Some are preparing for the end of the world as we know it, convinced that global warming and peak oil, means that life as we know it will be ending soon.
Helen shows the growing collection of horse-drawn ploughs, wheat grinders, treadle sewing machines and other rusting relics of the pre-carbon era, she believes she will need the day the petrol pumps finally run dry.
Well I sure don’t want to live that way (how would I blog?) so it behooves us all to a) cut energy use as much as possible while b) simultaneously looking for new and cheaper ways to create renewable energy and power our vehicles.
Sure glad m’ g’da taught me to hunt, fish and raise a garden – taught me to shoot when I was eight, gave me a pony when I was ten, put me on a cattle-ranch at fifteen, and lied about my age when I enlisted in the Army thirty-six years ago.
Funny how recently released revised projections the Arctic Ocean could be nearly ice-free at the end of summer by 2012 coincided with the Mayan and Aztec tradition that the world will end in fire… in 2012
I doubt the internet will shut down, but we may well need to revert to more primitive technologies in other areas. As others have suggested, I think the suburbs will have to migrate, either to small towns where they can be self-sustaining, or to cities where population density makes transportation of goods and people more efficient.
My wife and I have looked at some length at how self-sufficient we could be. We’d survive, but it wouldn’t be easy. The one thing we can’t grow enough of here is grain. But ultimately, for us as for many in the southwest, it’s all about the water. I just hope our groundwater stays accessible.
Migrating to cities is most certainly not the answer. Overpopulation, starvation, strain on water/ sewer systems, lack of heat, electricity will cause people to migrate waway from cities and seek out farmable land to grow food, raise live stock and fuel (ie: wood). The problem is there is no free land available in the states barring cheap 9almost free) desert land in NM NV and AZ. Unusable for crops or livestock! So the answer…preparation. Purchase farmable acreage somewhere. Learn to shoot and invest in a few rifles and handguns. (your friendly neighbors may not be so friendly for long) and make your plan to leave the cities long before TSHTF and TEOTWAWKI.
It depends on how badly TSHTF. A complete societal collapse would indeed make cities unpleasant. And in the country, one might want to stockpile a couple of assault rifles and a few thousand rounds of ammo (not that I’ve done that personally, of course).
But in a moderate (not extreme) scenario, cities (especially warm ones) have advantages: population density and the economics of scale make them potentially much more efficient, easier to feed and maintain an economic life– as long as food and water keep flowing.
I’m not advocating city life. In fact, we’ve invited some of our city friends to make their way to our place should TSHTF. It wouldn’t be an easy life, but we’d survive.