Creating Your Plan of Action

I have been working towards a simple, self-sustainable lifestyle for some time, but I am not motivated out of fear. As a strong proponent of individual liberty, I feel my best when my basic needs for life are not reliant on other people or the “system”. I am getting a lot of enjoyment out of working in the earth growing food and learning some basic living skills that have all but been forgotten in our modern world. There is a lot of personal satisfaction for me in this.

I actually have a lot of hope for the future though my vision of it is very different than what mny people have.  Like most of my tribe, I love the earth. When I see the absolute mess that we have made of it, it is very motivating for me to “drop out” of the system that is causing this.  As I deepen into living a simpler lifestyle, I become more and more aware of just how much I have taken for granted my whole life. Our society is literally awash in garbage, gadgets, trinkets and far more stuff than we need. We have all learned to take “stuff” and energy for granted and it is time for this to change….All of these resources to make this stuff came from somewhere, but that somewhere is something we never have to think about. I highly recommend the animated short called The Story of Stuff (http://storyofstuff.com). It’s great for kids too.

And now on with the essay….

Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst

No one knows what the future will bring, but it is prudent to prepare for the worst.  The worst case scenario that I am willing to consider would be a “hard crash”. For example, scientists are expecting next year to be a peak year for solar activity. One intense enough solar storm could basically fry the entire electrical system of the earth all at once. If it was strong enough to melt transformers, electricity could be out for potentially years. Don’t believe me? Read this: (insert article) What kind of radical things to our society and world would happen if we suddenly lost all electricity? This is a real “worst case scenario”, but if you are prepared for the worst you will be prepared for anything.

For most of us our very lives are dependent upon the matrix like system that is our society. What happens if the tensions in the middle east explode causing gas to become a rare commodity and sell for $25 a gallon? I am old enough to remember the long lines and rationing at the gas station in the 70′s (I can also remember gas being 59 cents a gallon!) Our entire civilization is structured around people being able to drive their cars to work and trucks to haul things around the country. If gasoline skyrockets how much would even basic groceries cost at that point? What happens if the trucks stop bringing food to your local food store altogether?

Those who think this could never happen are seriously deluded. Even a quick look at history will show you that all civilizations decline (or rapidly collapse) eventually. If our society is truly in the beginning stages of the “fall” part of the cycle and it sure looks to me like we are, then the smartest thing for us to do is prepare for all of the possibilities and this includes the possibility that the very system that your life literally depends on could itself fail.

So what can one do?

Firstly I’d like to really stress that it is all about DOING it. It’s very easy to get hung up reading things and not really going anywhere. Here are some of the things that I am doing to prepare and I cannot urge you to strongly enough to consider doing these yourself.

We start with the essentials:

Where to live…city or country?

Although I prefer living in the country, you may be surprised to hear me say that either might be a good choice for you. You can see clearly in other countries that when times get tough,, people flock to the city. Why? Because even in tough times there are jobs! And you can walk to your friends and stores as well as public transportation. There is even a whole “urban homesteading” movement that is teaching people how they can grow food in limited spaces and such. In the event of a prolonged gradual economic decline, the city is definitely an option, particularly if you are an urban dweller type.

I believe that the city is not such a great choice in a “hard” crash scenario. A city dweller is completely dependent on regular food supplies coming into it and all of the various “systems” working.  If food delivery, water systems and/or garbage removal was disrupted in a big city like Boston or NYC for even a week it could turn into a very bad scene very quickly.

I would also like to say that I think the suburbs are a terrible place to live…not only now but for basic preparedness…you get none of the advantages of the country and none of the city. People in suburbs are dependent on their cars for pretty much everything. For more on this I recommend the film “The End of Suburbia”.

Although I grew up in an urban environment, I prefer the quiet and ease of living in the country. As I spend a lot of my time working on my own projects it suits me well. But I do like easy access to a city for all that it has to offer. From a decline/collapse scenario the country has numerous things going for it. For one it is far easier to develop a self-sustainable lifestyle. You have your own water source (a well or if you are lucky a gravity fed spring). You likely have an open piece of land to grow food on. And in a shit-hits-the-fan scenario, you are likely to be much safer than in a city.

The disadvantages are obvious…depending on where you are, you may not be close to stores or even neighbors. In the coming years I believe that people are going to be living much more “local”. When gas goes up high enough, people will think twice about traveling anywhere just for fun. With that in mind if you wish to move to the country make sure it is in a place where you have neighbors that you actually like! Especially neighbors who are also growing some of their own food and trying to live sustainably. This will be crucial if times get tough.

The difficulty with someone very progressive and educated living in the country is that they are often surrounded by neighbors that may be nice enough, but not necessarily people you’d like to hang out with. We found an excellent place to live in  that is the best of both worlds. We live outside of a small town called Black Mountain, NC. Our place is nestled in the mountains. We chose this area not only because of the close proximity to the awesome city of Asheville, but because we are living in an area where there are lots of progressive, eco-conscious people, many of whom are doing homesteading as well. In the event of a crash/decline, there will still be plenty of food in the area. Earthaven Ecovillage is sort of a “hub” of the area and they have a beautiful council hall where there are regular workshops, parties and events. Many people clustered in neighborhoods around Earthaven live within walking distance of each other.  So we have all of the communal advantages of a city, yet we live in the beautiful mountains! In addition the weather is excellent here with a long growing season and mild winters.  If you are ever considering the homesteading lifestyle definitely check out this area!

Shelter: As I mentioned we have gotten a yurt and a piece of land. This summer we plan on moving our yurt to it and building a small one room cob building. When we accomplish this, we will have basic shelter that we do not need to pay a monthly fee for (except our $135 a year tax bill). From there we can use the money we would otherwise pay in rent or mortgage for expanding our one room building into a full house or whatever we want.   This kind of rustic lifestyle is not for everyone but it suits us fine. It’s taken us years to get just this far. For me it really started a number of years ago when I got so tired of paying rent month after month with nothing to show for it. I didn’t want to be tied to a mortgage and I wanted to live rent-free. Our place may be humble but I have accomplished my goal!  Of course not everyone is in a situation that they can do something like this. We work with what we have. What do you have? What kind of situation can you create? There are so many possibilities.

Think for a minute about your living situation. If you couldn’t pay the rent/mortgage what would your living situation be? Would you be out on the street? The vast majority of “homeowners” do not own their homes…the bank does….if you have the financial situation to get a place that you own outright, even if it is a humble house I would seriously consider it. Or if you can pay off your house fast that might be a worthy goal. Or how about building a home yourself on the cheap? Did you know that there are many alternatives to building that cost far less than having a construction crew come in? There are yurts, cob buildings, strawbale houses and much more. We are trained by society to think of houses as square buildings made of wood, cement and sheetrock, but there are plenty of alternatives…many of which even if you are inexperienced you can do yoruself.  Of course you need land first. We bought our land for just $12,000. With the land/housing market the way it is there are deals to be had!

Perhaps you have a friend who owns their own house and you could set up something on their property or even share their house? This would be a much safer scenario than being at the mercy of a landlord that just shows up to collect the rent.  And just think of how much you will save every month! Comfortable shelter is a basic need and the security of your shelter is something to definitely consider.

Food: Did you know that the average food store has approximately 3 days of food in their store at any given time? This means without restocking they would run out of food in 3 normal days. In the event of a serious disaster it is a safe bet that most stores would not last hours. If you’ve ever been to a supermarket in the north before a snowstorm you will know what I mean…the shelves clear out fast!

Last year when I had some extra money I bought some bulk food. These consisted of 25lbs-50lb bags of beans, grains, honey, sprouting seeds, dried salmon and other basic staple foods. I bought some 5lb buckets at the hardware store and some mylar bags and sealed them up. Food stored this way can last decades. I figured if I never had to use them during an emergency I would rather have them as a precaution anyway. Worst case scenario you just eat the food later, so there is no real financial risk. In fact this is a much better strategy to save your money than putting it in the bank. Food costs are definitely rising and whatever you can buy and store now will be an excellent financial investment in the future. I know many people with all of their savings in the bank….not only is the dollar in decline but they are making paltry interest on their money. If there is one thing that I am very sure of it is that food prices are going to rise and probably dramatically in the near future (see http://bit.ly/fEtRix). We have all experienced the sharp rise in food and other things in the past year…expect this trend to continue. This makes buying bulk food now an excellent investment.  I would strongly suggest storing some food for you and your family. It does not cost much. You can buy buckets at the hardware store and mylar bags on ebay. There is a specific way to do this involving oxygen absorbers that you can find online. Storing the food properly in buckets took me a couple of hours. It is not at all difficult to do.

Also, and more importantly, we are starting a serious garden this year. I’ve done some small hobby gardening in the past, but this is more of a serious food production venture. We are using the “square foot gardening” method (which is awesome..google it). Mainly we are building our soil and generally giving our new garden a lot of energy. I’ve learned that it takes time…years to build really good garden soil so I am glad to be starting this now.

Many people think if times get bad they can just start growing their own food. While this is true, it takes a while to build soil and get the skills so it good to start building your soil and get the practice now! Having knowledge like this is even more valuable than food in storage which will eventually run out. I would much rather be learning this skill and building my soil when I am not reliant on it for my basic food supply.

Water: Most people are not aware of just how precarious the world’s water situation is. City water is completely reliant on a complex system where water is piped long distances. What if for some reason this stopped working? Sure it probably won’t, but it just might. Water resources of the world are in serious decline. Water has been called the oil of the 21st century for good reason. Research it and you will find out what this means. Here is a recent article on the subject: http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/04/10/the_big_thirst_excerpt/index.html

When I picked our land one of the deciding factors was that it had a spring right next to it and a creek that ran through it.

Most people are reliant on the electrical infrastructure to get municipal water piped into their homes or pumped out of their wells. What if this fails? If you have a well, one option might be to get a handpump for it (which costs a hundred bucks or so) and keep it in your basement “just in case”.  Another option that anyone can do is to get a number of rain barrels (about $20 each) and place them in places where the rain runs off your house. Of course this is not foolproof as it is dependent on rain, but better than nothing.

Water is essential for survival! You can go days or even weeks without food, but you cannot go long without clean water. With that said I believe that water security for most people in the U.S. (with the exception of the Southwest) is fairly secure barring some major catastrophe. But you just never know!

Health: Are you reliant on prescription medications of any kind? What if you could not get them anymore? If possible, the time to get off of them is NOW.  Do you have any kind of serious medical care that you know will be needed in the future (e.g. wisdom teeth removed)? Take care of it NOW!

Do you eat lots of junk food or have poor or mediocre health? Time to get in shape! Not only will the quality of your life improve now, but you will be far better prepared to handle any food shortage, stress or other challenges that might face you in the future. Good health is a key component in preparedness.

I’d also suggest having a first aid kit and other health supplies stored up(herbs, aspirin, etc).

Other Considerations

There is so much that we take for granted every day. Electricity is a big one. I remember a couple of winters back when the power went out for a week in our area in the middle of winter. We did fine….we had a woodstove for heat (and for making soup!), we had candles, a lantern and some headlamps for reading after dark…outside of missing the Internet a bit, our life was pretty much the same. Except for the generators running around the clock from all of our neighbors that is! I wondered what would happen if they couldn’t get the gas to run their generators? Would they go crazy not having a television?

There are many, many other factors to consider. I could literally write a book on the subject. But I wanted this to be a short essay to just give you a general outline of the basics. I suggest getting into studying this subject in much more detail. I have given some web sites and books at the end of this to start you on your journey.

I realize that this is a lot to digest and think about. As I wrote this the images of many of my friends came to mind. What would they do if there was a massive collapse due to natural disaster, man made disaster, war or just a massive economic depression? To my knowledge no one I know is prepared for a “worst case scenario”. Although I’ve taken steps in the right direction I am not yet prepared myself. But I am putting money and energy into it every single day.

I have been aware of peak oil for many years. The rising costs of fuel that we see even now is going to impact every aspect of our lives. Our entire modern civilization has been built upon the availability of cheap and plentiful energy…this era is coming to an end.  Now I realize this is just one of the game changers looming in our future.

This is not a comfortable idea and I understand the desire to just think positive and hope for the best. I’ve seen among a number of my friends the belief that by even thinking of such things we are creating them because thoughts create reality. I believe that this is a serious error in their thinking! A minority of people practicing “positive thinking” is not going to compensate for decades of the gluttony and waste of our culture and its destruction of the biosphere. It is wishful thinking to think one can escape from the consequences of their own actions.  But I do believe that thoughts are powerful and positive thinking is a very important tool in recreating our culture.

When I think of the decline of our civilization I practice positive thinking by pondering how lovely it will be when all the wild life and biodiversity comes back to our land. What it will be like to have little to no noise and air pollution. What kind of a beautiful earth-centric culture we can create for ourselves and for our children. I also hold the images of my friends and family in my mind and send them positive thoughts and energy that they will flow with the transformation that is sweeping over us all.

All of this makes me act and I do this by not only making sure of the safety of my immediate family, but by strengthening the ties with my local community and now sharing information about what one can do to prepare in this blog.  I believe that there is an urgent need for people to wake up to the fact that our lifestyle built on cheap energy is coming to an end and it is up to us to decide what comes next!

Will we chose to fight over who gets the right to waste our remaining resources or together come up with a better way to live? A simpler way of living that may be more difficult by today’s standards, but one that honors the earth and its inhabitants. Not only is living a simpler, sustainable lifestyle a great way to learn skills that you might need for survival, but you will be actually be doing something very important in changing our culture so that we can all live on this earth in harmony with it and with each other.

~shiva

Some resources:

http://permies.com (great permaculture forum)

http://thearchdruidreport.com – check the archives for the period of June 2010 – February 2011 and there was a lot of focus on practical living skills

http://permaculture.reddit.com – A great place to get good articles and discussion

http://homesteading.reddit.com – Another great subreddit

http://www.off-grid.net/

Click here for Part 1 of this article