<Peak Phosphorus The Oil Drum DrumBeat: August 18, 2007>

265 comments on Peak Oil Booklet - Chapter 4: What Should We Do Now?

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auntiegrav on August 16, 2007 - 11:26am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

In the 1930's for example there was no way for concerned individuals to prepare rationally for the threat of Hitler without knowing in advance the actions of their own national governments.

The rise of Hitler was a corporate one, government went along for the ride. Individuals that collaborate with corporations instead of acting for their own interest (buying prepared/processed food instead of growing it, for example) don't give up their freedoms to government, but to corporations. The government has constitutional limits to its atrocities (well, the ones they don't ignore at the behest of corporations, anyway).

Cuba's example is one where people were already poor, so it doesn't necessarily fit how we get started on a Descent plan, but their cooperation and fortitude to endure until their localized markets and gardens could compensate for the loss of centralized supplies is commendable.

The critical fulcrum is how much Systematized support we are going to force the government into. A country of independent farmers and small businesses would force the government toward Rooseveltian socialism and distributed logistics. A country of systems-dependent urbanite technocrats would force the government toward centrally planned corporatocracy and control-point logistics (look for the stories about detention camps, consolidated meat processors, factory farms, ID chips in babies and animals, Prozac in the water supplies, etc). The latter would eventually fail anyway, due to its dependence on inputs of energy, chemicals, drugs, and suppression, but it would be a sadder road to follow than one of cooperation and compassion.
The Corporacrats will claim that "We don't have a cow and garden in every yard anymore, so we have to provide food to people through our infrastructure."
Better to PUT a garden in every yard NOW, then, dontchathink...maybe a goat to mow the lawn instead of gasoline?

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oilmanbob on August 16, 2007 - 7:17pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Goats are a bad choice for lawn maintenence as they prefer shrubs, much like deer. Sheep are better. Still better is to have very little grass. Its a fun hobby and an edible landscape with a lot of mulch to keep down weeds, cool the soil in the summer, and protect roots in the winter is usefull.

I suggest purchasing lots of gardening and landscaping books. Its a fun hobby, and should be very useful. This is a cheap book hint-if you are looking for books on a decent profitable hobby like gardening, go the Salvation Army Thrift Stores, Goodwill, Purple Heart, ect.

Books on gardening change because fashions in pictures change, the illustrations don't show the latest fads. People have been gardening since before there was writing and civilisation. And its the same with many basic skills like sewing. Since the pictures show an avocado green refrigerator in the cook book the publisher commissions a new one. If it shows a guy with long hair and bell bottoms building a compost heap or a rabbit hutch, rewrite and update. I've seen these kinds of books selling for as little as 2 for a dollar hardback, and five for a dollar paperback.

The thrift stores get their stuff as donations when someone moves or after a garage sale. They receive donations on the terms " Take it all or i'll call --- to come and get it." Once it's in their reception area, they either have to sell it or pay to dump it, and used books seldom sell well, but they don't take up much space. And if you want a great post crash barter items, books and tools fit the bill. They're portable, but not worth stealing and worth their weight in canned fruit cocktail.

Used tools are also great-hammers, saws, screwdrivers, tapemeasures, stuff that doesn't require electricity. Pawnshops are the place for that stuff, you can get this stuff for about 1/4th the price of new retail, but at garage sales they sell quickly, so thrift stores don't work Bob Ebersole

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Samsara on August 16, 2007 - 7:21pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

A country of systems-dependent urbanite technocrats would force the government toward centrally planned corporatocracy and control-point logistics (look for the stories about detention camps, consolidated meat processors, factory farms, ID chips in babies and animals, Prozac in the water supplies, etc).

Try this one.

Exclusive excerpt: The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America Terror, oil and the "shadow government"

http://www.guerrillanews.com/articles/3242/Exclusive_excerpt_The_Road_to...

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265 comments on Peak Oil Booklet - Chapter 4: What Should We Do Now?

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