n00b from Dancing Rabbit

[Earthbound]

Hi All,

Just wanted to introduce myself to the forums, but I've been lurking on this and other PO sites for about two years. I've never been really active on these messageboards specifically, but some of y'all may have come across me in other environmentalist groups and mailing lists.

I don't think it's really possible to fully define someone based on gender, age, and predefined political and socioeconomic titles, but I don't know how to really introduce myself otherwise, so I'll say that I'm eighteen, female, and a "radical" (anarchoprimitivist/green anarchist/anarchosocialist, if you need an ism, although I try to avoid them as much as I can). I'm predominantly vegan and I live in Missouri... Specifically, I live offgrid at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, where I moved about 3 months ago. As with gender and age, I try not to define myself by occupation, but I make most of my income through art and babysitting/teaching.

...Many of you seemed to have some REALLY major misconceptions about DR stemming from that "30 Days" show with Morgan Spurlock... please remember that that show was specifically engineered for entertainment and shock value, not to accurately portray our community. If you've got any questions or need anything cleared up, please contact me about it.

I think I've covered most of the introduction stuff... Feel free to haze me now.

[SarahC1975]

Earthbound, You folks seem like you are well on your way to developing as seaworthy a post-peak oil lifeboat as a group of people could be, even though I realize most of you would be living this way even if po wasn't for another 100 years.
My question/concern is this: what, if any preparations are you making to handle refugees, marauders (including former US military special forces and defense contractors) that might show up when people realize that you guys had the right idea all along?

[kyzmiaz]

Hello Earthbound and all:

I am also going to introduce myself. I have also been lurking for a year or so and just joined a day or two ago. I am a male, a hair over fifty and I remember the 70s energy crisis. I live on 10 acres of woods in the NJ Pine Barrens. I built my house in here 1990. It is 'super' insulated by the standards of the 1990. We have a water source geo-thermal heat pump for heating and cooling. Our house has lots of south facing glass to take advantage of passive solar heat gain in winter. Thanks to a very generous rebate, in 2003 we had 9.9 KW photovoltaics installed to make our house a 'net zero' energy home. We produce all the power our 1650 square foot total electric home uses on a yearly basis. We are working on a garden but the soil is not too great here. We keep a few chickens for eggs. We have a full walk-in pantry with lots of stored food and water. Some things we did right, some I would do different now. I only found out a year or two ago about eco villages and that there are still communes - some still around from 30 + years ago. I wish I was 18 again!

[Earthbound]

Earthbound, You folks seem like you are well on your way to developing as seaworthy a post-peak oil lifeboat as a group of people could be, even though I realize most of you would be living this way even if po wasn't for another 100 years.

Thanks for recognizing that! PO was a major part of my decision to come to Dancing Rabbit. You are right that most of us would aim for sustainability not just for the sake of our generation, but for future generations, as well, but my belief that PO will hit in full-swing within the next few decades was a big contributing factor to my choice to join DR.

My question/concern is this: what, if any preparations are you making to handle refugees, marauders (including former US military special forces and defense contractors) that might show up when people realize that you guys had the right idea all along?

That's been discussed a few times lately, actually. DR is not self-sufficient yet, so there's a good chance that if Peak Oil hits quickly, we'll be scrambling to feed ourSELVES (we'll be better off than people in the suburbs, but it still may prove to be a challenge for some). If that were the case, we would probably close our doors to newcomers. If PO is slow to get going, I think we'll have time to secure our own food sources and continue to accept new people who can provide skills, ideas, or labor that would contribute to our sustainability as a community... If they would negatively impact the community or cause us to overshoot our land's carrying capacity, we would have to close our doors to them (this clearly isn't an issue yet; we're very actively seeking new members).

I don't think that our land would be siezed by marauders, although I held that concern until a conversation with a friend here a few weeks ago. When Peak Oil hits, I think it's going to be the land in and around the suburbs that's going to be ripped up and plowed, not the land in the boonies, where we are. We're in the middle of NOWHERE--very few people are going to be able to afford to ship food to the cities from here. However, if it somehow got dire enough (and I'm not ruling out that possibility) that people would forcibly try to take our land for their own use, I don't think there's much that we could do about it if the legal systems aren't still in place to protect it. I guess that's one thing that we don't have a backup plan for, but I still think that we're in better shape than people in the suburbs will be.

Kyzmiaz, I feel really sad when I hear people say that they wish they could join communities, but can't for whatever reason... I couldn't really tell from your post why it is that you feel trapped in your current lifestyle (obligations to family, a job?), but PLEASE don't make the mistake of thinking that intentional communities are just for very young people. Most intentional communities, including ours, have people of all ages.

[seldom_seen]

I don't think there's much that we could do about it if the legal systems aren't still in place to protect it. I guess that's one thing that we don't have a backup plan for...

Hi Earthbound. Does that mean you don't have any guns?

[Earthbound]

I don't think there's much that we could do about it if the legal systems aren't still in place to protect it. I guess that's one thing that we don't have a backup plan for...

Hi Earthbound. Does that mean you don't have any guns?

Dancing Rabbit itself does not own guns (most things of that nature are owned by individuals, co-ops, and subcommunities, not by the community itself), but several of our members do. Right now, those who do own guns own them for hunting, but I've heard at least one person express some interest in having them for self defense in case there was an attempted hostile takeover of the land. In general, Dancing Rabbit members advocate nonviolence, and part of our stated mission as a community is to dedicate ourselves to nonviolent conflict resolution, but some specific individuals, co-ops, or subcommunities within DR may have different interpretations of when (if ever) violence is "okay". Opinions here vary widely on any topic... For example, Skyhouse, an income-sharing subcommunity of DR, is a gun-free community, but several households here own and even collect guns.

[seldom_seen]

cool, you advocate non-violence but you can still have guns for hunting or defense if you choose to. sounds good to me.

[Earthbound]

cool, you advocate non-violence but you can still have guns for hunting or defense if you choose to. sounds good to me.

Correct. To clarify: so far, no one has them for defense, but DR's rules don't bar it and some people have expressed interest in getting them for that purpose. No one here feels a need to defend against other "Rabbits" by ANY means--I don't think there's a single door at Dancing Rabbit with a lock on it. The only concern relating to self-defense I've heard brought up is that, if the U.S. does fall into a total state of chaos, there may be a need to defend the land against hostile takeover. Some people think that it's paranoid to see that even as a possibility, but others think it's a very likely response to Peak Oil.

[Earthbound]

Thanks for all the great questions!

I am curious as to what you view as the most likely outcomes form PO ?

I don't think Peak Oil will be the end of humanity (although I do accept that scenario as a possibility), but I do think it is likely to be the end of civilization--or the beginning of the end, at least. Obviously, I don't KNOW how it will play out, but I think the most likely situation is going to be a drastic, painful reformation, but not necessarily a collapse. I anticipate widespread famine, but I think it will happen slowly enough to give many--but not all--of those close to the food sources (just about everyone in America) time to begin reforming their cultural perceptions of sustainability and "nature". I think it will be the beginning of the end of U.S. empire and that even mainstreamers will start to take part in a pro-sustainability revolution, although it will be a messy and at times deadly process.

I don't know what the future holds, though... I don't think it's all that unlikely that the chaos of PO could spark a nuclear holocaust, and I don't think it's all that unlikely that starvation could reach as many as half of Americans. I'd like to think that there's hope for a peaceful reformation, because I think humanity is doomed if we aren't at least willing to try.

You pointed out that PO was one of your reasons for hooking up with DR, so one would have to assume that DR seems to you to have the best ability to respond to the problems of PO - how exactly do you see the future playing out?

Ah, this is such a frequent conversation topic here. I think, as do many other Rabbits, that when the effects of Peak Oil begin to become more and more apparent, we'll start scrambling to become more self-sufficient. Money will become more or less worthless, so that will encourage our members--who are already on very low income--to pretty much abandon outside income entirely and make the full swap over to a 100% local economy that would include not only food and goods from our own property, but from our neighbors as well (Red Earth Farms and Sandhill Farm, two organic farming inentional communities within 5 miles of us). Our local economy would remain stable, and that would draw attention from more outsiders, who may be interested in joining or (hopefully) using our lifestyle as a model for the bigger picture. If we get close to overshooting our land's carrying capacity, we'll need to close our doors to newcomers.

And how many of the DR membership are taking PO serously ?

I'd say 100%. It's something we're all very aware of. Some are more neurotic about it than others, but I think that everyone here understands the seriousness of the situation.