by GregT » Sat 03 Jan 2015, 04:26:36
dohboi,
At this point in time there isn't a hope in hell of averting a global catastrophe. We are only starting to see the effects of climate change. It is believed that the lag time between CO2 accumulations and temperature rise is about 40 years. We are now seeing the effects from the 70s, before we really ramped up global emissions. With 7 billion people and growing exponentially, a tiny minority is not going to make any difference at all. Only wishful thinking.
That being said, my wife and I are 54 and 55, and we have decided to opt out. We are taking an early retirement this spring, and are moving to a far more rural location. We both experienced a more self sufficient lifestyle growing up, and are well versed in gardening, hunting, fishing, and food preservation. We are both looking forward to greatly lowering our environmental footprint, and hope to leave a legacy for our children. The least we can do is try.
Our first priorities when we relocate will be solar water heating, a PV system, a large water cistern for collecting rainwater for irrigation, and an efficient wood burning stove for both heating and cooking. We have plenty of firewood available, as well as deer, elk, and lots of salmon in the fall. We also have a year round stream at the back of the property, so micro-hydro is also an option. My wife already has work lined up and her commute will remain about the same as now, but we plan on replacing her 2010 Honda Civic with something even more fuel efficient. Myself, I plan on using a small street legal dirt bike as my primary means of transportation.
The home we are moving into has just over 1/3 of the square footage as the house that we will be leaving behind. I obviously haven't figured out our changes in efficiencies yet, but I hope we can at least achieve a 30% reduction in our fossil fuels usage right off the bat.
We are going to do our best to do our part, at the very least in may give us some piece of mind. Sadly, IMVHO, I don't see much hope for most, if not all of humanity in the future, short of an alien invasion, or divine intervention. Again, that isn't going to stop us from trying.