Monday, January 14, 2013

Dual Purpose Living

On my last post, a reader commented about what kind of lifestyle changes he and his wife should be making in order to prepare for where our civilization is headed. I think this is a sentiment which is shared by a large number of readers. Many of us are locked into the debt-and-consumption society, for quite a large number of reasons. We may have tried to go down the path of "success," only to be saddled with large student loans and an increasingly bleak employment outlook. We might have family members we are caring for, or be tied to a job which we cannot find elsewhere. It breaks my heart to hear people who feel this way, because there is the grinding pressure one on hand of knowing something is substantially wrong with the "big picture," yet they feel helpless to do anything about it on the other hand. However, in spite of what we are thinking and feeling at the moment, there is some reason not to despair.

The first thing that we have to keep in mind is that collapse does not generally happen overnight. Barring extraordinary circumstances, we're not going to go from eating dinner from the fridge one day to roasting rats over a 55-gallon drum the next. In many respects, we have been in decline since 1970, both the last time that the real wages of workers rose and America hit peak oil production. Everything since then has basically been a Federal Reserve-backed Ponzi scheme, real estate fraud, or finding newer and stupider ways to piss away the accumulated wealth of civilization. For many people, life since 2008 has been living in a state of individual collapse. Look around, take a drive through most small towns, or formerly busy shopping areas. What's left? Maybe a couple of knick-knack stores or something. Mostly, you'll see real estate signs up all over the place. On a macro-scale, population growth rates are getting ready to tank. People can't afford to feed a large family, or a family at all, in most cases.

My point here is that we are not looking at a situation where we're thrown into icy water and expected to swim. Even if the currency crashed overnight, there would still be enough largesse thrown at the cities to make them last for a while. For that matter, the argument that the only place to make it through collapse will be in the country probably needs to be called into question, but that's a story for a different day. Instead, just as people adapt to "having less is the new normal," we need to adapt to "thinking different about how to do things," and this adaption is where we really need to be with ourselves. Consider that the "American dream" even as recently as a decade ago consisted of a 3 bed, 2 bath house on a 1/4 ace of ground, couple of cars, steady office job, and a trip to Disney every few years. How many people still really have that expectation in mind? Some, but we're also seeing this generation increasingly become one that stays with their immediate family, something that was a relatively normal state of affairs for most of human history.

More specifically, we can begin to adapt in a number of sensible ways, not all of which involve an immediate and drastic lifestyle change. The first step is mental, like with anything else -- do we understand where we are at in life and society? Do we know how we relate to others? Are there friendships and relationships we can build or repair? This is not to suggest that we seek out people to "use" -- on the contrary, we have to encourage and expect a "give and take" between people. Thinking outside the box here is helpful, too. I remember an extreme example of a discussion I had with a person who suggested that if the dollar collapsed, all economic activity would grind to a halt. Maybe on a continental, macro-based level, but people on a local level would find ways to adapt and either barter or develop a new means of exchange.

The second thing is to begin actually try learning and practicing skills. In many cases, things are a matter of scale -- if you can raise a small herb garden, then you're already learning the basics of food production. If you make some beer in a bucket, you're learning a lot about brewing. Ditto for almost everything. I've dabbled in quite a few things, and there are some things I do well, others not so well, but it still gives me a context to work with. This will be the most important thing, the ability to adapt to different needs. If we can't find someone to do it, or afford it, we have to do it ourselves. In terms of skill building, and crafting, there are plenty of people who are willing to pass along their experience and knowledge, too. Take a notebook, and listen. Or you may be able to find people who will let you do some hands-on help if you seem particularly interested and sincere. I once got a lesson in the basics of playing a hammered dulcimer after expressing some genuine interest and appreciate of the musician's work (I've like hammered dulcimer music for a long time).

Third, we need to look at dual-purposing our lives and interests. Are golf or video games going to be a big activity down the road? Probably not. Ditto for "antiquing" or scrapbooking or collecting worthless figurines or something. If we have a choice between getting a job in the city, or someplace where can get a little land, which should we pick? If we're buying a car, do we pick one that is "luxury" or one that is more easily maintained and can be used to travel on our increasingly poor road network? Are our leisure activities something we could eventually use to begin to make a living in a post-collapse economy? I've explored brewing and winemaking for this reason, along with teaching unarmed self-defense, blacksmithing, and some other odds-and-ends, all to have something to fall back on if need be. Don't overlook music and entertainment, and other arts, too. Acoustic music will probably come back into demand at some point, as the means to listen to digital music becomes increasingly rare (we all have an MP3/4 player these days, but the batteries in those don't last forever, even assuming we will still be able to get regular electricity to charge them). Become a "nerd," too -- because we are going to be able to do less and less of macro-scale science and engineering, it doesn't mean that we will be doing less of it on a micro-scale. Knowing some science, like chemistry and physics, as well as some math, will go a long way toward validating certain approaches. After all, physical survival and life itself is just a numbers game with energy input vs. energy output.

The temptation to feel overwhelmed, and to feel a great deal of pressure, when it comes to changing our lifestyles, is understandable. We know that the current model is unworkable and is going to hit a brick wall sooner or later. We don't want to be on the bus when that happens. On the other hand, the sooner we begin to decouple, even in small ways, from the "mainstream" lifestyle, we will begin to feel a greater sense of reward for our efforts, as well as being able to increasingly get a sense of what we need to do and where we need to go.

9 comments:

  1. This is exactly the path I'm taking. I'm slowly decoupling myself from the energy-intensive lifestyle I live in while acquiring skills that I feel will have value in the future, things like organic gardening, brewing, smithing and music. What's truly wonderful about this process is that my life is becoming more enjoyable because I'm engaging myself while simplifying.

    When it becomes socially acceptable to dabble in "old world" skills I think we'll see a large move away from the constant drive to waste resources to keep ourselves distracted. That is my hope, anyways.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've been pretty surprised by some conversations I've had about people who are into canning and gardening, for example. There is a drive for the "real" in the human psyche that can't be satisfied forever by what is getting to be an increasingly hollow existence (wake up, commute, work, commute, eat, sit around, go to bed). Also, the fact that there is less and less of a sense of security in recent years also triggers this impulse.

      So, if anything, we're at least part of the way there.

      Delete
  2. The closer we can make the change in our lives be equal to the pace of collapse the better. In my mind doing nothing is just as bad as completely rearranging our lives now. One leaves us unprepared for the future and the other leaves us unable to cope with the present.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Very good point. I've discussed the need for balance between the two regimens in the past. Flexibility is probably one of the most essential assets anyone can have -- I think many of the "hardcore preppers" will learn this the hard way as some point, when they can't shift gears to realize that their supplies are finite and that this is a generational, if not permanent, crisis we're facing.

      Delete
  3. I have lived this "schizophrenic" mode since 1968 when I had an epiphany about civilization which was reinforced by the publishing of Limits to Growth a few years later. Continued research into energy and other resources only deepened the awareness. From 1974, I lived off the grid cooking and heating with wood in central Minnesota. For the first ten years, this was done with no electricity in my home and then with wind and solar panels. During this time I was chairperson of a state organization, manufactured a solar hot air panel, got a degree using kerosene lamps in my home and then for twenty years worked as a licensed psychologist in private practice. I had one foot in the "simple living" world and the other billing Blue Cross, Blue Shield.
    Today, living in another place, my partner and I are developing an orchard/garden that can either give products - food, vinegar, starter plants, dried food - for sale (one foot) or trade (the other foot). It has been a hell of an adventure.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It sounds like it's been interesting. As I mentioned above, I think we all feel a need to reconnect to the simple and real, and the looming problems in society are just another push to get us in that direction. The idea of developing agriculture for trade/sale is a solid idea, too, a real step towards self-sufficiency in a social, not just basic, sense.

      Delete
  4. Since the 2008 economic crises woke me from three decades of sleeping in place, I have been moving (and pushing my family) to take as many pratical steps as we can to transition to a saner more sustainable life. The first step was to create a food pantry with supplies to get us through any short term emergency. Next we cut up all the credit cards, equity lines, etc. and determined to live within our means. We began paying down our existing debt as quickly as we could. By rearranging our assets we were able to purchase five acres and a house in the country with no mortgage. For the last year and a half we have been adjusting to part time life with no cable, no central air in summer and no central heat or running water in the winter. While our "camp" is still only a weekend and vacation getaway we are learning skills we never pursued in the city. I can now light the wood stove with one match and keeping it going all week. We have learned to cut and split and stack wood. (I had never held a chain saw in my previous life.) We have learned what to store as kindling. My adult sons are using the property to learn how to shoot (pellet guns for the moment.) We have been making friends with the town residents, availing ourselves of thier skills in restoring the house and purchasing local produce and baked goods. I have joined the historical society and my wfie has joined the library and we participate in their programs. This winter I have been experimenting with one pot recpies I can cook on the wood stove without using the propane oven and range. Last summer we began a vegetable garden in our city yard (results were mixed) and hope to expand to grow some things at the camp. My adult children have watched this change and all participate to some extent. My grandchildren are growing up thinking all this is normal. Each step we take seems like a small thing at the time, but as I look back I realize that we have made a significant change in outlook and lifestyle. More importantly, my grandchildren are seeing a very different life and view of the world than their parents knew growing up in the eighties and ninties of the last century.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Perhaps I am only trying to justify my attachment to life in large, dense conurbations like Chicago, but 300 million-plus people are NOT going to be able to make a living as 19th-century subsistence farmers, least of all a middle-aged woman of sedentary habits. Most of us are going to have to live in towns or cities, and these places are, in the near term (for the next couple of decades) going to be the places that get the resources and capital because they will be where most people have to live. Look for a complete collapse of outer suburbs and their reversion to farmland, and for the "sand" cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas to become unlivable as there will no longer be the money and resources to maintain the Colorado River plumbing system that makes life possible for large cities there.

    When you consider the adjustments you must make to survive the contraction underway, consider who you are and how you have to live. But realize that many of the invented "lifestyles" of the late 20th are no longer going to be feasible. If you want to live on the land, you'll have to farm it and have the entire array of skills that are needed to make that work. If you're a town dweller, you'll have to live as town dwellers always have- densely, with less space, and close to public transit. Get rid of your car and organize your life around the nearest rail or major bus line, learn how to sew, learn how to do your own household repairs. Take a look at the city neighborhood you are living in- chances are, if you're in a SF house, it's in a neighborhood with lousy public transit. Swap the high rise apt for something in a courtyard building where you won't be stranded on the 18th floor in a week-long power failure. Learn how to shop, and how to cook a real meal in one pot. Learn to use a solar oven.

    But most of all, get off credit, pay off your house, and learn to live without a car.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree that people will unfortunately not be able to make a transition. I think we'll see a combination of adjustment and attrition to the new reality as time goes on. Good point about the "sand cities," too -- I believe that Los Angeles also falls into this category.

      Delete