I've been reading a lot of blogs lately about Peak Oil and the impression I get is that people like to talk and analyze, but most aren't taking the necessary steps to prepare their family for what is going to happen.
Over the past 100+ years, Americans have gone from being self-employed farmers or shopkeepers to being employees. In that time, they've acquired the habit of expecting someone else to solve the problem. The boss will deal with it - the Federal government - someone will work out a way for us to go on living in the same wasteful, frivolous way that got us into this situation, so we just need to write our congressperson or call our local talkshow host and vigorously state our opinion. What a bunch of crap!
Didn't anyone learn anything from the Katrina debacle? We're on our own! No one is riding to the rescue! The people who will get out of jams will be those who can pay their way out.
I am beginning to look around for the place to live in safety and comfort while our American way of life meets the hard cold reality that there no longer is enough cheap oil to maintain our ridiculous life style. I'm actually looking forward to seeing some of our inane Hollywood celebrities try to earn their living by doing something of real value.
We've got - at most - a few years to prepare. It's a good time to buy a few acres in the country with a few friends. Brush up on your organic gardening and farming skills. Stock up on hand tools, guns, and ammo; learn to use them. Lay back a supply of canned or freeze-dried foods. Maybe put in your own gas tank for the inevitable times when it will be impossible to buy fuel, due to shortages. Get ready and learn to love it.
Lessening your family's dependence on working for someone else, cutting your dependence on foods of questionable quality that must be trucked a thousand miles to your local grocery market - these are good things. Getting out of big cities where you are vulnerable to terroist attacks, bird flu epidemics, shortages of gasoline, medicines, and food may be troublesome to accomplish, but you will be soooo glad when the blackouts get to be a regular occurence or there is a panic for any of the aforementioned reasons.
This is not a drill!
We will be seeing more wars over resources, especially oil in the next few years. I wouldn't count on the USA being able to capture enough to keep our bloated system going. Our adventure in Iraq doesn't seem to be working out too profitably, does it? Just as in Vietnam, I will place my bets on the guerilla forces to win.
My advice is to learn to become self-reliant again. Find a way. Get in shape because only the healthy and the fit (and the prepared) will have a chance to survive the next ten years.
Why believe me? I've been through a few "trial runs" that I'll tell you about next time.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Imagine a World Without Oil
It's time to start preparing for the day oil is to0 scarce to be used to haul our foodstuffs hundreds or thousands of miles to our neighborhood store. What will we eat then?
When gasoline is too expensive for us to drive 10-80 miles to work each day, how will we earn our living?
Will your peaceful city neighborhood and your backyard vegetable garden be safe when hungry people are looking desperately for something to eat? Can you grow enough to feed your family year-round where you live? And do you have a well that doesn't require electricity?
The time has come for intelligent people to start making plans for a time in the near future when our society, which runs on cheap oil, begins to fall apart.
If you read between the lines of your daily news, you'll see what I'm talking about. Look up "peak oil" on Google and read what scientists, geologists, and serious thinkers are predicting. There is no doubt that it will happen; the only debate is over "How soon?"
All it would take would be a major terrorist attack on any major oil-producing nation, say with a dirty nuclear weapon, and you will see prices of oil and natural gas go through the roof. Combine the likelihood of terrorism with the growing appetite for oil of China, India, and other industrializing nations and you have a good chance that supplies will be grabbed up and/or fought over by nations desperate to keep their society running. Will it be 3 years or 10 before things get really ugly in the cities?
This is not news, but I'm starting to sense the urgency to prepare for a scaled-down economy that's based on serving real human needs like food, shelter, and cooperation. A local economy in a rural environment that is safe from marauding thugs.
Interestingly, this change to a world without oil is going to be a good thing. Those who see it coming can avoid the pain of going "cold turkey" when the supply is shut off. Some will get stronger and healthier by getting off the couch and growing their own food, instead of driving to the store. Some will commute by bike rather than Hummer. Others will starve, steal, and impotently scream for the government to DO SOMETHING! (Think Katrina!)
Will you join the Captain's dinner party on the Titanic and live it up for a little longer? Or will you prepare now to save your loved ones from the chaotic times ahead? (Think we can stop another 9/11?)
From what I'm reading on www.PeakOil.org and other well-documented peak oil sites , life will be better when the frantic oil-dependent people have died off, leaving the meek to inherit the earth.
When gasoline is too expensive for us to drive 10-80 miles to work each day, how will we earn our living?
Will your peaceful city neighborhood and your backyard vegetable garden be safe when hungry people are looking desperately for something to eat? Can you grow enough to feed your family year-round where you live? And do you have a well that doesn't require electricity?
The time has come for intelligent people to start making plans for a time in the near future when our society, which runs on cheap oil, begins to fall apart.
If you read between the lines of your daily news, you'll see what I'm talking about. Look up "peak oil" on Google and read what scientists, geologists, and serious thinkers are predicting. There is no doubt that it will happen; the only debate is over "How soon?"
All it would take would be a major terrorist attack on any major oil-producing nation, say with a dirty nuclear weapon, and you will see prices of oil and natural gas go through the roof. Combine the likelihood of terrorism with the growing appetite for oil of China, India, and other industrializing nations and you have a good chance that supplies will be grabbed up and/or fought over by nations desperate to keep their society running. Will it be 3 years or 10 before things get really ugly in the cities?
This is not news, but I'm starting to sense the urgency to prepare for a scaled-down economy that's based on serving real human needs like food, shelter, and cooperation. A local economy in a rural environment that is safe from marauding thugs.
Interestingly, this change to a world without oil is going to be a good thing. Those who see it coming can avoid the pain of going "cold turkey" when the supply is shut off. Some will get stronger and healthier by getting off the couch and growing their own food, instead of driving to the store. Some will commute by bike rather than Hummer. Others will starve, steal, and impotently scream for the government to DO SOMETHING! (Think Katrina!)
Will you join the Captain's dinner party on the Titanic and live it up for a little longer? Or will you prepare now to save your loved ones from the chaotic times ahead? (Think we can stop another 9/11?)
From what I'm reading on www.PeakOil.org and other well-documented peak oil sites , life will be better when the frantic oil-dependent people have died off, leaving the meek to inherit the earth.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
