scribbled in the margin..
Time to start planning...
Tue, April 29, 2008 - 9:13 PMHere's a primer:
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...eo.html
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...41.html
www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/Bre...html
patrick.net/housing/crash.html
I don't believe it's fear mongering, it's just fact: we've all experienced the housing/credit crush, now fuel is spiking and food along with it. And with that is going to come some overdue changes to our individual and collective lifestyles.
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi
Oh, and PS, don't forget about climate change.
AG and I are doing what we can to be able to take care of ourselves and the little one. Last month, we got a biodiesel Mercedes, and yesterday said goodbye to our beloved, but petro burning, Honda. With our downstairs neighbors and landlord, we're going to become ( we think ) the first people to do a joint tenant/landlord solar installation on our home (we'll pay the same, but to him to cover the cost, not PG&E). We're also actively exploring getting a wee chicken coop out back, to go in the garden. And next month, I'll be volunteering w/my stepfather back home at a community food bank of sorts, and will then be able to buy a year's supply of dehydrated food on the cheap. ( I was raised mormon, what can I say).
I know that posting this may brand me a bit paranoid. That's fine. I grew up in a poor family that raised much of our own food, and got a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction from it. I suspect the reason many people go to BM is to experience, on some level, the visceral joy that comes from providing your own food and shelter--even if ably abetted by Wal-Mart and Costco. So if for no other reason, we'll keep doing what we're doing. And knowing many of you to be smart, forward looking people, who might not have had this information all put together like this in one place, well, perhaps it will be of value. Far better to see the storm coming, and close the windows and bring in the laundry, than to be surprised outside when the rain begins to fall...
Tue, April 29, 2008 - 9:13 PM -
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Wed, April 30, 2008 - 9:16 AM
Good to see that other people whom I don't consider to be crazy are thinking along the same lines. My opinion: many of us are, but we are reserved about it for the same reasons you are.
It's kind of like what someone (Einstein? Gandhi?) said about war and peace: "you cannot simultaneously prepare for war and wish for peace." And also, what I'm pretty sure Gandhi said about "be the change you wish to see in the world." (both quotes horribly overused, but apt here). Anyway, you can't simultanously advocate for the changes that HAVE to happen in our culture without taking on the responsibility of MAKING the changes. And even aside from that, when you're being hammered from every direction by "carbon costs" it's just plain smarter to work to reduce those costs rather than shaking your fists at the "they" who have brought us to this turn of events (arguably they've just brought us here faster-- if there's ANY good news in all this, it's that we're the ones who are going to have to figure it out, rather than just passing the lurking issue along to our children). I'm doing some of the same things (and would especially like to talk to you about solar). But rather than hijacking your blog, I might post my doings and thinkings on my own blog. but: 1) you're not fear mongering 2) KK, if the world comes to that point, where people are taking things from each other at gunpoint, I'm just going to give until I don't have anything left to give, and/or die trying to live in the version of the world that I want to live in-- I'm not going to get a gun to live in someone else's version of a world that is actually my version of hell. |
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Wed, April 30, 2008 - 10:14 AM
I've been seeing that coming in a serious way just the in past 2 months. Maybe it was my trip to London to give me perspective, I dunno... but we're about to experience a new 'dust-bowl' of sorts.
Good on ya for the lifestyle changes! |
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Wed, April 30, 2008 - 10:26 AM
wish i was your kid.......
wait! i think i am! what were you doing in '71? got any mangos in that kit? |
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Wed, April 30, 2008 - 11:29 AM
Thanks Thumper.....am already feeling the stress.
I am jealous you have chickens, I always have wanted my own fresh eggs. Juniper is darling, post more pics please....we miss you here in SLC, cant wait for a family visit! CoCo |
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Wed, April 30, 2008 - 12:05 PM
Here's what one small Utah community is doing:
www.canyonlandssustainable.org/ |
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Wed, April 30, 2008 - 6:40 PM
You’re not crazy or paranoid, man.
It pays to be prudent. We’re doing similar things here. Just getting ready for possibilities. |
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Thu, May 1, 2008 - 8:53 AM
What to do about peak oil and global warming?
There is no doubt that the human species is fucked at this point. There is no coming back from the stage that we have set, and we probably have less than 100 years before the microorganisms combined with decimation of resources like water, fish, bees (pollinators), forests, annihilates our species.
Nonetheless, when people ask me that question, I always say, "Learn to grow your own food and start focusing on localized production and acquisitions". Our job is to reduce consumption over and above all things. Efficiency, and more trash picking. If it's brand new, I don't want it. I am also thinking of instituting a no plastics rule in my house (after having a pot luck at my house last night and dealing with everyone's plastics trash). Really, just look around your house (as I did last night) and see what it would look like if there was not a single piece of plastic in your house. Eating goat's milk yoghurt, making coffee, vacuuming my floor and keeping my hair clean just got a lot harder..... |
