Drawing up a Plan for PO

snow hope · Post by **snow hope** » 21 Jun 2005, 14:34

Has anybody actually got a written Plan? Or even got headings for all the major things that need to be done? This would be a great starting point if anybody could make one available.

With an issue as immense as PO, I would have thought that it is likely that everybody would have 80 or even 90% of the same tasks and decisions etc.

Or maybe we could use this thread to draw up a generic Plan?

isenhand · Post by **isenhand** » 21 Jun 2005, 14:36

Technocracy is a plan for society, does that count?

snow hope · Post by **snow hope** » 21 Jun 2005, 16:30

I have had a very quick look at that link isenhand, but from what I can see it seems to take away a degree of personal choice. Am I interpreting it wrongly?

murpen · Post by **murpen** » 21 Jun 2005, 17:01

Not really a plan, but this is the kind of stuff I've been doing:

Stop wasting money on rubbish you don't need, start saving it.
Get income/mortgage repayment protection insurance.
Work on paying off debts.
Sell stuff you've wasted money on in the past.
Consider moving to or even forming an ecovillage.
Consider retraining in something relevant to a post peak world.
Research investing in gold.
Make more efficient use of energy.
Build a library of books on self sufficiency and self reliance.
Start building a store of food.
Find out more about permaculture and plant some veg in the garden.
Discuss the problem and your plans with nice people here.

isenhand · Post by **isenhand** » 22 Jun 2005, 05:54

snow hope wrote:I have had a very quick look at that link isenhand, but from what I can see it seems to take away a degree of personal choice. Am I interpreting it wrongly?

Must be, technocracy should give people more personal choice as one of the results should be less working hours.

How did you come to that conclusion?

riverplow · Post by **riverplow** » 06 Sep 2005, 08:20

I had to jump in this one. Just think about this in 1901 what was the population of where you live, how much of that population was involved in feeding people and how did they do it, do those farming items still exist?

This is the way PO will play out first after all the spin and lies the market will find out PO happened 5 years earlier and they will panic after that the price will spike. Then the price of everything will spike. At which time people will only buy what they must have food and very little else.
If your job is not producing food you have no job. The way our system works (all the money in the world is $100 and I loan it to you at 10% and at the end of the year I want $110 back, but all the money in the world is $100 where do you come up with the other $10) is on growth , without it the system stops. No oil means no growth game over.

Now I'll give you a plan, of course its not for everyone. The way I see only 1 person out of 200 will be alive after 3 years and everything will be destroyed. Now if you think running to any government is a wise move turn on CNN and watch a superpowers response to Katrina.

1. Move to the country 2. Do not buy gold 3. Do not worry about getting out of debt 4. Own your land outright 5. stock up on heirloom seed 6. Try to plant more than you need for 1.5 years 6. Save glass jars and lids 7. Can your food 8. Dig a root cellar in a way that it can also be a hideout 9.
Buy a bow and learn to make arrows 10. Practice making primative fire 11. Learn to weld and build a windmill( a truck rear-end on a tower with the drive shaft running through the tower to ground with the base being 10 foot x 10 foot on 30 foot tower after getting it built and running good take it down and apart it draws to much attention so use bolts because after things calm down (3 months +/-) you can then put it back up hopefully you built sawmill, grainmill, generator, woodchipper attachments 12 Study wood-gas or producer gas 13 Avoid government handouts at all costs unless you desire to be a slave on a farm somewhere and still starve 14. After moving to the country get some chickens 10 female 2 male 15. Turn off TV and radio to prepare

Anyone else please jump in here and please give more ideas

isenhand · Post by **isenhand** » 06 Sep 2005, 08:49

Very bottom level survival. That?s ok for one person or family and for the sort term but I think we can do better by forming comminutes and networking such communities together. That could form the bases of a society with a good standard of living that is in balance with the ecology.

rs · Post by rs » 06 Sep 2005, 16:48

I think we need to do both!

Ultimately we will need A) to live in self-governing communities as long-term not many of us could survive on our own. In the short-term however, things may be very unsettled which is where B) the basic survival skills come in.

What worries me is potentially how much time we would have to endure between A) and B) and what the implications of that might be.

riverplow · Post by **riverplow** » 06 Sep 2005, 19:19

isenhand wrote:Very bottom level survival. That?s ok for one person or family and for the sort term but I think we can do better by forming comminutes and networking such communities together. That could form the bases of a society with a good standard of living that is in balance with the ecology.

God I wish that could be done in Arkansas. But the simple fact is just talking about about such a plan in town will have many other people knowing that you are preparing which would mean they would know where to raid for food. If it were possible to get with people that live close to you 50-75 miles from say a forum such as this to meet face to face to do such planning, purchase land as a group, and get on the ground work done it could be done. I would advise against putting an ad in the paper saying "making plans for the end of the world please help". As with all stranger meetings 1. never go alone 2. never in a private place 3. never disclose where you are from 4. never at night 5. if someone it not willing to meet in front of a police station you DO NOT need to see them. After a four or five face to face meetings are conducted, and yes this is a lot like blind dating; you will be spending a lot of time with the people who form your group, you can prepare paper work for land trust and get ready to build a real life small town. The truth is a group would do much better. As like any business you do not want to share information with people outside your group. A big advantage is that say you find 3 acres in the country at $3000 an acre with 5 people in your group each member would need $1800 and the group would then have land to make a settlement.

skeptik · Post by **skeptik** » 11 Sep 2005, 15:33

riverplow wrote:
A big advantage is that say you find 3 acres in the country at $3000 an acre with 5 people in your group each member would need $1800 and the group would then have land to make a settlement.

The maybe a group of 'settlements' could get together and elect somebody called a 'President' to handle those things which require a common decision for all the settlements, thus preventing intersettlement rivalry and enhancing common security. Together we stand, divided we fall and all that...

tattercoats · Post by **tattercoats** » 13 Sep 2005, 21:21

Wow, I've missed you lot. Murpen, Riverplow - I concur with much of what you both say, and my own plan is somewhere along that spectrum. My plan for this winter, which I raised elsewhere on the forum a while back (apology for erpeating myself) is this:

1. A week's food and water in safe store.
2. A fire and a stock of wood.
3. A means of cooking without mains gas or electricity and fuel therefore.
4. Good waterproof boots.
5. A bike.
6. A wonderwasher and ecoballs.
7. A wind-up radio.
8. Plenty of insulation on the house and spare curtains, blankets etc for supplementing it.

That's what I intend to have in place before this winter. Next Spring, I'm planning:

1. Chickens.
2. A vegetable plot.
3. A root cellar.
4. Setting up the workshop and gathering hand tools.

Other things happen as I find them - a handmill, an emergency supply of wheat, first aid kit, survival books, wild food books, etc - oh, and I try to add to my skillset every month.

Having just moved to a village, I'm taking time to get to know people, but already I've learned that among the older people here particularly is a strong thread of 'still doing things just in case' - everyone seems to collect fruit and make jam and grow some veggies, simply because that's what they do.

I find that extremely reassuring. As is the dairy farm at the end of the road.

Keep the ideas coming, people. This is what we need.

Tattercoats

Ippoippo · Post by **Ippoippo** » 14 Sep 2005, 02:14

Tattercoats.

Where's your village, sounds cool! Any houses for sale there

SherryMayo · Post by **SherryMayo** » 14 Sep 2005, 02:43

I'm not sure whether this is an act of pure folly but I am planning on making a go of it in the surburbs (perhaps worth mentioning that the eastern suburbs of melbourne where I live are not as built up and have more green space than the UK equivalent).

I'm putting in fruit trees, improving my veggie plot and putting in a water tank (well actually my other half is doing that bit).

Like tattercoats (good to see you back BTW) I am considering taking the plunge with chooks - the only thing that is holding me back is my poor record in animal husbandry. As a 11 year old I decided to extract my pet tortoise from the compost heap (where it had decided to hibernate) with a garden fork. The consequences were, alas, tragic, and I am still traumatised to this day.

isenhand · Post by **isenhand** » 14 Sep 2005, 06:39

SherryMayo wrote:I'm not sure whether this is an act of pure folly but I am planning on making a go of it in the surburbs

Somebody has to, we can?t all run to the country (or outback).

Has anyone thought about adding hydroponics to the list? Could be good for people in the cities.

hatchelt · Post by **hatchelt** » 14 Sep 2005, 08:14

SherryMayo wrote:I'm not sure whether this is an act of pure folly but I am planning on making a go of it in the surburbs

Same here. I'm on the outskirts of Bristol. We've got a fairly large garden round the back and I'm hoping we're far enough from the city centre to avoid riots (I've got self-defence "supplies" just in case).

Plus my list is pretty much like Tattercoats...I'm gearing up for this winter then once that's out the way, I'll start making more long-term plans.