Hi Tracker,I understand how your are feeling. I have a 5 year old son and learned about peak oil etc just after he was born. There are days, for his sake that I wish we'd never had him. Sometimes I worry what he will need to endure in life. We are working hard to teach him practical skills but we only know so much, and some of his best mentors (our grand-parents) are now gone.
I grew up poor, worked hard in low paying jobs and have always felt like work was not contributing to bettering society and I was just going through the motions of existence in a system. Now I think I know why and am concentrating on community health, Nursing, gardening and herbal medicine skills, formally and informally recognised. I also now realize my relative working poor poverty has been great training in frugality, learning about needs versus wants and making ends meet with little money. I am happy to live at or below the lifestyle I have as it is pretty simple, but looking back wish I had had better opportunities to make some spare money so I could be better prepared now for the future.
I have tried to introduce the topic to my farmer baby boomer parents who tell me not to worry. They are about to retire, and I am thankful that my Dad has little faith in the financial system for his own reasons and is going to keep his land rather than sell it. They have worked damn hard all their lives and I would be upset to see them loose everything. Friends don't want to hear what I have to say and are all concentrating on their place in the status quo future.
I've given up trying to educate others directly and am hoping that some of my lifestyle choices will be taken up by them through osmosis. I've decided it's like the oxygen in the aircraft situation, take care of yourself first, and then maybe you can help others.
If you are geographically close to your father you could do much worse than learning to farm.
I'm a farmer and i'm happy.
fated,
I've decided it's like the oxygen in the aircraft situation, take care of yourself first, and then maybe you can help others.That was the best analogy I've seen on this site in the 4 years I have been here.
Hi Wendy,
Best analogy? Really? I mean no disrespect, however…
Aircraft situations are (presumably) emergencies; they happen suddenly, will probably be accompanied by significant/insurmountable challenges (fireball, gravity shift, etc) and are over very quickly with little time to think. No-one, including the "best prepared", has been in one before. Sure the oxygen will drop - and everyone has access to it - but even if Fated thinks well enough to make use of his/her own mask as the plane plummets, he/she can't move from his/her seat anyway until the plane stops… And then it probably doesn't matter, unless the pilot's damn good/lucky.
Let's be honest, no-one can truly prepare for such panic. And our pilot may as well be (possibly is?) "Otto" from the movie Flying High.
Unless of course Fated meant a "survivable crash". 
Bottoms Up!
Matt Blain
Hi Matthew,
Best analogy? Really! I mean no disrespect, however…
If an abrupt change in the status quo can be said to be an emergent situation then we are, in fact, in an emergency.
To test the aircraft analogy, many emergent situations involving aircraft pose significant challenges. Most end in minor inconvenient (Jet Blue Airways flight 292), some with significant casualties ( United Airlines flight 232), very few are insurmountable ( Air France flight 447).
Fated's oxygen mask analogy is spot on. You MUST take care of yourself first. Not only are you no longer part of the solution if you become a casualty, studies have shown that you will have made the situation a full order of magnitude worse.
Another analogy might be a long distance bus trip. Imagine that we all boarded a bus in Los Angeles looking forward to a sight seeing vacation in New York. Some were in Ohio a couple of soft spoken but clearly intelligent people start to make their way down the isle gently saying "This bus DOES NOT have enough fuel to get to New York". The vast majority of the passengers literally pay them no attention, totally preoccupied with eating Cheetos and and looking at the latest news about Kim Kardasians butt. A few scoff loudly but begin to fidget and look anxiously out the window at the unfamiliar countryside. A very few ask more questions, "How do you know this, what can we do?" and are convinced that contingency plans must be made.
So here we are, the driver is unwilling or unable to tell us how much longer before the bus stops. We cannot figure out from the information at hand how long the bus might travel, only that it must inevitably stop some were in Pennsylvania. Possible scenarios: The driver is a homicidal maniac who never intended to deliver us to New York but is planning to kill us all in a fiery crash, very unlikely. The driver is an imbecile and has no idea that we don't have enough fuel and is going to get us all stranded by the side of the road through shear ignorance, also very unlikely. The driver set out on the journey in full faith that we would all get to New York, now realizes that he has made a mistake that is going to result in a great deal of inconvenience to a great many people and if feeling defensive and doesn't want to talk about it, possible. The driver took our money knowing that there was never enough fuel and is planning to ditch us some were and escape with a coconspirator, possible.
Further considerations: Presuming that the driver knows that we are not going to make it to New York, is he going to stop at the next major city were there is shelter, security and resources before the fuel is entirely gone or is he going to run the bus until it dies by the side of the road, and once the bus has stopped is he going to help us make connections to continue our journey or is going to make a run for it leaving us to our own devises?
My sense is that the driver has been in contact with the owners of the bus and that there has been a conversation back and forth. The company has written off the bus as an almost total loss, perhaps some salvage value in the future. The driver is likely doing the best he can with very limited resources and is trying to get us as close to the next major city, knowing full well that we're probably not going to make it. What happens after that will depend hugely on the courage and integrity of everyone on the bus.
So, to Fated, keep doing what you're doing. Recognize that we are all very disappointed that our plans are going to have to be changed. Form alliances with like minded people now to help each other look after our children and our stuff. Anticipate things that may be useful to know about Pennsylvania. And finally come to terms and be at peace with the idea that even though we will never get to New York and we will never get back to Los Angeles, Pennsylvania is a very lovely and civilized place and may end up being a better place to raise your child anyway.
Peace be with you,
John G.
P.S. Welcome to the back of the bus.
I use to follow JHK and others, including Chris. Not much anymore. Are things bad, yes, of course. But that's life. The planet has always gone through troubled times. But, Chris, JHK and their kind are fear mongers. And the Internet is one big soap box for their kind.
So, is a collapse coming, maybe, but I'm 54, and I don't see it happening in my lifetime. I may not be making the money I use to, but, if you're smart, and have resources you'll get by. Think for yourself, and don't buy into all the BS online!
I think the point is not to fear the collapse but to rather make yourself and your family more self reliant. I do not think that is a bad thing at all. Nobody can predict if or more likely when a collapse may occur and the true nature of it's implications, but you can know how you would like to live, and i think many here seem to find great joy and satisfaction in their preparations.
Just an observation.
Hi jgritter,
In respect of the subject heading…
Are You Crazy To Continue Believing In Collapse?
...I guess I'm coming from a Joe Average POV (living mainstream); that analogies are only for "believers". If I were to attempt to explain limits-to-growth, finite resources, etc to a fellow Joe or Jane (who hasn't really thought about the big picture) using a bus or plane or whatever analogy, no doubt I'd get a strange look. Yep, they'd say, "You ARE crazy!"
FWIW, I'm all in favour of sharing the basic math of compounding growth (about my intellectual limit anyway); siting China's growth rate as an example and asking whether it's sustainable for another ten years or not; whether the Chinese economy can double again in size in that period. I even use a pen and paper. That is, I prefer real world examples rather than analogies, which aren't real and are thus easily scoffed at.
Again, no disrespect.
Regards, Matt
PS. Ultimately, it all falls on deaf ears, so I shrug the shoulders and sleep well enough at night these days. What will be will be.
RickCosaro
Welcome aboard.
Not to be contradictory but I think you'll find that as you look around the internet this is one of the more optimistic sites. Further, one of the great attractions of this site is that rather then the typical bait and switch tactic of "THE WORLD IS GOING TO END AND YOUR FAMILY IS GOING TO DIE HORRIBLY IF YOU DON'T BUY MY BOOK", but rather it's "Something extraordinary is happening in the world and it is urgent and important that you understand what it is. To that end, here is a wealth of well thought out and useful information for free to get you started. If you would like a greater depth of material you are welcome to subscribe". I have found that much of the premium information has been of little value to me for lack of capitol but that access to the conversation that takes place between people who range all the from that "Oh SHIT", "Red Pill" moment to "I've been working on stepping out of the main stream for many years and it really is a more satisfying life style"
Time for dive back into the rat race for a little while longer,
John G.
I'm not sure if this applies only to us B'morians, but there is apparantly a local currency in circulation here in Charm City, and it is being accepted by an increasing number of Baltimoreans and businesses in the area.
I thought it was illegal to accept other forms of "legal tender?" It seems to me, at least, to represent a lack of faith in the current fiat money system.
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