Hello. I am new here.
Having become increasingly frustrated with mainstream media and politics – even the less mainstream politics – I find myself looking for a better way to make sense of the world. One of your members suggested here.
I don't feel ready to contribute fully yet, as I have some private self-education to do first. If anyone can suggest good material for my initial reading/watching list, I'd be grateful. I'm starting with The Long Descent.
I have also been thinking about my own role in the near and far future, and the practical skills I should be learning and improving, both for myself and so I can spread them. Such as first aid, vegetable production and preservation, woodwork, fishing, butchery?. Any advice/sources in this area would be helpful too.
It's quite a difficult and overwhelming thought process to begin, and I'm aware that I'm only at the start. But it at least makes more sense than the confusion of the past few years. No doubt you've all been through it, in different ways, so any advice gladly received.
Newcomer in search of a reading list... and then a plan
Moderator: Peak Moderation
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biffvernon
- Posts: 18538
- Joined: 24 Nov 2005, 11:09
- Location: Lincolnshire
- Contact:
Welcome, Eyeswide. I've been a member for about two years, but still consider myself a bit of a newbie!
For reading, you might want to try:
The Crash Course - Chris Martenson
The Party's Over - Richard Heinberg
Re-inventing Collapse - Dmitri Orlov
The End of Growth - Richard Heinberg
The Long Emergency - James H Kunstler
They all basically deal with the three converging issues of peak resources, economic collapse and climate change, but in slightly different ways. Look out also for presentations of Youtube from the above, and also Nicole Foss.
There are a couple of relevant podcasts out there as well;
The Extraenvironmentalist (highly recommended IMHO)
Radio Ecoshock
The Kunstler Kast
Hope this helps. What "opened your eyes" if you don't mind me asking?
For reading, you might want to try:
The Crash Course - Chris Martenson
The Party's Over - Richard Heinberg
Re-inventing Collapse - Dmitri Orlov
The End of Growth - Richard Heinberg
The Long Emergency - James H Kunstler
They all basically deal with the three converging issues of peak resources, economic collapse and climate change, but in slightly different ways. Look out also for presentations of Youtube from the above, and also Nicole Foss.
There are a couple of relevant podcasts out there as well;
The Extraenvironmentalist (highly recommended IMHO)
Radio Ecoshock
The Kunstler Kast
Hope this helps. What "opened your eyes" if you don't mind me asking?
Engage in geo-engineering. Plant a tree today.
Great book. I read it when it came out, ten years ago!Tarrel wrote:The Party's Over - Richard Heinberg
In fact here's an interview with Heinberg about its anniversary:
https://www.transitionnetwork.org/blogs ... d-heinberg
Orlov's Re-inventing Collapse is also excellent and very entertaining and I think Kunstler hit the nail on the head with The Long Emergency.
If you like videos, the speeches from the Cork conference a few years ago are available here:
http://aspoireland.wordpress.com/aspo6/aspo6video/
Just going back through the archives, here's a blog post I wrote in 2004:
http://chrisvernon.co.uk/2004/07/the-tr ... -campbell/
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kenneal - lagger
- Site Admin
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- Location: Newbury, Berkshire
- Contact:
As background and ammunition in combating the ridiculous pursuit of economic growth this lecture by the late Albert Bartlett, Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, is a good place to start.
And welcome, Eyeswide!
And welcome, Eyeswide!
Action is the antidote to despair - Joan Baez
Thanks everyone.
Tarrel – that's quite a difficult question to answer. A combination of things, over a long period of time, for sure. Then watching friends and family get excited about Russell Brand, but not knowing how to move forward from there.
But the final straw was a heated debate about China's one-child policy and to what extent individual suffering can be justified if it benefits humanity as a whole in the long term.
Tarrel – that's quite a difficult question to answer. A combination of things, over a long period of time, for sure. Then watching friends and family get excited about Russell Brand, but not knowing how to move forward from there.
But the final straw was a heated debate about China's one-child policy and to what extent individual suffering can be justified if it benefits humanity as a whole in the long term.
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stumuzz
Hi eyeswide and welcome,
Find out where you are on the ten point list. If you get stuck at 5 you are one of life's doomers! If you get to 6 and start heading for 10 then a very happy,contented and bright future awaits.
Good luck.
First stage is shock:
OMG this will change everything. Oil is in food, clothes and travel. Come to think about it everything I bloody use and touch has it.
Second stage:
Find out more and invent a hitherto unknown carbon free renewable fuel.
Third stage:
OK, the new wonder fuel ain’t gonna happen. Settle on the pragmatic compromise of only using oil for absolutely necessary things (everyone has different suggestions on what are absolutely necessary things and become quite forceful and stubborn in their opinions)
Forth stage:
Become a ‘Jesus’. You will start to spread the gospel of peak oil amongst your unenlightened cohort of friends and acquaintances.
Fifth stage:
After most of your unenlightened cohort of friends and acquaintances have told you how boring, dull and out of touch with reality you are, you decide that it was too complicated for them and from now on you will only blog and discuss with like minded people and opinion formers.
Stage six:
You see the consequences of PO everywhere, but politicians and the press rarely discuss them in any detail. You come to the conclusion that nobody wants to know because for most people they cannot do much about it. The highly complex system they were brought up in does not allow for stepping off to try out nomading for a year or two. If only they had not got married, had kids, took on a mortgage, it would be easier to live in a tent and eat brown rice salad.
Stage seven:
You realise nobody gives a stuff about peak oil, so you apply peak oil principles to your own life. You stop telling people what they should do. You learn new skills, you source your own food and water, you cut down on commuting and you try to work from home using the latest technology to your advantage.
Stage eight:
Nothing that happens in the world or the economy bothers you anymore. Your income has gone up because your use of fuel has gone down. The quality of your food is vastly improved and you know that if teotwawki hit you could feed the family easily from diverse sources. In fact quality of life is at an all time high because you know how the world works and use it to your advantage.
Stage nine:
You realise that peak oil has made you into a ‘doer’ not a ‘moaner’. The doing bit is a brilliant life skill. The life skill of being made into a ‘doer’ is something that not all peak oil aware people will achieve. A lot of people get stuck at stage four.
Stage ten:
Is, whatever you want it to be.
Find out where you are on the ten point list. If you get stuck at 5 you are one of life's doomers! If you get to 6 and start heading for 10 then a very happy,contented and bright future awaits.
Good luck.
First stage is shock:
OMG this will change everything. Oil is in food, clothes and travel. Come to think about it everything I bloody use and touch has it.
Second stage:
Find out more and invent a hitherto unknown carbon free renewable fuel.
Third stage:
OK, the new wonder fuel ain’t gonna happen. Settle on the pragmatic compromise of only using oil for absolutely necessary things (everyone has different suggestions on what are absolutely necessary things and become quite forceful and stubborn in their opinions)
Forth stage:
Become a ‘Jesus’. You will start to spread the gospel of peak oil amongst your unenlightened cohort of friends and acquaintances.
Fifth stage:
After most of your unenlightened cohort of friends and acquaintances have told you how boring, dull and out of touch with reality you are, you decide that it was too complicated for them and from now on you will only blog and discuss with like minded people and opinion formers.
Stage six:
You see the consequences of PO everywhere, but politicians and the press rarely discuss them in any detail. You come to the conclusion that nobody wants to know because for most people they cannot do much about it. The highly complex system they were brought up in does not allow for stepping off to try out nomading for a year or two. If only they had not got married, had kids, took on a mortgage, it would be easier to live in a tent and eat brown rice salad.
Stage seven:
You realise nobody gives a stuff about peak oil, so you apply peak oil principles to your own life. You stop telling people what they should do. You learn new skills, you source your own food and water, you cut down on commuting and you try to work from home using the latest technology to your advantage.
Stage eight:
Nothing that happens in the world or the economy bothers you anymore. Your income has gone up because your use of fuel has gone down. The quality of your food is vastly improved and you know that if teotwawki hit you could feed the family easily from diverse sources. In fact quality of life is at an all time high because you know how the world works and use it to your advantage.
Stage nine:
You realise that peak oil has made you into a ‘doer’ not a ‘moaner’. The doing bit is a brilliant life skill. The life skill of being made into a ‘doer’ is something that not all peak oil aware people will achieve. A lot of people get stuck at stage four.
Stage ten:
Is, whatever you want it to be.
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emordnilap
- Posts: 14814
- Joined: 05 Sep 2007, 16:36
- Location: here
Welcome eyeswide.
One of the simplest things to do is keep lurking here, asking questions as you go along; people will direct you to past, relevant threads. Most answers are somewhere on this board.
Stay cool.
btw, Stumuzz's list is a chuckle. I might write my own. I'm wallowing near the bottom (or are stages six to ten at the top?) sort-of bits of all of them.
One of the simplest things to do is keep lurking here, asking questions as you go along; people will direct you to past, relevant threads. Most answers are somewhere on this board.
Stay cool.
btw, Stumuzz's list is a chuckle. I might write my own. I'm wallowing near the bottom (or are stages six to ten at the top?) sort-of bits of all of them.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
The best plan is to work out what ways the future is likely to negatively effect you and then work out ways of reducing or nullifying that effect. In my own case, for example, I have regular periods of unemployment but this doesn't bother me too much because I have absolutely no debt whatsoever and my lifestyle does not cost me very much. I am also not counting on the state to provide me with a pension if/when I get to that age. I am counting on my own resources.
That said, planning for the future is fine but there are many variables out there - for example, I'm quite active but what if my health suddenly takes a nosedive?
That said, planning for the future is fine but there are many variables out there - for example, I'm quite active but what if my health suddenly takes a nosedive?
A very perceptive list. I'm at around 7/8 and working on 9.
For Eyeswide's benefit, I wonder whether a few Peak Oil acronym explanations might be useful? i.e.:
TEOTWAWKI - "The end of the world as we know it"
SHTF - "S**t hits the fan"
PO - Peak Oil
Oh, and one that completely foxed me until Adam2 explained it:
ASE - Alex Scarrow Event!
For Eyeswide's benefit, I wonder whether a few Peak Oil acronym explanations might be useful? i.e.:
TEOTWAWKI - "The end of the world as we know it"
SHTF - "S**t hits the fan"
PO - Peak Oil
Oh, and one that completely foxed me until Adam2 explained it:
ASE - Alex Scarrow Event!
Engage in geo-engineering. Plant a tree today.
Many thanks everyone. I've bought The Party's Over and The Long Emergency, based on the crucial selection criteria of being available, cheap and secondhand. I'll also set aside some youtubing time to watch the videos suggested. That lot should keep me out of trouble for a while.
Stumuzz – heh, nice list. With a few adjustments for 'really quite unlikely to ever make enough money to buy the land necessary to become fully self sufficient', I can see how my route might shape up. I'm already feeling the benefits of being able to work from home some of the time, and hoping to tip that balance further in future.
Tarrel – thank you! I'd inferred the meaning of teotwawki, but not the words!
Stumuzz – heh, nice list. With a few adjustments for 'really quite unlikely to ever make enough money to buy the land necessary to become fully self sufficient', I can see how my route might shape up. I'm already feeling the benefits of being able to work from home some of the time, and hoping to tip that balance further in future.
Tarrel – thank you! I'd inferred the meaning of teotwawki, but not the words!
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RenewableCandy
- Posts: 12777
- Joined: 12 Sep 2007, 12:13
- Location: York
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stumuzz
You don't need to buy land. What most people do not realise for quite some time is their life is fossil fuel based. When they do realise it, they then take the not illogical mental leap and think they need land and become totally self sufficient.eyeswide wrote:
quite unlikely to ever make enough money to buy the land necessary to become fully self sufficient'
What you could do is make a ledger of all the fossil fuels needed to supply your life at the Mo' then just take steps to reduce it. Insulation, car, consumer stuff, gas and electricity and food harvesting,growing,storage and preparation for example. You will be surprised at the amount of cash you save (remember energy is money)
An example; acquaintances of mine are having a tough time with jobs and cash at the moment. The food bill is an issue. I said that the bill was expensive because they were buying top end stuff ( all ready made stuff, pizzas,pies, very expensive fruit and veg etc)
I told him about the energy in food and how to avoid them e.g. donkey carrots are 95p for 12kg at the local veg market. Buy the sack and bury the carrots in a trench of soil and they seem to keep many weeks. He is now paying 3.6p a pound for carrots instead of the 79p a pound he was paying at the supermarket. A small example but applied to the rest of the shop it has made a considerable difference.
Once you equate energy=money=working for the man=not having the time to do stuff for yourself=having to work extra to pay people to do stuff for you=needing more money and around you go again.