Living in Our New World Part 8: Making Preparations
October 6, 2008
Okay, I know I promised this series would only be a week long. I had every intention of writing six entries and then being off for one day. I’ve been trying to write this series for several months, but couldn’t get started. Now that I’m started, I can’t stop! My apologies to those readers who I assured it would be safe to return in a week if they chose not to read the series. It’s not safe yet, but will be the day after tomorrow.
Six days increased to seven, seven to eight, eight to nine. In the process, we lost our modem (as in RIP) in Nanango and then Word crashed and ate my blog entry. Just like our dog when I was in school. Word Recovery came up and said, sorry, it didn’t work. I admit I got so frustrated, I threw my washcloth at the wall. It barely reached the wall, and I carefully chose one that had no one on the other side so I wouldn’t bother anyone so I guess I wasn’t really all that upset. A small example of how practicing Buddhism helps us improve in our conduct.;-))
In yesterdays entry, I wrote about how we can prepare mentally for our new normal. Today, I’d like to write about preparing physically. Physical preparation helps us progress through the process of adjusting to the changes in our future. Even changes that are chosen are very often unsettling or frightening. And I don't know anyone who voluntarily signed up for peak oil, climate change, and financial crises. But we can choose how to react to this situation. And doing something positive is a powerful antidote. An angry person going out to chop firewood is an excellent example. Doing something positive will give us a feeling of some degree of control as it dissipates the negative emotions.
So even though we cannot change the reality of what has happened with climate change, peak oil, water pollution, resource depletion, soil degradation, and so on, we can—and must—move past the overwhelming feeling of being a helpless victim and learn from our guilt over having done so much harm. Each skill we learn, every article we carefully consider and choose, every pound or litre of natural resources we learn to conserve, every piece of knowledge we share with others will add to our sense of confidence and of accomplishment.
And the wonderful benefit will be that we begin to do less harm. We will stop taking from others because they are poor and we are powerful. As citizens of countries that talk about the principles of justice and equality, we will act individually with integrity and justly. We will begin to use our fair share and no more.
Where to start? By being mindful. By being honest with yourself. By looking around and seeing how dependent you are on imported food, easy credit, petroleum, natural gas, and coal. And figuring out how you’ll live without them if you can no longer afford or obtain them.
Then look down our timeline to the past. How did people live a hundred or so years ago? What did they do without all the conveniences we have? Well for one thing, they grew and stored their own food. So you can start a garden and begin buying extra food and supplies. In World War II, victory gardens provided the food that kept many families alive. Start replacing your lawns with vegetables and fruit and nut trees. Check out Path to Freedom to see what can be accomplished on a city lot that is just one-fifth of an acre.
Also start buying food from local farmers. The food you get at local co-ops and farmers markets is real food, not the artificial stuff you get in the supermarket. You can look the farmer in the eye and ask if she uses chemicals and pesticides. Locally grown food is grown for taste and nutrition not for packing convenience and good looks. It isn’t picked weeks before it’s ripe and shipped a few thousand miles to get to your supermarket. And it tastes so much better! And in the new normal, when the supermarket doesn’t have food because diesel fuel is too expensive or a storm knocked out their electricity or the main bridge into town collapsed because it wasn’t maintained, you’ll know where to get healthy, delicious food for your family and your elderly neighbor.
You’ll be eating foods in season, just like nature intended. I realize this means you won’t be eating whatever you like whenever you want. But that’s the good part! Really. You’ll appreciate those spring asparagus a lot more when you anticipate their arrival at your farmers market and then, one day, there they are! Just picked the day before and delicious. Do I need to mention that they’re much healthier so your medical costs will eventually be lower eating real food and no chemicals?
Also, learn to cook. And no, putting a pizza in the microwave is not cooking. ;-) Learn to cook from scratch because in the new normal, people will be relying on their own gardens and local markets for much of their food. Learn to use a solar oven or a rocket stove or an outdoor oven because electricity will cost much more in the future and there will be more frequent brownouts.
Learn to dry and can what you grow and buy at the farmers market. Learn to
make yogurt and cheese, and to bake bread. Without a yogurt maker or a bread
maker. Use your solar oven or a haybox cooker instead. Start collecting manual
kitchen tools, like a grain grinder, so you can store wheat berries, not flour,
and still have bread when the electricity goes out or the supermarket doesn't have any more bread. Or flour. Also start getting manual
tools for your garden and around the house.And a solar battery charger.
What else did our prepared, self-reliant grandparent and great-grandparents do? They stored food. They built houses with large walk-in pantries, root cellars, and basements. They understood that there would be floods, droughts, ice storms, and hurricanes, and that people could be unemployed, and they prepared for them.
I mentioned earlier in the series that FEMA and the American Red Cross suggest we have two weeks worth of food and water on hand for emergencies. The two agencies are thinking flood, hurricane, and so on. But there are other emergencies when a good supply of food, water, and basic necessities would be very helpful: loss of one’s job, loss of a relative’s home due to foreclosure, an illness.
What should you store? For one week, list everything you eat. Also listing other things you always use is a good idea as well. Then start
stocking up by buying extra when you go to the store and even more when you see
the items on sale. If you can, buy in bulk as it's cheaper. Food prices are increasing
far more than inflation or the interest your bank is paying. Try to buy
locally, but if that’s not an option, order from a bulk food supplier and ask
others if they want to join in on your order.
For an excellent guide to food
storage see Prudent Food Storage. As you begin to store longer shelf items like wheat, rice, beans, and so on, start eating out of your storage. This way you'll adapt to the new foods gradually while you keep rotating what you have. Also, as you try to learn how to cook with less familiar foods, you will make mistakes. It's far less stressful to make them when you can say "Oops" and order a pizza.
Also begin storing water. You can live longer without food than you can
without water so be sure you’re storing water also. You can also put in a water
catchment system. Here in
What else? Get out of debt if at all possible and don’t go back in! Also have some cash, small bills, on hand. In the past week, I heard of a woman in my food storage group who went to cash her paycheck and was refused. Most likely, her employer had been caught in the credit crunch. And if the electricity is out because of a storm, the checkout computers at the supermarket will also be out. Cash may be all that works. But you don’t want to be trying to buying some bread and milk with a hundred dollar bill. (Also remember the electricity is out so you don’t want to be buying things that need refrigeration. Like milk.)
So reduce your debt as much as you can. This is not just a
What else? If you can, add insulation to your house; look at supplementary heating and cooking systems so if one
goes out, you have a backup; learn how to darn, knit, or sew; think of what skills will become more important as things peak oil and resources hit our pocketbooks harder; put your vacation money, any other other money you can spare, into fixing up your house and then take your vacation at home; start growing medicinal herbs in your garden; if you have children start buying books for when they get older and clothing in larger sizes; get health care checkups and dental work done now, especially if you have insurance; start storing other items you know you'll always need (and don't forget the chocolate ;-)); and with everything "use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
Talk to your children about what you're doing and how they can help. And help them to understand what happened and what the new normal might look like. Actually, your children may be more on top of this than you!
Some more excellent resources include Post Peak Living UnCrash Course and Abundance and Depletion by Sharon Astyk. You'll find Astyk's book along with some others here. For the television lovers among you, you can access a wealth of information at Peak Moments TV.
We have lots to do to get ready. At times, we will be overwhelmed. Other times, we will feel a sense of accomplishment. But every time we conserve resources, move towards a more sustainable way of living, and help others prepare, we are doing what we know in our hearts to be right.
(Tomorrow: Living in Our New World Part 9: Conclusion)
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Hannah @
http://safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/