The Oil Drum

Change, it seems to be the word of the moment. And it seems to be one of those popular words that pop up every time there is a likelihood of a change in the Administration. But when we change we should know what to expect from that change, and that does require more than a little knowledge of the consequences. One thinks of the Bay of Pigs debacle, or the politicization that led to the disaster that has been the Federal response to the damage Katrina imposed on New Orleans.

I was thinking of the ignorance of consequences as I read Baron Wormser’s book The Road Washes Out in the Spring. As one of the “hippy culture” of the 60’s he chose to build a house in rural Maine, discovering after having put it up that they could not afford to run a power-line to the house. Thus, through the raising of a family, they did without electricity (apart from a small generator to run a hand-iron, a Skil saw for large carpentry, and a blender). Water was pumped by hand, and heating and cooking used wood stoves. But, when they first went through a winter, they had no appreciation of the amount of wood that would be required, and so, accompanied by a flash-light, he ended up sawing and splitting wood into the night, for they had no backup furnace. They also became very dependent on the condition of the road of the title, the typical rural dirt road, with culverts and infrequent maintenance.