backandbeyond
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“Collapse now, and avoid the rush.” Revisited ten years or more later.
An article I read over a decade ago on the old Archdruid report blog [which I will link at the end] discussed the concept of reducing your consumer/industrial dependent lifestyle, Now, instead of waiting for the collapse of society forcing it upon you. As a relatively early convert to life outside the Matrix, and I'll discuss that later, the concept made good sense to me and I began hoarding old sledge hammers, picks and shovels. I got rid of my big V8's and went to 4cyl vehicles and stopped eating takeaway, among other actions...
Now I will admit that while a lot of these actions were quite smart in and of themselves, and had good returns in the short run, better health, more money in the pocket, they also excluded me from a lot of "Life" that I had up until that point enjoyed. I mean even having simple pizza with friends is quite a social occasion, and quitting takeaway saw me dropping these events from my calendar. But I "Knew I was on the right track" and that when the collapse came I would be ready! The trouble was, the collapse never came? And it may never come in my lifetime!
In the beginning I read stories about the early adopters, men and women who back in the 1970 thought that civilization would collapse soon because the world had gone off the gold standard and began racking up enormous debt. These were the beginnings of the modern 'survivalist' movement I believe, Go forth young man and build a redoubt and hunker down, because itz Coming! "It's Almost Time!" Well those early men and women are probably in their 90's now, or long dead, and the world went on as they huddled in their bunkers rotating their beans and waiting. I am at the stage now quite frankly where I am ready to get back into the mainstream of life again. I don't want to be old, counting my silver coins and eating bowls of rice just to rotate the stuff. I hate rice actually.
I thought I was an early adopter, I wasn't. I just came onboard with the peakoil scare and like those people in the 1970's, thought that this was it. Those early heroes of mine, John Michael Greer, Jim Kunstler and the like are now living pretty humble existences in far flung corners of the world. Eating and canning their tomatoes, recycling their junk. Fortuitously for me I never setup that doomstead, although I was well on the way. I kept my job in the city that made me lots of cash, then when the time was right moved out, but to a small town where I live a similar existence to that which I had but a lot further away from the madness now enveloping said city. I still work from time to time and I reflect that one hours labor in my job "nothing fancy" will buy me two weeks worth of the food I would have been toiling days over and fighting nature over in the doomstead scenario.
I still adhere to many of the concepts in the “Collapse now, and avoid the rush.” article, but the idea of, John Michael Greer's, "decrease our energy use, per capita and absolutely, to get our energy needs down to levels that could be maintained over the long term on renewable sources." I have rejected out of hand. Sure, it's a good principle for society as a whole in the long run, but as a personal mantra it is a recipe for a miserable retirement.
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2012-06-06/collapse-now-and-avoid-rush/
An article I read over a decade ago on the old Archdruid report blog [which I will link at the end] discussed the concept of reducing your consumer/industrial dependent lifestyle, Now, instead of waiting for the collapse of society forcing it upon you. As a relatively early convert to life outside the Matrix, and I'll discuss that later, the concept made good sense to me and I began hoarding old sledge hammers, picks and shovels. I got rid of my big V8's and went to 4cyl vehicles and stopped eating takeaway, among other actions...
Now I will admit that while a lot of these actions were quite smart in and of themselves, and had good returns in the short run, better health, more money in the pocket, they also excluded me from a lot of "Life" that I had up until that point enjoyed. I mean even having simple pizza with friends is quite a social occasion, and quitting takeaway saw me dropping these events from my calendar. But I "Knew I was on the right track" and that when the collapse came I would be ready! The trouble was, the collapse never came? And it may never come in my lifetime!
In the beginning I read stories about the early adopters, men and women who back in the 1970 thought that civilization would collapse soon because the world had gone off the gold standard and began racking up enormous debt. These were the beginnings of the modern 'survivalist' movement I believe, Go forth young man and build a redoubt and hunker down, because itz Coming! "It's Almost Time!" Well those early men and women are probably in their 90's now, or long dead, and the world went on as they huddled in their bunkers rotating their beans and waiting. I am at the stage now quite frankly where I am ready to get back into the mainstream of life again. I don't want to be old, counting my silver coins and eating bowls of rice just to rotate the stuff. I hate rice actually.
I thought I was an early adopter, I wasn't. I just came onboard with the peakoil scare and like those people in the 1970's, thought that this was it. Those early heroes of mine, John Michael Greer, Jim Kunstler and the like are now living pretty humble existences in far flung corners of the world. Eating and canning their tomatoes, recycling their junk. Fortuitously for me I never setup that doomstead, although I was well on the way. I kept my job in the city that made me lots of cash, then when the time was right moved out, but to a small town where I live a similar existence to that which I had but a lot further away from the madness now enveloping said city. I still work from time to time and I reflect that one hours labor in my job "nothing fancy" will buy me two weeks worth of the food I would have been toiling days over and fighting nature over in the doomstead scenario.
I still adhere to many of the concepts in the “Collapse now, and avoid the rush.” article, but the idea of, John Michael Greer's, "decrease our energy use, per capita and absolutely, to get our energy needs down to levels that could be maintained over the long term on renewable sources." I have rejected out of hand. Sure, it's a good principle for society as a whole in the long run, but as a personal mantra it is a recipe for a miserable retirement.
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2012-06-06/collapse-now-and-avoid-rush/
