Hi all,

I found my way to this site after reading The Long Emergency 2 weeks ago. Rather than lurking in the shadows, I thought I'd join. My primary interest is in developing a local food economy and growing as much as I can. I am trying to learn how to be self-sufficient, which is rather a lot to learn.

Thank you for the knowledge you have already shared with me!

lil missus

Welcome. Nice to have you here!!

Welcome! Check out the Planning for the Future section for a wealth of information.

So what's your take on peak oil? Read any other books about it?
Are you the local peak oil nutter or is there a few of you there?

I think Peak Oil is real. I fear what will happen to America over the next 10 years. I have watched farmland get plowed into subdivisions and sprawl. When I visit my hometown, I see thousands of acres of orchard lands which have been turned into half-completed subdivisions. At least the housing bubble finally burst.

I an not the lone peak oil nutter in town. I live in a fairly progressive neck of the woods. That said, I probably remind folks at the organic food company where I work a little too much of Cassandra.

My hope is that I can survive the zombie hordes. My urban homestead is on the edges of a neighborhood caught betwixt gentrification and violent decay.

Today (furlough friday), I am pricing rainwater collection barrels and purchasing another fruit tree. We have a local nursery that is dedicated to neighborhood food security.

I also want to work on my 5 year plan. We will need to budget pretty carefully if we hope to rip the concrete out of the yard and develop the land, chicken coop, rabbit hutch, wood stove, etc...

Welcome. I hope you and I (and ours) have 5 years. I know that I need at least that much more time. The wife finally gave me permission to get some chickens and goats... Now I just need some money!

So do I, and there aren't many peakers here. Just because people are liberal or educated doesn't mean they will accept the idea that there are limits to growth. I wish it were otherwise, believe me.

I know - It's hard to break through to folks. You don't necessarily want to be cast as the doomer in the office, but you also care about the friends you work with and want to break them into the idea that change is going to happen rapidly over the next 20 years.

When friends at work express frustration about the company's impossible forecast goals for 2010, let alone 2015, I listen. Then I ask if they ever think fuel prices are ever going to go down, and then have them follow a couple of logical steps about their assumptions about america's future "prosperity" with me.

I also talk a lot about what I did in the garden/kitchen over the weekend. I eat lunch in. I always send them to Starbucks/Peets/Local Coffee Shop (my preference) with my re-usable mug. Maybe I talk about building a rainwater collection system. Maybe next week it's my vision of a greywater marsh in my humble yard. Whenever I have a harvest from my first garden, I am grateful and vocal about it!

To the ones I trust, I tell them that i am depressed about selling people things that they DO NOT NEED over the worst of all platforms - THEIR TELEVISIONS! My job is to sell organic food to National Chains - also to unload some overstock schmaltz from last year. Am I in the midst of an existential crisis? Aren't we all?

Or I talk politics with open minded co-workers. Crazy talk about Iran's right to prepare for a nuclear powered future, how the Copenhagen GW meeting will fall apart unless we find a way to tax airfares and fund developing nations, the need to support organic farmers, rather than believing that we will be able to draw food from soil that has been rendered nutrient-less - just a delivery vehicle for precious water and oil-based nutrients.

I am in this thing to the hips (funny how much excess weight I've lost over the past 2 months - not that I was fat, just American). The whole situation is tragic.

I don't go into PO (other than mentioning that I am a self-proclaimed PO "wingnut - always knew I'd wind up on the lunatic fringe"). This seems to get them thinking in a more realistic direction.

I DID mention Business As Usual to one of the gals in the office, and was bummed to see that it is getting re-mastered - though I understand the need for more work, I hope it is QUICK work. That series seems a great way to get the message out and to get folks to take action.