Practice Losing Farther, Losing Faster: Everyday History in a Crashing Economy
Sharon September 18th, 2008
One Art
The art of losing isn’t hard to master;/so many things seem filled with the intent/to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster/of lost door keys, the hour badly spent/The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
Then practice losing farther, losing faster:/places, and names, and where it was you meant/ to travel. None of these will bring disaster.
I lost my mother’s watch And look! my last or/next-to-last, of three loved houses went./The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,/ some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent/I miss them but it wasn’t a disaster.
- Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture/I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident./the art of losing’s not too hard to master/thought it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
- Elizabeth Bishop
I thought it might be worth getting a discussion going on how this looks to all of us. It is hard to know exactly where we’re headed – whether this is the first step in a long slide or the beginning of a fairly rapid reorganization that moves us to a much lower level – or both. In some senses, as I’ve always argued, it doesn’t really matter – all the discussions of whether we’re like Rome or whatnot can help us gauge the comprehensive sweep of history, and the way it will be looked at going backwards. They can remind us that history, while lived, is experienced both more slowly and more rapidly than most of us can really process. But historic sweeps don’t really tell any more of the larger story than localized narratives – for someone who moves from lower middle class rapidly to starvation (as happened quite a lot during the Depression), the world *did* collapse. Sometimes slowly, sometimes rapidly – but the large sweep of history can’t really account for the not-insubstantial percentage of those who have already had collapse or are on the brink of it. For those who died for reasons that seemed mad to them based on their prior worldview, the world *did* fall apart, the apocalypse did come, the horsemen came marching. In some neighborhoods, in some places, right now, any claim that peak oil and its related financial disaster won’t really be as bad as we said, that it will take a century or two, would be laughed off rather as the dead killed in the first sacks of Rome might laugh at the idea that Rome wouldn’t fall for a good long time yet. Falling is all a matter of perspective.
The problem with sweeping historical views is that ultimately, they must come down to a narrative account that has to be summed up by “the poor are always with us” – that is, the first stop on the disaster train is always to make those who were just barely getting by move to hell, and not get by any more. Some of them die, and some of them just suffer hideously. If we imagine that the disaster has only taken place when a significant portion of the most privelege have been equally discommoded, if the stockbrokers have to be as hungry as the janitors, we will indeed be waiting generations for the disaster. In fact, most likely we will miss it altogether - we will say “but there were always poor and hungry” as though the fact that there are more, that the world really is falling apart for a percentage of the populace doesn’t matter. After all, history tends to be written by the educated and priveleged, not those who eat out of garbage cans. An account of the experience that sees it through the eyes of the earliest victims is in many ways as legitimate as an overarching view, narrated back – but far quieter.
Most of my readers will recognize John Michael Greer’s _Long Descent_ as the clearest articulation of the sweeping historical vision, and I truly think it is one of the best peak oil books ever written. It provides a useful corrective to a perspective that is real, if not quite as widespread as I believe Greer thinks it is. And it seems to be truly penetrating the narrative of peak oil discussions in a deeply productive way, which pleases me. I do, however, think it is worth articulating the ways in which a larger vision might also be unhelpful to us – not because I think Greer’s work itself is insufficiently nuanced, but because the versions of stories we tell to ourselves about how the world works always gets oversimplified. As people read his book and begin to nod and recognize that perhaps the zombies aren’t actually on the march yet, I think there’s a danger that some people may give up getting zombie-ready 
. This (and I assume you all know that by “zombie ready” I mean “increasing pantry and warm clothes” not “home-scale tactical nukes”), I think, could be dangerous for the people most likely to be impoverished, to experience peak oil as a true collapse – because there are always early victims, often large categories of them, who experience their world as collapsing, because their particular sphere of it is. And IMHO, it is always wisest to assume you might be one of them. If not, you can enjoy being pleasantly surprised and donate your preparations to others who were not so blessed.
My own interest, I admit, is in what might be described as the “underarching narrative” – that is the experiences of ordinary people as their losses accellerate. I’ve been watching people send me personal stories of foreclosure, their first visits to a food pantry, their fears of death by freezing and hunger, the job losses, the increasing desperation. And under the overarching narrative, their experience provides a useful, and terrible corrective to the sense that we are just beginning something. We are, of course, but just as we are beginning the disaster as a whole, those who always stood closest to the precipice are falling firmly into the hole, and crashing to the bottom.
So I thought it would be worth asking my readers – what is your experience so far? Are you watching the markets with polite interest or watching your children’s college funds and your retirement disappear? Are you already unemployed, or are things still booming? What does the world look like in your neighborhood. It is not all the story there is to tell, but it is part of the historical narrative too – what we experience now is part of, not a single story, but the thousands of historical narratives that will arise from these events.
Sharon
I’m actually visiting LA this weekend for an info session on a grad program here. I’m not sure if I’ll even be applying now though. Cali is broke, so the oh so attractive educational funding they had here is disappearing. While I think the program I am looking at would provide me with a highly rewarding and possibly good steady work, I don’t know if I would be able to get the loans for the degree in the first place, much less pay them off. But, I have no degree. No skills. No family on this coast. I rent a teeny apartment. I’m a receptionist. So, I don’t feel like I have any choice but to go back to school.
My mom worked at Red Lobster her entire life, and it has killed her body. She’s only 54 and she can’t even walk the dog around the block. My one goal in life was to someday get out of labor/customer service work, and that dream has completely evaporated in the last few months.
Thank god I live in Seattle. We have relatively strong local food sources, a mild climate, lots of rain, and I can walk pretty much everywhere. And with the exception of my mother and a couple close friends, everyone I care about is here. I know that if I lose my apartment, someone will take me in – no questions asked. They’ll feed me if they can – and vice versa. I’ve never appreciated my support system quite so much.
Still. There’s only so much I can do to prepare. I guess it helps that I’m young and relatively debt free, with no kids, but I also have no house or degree or job or land or partner to fall back on. I feel like I’m standing in the pat of a Mac truck in an alley – I see it coming but there’s nowhere to go.
I’ve learned to keep mum about my thoughts on where our economy and lifestyles are headed when I’m around my MIL. Today, I was putting some harvested produce in my car, which was also the resting place for a mop bucket – the kind with the “ringer outer” that are usually bright yellow – my MIL asked what I was doing with it, and I explained that I have no intentions of hand-ringing my clothes out if/when the use of a washer is cost-prohibitive. She couldn’t believe me; I’m surprised she could hold her laughter. Her view of our local area is “just fine.” She (and the rest of my family) think I’m pretty much nuttier than a $h!t house rat for attempting to prepare my husband and I for much tougher times. We have our mortgage and I have a student loan, but we also have investments that could easily take care of the loan, and keep us in mortgage payments for a while. We are also starting the process of building a home on several acres, and I am, frankly, insisting that things be put in place for when we don’t have the conveniences that we have today. I don’t think my husband realizes not only the significant differences that exist between city and country life (he grew up on one acre, I grew up on a farm), let alone the differences between our life now, and country life after things have continued to decline.
We live in the Pacific Northwest, and have a shared garden, as well as a small victory garden; we are planning a MUCH larger garden for next year. I am continually attempting to prepare our pantry and closets for rough times. I’m improving my knitting, sewing, quilting, cooking (from scratch), gardening, and improvising skills and attempting to sway the thoughts of others in my family – to see the reasoning behind my “madness!”
I feel as if I’m rambling… I’ve noticed that the local bargain stores are much more crowded than they have been before, and that the ‘higher end’ stores are much less crowded. The carts at Costco are piled lower, and the lines shorter. There is also a restaurant in town that provides free dinners at the end of the month – the news paper ran a story on it a while ago – their free meals have skyrocketed, and their paid meals have slowly decreased.
I think the second most important part of preparedness is mindset. I’m determined to survive whatever happens – without that determination, all of the preparation (the most important part) is for naught.
Thanks so much, Sharon, for all the wonderful insights, encouragement, and all your knowledge!
–Erika
I hate to be crass or rude, but I frankly get tired of the “we’re in good shape because we’ve always been frugal” comments.
I had always been frugal too, until I gave birth to my second child who had such huge health concerns it almost bankrupted us because our insurance is crap and we’re too “middle class” to qualify for any real help. Then, top that off a few years later when my husband gets put on short time hours at work (think: working, but 10 hours a week, 15 here, maybe 30 if we’re lucky).
For those of us drowning slowly in this economy, it isn’t always because we’re spoiled rotten brats who need gadgets and can’t live the frugal lifestyle. I did it for YEARS and it still isn’t enough in our situation right now.
I live in a small town in rural NC. No jobs here. What we had was furniture and manufacturing, but it is drying up (thank you Walmart!). My husband works in the school bus industry, and with fuel issues, no school system or municipality is buying buses right now, hence the short time and layoffs. My husband went from making $70K seven years ago, to maybe $30K this year if we’re REALLY lucky.
Frugality, my ass.
I quit my role as a stay-at-home mom and homeschooler to return to the classroom as a teacher. Education is one of the few things around here that is stable. And I can get somewhat decent insurance to cover us (all for the low, low price of $600 a month—and don’t forget the $40 copays everytime my special needs kiddo visits a doctor or therapist, etc)
Sometimes things spin out of your control. And no I don’t have cable and gadgets and go to Disney once a year….
Yeah, I’m bitter. But I get so sick of the people who stare down their noses and assume I’m poor because I’ve caused myself to be this way.
They don’t realize we sold our house to pay medical bills, moved in with family for a year, and still are barely scraping by.
But, God is Sovereign and I know that something will happen and I will be okay.
Country boy(and girl)can survive…here in the Ozarks things are alot like always. Never has been an abundance of good paying jobs anyhow; only a few really have excess money–or the appearance of it! We,actually are considered “rich”…for that I have to work out-of-town on the weekends nursing to make a living wage. But we have the gardens,greenhouse,13 cord of wood in the stack,chickens still laying, a year or more of stored food,full freezer,plenty of honey and the kids now live close enough to help on the farm– and receive help if they need it. They were brought up in the country and all are handy,frugal,responsible. Pretty sure my 401K has sunk but figure my job is pretty secure unless they plan to kick all the residents out of my nursing home. DEE
I’m seeing, in the working class and ‘formerly’ lower middle class, more people giving up their cars, not voluntary, but because it will break their budgets. They are riding their bikes but went really cold snowy winter comes, that will be impossible, and they will not be able to get to their present jobs.
There are simply Not enough jobs to go around that are walking distance for most people in most communities.
The old pattern of a long commute for a decent job has not collapsed yet.
This is going to be a killer winter for many people without cars. They will have to ‘bum’ rides to get to work.
Car pooling for some, by the wide scale use of car pooling is simply not in place.
It’s this transition period that will be the worst. We’re not here nor there.
Unemployment is up in the PNW and the housing market has gradually slowed to a crawl — both happening much more slowly than much of the rest of the country. I notice that the houses for sale in my neighborhood are simply not selling, and hear on NPR all the time that the food banks are short on donations and long on people who need them.
I’m currently in an excellent position job-wise. I don’t know how long it will last, but I’m trying to make the most of it while it does. I expect to pay off all but my mortgage by the end of January. I have a hard time believing that I’ll have such good fortune for that long, though, so I’m doing what I can to prepare for hard times. I’ve stocked up on dry goods and canned goods, pet food, toilet paper, toiletries, and some frozen foods. I’m getting chickens next week (the city allows three) so that I’ll have a steady source of healthy protein in the eggs — so long as I can keep the chickens alive and well. I have a couple of bikes that I don’t use often enough, and work at keeping the heat low, the water use down, and the lights to a minimum.
About 60% of the time I’m focused on preparing for leaner times and worried about how soon they’ll arrive and how bad they’ll get. I am grateful for every hour I have in which I can say, “I’m okay. It’s not happening yet.” I read other people’s posts and I know that I am so much more than okay, and I am even more thankful. But about 30% of the time I find myself thinking that that’s all crazy talk and the world as we know it is in no way going to end any time soon and I should just relax, stop reading Sharon’s crazy-ass blog
and go sign up for DirectTV, buy a new car, and go out for a fancy dinner. I have, in this state of mind, indulged in some home improvements that are more aesthetically pleasing than they absolutely needed to be, while also being functional. Sort of practical indulgences.
Really, I have no idea what to think. The people around me don’t seem to be overly concerned about the economy and continue to spend on shows, restaurants, clubs, lessons of various kinds, manicures, pedicures, waxing, vacations. If they’re worried, they’re not talking about it, and they’re certainly not cutting back in obvious ways. It makes me wonder if I’m crazy to worry, or if they’re crazy not to.
Weeeell, we’re doing fine, but my relatives in PA have a few problems. My grandmother’s house has been foreclosed on, and everyone seems to be blaming my uncle, who’s a co-owner. And I guess I would too, if I didn’t have a slightly different perspective on things. I’m not happy that my grandma’s moving to a rental apartment, of course (and she would never want me to be chatting about this in public, hence the pseudonym), but blaming the victim(s) will never be my thing.
My grandfather (who lives alone) assures me that he has enough oil so far for the winter, but he’s the most frugal individual I’ve ever met, so that’s not surprising. He actually closes off the rest of his (very small) house in the winter and lives in the kitchen/living room to save on heat. He apologized in advance for not being able to send me the usual amount in his Christmas check/gift, and I nearly started crying. He shouldn’t feel bad, I’m provided for.
My job is very secure, I just got a raise to compensate for “increased cost of living”, we have a month or so worth of food stored in our tiny apartment, we have a community garden, we have a CSA, we have lots of friends. We have no debt and no reason to incur any. My husband is fermenting 20 gallons of wine in our living room right now. We’re young enough, healthy enough, and flexible enough in our ideas of what to expect next. We’re blessed. I hope we’re strong enough to carry a few friends through what’s coming.
In Anchorage, AK, it’s little things around the edges that are changing. Food banks are seeing more demand and fewer donations. Houses for sale stay on the market for longer periods of time in some parts of town (like where I live) and not so long in other parts. I’m not getting the feeling that jobs are disappearing except possibly in the tourism sector. Lots less tourists came through Anchorage this year but the ones that did come were mostly from other countries. American tourists were staycationing, I suspect.
I live in a neighborhood full of people that are probably one paycheck away from disaster. So far, no large scale disasters have befallen the neighborhood so things are somewhat stable. The neighbors on both sides (all renters) haven’t changed and it doesn’t appear that any plan to move. Crime levels seem to be about the same although there was a bit of a hoohah a few weeks ago over a shooting (not sure if it was because of a disagreement or drug related or both). Kids, with and without their parents, walk to the elementary school across the street without fear. Kids play in the streets near their homes and there’s some sort of football practice held in the elementary school yard every day.
Since it’s still summer (in Alaska if it isn’t snowy and icy it’s summer), it’s tough to tell if there are more bicyclists and walkers than normal but the number of bus riders has increased dramatically and I’ve never seen so many people on motorcycles of the non-Harley variety. Gas is around $4.18/gal so I expect motorcycles to be out until the snow flies. Normally they start to disappear when the temperature gets into the 40s but I suspect I’ll start to see a number of bundled up riders before winter hits. What those folks will do this winter, I don’t know.
I work for the state in a grant driven position. The grant is non competitive and can be renewed and I expect to keep this position for at least another year or two. The hope is that the library network I’m helping establish will become self supporting at which time the position I have will disappear when a director for the library network is hired. Lots of assumptions here that I can’t count on. I can’t count on the library network creating enough revenue to get at least half off the state dole nor can I count on being hired as the permanent director. I’m thankful the state is very supportive of the library network and is doing what it can to help. I serve at the pleasure of the state so it’s anyone’s guess how long I’ll stay employed.
But for now, I’m flush with money because I have no debt, have few reasons to spend money and live in a building owned and lived in by a long time friend. I’m also the only one here with real gainful employment. My friend is retired and we figured that if none of us gave him rent, all his retirement money (from working for the feds) just pays his monthly building expenses and credit card debt (which he has stopped adding to but only recently) IF he doesn’t buy groceries or fill up the car’s gas tank all that often. That discovery sort of acted like a “come to Jesus” talk for the four other adults of us living here. Of the other three adults, one is a young stay at home mom with no outside employment (daughter of the owner), one is her young husband who works at the bottom rung of the ladder in the construction trades (he’s been not working more than working lately) and one is their roommate (best friend of the husband) who is working as a clerk in a liquor store. The daughter and the roommate understand that it is only by the grace of God and the goodwill of my friend that they have a roof over their heads since their payment of rent has been very spotty for quite a while. The husband might but he mostly has been worried about his seeming inability to be the major breadwinner. He was raised to believe that a man’s measure is made by his ability to provide and if that’s the case, he’s not the man he thinks he should be. He seems to be drinking a bit more and being a bit more belligerant when he does so. I think the roommate acts a buffer when he gets riled up and hear that on occasion the two of them have gotten into some tustles. At least the daughter and the young son aren’t getting it directed at them so much. Life is not pretty upstairs.
Alaskans got the annual Permanent Fund Dividend and the Alaska Resource Rebate last week and while many people went on buying sprees, the folks upstairs paid forward (or back, depends how you want to look at it) on the rent, paid some the daughter’s college debt and bought some flooring to cover up the bare wood of the subflooring (the carpet was in such a bad way they ripped it out over a year ago). My friend is sending most of that money towards his credit card debt. I’m using mine to pay for weatherization upgrades to the building. He’s close to paying off the mortgage and has every intention of making this a permanent residence. We’re becoming a rather close knit group and don’t see much reason to move because we know we couldn’t find anywhere else affordable.
On the plus side, we can do whatever we want in the yard. We’ve got a couple raised beds in the backyard plus some potato plants in tires, some currants and blueberries planted this year in the front yard, eight potted crabapple saplings (we tried to graft eating apple scion wood to – three of the eight grafts took) that we’ll plant next year, a couple potted plum saplings and three potted cherry saplings, bean and pea beds along the south wall of the building and ten potted tomato plants. The yellow raspberries we transplanted last year produced fruit this year and seem to be doing well and we just transplanted some red raspberries in a raised bed in the front yard. Because I just could not get my act together, a bunch of perennials that have been living in tiny little pots for months got planted around the raspberries just to overwinter. If any survive til next year, I’ll find a better place to put them. This is the experiment year so I haven’t been working very hard to put up most of what we’ve grown. I am going to try to save seed of some of it to plant next year.
I’ve got some physical gold and silver and cash but not enough of either to get me (and the rest of us) through a lengthy period. I’ve been buying up bulk items and storing them, plus freezing the salmon I caught earlier in the year. I’ve been learning how to can but don’t have much to show for it yet. I’ve done more dehydrating but not lots of that either. We took down some cottonwood trees before they leafed out in the spring and between all the men here, most of it is split and stacked against the north wall of the building. Mind you, none of us has a wood stove at this point, but I am having someone come over to see if it’s feasible for me to install one in my unit. Our heat is baseboard radiators all from one central boiler that runs off natural gas. Given that an electric pump moves the water around, having a back up heating source is not a bad idea. My friend owns a woodstove (that is currently not on the property – don’t ask me) and has a chimney he could have it installed into but hasn’t put much energy into that project. Nobody upstairs much thinks about heat except to keep the temperature above 70 degrees year round (I break out in a sweat anytime I go up there). They are very reluctant to turn the thermostat down even when advised that they could be helping out my friend by not costing him so much on heating every month. Then they complain that they’re always cold when they go outside! Well, some changes are going to be harder for some folks than others. I’ve advised the roommate to just turn the thermostat down a degree and not say anything then drop it another degree in a month or so but I don’t think he’s ready to risk that just yet (he complains about being too warm, too).
Mentally, I go from feeling ever so slightly behind the curve to fear that the collapse of the financial markets is going to have drastic, prolonged effects and I won’t be prepared. It’s worrisome to look around and very few of my friends and coworkers have a clue that we’re living in a thin film of veneer that could disappear overnight. Maybe not today or this year or even next year but we’re in the process of collapsing and eventually it will become obvious that things aren’t like they used to be and they’ll never be that way again. Then I take a deep breath and go harvest some fava beans.
Kerri in AK
I am in WNC so I ditto much of what WNC Observer had to say. I will add that there are very tight gas supplies here. According to 11pm local news, one station is limiting sales to EMTs & law enforcement only. I filled up a few days before Ike and have 1/4 tank left. So I hope I missed the worst of this fury. Prices seem to have settled down a bit in my area & the bags are coming off the nozzles…not sure about ‘in town’-Asheville. Local news showed lines for gas…limits on how much you can purchase…only premium available at some places…etc.
As WNC Observer noted new construction has slowed. ( I admit part of me is tickled that many of those high-end gated communities will not be built or built-out due to real estate/Wall St. fallout.) However, you couldn’t tell it from my house. What was a little 3-4 acre wood across the street from me last winter is now a 4 house subdivision…2 occuplied and 2 under construction. Several more are under construction a bit further up the road. Will be interesting to see what the new tax assessment will be on my place in January. The last assessment was in January ’06.
I work in the flagship store of a natural foods supermarket headquartered in WNC. Last week 2 members of our new(6 mos.) home office leadership team made themselves available in store to talk to employees. I took the opportunity to give them a copy of Dmirty Orlov’s ‘When All Your Best Employees are Going Broke’ and a few ideas to implement. They seemed receptive.
http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2008/08/when-all-your-best-employees-are-going.html
The farmers with whom I have my CSA, are making a 1st time offer of an 8 wk fall extention limited to 50 folks. I signed up right away. Yeah!
Due in part to IDC, I have lots more put up this year than last and have a larger garden that is producing longer. I am even saving some seeds as I go and learning from my mistakes. IDC has been a great way to carry Carla’s legacy forward. Thanks for honoring her, Sharon. She was (still is) one of my ‘heros’.
I took up fermenting vegetables last year after a workshop with Sandor Katz at Organic Growers’ School. This year I am trying my hand at meadmaking without benefit of hands-on learning or sampling. So far I am quite pleased with my results – I love the fizziness of young meads. It is also a tasty way to administer herbs and preserve fruits.
Trying to hang in there.
Hoping for the best, preparing for the worst. : )
Hi from Wisconsin. I’ve noticed, like many on this blog, that not much has changed. People are still being typical consumers-complaining sometimes-but still being consumers.
My husband knows several people who’ve just boughten new vehicles-SUVs and trucks to be exact. I don’t know what the hell they’re thinking, but I guess they have to fill the tanks, so have fun! We’ve actually heard a few used auto salesmen tell prospective victims that oil prices are going back down to $70 soon.
We have had to tighten our belts because I just quit a full time job to attempt a start-up biz at home. We also have medical bills out there to pay off (sucks), despite our insurance.
Things I’ve noticed that make me think trouble is ahead?
-Every street in our city is full of homes for sale
-Spec homes sitting unfinished
-Aldi’s has lines to the back of the store, at times
-the Wal-Mart store-brand breads are always wiped clean first
-local car dealers have cut employees, hours of operation
-food pantries running short
Susan in Northern Arizona – one big problem in our state is that it’s only midyear and the state is already in the red. By law, we can’t deficit spend here which means cuts are coming. Anybody working for state government or the Universities better keep their fingers crossed, as well as anyone dependent on any state programs!
TheNormalMiddle –
I think a lot of us don’t take into account that we’ve also been lucky.
MEA
My wife and I are doing OK (In Colorado Springs)
In February, I took a job 3 miles from my home, and ended a 102 mile round trip commute. We made our last car payment in August, and for the first time in 23 years, we don’t have a car payment. The job involved a pay-cut, but between savings on gas, being slightly more frugal, and ending the car payment, we’re actually ahead. I’ve pulled out my old bicycle and had it tuned up, and I could do most of my errands (outside of major grocery shopping trips) on it if I need to.
My wife has a web based craft business. Her sales are off around 30% from last year. She’s looking at developing smaller gift items for sale, it’s pretty clear there’s less money in the economy for higher end hand-made home decorating items.
Over the summer, we increased our stored food from around 2 weeks to over 2 months worth, and we’ve stocked up on supplies and tools that will allow us to function without power for some periods of time.
Unfortunately, we’re still paying down debt. We’ve made good progress this year, but that’s a risk for us.
The food banks in town are hurting, donations are down while clients are up. We made a couple of significant donations this summer, and plan on continuing to do so as long as I’m employed. My job is not at immediate risk, the company I work for is currently exceeding planned revenue for 2008. That could change next year.
I also agree with Rebecca that John Michael Greer, in the vision he presents of catabolic collapse (which I think is the most likely future we face) misses that for individuals or specific groups, that type of collapse can still be Armageddon. Western civilization survived World War II. But, the Jewish population of Poland (5 million in 1939) didn’t.
Michael
I haven’t read all entries so far, but I plan on it. I can speak for the southeast Tennessee region. Things in Chattanooga, TN are decent at the moment. My specific community is somewhat more affluent than the rest of the city, but the real estate market is still terrible. Tons of houses for sale and no buyers. The median home price is probably $270k and there’s no way the median income is 1/3rd of that, $90k. Lots of new and old homes over $600k and I just can’t imagine who’s going to buy them. Where are they getting the loan? Are these people cashing out investments to buy? I’m not sure. Most people are oblivious and fully disconnected to Wall St. I’m not sure people understand their 401ks and pensions. How could these people understand their 401ks and pensions and not be at least a little concerned?
Anyway, my wife stays at home and I have a fairly secure job at a large hospital. I drive a scooter to work (13 miles each way) and it’s been nice of late, because probably 1/3 gas stations are experiencing shortages. The day before Ike even hit TX all gas stations within a 10 mile radius were completely pumped dry. I didn’t understand how that was possible at the time and the only conclusion I’ve reached is that it was due to public panic. People don’t seem to realize that we’ve had hurricane issues almost every year previously, but that this was the first ever to cause gas shortages in our area. Again, a clueless public.
Anyway, back to my work, the hospital situation has deteriorated tremendously. It was only 6 months ago that life was good, budget was easily made each month, we were showered with capital dollars, and our employment was increasing. Fast forward to today and we’re cutting entire departments each week, we’re missing monthly budgets by $2-3,000,000, we have $0 capital dollars, and all expansion has been indefinitely put on hold. I’m the most recent hire to my finance department and while I think our department as a whole is basically indispensable to the hospital, it still doesn’t mean at least 1 job could be cut. If that happens it’s obviously not good for me.
What would I do? Not sure honestly. Luckily, we live cheaply and our only debt is a car and a small house with 2 acres. Depending on our short term oil situation, which I know is not good, but then again nobody is in the position to predict the next 6 months, I have the thought to just turn the car in and be done with it. We have another car that is paid off and it would work just as well.
Anyway, back to what I would do in the event I lose my job, I have to say I think I could scramble for a few months doing odd jobs and make it work. I would definitely leave my professional sector and try to find work on a local farm or as a skilled technician/laborer.
To end, I sense that people are starting to realize something is amiss and they’re just not sure where to place the blame. I think those that are sensing this are the most opposed to the situation, and their decision will be to cling to the past for as long as possible. I feel reasonably safe in making the prediction that things will limp along here until next Spring upon which we will resume our oil climb, jobs will be lost at a faster rate, and I suspect gas rationing will start to be discussed. After that happens I think a panic will be upon for us about 2 weeks, after which, things will settle down and everyone will start to reshuffle their lives as will be necessary. Long term, our climate is mild, the growing season is long, the soil is fertile, sprawl is limited, and our population is decently educated. I think we can make it work. Personally, I’ve been buying high quality hand tools, installing water catchment systems, setting up beehives, expanding our garden, and planting a small orchard. And, like others I assume, I somewhat morbidly welcome a change, because I don’t really enjoy the current system. Be optimistic and stay well.
The changes here in old suburban southern NJ are somewhat hidden. Houses sitting on the market for a long time even in desirable (for schools) towns, a number I know are foreclosures but the town polices keeping up the properties so its hard to tell from the street, a lot of houses for sale in the area that got hit hardest by recent property tax increases. I’ve had to counsel clients to please use foodbanks if you need them. There seems to be less driving during weekdays (my office fronts a busy commercial corner), and while some major shopping complexes seem dead, the new ones are hopping at least trafficwise (this particular shifting of commercial attention to newer shopping concentrations seems cyclical in NJ). At the grocery stores, I notice fewer attractive loss leaders and those that are a good deal are picked clean within a day or two of the circular coming out. We personally have been lucky — I’ve the only salaried job in our family and while it’s on life support, it was supposed to end a month ago and will probably go on a little longer. My assistant though is down to working one day a week. On my street, there seem to be a lot of men too young to be retired who are home during the day but I don’t know them well enough to say whether that is a layoff, a downturn in contract work, or something unrelated to the economy — it is a change though. I’m getting a lot of calls professionally about employment situations/terminations that indicate a struggling job market in the mid- to lower manager range.
Three of my husband’s co-workers were let go last week, one of whom had been with the company for 22 years. He’s taken on some of the responsibilities of one of them, so we’re hoping that means we’re secure for a few months yet.
Two of our son’s friends have had to drop out of school: the college funds were wiped out by stock market losses in one case, and another lost his funding when the bank that handled his student loans decided to get out of the business. We’re still managing to pay his tuition, and fortunately he’s halfway through and has a job to cover his books and other expenses — if our luck holds, he’ll graduate in 2010 with no debt.
The university is offering annual transit passes to full-time students, and can’t get them printed fast enough. Traffic on campus is lighter this year, the buses and light rail standing room only during rush hour. Houses in our neighborhood are still selling briskly: we’re on two of the major bus routes with connections to the light rail and commuter rail services within walking distance, and there’s plenty of shopping within four blocks.
Further out, two major mixed-use transit-oriented developments have stalled due to lack of funding: there are two rather large holes in the ground with fencing around them and shiny signs that are rapidly becoming targets for graffiti.
Most disturbingly, a local ordinance was modified allowing unaccompanied minors to spend the night in homeless shelters (their parents or CPS must be notified within 8 hours of registration); many of them report that they were asked to leave their homes so that the remaining family members could be fed and sheltered.
(My own nephew spent the summer with my sister in Austin; my brother finally sold his house, wiping out the family debt, and R. is home for his senior year of high school — but it was profoundly upsetting for everyone.)
TheNormalMiddle – I don’t think anybody’s discounting luck, we’re just all scared to think about how close we are to the precipice.
My son was tested for CF because of lack of growth during his first year. While we waited for the test, and then for the results, we took the first steps towards moving to Canada – talked about transfer opportunities w/my partner’s company, totalled up our points, filled out the first round of forms – because we knew the health care costs would hurt us, and the American insurance system would severely limit his future choices if he had a chronic illness. And, like I said before – we’re not poor. We are firmly middle class, making more money than I ever dreamed possible. But every one of us is one disaster away from homelessness.
I noticed another boarded-up duplex on my way to work this morning. That’s two more families out of their homes, on a block with 2 foreclosed houses and one by owner duplex with sale signs on the front. I think the prospect of heating costs is pushing people out, despite rents going up.
The spectrum of stories here is simply amazing. I am a scientist and did not participate in any of the recent financial festivities (as in the dot com boom).. I have not experienced personal wealth in any way – only personal debt (school debts, house, car, all while living frugally – our family has never been on a vacation, period, we do not go out to eat) .. we have had a mortgage since 1995 so I have been living with the implications of that these past 13 years.
I think I need to get one thing off my chest.
Whether things are booming or not, losing your job and then losing your house has been a real possibility for most of us for many years. We middle class have been living on that edge all our lives.
Don’t imagine that this is something new. Its important to not ascribe this sort of scenario only to the collapse paradigm.
Why? Because if you get all wrapped up in it that way you will lose any chance at resilience.
I guess its about waking up.
Part of waking up to peak oil is to realize that our consensus reality has been holding us back. That middle class consensus reality masked the edge-nature of our existence. We chose to believe that we were entitled.
We are not.
– Repeat after me –
We. Are. Entitled. To. Nothing.
Our gift right now is of time but its not really about bunkering down.
Its about releasing the entitlement mentality and embracing change and then understanding resilience and cultivating some level of optimism.
I am a mom of three – last winter, when I GOT peak oil on an intuitive level, the first thing I mourned was peak education.
I had to realize that there is simply no way that I could afford to put even one child through college (I went to school on Pell Grants and scholarships, my parents didn’t pay for the core costs tho they did cover food and dorm – never cheap – don’t know what Pell Grants are? Ask the republicans and Reagan specifically).
I panicked and then did that V-8 head-bonk thing .. I have known this for a long time but was never able to articulate it. It was freeing in some ways to realize that the cost of education has become CRIMINALLY expensive.
Not only do we homeschool, I intend to steer my children into organic farming internships and agricultural sciences. Not so much because that is how we will survive but because those activities will make SENSE. My job .. it doesn’t make SENSE in the transition. That’s ok, I have learned one important thing in grad school – how to learn.
I am not saying that things are peachy or that it’s the apocalypse nor am I saying that you should not prepare.
I am getting ready to buy a year or two’s worth of bulk white rice (228.1 pounds/year) that will shore up our food budget. Our protein comes from our laying chickens; our dairy comes from our dairy goats. We will be picking up our three breeding pigs in a couple of weeks. We need to lay in bulk purchases of feed for these animals and I need to get an agreement squared away with neighboring fields to plant mangels and greens in the spring for the animals (perhaps some wheat too).
We JUST installed our high efficiency Seton wood fired boiler in our basement. We are now 100% oil free (we live in rural MA – it gets a bit cold here – you will be hearing a about the north east this winter and you might ask yourself – why didn’t the states do anything? Yeah, so will we. If we have to, we will shelter neighbors who cant afford heat). Word has gotten around the surrounding towns about our new fangled boiler – people are asking my husband about it at town meetings. Seems they are all waiting to see how it goes. Not sure what their metric will be but I think that there will be a demand especially because the state will be changing the rules to NOT allowing outside polluting wood boilers that have proliferated here recently. Our set up is as expensive or less and much more efficient.
I will update about all this on our blog (and will be posting this comment there as a post later today) – if you are interested in learning about Mr. Seton’s fantastic wood fired boiler that takes unsplit 4 foot long tree logs and is so efficient that it just goes in your basement and no real smoke out the top – drop me a note at my blog. http://www.peaknix.com Here is a link to some pics of the boiler http://flickr.com/photos/nika7k/sets/72157606921461650/ before it was hooked up to the system – will be shooting the boiler this weekend now that its installed.
I feel like we are all squirreling away our little nuts and getting our little spreadsheets balanced.
What I don’t feel yet is that whole community thing and I don’t think that will happen while we are still, as a class, waiting for the housing market to come back, our money market funds to rally back, the oil prices to come down, the interest rates to drop, etc etc.
If you live in the MA region and would like to learn about some Transition Town stuff going on – Rob Riman has been working really hard in Cambridge to bring TT training going in the Boston area – here is some info on that:
The events currently scheduled for the Northeast are as follows:
Tues. Sept. 16th – GreenPort Forum: Transition Towns Intro (Cambridge, MA)
Sat./Sun. Oct. 4th/5th – Training for Transition course (Cambridge, MA)
Sat./Sun. Nov. 1st/2nd – Training for Transition course (Cambridge, MA)
Sat/Sun. Nov. 22nd/23rd – Training for Transition course (Cambridge, MA)
To learn more and to register visit this link http://permaculture.meetup.com/95/
If any of you all choose to do this please let me know so we can meet up and network!
Resilience. Hope. No Entitlements. Transition. Action.
Nika wrote:
“a year or two’s worth of bulk white rice (228.1 pounds/year)”
Yep, we can tell you’re a scientist. That “.1″ gives it away right off the bat.
LOL, sorry I guess I am a geek on some deep level that I didnt realize
We are in a small town in rural Kansas. It’s always been a small town, but it’s getting smaller as the years go by. Many houses for sale. Nothing moving right now. Jobs are hard to come by. My husband retired this summer, due to a massive heart attack. He worked in aerospace for many years, so we are very concerned about his retirement. We wonder how long it will be available.
I’m disabled. I have lupus, and last year had cancer. So our gardening isn’t what it used to be, although we are trying to do more all the time. We have been planting extra, but I still wonder if it will be enough.
We have expected this small crash of the economy for years now. We could see it coming. But it’s like the deer in the headlights. There’s not much we can do about it. So we have prepped. I guess we really started prepping before Y2K, and it’s just kind of continued. I feel fairly good about our preps, but never feel completely satisfied.
The one thing we haven’t done yet, that I would like to have done, is a well dug. We had planned on this a few years ago, and my health got in the way. Maybe next year.
Our economy in this small town isn’t great, but it’s not terrible either. We know many people, and many people know us. We have friends who are farmers, friends who are ranchers, and friends who are just about everything else in between. We can get just about anything we need to eat right here locally if we need to.
As of this time, there’s been a bailout. I don’t expect it to last. In fact, I expect it to get much worse. They can bailout the housing/mortgage mess, but they can’t bailout the derivative problem, and that’s what’s going to eventually get us.
Here’s hoping all of you are safe tonight.
[...] Astyk recently wrote a blog post entitled “Practice Losing Farther, Losing Faster: Everyday History in a Crashing Economy” at her blog Casaubon’s book where she asked her readers how recent financial [...]
Well, I’m not sure how relevant our experience is as we live in Melbourne, Australia – so far our local economy and financial markets don’t appear to be following yours directly down the rabbit hole (we trend more towards what’s happening in Japan and China these days) but of course, anyone who’s invested in the stock market is seeing a change in values. This includes all of my family’s superannuation schemes, which have all lost a lot of value in the past 2 years, the past 3 months especially. What this means is that my parents, who had planned and hoped to retire at 65, will be working (health permitting) for at least a couple of years beyond that. My husband and I, being younger (more time to make the difference up) and less about putting all our eggs in the super basket, hope and expect not to be as hard hit by this.
In terms of work / employment, things don’t seem radically different than they were 2-5 years ago. The housing sector is cooling and there have been closures of a few manufacturing plants and job losses there, but education and some retail sectors are growing and picking up the shortfall. Our joblessness rate is officially around 6% but it only counts those seeking fulltime work, not those who can’t work or have chosen not to for whatever reason.
My family – mixed bag. My dad’s a veterinarian and while his small-animal practice has dipped a little, he’s seeing lots of chickens, sheep and cows instead (his area is outer-suburban and borders a semi-rural zone, and lots more people are keeping food animals domestically out there again). Overall, his practice takings are stable. My mum runs his practice and is the vet nurse, so their incomes are linked! My brother is a sound engineer and has recently been moved from a fulltime job to casual employment with the same employer. Right now it’s not biting him as they are super-busy and he gets a better hourly rate (so if actually making about 25% more a week than he was), BUT he knows that it makes him less stable and vulnerable in the long-term. His big plus is that he has no debt whatsoever and currently no dependants at all, and lives in a friend’s home paying controlled rent to his friend.
My husband is the services manager for an environmental consultancy, running their IT, HR, admin, fleet and occupational health areas. At the moment, there could hardly be a more secure sector in Melbourne. The government here is engaged in several enormous, high-profile projects (mostly to do with water – a large river-to-dam pipeline, dredging of the port, a desal plant etc) that all require large environmental inputs. His office has more work than they can handle and are busily hiring every stray botanist and zoologist they come across. Barring a total collapse in civil order, we’re optimistic his job is safe for at least the coming 5 years. He earns a very good salary and gets performance bonuses each year that have been substantial. We can – and do – easily live on what he makes, including servicing our mortgage, running our single car etc.
I am more precarious. I work part-time in the state government as a legal policy worker. There’s oodles of work and my position is permanent – but redundancies are being floated again, and part-timers are always among the first to be snipped. I’m also about to decamp (in December) on 12 months’ maternity leave with my third child. If my job goes the way of the dodo, it won’t matter financially, UNLESS something were to happen to my husband or his job.
And that is where the earlier commenter’s point really hit home hard to me. Where you are in these situations is only partly about planning and management, and is also to a large degree about luck. I have two healthy children with no special needs, a healthy husband to whom I am still married, and normally healthy relatives. Even if any of us were medical timebombs, I live in Australia, which has free universal healthcare (and WHAT a difference that makes). We would not be bankrupted by a heart bypass or a special needs child. Whenever I hear these stories I always think there but for the grace of God …
Empower the family of humanity by choosing to do things in new, different and better ways: by living SUSTAINABLY.
We in the family of humanity are going to be forced to do better in our efforts to communicate in a more reality-oriented way about ominously looming threats of an human-driven, global calamity of some kind. If we keep doing precisely what our leaders are saying and doing now, the future for our children looks bleak. We can surely do more and do it better. After all, human beings are remarkably intelligent, ingenious and adaptive.
Before we can determine what new and different to do, perhaps a brief analysis of our current, distinctly human-induced, global predicament is in order. Consider for a moment some of the ways in which my generation of leaders has gone so terribly wrong.
First, the leaders in my generation of elders wish to live without having to accept limits to growth of seemingly endless economic globalization, of increasing per capita consumption and skyrocketing human population numbers; our desires are evidently insatiable. We choose to believe anything that is politically convenient, economically expedient and socially agreeable; our way of life is not negotiable. We dare anyone to question our values or behaviors.
We religiously promote our widely shared and consensually-validated fantasies of `real’ endless economic growth and soon to become unsustainable overconsumption, overproduction and overpopulation activities, and in so doing deny that Earth has limited resources and frangible ecosystems upon which the survival of life as we know it depends.
Second, my not-so-great generation appears to be doing a disservice to everything and everyone but ourselves. We are the “what’s in it for me generation.” We demonstrate precious little regard for the maintenance of the integrity of Earth; shallow willingness to actually protect the environment from crippling degradation; lack of serious consideration for the preservation of biodiversity, wilderness, and a good enough future for our children and coming generations; and no appreciation of the vital understanding that humans are no more or less than magnificent living beings with “feet of clay.”
Perhaps we live in unsustainable ways in our planetary home; but we are proud of it nonetheless. Certainly, we will “have our cake and eat it, too.” We will own fleets of cars, fly around in thousands of private jets, live in McMansions, exchange secret handshakes, frequent exclusive clubs and distant hideouts, and risk nothing of value to us. We will live long, large and free. Please do not bother us with the problems of the world. We choose not to hear, see or speak of them. We are the economic powerbrokers, their bought-and-paid-for politicians and the many minions in the mass media. We hold the much of the world’s wealth and the extraordinary power great wealth purchases. If left to our own devices, we will continue in the exercise of our `inalienable rights’ to outrageously consume Earth’s limited resources; to recklessly expand economic globalization unto every corner of our natural world and, guess what, beyond; and to carelessly consent to the unbridled global growth of human numbers so that where there are now 6+ billion people, by 2050 we will have 9+ billion members of the human community and, guess what, even more people, perhaps billions more in the distant future, if that is what we desire.
We are the reigning, self-proclaimed masters of the universe….. the thousands of greedy little kings of capital concentration, big business potentates and governmental sinecurists. We enjoy freedom and living without limits. Of course, we adamantly eschew any talk of the personal responsibilities that come with the exercise of personal freedoms or discussions of the existence of biophysical limitations of any kind.
We deny the existence of human limits and Earth’s limitations.
Please understand that we do not want anyone presenting us with scientific evidence that we could be living unsustainably in an artificially designed, temporary world of our own making….a manmade world filling up with gigantic enterprises, virtual mountains of material possessions, and boundless amounts of filthy lucre.
Third, most of our top rank experts appear not to have found adequate ways of communicating to the family of humanity what people somehow need to hear, see and understand: the rapacious dissipation of Earth’s limited resources, the relentless degradation of the planet’s environment, and the approaching destruction of the Earth as a fit place for human habitation by the human species, when taken together, appear to be proceeding at breakneck speed toward the precipitation of a catastrophic ecological wreckage of some sort unless, of course, the world’s colossal, ever expanding, artificially designed, manmade global political economy continues to speed headlong toward the monolithic `wall’ called “unsustainability” at which point the runaway economy crashes before Earth’s ecology is collapsed.
Who knows, perhaps we can realistically and hopefully hold onto the expectation that behavioral changes in the direction of sustainable production, per human consumption, and propagation are in the offing…..changes that save both the economy and the Creation.
Steven Earl Salmony
AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population, established 2001
http://sustainabilitysoutheast.org/index.php
Hello, Sharon.
Sometimes what is good for an individual, or a few individuals, works against collective interest. In isolation, preparation for disaster is effective, relying as it does on national currency, international trade (in the form of imported goods), public goods (national defense, infrastructure maintenance, medical care, and emergency services), and foreign investment. However, if taken in concert by an entire nation, hoarding would halt the possibility of disaster preparation for most individuals (grocery stores would run out of food, people would not go to work, banks would be run). Thus while advice to prepare for disaster can help a few people, it cannot help most.
Personally, I can liquidate my assets, go on a spending frenzy (to guard against inflation), move from dollars to gold, or just hoard cash and wait out the financial crisis. Any of those actions, if taken collectively, would crash the economy.
However, my only current need is for the FDIC guarantee to be good if my bank closes it doors. You know what would help? More of my tax dollars! And yours too.
It is true that collective action to pay more taxes, particularly among corporations and the very wealthy, would ease this financial crisis and others to follow. You and I, not being very wealthy, can only help so much, but help we must.
-Noah
Since I have recently mentioned (and whined) about this in comments here, I wanted to share that we finally (after 9 months) got an offer on our house today. While it is not what we’d hoped for, it is realistic in today’s market. And, assuming it goes through to closing, it will buy something for us and my sweetie’s mom, with enough space for a good-sized garden. At that point, I’ll feel like we can totally dive into all aspects of the Independence Days Challenge. It will be such a thrill to finally be able to really commit to a big garden and community involvement!
Today at the grocery store, I noticed that almost all of the women’s/parenting magazines in the checkout aisle had articles featuring tips for saving money on food. That’s a topic that comes up from time to time anyway (yes, I compulsively read the magazines while waiting in line), but not normally in all of them at once.
Chile, congratulations. That is good luck!
I have also noticed the astronomical increase in food prices lately. For example, bulk organic rolled oats sold for $.99/lb. at Wholefoods a month ago, yesterday it was $1.69/lb.!
I’m still reading here, but I thought I would throw in a few cents and let you know ow it seems here in Indiana. Like many of said, tons of houses for sale, but I don’t know if it is due to foreclosure or not. We actually have a property up for sale (for about a month) and have had no one view it. I plan to list it on a few sites because it is close to an urban area, but rural and it comes with several acres, small house and barn, plus a price listed $10,000 below what we paid for it in 2004. I am hoping to not have to heat it this winter.
Other than that, my husband is in distribution and after a long slump (he is paid by caseload and miles), his paychecks have returned to a close to normal amount. Unfortunately, this amount was normal before gas & food prices jumped. However, we are frugal sorts and are compensating in many ways (IDC, foraging and growing our own). I am a biologist and am working for the feds. I am a “term” employee (and would be one of the first to go). i work a 13 month contract with renewal every four years. Sadly, the area I work in has increased across the US this year which means each state’s funding is reduced (the pot has more hands, so-to-speak, not to mention how the program will be affected by all these bail-outs). If cuts are made it will be in February (I have a review coming up as the fiscal year is ending and plan to ask about the security). I am very quickly paying off the little debts which will leave us with mortgage and student loans.
Jobs are shrinking rapidly in this area and my office is next door to one county’s unemployment office and in the two years I ave been in this position, I find it harder to locate a parking spot on some days. Indiana, expect for a handfull of cities, is mostly small town and rural, so public transist is non-existent.
I can say I relate to much of what is being said here. Particularly the sad realizations that I will probably not have a retirement and be able to pay for my children’s college. I like the idea of steering them towards agriculture internships and such.
I have felt the need to prepare for the worst in the past, but the big difference this time is that I notice as I add to my stores, I am actually using them up at the same time. We have not ate out (other than small meals at ‘fast’ restaurants) for at least six months. I am making many things completely from scratch which is not easy to do when you work nine hours (plus two hours commute). I have canned and froze (and will soon be drying apples, elderberries and pears and possibly jerky) probably more than I ever have, but it somehow feels insufficient. I have been buying some things on sale too.
Someone noted that they see the loss leader items cleared off the shelves rapidly and I have noticed that around here as well. Clearance food items go very quickly too. Canning jars have been cleared out and the lids were gone by August. I bought loads of extras for IDC, but still wish I had obtained more.
Oh, and maybe the worst thing, one thrift store has gone under. A salvation army closed in one of the small towns near to me. Sad day as this one was one of the less picked over ones.
LOL, I had to comment on Erika’s post because I am experiencing something very similar with my husband’s family (and a little with my husband too). Is anyone else having issues with people calling you “negative” and telling you it’s all depression (as in the kind in your head?)
Me, I think ‘they’ are living in denial and are going to be glad I stocked that extra toilet paper!
Reading all of these comments has been fascinating, particularly the interesting little group in Alaska. It is especially lifting to read that so many of you have invested so much energy in trying to help others as well as yourselves. You are all the examples that so many others need.
One negative point…to the individual who suggested that we should all be jumping to pay more taxes instead of `hoarding`, I have a few words for you. First of all, little of what has been mentioned in the comments here constitute hoarding. Most of what has been said or suggested, involve efforts to become sustainable, not to hoard as much as possible. Some have mentioned stocking up on basic essentials but that is called preparing for lower energy consumption. What can be more accurately described as hoarding are the actions by the greedy and power-mad/hungry corporate and banking CEO`s who take ridiculously gargantuan bonuses and severance packages while the rest of us get screwed and/or end up PAYING for the whole mess. This brings me to my second point to you; when those folks mentioned above are no longer rewarded for creating these messes and when their wealth is stripped to try to repair the damage of their actions, I will gladly accept my share of responsibility to society via taxation. Until then, I pay what is demanded of me in protest and only because I believe one must work within a system to ever hope to see it evolve into a better one.
I am reporting from what is likely one of the least affected of all areas in North America. Here in NW Alberta, and especially here in Grande Prairie, one does not see much change. Growth is still the name of the game and one still sees Hummers on the road every day. Grande Prairie is an oil patch city now, full bore, and is the center of activity for a wealthy region. Truth be told, I often feel spiritually and even physically ill at what I see around me here. Where 20 years ago one drove for 15 minutes past farmland (albeit unsustainably farmed) between the hamlet of Clairmont and the City of Grande Prairie, industrial development now spans the entire distance…effectively linking the town and city. Massive housing developments continue to sprout up, tho they seem to be slowing significantly now, and many of these developments are decidedly “higher” class. The rental market is opening up again, where there were next to no vacancies for the last 10 years. I do not think that base consumerism has slowed significantly, but there are starting to be signs of fiscal stress even here. Tales of keys to new properties simply being left at the banks are once again circulating. I run a business which contracts casual labor and I am seeing more and more skilled workers responding to my ads.
I had left the area to pursue career and life elsewhere, but opportunity drew me back. Since then I have re-awakened to Peak Everything (even before high school from 88-91 I could tell what was coming but in college came to kind of shove my head in the sand for a long time) and have been altering my own personal efforts to try to prepare for the coming transitions.
It is somewhat of a trying situation as some family land, that I believe is of incredible future potential, is likely soon to be sold as the family members in control are all beyond retirement age and looking to some kind of assurance for their last years. I understand their reasoning, especially in the case of my parents, yet cannot help but see it as a long term loss for the family and perhaps the community in general. This land is so well suited and situated for a village style sustainable community, it is not even funny. I can see it so clearly in my mind, but without the interest and investment, it is a hazy dream indeed.
Thanks to the apparently ongoing stability here, I have seen a new opportunity and will be spending the winter preparing to unveil a new small scale greenhouse and permacultural landscaping business. Thanks to some other family land, I can do this with a fairly small amount of initial capital. This other family land will also provide the opportunity for me to create my own small permacultural farm and greenhouse operation, even if I cannot create a larger community. This land is also far enough from the city/town to be safe-ish, should things one day crumble to roaming violence.
I feel that I am very lucky to have been born into a family that had come to own decent amounts of good land, and which also believed in caring for the land not just taking from it. Because of this, I have the personal AND physical (land) foundations with which to approach this coming transition.
What worries me is how far will we go with wars as we run more and more out of the resources by which our global society is fueled, as well as how much devastation we have already caused. I am worried about how much freshwater remains, and how much breathable air. Perhaps of more immediate concern, I worry about just what the ramifications of our genetic experimenting will be. Genetically modified organisms have become so prevalent in our world that many suggest that the entire food supply of humanity may be compromised already. This is my greatest concern. I urge EVERYONE to demand and exercise the right to save and trade seeds (and to accept the responsibilities inherent to these rights).
Peace to all.
Hi, Jerry.
Well, we can probably agree that corporations and the very rich need to pay more taxes, and as far as the effect of preparing for low-energy, there’s certainly plenty to do, though disaster preparation is not one of them.
Take care,
Noah
Agreed with Jerry. Putting food by and laying up wood for the winter isn’t hoarding, it’s natural.
I live in Wasilla, Alaska, where Sarah Palin was once mayor, LOL. I commute to Anchorage for work, and there are still many, many people on the road with me in the mornings. Gas is at $4.09 a gallon in Wasilla, $4.05 in Anchorage, for regular. My husband works construction, and says that business is definitely slow. He is seeing lots of coworkers leave and not have anyone hired on to replace them. Alaska lost somewhere around 800 construction jobs last year, and unless the pipeline gets going, I expect it will be worse this year.
As a couple of other people have commented, Alaskans got their PFD’s and Energy rebates last week, and all the retail centers have been PACKED ever since. We took our kids out and got winter coats, Sorels, gloves, snowpants, sweatshirts, fleece jammies, etc. There were many more people buying electronics, furniture, etc. It is discouraging that people seem intent on throwing their money away, confident that they will get more next year. Meanwhile, the PFD principal, which is invested in the stock market, lost almost $1 billion this week.
We had the coldest, cloudiest summer we have had for about 30 years, and my garden failed miserably. My broccoli never got heads, the green beans never flowered, my rhubarb wilted and died. Cauliflower bolted without ever making a good head. Keep in mind that I am a complete novice at the gardening thing, but I really expected things to be better than this, though. I did get TONS of snow peas, some green peas, and some nice raspberries and a few strawberries. It was chilly enough that we had a fire going in the wood stove several times throughout the summer. One local radio station is calling it the “summer of suck”.
Next year: raised beds.
Not many people that I come in contact with are talking much about what is going on on Wall Street. I am very worried because my retirement money is in the stock market… I have no choice… I can only choose which fund to flush my money down the toilet with. I wish every day I could pull it out and make it useful before it is gone.
We are doing what we can to get the partially finished off-the-grid cabin we live in finished and winter ready. We have a good huge covered stack of firewood, and I am looking forward to the day I can actually buy meat in large quantities (when it is cold enough to stay frozen outside), instead of just enough for today, and maybe tomorrow, so it doesn’t go bad in the cooler. We have LED lights that we carry from room to room, and we will be getting our propane range/oven this week sometime, so the Coleman stove can go back into storage with our camping gear. Not so excited about the propane, but not quite ready for cooking with wood fulltime, either.
Lori
Alaska
I’m at DEFCON 3 and I won’t be punching in the firing sequences on the tactical nukes until DEFCON 2… so until then I’m just keeping my eyes glued on the radar for the latest sitrep.
In all seriousness though, things are okay. My wife talked about writing some letters to our infant son to describe what’s happening in our lives at this historic turning point… sort of a “We were doing blah, blah, blah when the financial markets rolled over and expired….”
Rising costs and our infant son have prevented us from putting away more savings for the last five months. And our savings have gyrated wildly with the market volatility but as a pool of capital it is still holding up just fine – at least this week. And historically it’s maintained its value in the face of inflation.
We’ve begun an earnest search for a farm and have had some interesting opportunities turn up already. If everything blows up tomorrow that’s ok – I’m happy with the way my life is right now and even though I know it must change, I will do my best to accept that change.
I need to revisit a regular exercise routine – ultimately, dark leafy greens and exercise are what’s going to see a body through the hard times since good health is the greatest asset.
Hi, Ailsa.
Well, your particulars seem harmless enough, in isolation, particularly if you’re coppicing (if that’s the term) where you get your wood. In the mountains of Nepal, wood is a scarce commodity, but that’s far far away.
If you’re growing the food, canning it is an obvious choice. Wherever food is delivered by truck, canned food is a scarce commodity, but your probably grow your own food.
Where I was going, for anyone curious, is:
Individual actions to use resources require collective management.
Collective action is distinct from action for the benefit of the collective.
Some individual actions hurt/benefit the collective only if/whether or not everyone in the collective performs them.
Some individual actions benefit the individual only if/whether or not everyone in the collective performs them.
Effective individual disaster preparations can:
* hurt the collective if everyone prepares.
* benefit the individual only if few people prepare.
* bring about the disaster they are a preparation against if they are collectively performed.
An example of effective individual disaster preparation is: moving to a state predicted to have the better weather in 10 years so you can grow your own food and not starve. If everyone prepares that way, they all move, there’s too little food grown for everyone living there, and everyone starves in the state with good weather.
In my oceanside town, bumper stickers read “Surfing sucks. Don’t try it.” In your town, I doubt the bumper stickers read
“Wood stoves suck. Don’t use them.”
or
“Farming sucks. We hate it.”
Good for you.
I’m not about to stick a bumper sticker on my bike that says “Running banks sucks. Don’t do it.”, but I could.
-Noah
I’m of the school that thinks that the end of peak oil is a ‘finally!’ thing.
As a result of easy resources and easy energy, Americans developed an attitude and an infrastructure that, ‘in the end’, wasn’t sustainable. This *distortion*, having led us to leave behind what we once had, has brought us where we are. We mined the non-renewable resources, we ate the non-renewable energy … and a lot of renewable energy (i.e. hydro). You could fly over any major city at night and see security lights from horizon to horizon. And roads. And extravagant houses, built of manufactured materials for 40 years.
Yet the population kept increasing. Obviously this game had to wind to an end. We weren’t strong enough to decide it, so it got decided by the inevitable. Old skills have to be revived, old approaches have to be abandoned.
A new time. New possibilities become necessary. If we face them together with courage, we won’t have to face them separately with fear.
We’re holding our ground here. My husband was laid off in late May, from what should have been an extremely secure job, and has just found another position this week. That’s the good news; the bad news is that his new salary works out to be a 25% pay cut from that of his previous position. I have a health condition that limits my job prospects significantly, but I’m picking up a gig here and there. Meanwhile, our savings have had an interesting week in all the financial churn.
We were well-placed for him to lose his job, and we’re well-placed to take an income cut. It’s nobody’s favorite thing, but it’s okay. Nothing’s quite biting us yet, but it’s all very worrisome. On the other hand, having him laid off was a little bit reassuring in that it showed us that we’re both psychologically flexible.
We’re a couple in our mid-thirties, no kids, with a big scary urban mortgage. On the other hand, that’s our only debt. When we were more flush, I think we made some pretty good choices. We built a sturdy chicken coop, a woodshed, and several raised beds. We stuffed a woodstove insert into our fireplace (hard to find room for a freestanding stove in our tiny house, alas), installed a solar hot water heater, and invested in some good wool blankets. I’ve started picking up the kinds of hobbies that produce good Christmas presents.
When the car died a couple of years ago, we didn’t replace it. My husband’s turning into a bicycle fanatic. It looks good on him.
I’ve been seeing a lot more bicyclists on the roads around here, even on rainy days.
“For sale” signs go up and they stay and stay and stay.
Seattle’s also had the Summer of Suck, though to a lesser degree. I’m finally getting the ultra-early tomatoes now, and the plums are coming in like gangbusters at last, almost a month late. It wasn’t the summer of canning and pesto-making that I was hoping for, but we did pretty well with the cole crops. Our chickens aren’t laying yet, but they’re bright-eyed and healthy-looking. Everybody laughed at me for planting blackberry bushes, but the joke’s on them: they’re bearing this year and they’re incredibly good.
My dirt is coming along at last: I’ve established a relationship with a local coffeeshop, and now we’re dragging home a few dozen pounds of coffee grounds every week. (Thank you, Xtracycle.) Slowly, slowly, we’re building up the soil here, turning it from terrible to passable. Too slowly: that turns out to be a mighty large heap of composting coffee grounds. I’m working out the best way to handle those grounds, and I have some interesting ideas to play with there. I hope to get a really slick and novel system going and then start teaching classes through the Seattle Free School within a year. It’s even occurred to me that I might have a future career at the intersection of urban agriculture and mycology. We’ll see.
I just wish we had more time. Time to rebuild my health, time to rebuild my soil, time to rebuild connections with my community. Time to pay off that mortgage. Time to learn to cook more from scratch. Time to learn everything I want to learn, really.
What are we thinking and doing? What is to become of our children?
Our children’s future is being mortgaged and put at risk by leaders in my not-so-great generation of elders. Is there no end to arrogance and adamant avarice of the greedy kings of wealth concentration, their bought-and-paid-for politicians, their many minions in the mass media?
Somehow we and our children have got to find more effective ways of communicating about threats to human wellbeing that are being perpetrated before our eyes by self-proclaimed “Masters of the Universe” among us.
Good and able people are not saying loudly, clearly and often enough what they know to be true………not speaking truth to power.
Many too many politicians are posing for the public and pandering to those with great wealth; too many investment brokers are devising economic bubbles and pyramid schemes, skimming millions for themselves…….”breaking” the financial system and threatening the real economy; and the mass media has been turning a blind eye to the entire mess.
Such woefully inadequate leadership needs to be named, shamed and replaced.
Perhaps more people will stand up, remain standing, and speak out loudly, clearly and often about what they see and know to be happening.
Our children could soon be confronted with an economic and/or ecological wreckage of an unimaginable kind; but, because so many people are not reasonably, sensibly and responsibly communicating with one another now, the chances for taking the measure of certain ominously looming economic and ecological challenges and finding adequate solutions to them appear to be diminishing day by day.
Perhaps there are at least three questions worthy of consideration by young people and their elders today.
Is it possible that the wondrous planetary home we inhabit was given unto the stewardship of humankind simply for the purpose of allowing the greediest people on the planet to fulfill their unending wishes and insatiable desires, come what may for a good enough future for their own children, coming generations, billions of less fortunate people in the family of humanity, global biodiversity, Earth’s body and environment? Are the greedy kings of wealth concentration and power politics, who consume, possess and hoard a lion’s share of the world’s wealth, the only people who matter? Are the selfish among us, the ones who are about to be “bailed out” this week despite their unbridled avarice and obscene behavior, supposed to be source of our primary concern?
At least to me, it is crystal clear how so few have stolen so much from so many.
Not ever in the course of human history have so few people been so greedy by having taken surreptitiously and then hoarded so much wealth that rightfully belonged to so many less fortunate people.
Clearly and evidently, the colossal global economy is an ever-expanding, artificially designed, manmade construction. For whom does the world’s human economy exist? To fulfill the wishes and insatiable desires of those with ill-gotten gains? Only to provide security for the greediest among us?
And, of all things, for many too many leaders of my not-so-great generation of elders to extoll the virtues of their unbridled avariciousness and applaud each other by passing out ‘awards’ to each other for the triumph of their greed, all of this is plainly outrageous.
In light of what has occurred in the both the financial system and the real economy in recent years, can someone please explain what the terms “fairness” and “equity” mean? Can anyone find examples of these phenomena in the distribution of wealth by the organizers and managers of the world’s human economy today?
Who knows, perhaps change toward common sense, fair play and sustainable behavior is in the offing.
Steven Earl Salmony
AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population,
established 2001
http://sustainabilitysoutheast.org/index.php
Running out of time to post after reading all these great responses
Here in the Denver/Boulder area, seems like business as usual for many. Whole Foods is still busily at work expanding their store. Driving through Longmont, the finishing touches on a new mega-strip mall seem to be wrapping up nicely. Gas prices are down and I’ve noticed quite a few “temp plates” on SUV’s. The student restaurants around CU seem just as populated. And as always, there’s a long wait at the library for anything by Kunstler.
And for us?
I’ve had to come to the harsh decision with my wife (of two weeks today), that we can’t/shouldn’t afford for her to attend massage school this fall. We’re holding out hope that if we save enough she can go this spring, but debt is not looking good, and with stories like the one about the yoga teacher above, massage may not be a valued service in the years to come. It breaks my heart because its postponing (or killing) her dream. But she is dealing with it and looking for other ways to fulfill the desire with something that takes less of a monetary investment. Accepting the world you wanted and planned for may never exist is hard.
And we are trying to get out of our $1,300 lease on a townhome and move closer to my work and into a $600-700 studio or one-bedroom. Saving gas, saving time, preparing us for the cabin we hope to build in the years to come.
And we are cutting everything to the minimum to save as much as possible for as long as possible. Learning how to cook with staples, trying to figure out how to adapt to the world that’s coming. Moving money to the sock drawer and out of the on-line savings accounts.
The hardest part though is being away from friends and family as we watch this all unfold…and not knowing how we’ll have the means to leave safe jobs to try to go live closer to them when that means taking so many chances on the unknown in these risky times. But how do you put a price on the community you need and on having support to give/receive for those you care about?
It’s consuming every conversation, every decision. Our time is spent reading the news, posting ads on craigslist, and wondering when the next shoe is going to drop.
All the while still having to hold up the “life is normal” facade at work and to certain family members.
And yet through it all I rejoice in the fact that I’ve married the most wonderful person in my world, that I still have money coming in, and that I’m somewhere close to the front-end of starting to prepare for what’s ahead…at least mentally.
My personal life is having a lovely boom. Things are going well and getting better all the time. The area, though… Is of two minds. We’re getting transit projects completed, which are a great boon, and some lovely shops moving in. Lots of redevelopment. But also lots of empty storefronts, for sale signs, and crowded buses. People occasionally ask me how much passes cost, or how I get by doing groceries like this (a question that has become more relevant, now that I’m on a cane for a few months). I cook more, because restaurant quality is down a little, but it always varies and is often lower near the start of Fall. There is an undercurrent of anger, but again, Angelinos don’t always react well to the first seasonal rains. So none of this is really surprising to me. Seeing a few small cars (Smarts, NEVs, etc.) around, and a few more bikes. The weather is still unbearably hot, now with extra humidity, so people aren’t out unless they can’t avoid it.
legitimate stay at home employment
emgra
Although I understand the gist of what you are trying to say in your post titled Adverse Credit Mortgages – Home Loans For People With Poor Credit at eZerk, there are still a few points that I need further clarification on.
emgra
I found your post titled Red Red Whine ” Back-to-work blues. interesting and share most of your views, but just dont get your second point.
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