Peak Oil, Global Warming, all happening within my lifetime. With the rising oil prices come higher prices for driving, for food, for heating our homes, for manufactured items -- for everything.
I'm not waiting for a corporate America to do something about it. Why should they? They can live anywhere they want. They can afford the rising costs that are coming. They don't even need America - especially after it's become depleted of its natural resources. They can move to Dubai and live on an island, safe from the masses of starving consumers who have depended on oil to do their work for them, and who now don't even know how to grow their own food - especially since seed corporations like Monsanto only supplies seeds that are sterile - making us dependent upon them every year for more seeds.
I'm not waiting for the masses to "change their way of life" either. Hell you can't even stop them from drinking or eating too much junk food, let alone get them to give up their conveniences to make life better for future generations. No one's gonna turn off their lights or turn down their heat or cut back on their driving. Not til the cost of all that starts cutting into their beer/cigarette/lottery-ticket money.
I'm not waiting for science to figure out cold fusion either. Maybe if we spend $9 trillion on that instead of the war, we could stand a much better chance of surviving this mess. But the powers that be would rather fight over the last handful of beans than plant half of them to grow more.
So I figure I can either stand like a deer in the headlights, or do something about it myself.
This is what I intend to do:
I just finished reading Mike Ohler's book called "The $50 and Up Underground House Book". Before you start laughing - there are advantages to living this way - ie. - it doesn't cost much to heat, you can build into a hill in the woods where land is cheap and you won't be easily found by marauding hordes of hungry thieves (which is not too far-fetched a notion since most folks don't know how to grow their own food), against which an underground house would be easier to defend, and it's cheap to build - yourself - sans carpentry skills.
This is a sample of an underground house from his book.
As you can see, the house is dug into the hillside and dirt is piled up on top parallel to the gade of the hill to facilitate drainage. It's well insulated and protected from the weather. With openings lower in the house and windows on the sides, and clearstory windows facing downhill it's also well ventilated and well lit by natural lighting. In the event that global warming makes summer even worse, the temperature of the earth stays 50° or so under ground, so heat won't be as big a problem when A/C will no longer be an option due to soaring energy costs.
This should all help to reduce my cost of living since my main bill will be internet (for my job - assuming either still exists), which more than likely will be the expensive 'satellite' variety due to my remote location, and electricity, which I expect will be costly also, since most power plants run on depleting resources like coal and natural gas also.Even if my local electric company switches to another energy source, like solar and wind, supply will be limited and/or expensive as it will require substantial amounts of solar cells and wind turbines to match the energy consumption required at this time to support the current demand. My best bet would be to invest in my own solar kit, starting small and expand as I go. But I'll need to do this before the demand goes up, as that will boost the prices.
By creating a terraced patio uphill, as shown in Mike Ohler's illustation above, I can plant my own garden, fairly well hidden from view and somewhat protected from animals while still receiving ample sunlight. This leads me to my next step - learning Sustainable, Intensive Organic Gardening and Companion Planting, to fill that terraced patio with food. A greenhouse at the bottom of the house can also serve to produce more food through winter as well as channel more heat to the house. The roof will be soil also, so growing leafy vegetables and above-ground crops should add to my food supply.The more I plant the more food I'll have to eat and trade with.
Seed can still be found through Mother Earth News and other sources that will allow me to re-seed my garden annually from existing plants without having to buy new seeds every year. Perennials and fruit and nut trees will also continue to produce food annually.
I've been studying sustainable living techniques since I was 19 years old. While all my friends were buying cars and stereos when they moved away from home, I bought a backpack, a camp stove, winter gear and a sleeping bag good for 10 below zero. I had studied up to 40 wild edible plants and several edible mushrooms that grow in the Eastern US, so I was prepared for homelessness just in case my pursuit of an art career led along the same path as most other artists.
I've always been a little obsessed with bushcraft also, and I've gotten pretty good with knots and rope, which can come in handy for making my own things should I find I can't get them elsewhere. I remember even as a kid how much I liked Gilligan's Island because of the way they made everything out of what they had.
Not paying as much for heating and no longer paying rent (thank god I never fell for the home-buying scams) should save a substantial amount of money given the costs of living in the future -- enough to eventually afford Solar Panels to handle my electrical needs. So studying how they work a little more will be necessary. I'd read a lot about them a couple decades ago, so I'll need to brush up on it and see what's developed in that area since then.
So to start it all off, I'll need to save up some money to buy cheap land. Since I have some control over my income I can keep my goals in mind to keep me producing. In the mean time, in my spare time, I will need to start studying permiculture techniques and more sustainable living techniques. The internet is most instrumental in that. Mike Ohler's DVD with full building instructions is only around $100. That will be my next small expense.
I expect by the time the prices really start to escalate, some poor farmer will be willing to sell a chunk of his land to be able to afford to keep his home, and I'll take advantage of that when the time comes. By then I should have some cash stashed away.
Wouldn't hurt to invest in a gun or two and some ammo, both for personal protection (against human or animal) and occasional meat if I get hungry enough to kill something - which would have to be a pretty desperate condition for that to happen - but just in case - always be prepared.
Other books I've read that have come in handy are the Earthship books I thru III. Rainwater would be a much more easily obtainable source than a well, though both will be considered. Water conservation techniques from the Earthship Books are invaluable, things like reusing dishwater to flush toilets. One Idea I had come up with while reading those books a decade or more ago was to grow bamboo along the septic leachfield. Bamboo grows quickly and is ideal for building and making furniture and things with.
I'm working on a way to build a fireplace into the bottom of the underground house, the back of which would be against the hill, opening away from the hill, and have the heat tansferred under the floor of the next level, then that tansferred even farther up the hill, ending at a place near the top level where the heat would be exposed to a metal surface on which I could cook, then vent out the roof. (come back later and I'll have an illustration for you).The draw would be long and uphill, so I think it can work, depending upon the grade of the hill. But then - the higher the grade, the cheaper the land.
Another cooking method could be a solar cooker. All that's needed to make that is a couple cardboard boxes inside each other, lined inside with alluminum foil, a piece of glass to cover it and a black frying pan inside to capture the sun's heat.
No need to hide from the world, or become a hermit - or a nut. It's likely by the time things get bad folks will look more locally for things they need, and trading food will be a new economy.
I reckon it's gonna be a different world.
For more info on Peak Oil, see this website:
Life After the Oil Crash
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