squatter - a person who unlawfully occupies an uninhabited building or unused land.'  Homesteaders worked hard to tame the untamed with blood, sweat and tears.  Squatters take what isn't theirs and did not work for.  I don't think that there are too many people who aspire to be squatters but lots would love to be homesteaders!  The most famous (infamous) squatters I know of were the Black Donnellys.  Things would not have turned out as they did had the 'squatter Donnelly's' been kicked off the land properly.

Human needs do not change.  We need the same things that the homesteaders needed, we just do not need to work so hard to achieve them.  Food, water, clean air, sleep, shelter, warmth, clothing, health care, spiritual needs, light, transportation, sanitation, cleanliness and some form of entertainment.  The necessities of life do not change, only how we acquire them.  The homesteaders worked extremely hard just to stay alive.  I cannot imagine how they found time for barn dances, neighbourhood gatherings and church on Sunday.

First Pioneer Picnic, 1886, Labarge
Caledonia Main Steet 1912
Looking East
Caledonia, Kent County, Michigan
http://www.kraft-mi.org/