Future - Post-Peak Adaptive Skills
These are skills that I think might be useful to learn now - both because you will literally be able to use these skills in a more chaotic post-peak situation, and/or because learning them would indirectly prepare you to better deal with our new realities, and because they would be immediately fun, beautiful, or otherwise beneficial.
1. Learn to grow food. Start with sprouting. Then maybe potatos, which are apparently really easy. Then some vegetables. Then plant a fruit or nut tree.
2. Learn co-counseling - http://cci-usa.org/CCI-USA_what.htm - In general learn group dynamics, leadership techniques, massage, and conflict resolution. Because lots of people are nuts, and we have to deal with them, and we are too. People are dangerous and we're all interacting anyway, so you might as well learn to do it well. They are your species.
3. Learn to speak another language and spend time in another culture. This will help you get over the fundamental ethnocentrism of "my way is God's way" bright-red kool-aid that we all drank deeply when our parent(s)/guardian(s) told us that we were bad for doing something they didn't like, which we now reflect back at the rest of the world.
4. Go backpacking in the wilderness. Your daily ritual will be totally destroyed - you will have to figure out new ways of waking up, making breakfast, shitting, walking, dealing with time, sleeping, etc.
5. Someone smart suggested that you should learn to dumpster dive. That could challenge some deep taboos around issues of food, hygiene, and private property. I have heard that Panera's is a particularly good first site - and it is definitely better tasting than most other bread you're likely to find. But on the other hand, I wouldn't advise you to do anything illegal or immoral. A guy I knew in college spent time in Indonesia, and learned to eat rotten raw meat. I imagine he sees food a lot differently now.
6. Learn to make fire, but not in your apartment.
7. Learn to brush your teeth well, or learn how to pull teeth.
What else do you think is crucial? Should we do a part of a class on permaculture?
posted by Juggleandhope @ 8:39 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Stefan,
Thanks for your reply - it was interesting to hear your point of view.
"What is good" Andy,
I just finished reading your interesting Post Peak Adaptive skills, and I find these ideas significant and thoughtful but I can't imagine myself growing potatoes in my apartment. We require large amounts of organic fertilizer and water to nurture our potatoes. In order for us to create organic fertilizer we need to research more about the worms that farmers used in Cuba that made these fertilzers, and ways to ensure a healthy life for the crops. New York City's weather isn't the greatest place to be planting crops, due to the air, cold seasons, and probably hungry insects or mice. Also, if we just imagine ourselves in the Peak Oil situation, there would probably be no faucet water, and we would have to haul our tired bodies to the east rive with the "swimming dolphins," and try to get water from there. As we bring back the reeking smell of East River water, this is where learning to build a fire without gasoline comes in handy when facing a Peak Oil situation. I believe this is the first crutial thing we all should learn when Peak Oil does happen. Fire is a source of energy, we can use it to boil water, cook food, or even scare away hungry coyotes in the forest.
I find it hard starting all these exercises like entering the wood and learn how to wipe my buttocks with a leaf instead of toliet paper, or take care of myself with nothing but a two rocks that spark everytime I strike them together or learning another language when I'm struggling to eloquently fashion my English speaking and writing skills. I have a question for you Andy. Maybe you feel the same way as me. Like we talked about in class, when we were laughing at the comments in class, we all looked at each other to see other people's reaction. Right now, I think everyone is aware that this serious, life or death situation is going to happen but their reaction and implementations I see is more like, "wow this is really going to happen, but everythings going so smoothly. We learn that oil is being depleted in an overwhelmingly rate and the consequences of rising prices on oil pumps. But our friends are still driving and hanging out blasting their music, we see people drinking wine dining on the outside of little italy. New movies are coming out, like X-men Three, and The Omen (06/06/06) and it gives people the impression that we are still "moving on," we're still growing as a civilization, sorta providing us the message to live on with our lives, screw the thought of peak oil. Get high off this last drop of oil before you disappear on this earth entirely. But again, the messages from these movies can also give us a negative message that we aren't really looking at as closely. For X-men 3, the movie makers call this "THE LAST STAND", giving the message about our civilization (the mutants) struggling to survive life after peak oil (angry humans who's temper has reached its peak) where as in THE OMEN, evil is born, and people start dying because of this "uncontrollable" evil threat that walks the earth.
As long as everything continues to grow, and people's lives continue without change in the way they live, then everyone's going to have the expression where life is good. Lets get bent drinking at bars, lets make love with your loved ones, lets sip on champagne on our oil powered cruise boat.
I believe it's good practice to destroy our daily routine in life and see how it feels like not to depend on the power structures that shape our life. But there's consequences that we wouldn't like to face. If I decide not to use my computer or any type of electricty in the household, then I guess I wouldn't be able to type 2000 words by midnight, as well find my way to the bathroom and aim correctly at the toliet bowl.
Really amazing! Useful information. All the best.
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