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‘Recession Apocalypse’: Preparing for the End of the World
Jeremy Hubbard and Elizabeth Stuart
Economic Survivalists Hunker Down for Doomsday; Recession Triggers Movement Toward Self-Sufficiency
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In the serene hills of rural upstate New York, Kathie Breault is hunkering down for doomsday. It’s not an all-out Armageddon that the 51-year-old grandmother is convinced of, but an imminent economic apocalypse.
… A few years ago, Breault began reading about what happens when the world surpasses “peak oil” — a point where we will use more oil than we can produce
… To prepare for a looming catastrophe, Breault began eating healthier, walking four miles a day and biking. She lost 100 pounds as a result. Getting rid of her TV and credit cards, she slashed her monthly expenses and now heats her entire house with a tiny wood-burning stove.
“It gets cold, I wear a hat to bed and I wear lots of layers. I wear long underwear all winter,” she said.
Breault’s survivalist lifestyle marks a radical departure from the consumer-driven life she used to lead. “I was in the malls — big Christmases, big holidays. Every weekend, I was entertaining my family, we had great get-togethers, lots of food. I took trips to Mexico and Ireland and across the country, conferences. Eat, drink, have a good time,” Breault said. “I had a wonderful life. I traveled where I wanted to, I did what I wanted to, and I bought what I wanted to. And I overconsumed.”
… Since ABC News sat down for an interview with Breault earlier this month, she was laid off. That means she’ll have to cut back even more — eliminating some of the few frills, like juice, she still indulges in.
… Breault sees unemployment as a good thing — an obstacle that will force her to become even more self-reliant. Eventually, she hopes to sustain herself entirely from fruits and vegetables grown on her own lawn.
“It’s been probably the most difficult years of my life, but I feel like I’ve come through and I’m really in a good place,” she said. “I’m happier, I’m healthier, I feel better, I have a good relationship with my grandchildren. … I’m in a much better place now.”
(15 May 2009)
The media spin: those kooky survivalists!
The subversive reality: live better by kicking consumerism.
(The Before and After pictures of Kathie Breault are impressive.
-BA
The Local UP-Side of the Global DOWN-Turn
Gregg Kleiner, CommonDreams
I grew up on thirteen acres of rural hillside five miles from the one-store, one-school town of Lookingglass, Oregon, where my parents raised me and my four siblings to always try to see the flecks of good in the bad, the stars between clouds in the night sky.
My father pointed out that even maggots writhing inside the carcass of a stillborn lamb were doing important work in the cycle of life, and he said the bats living in a crevice near our chimney were benevolent creatures that erupted in a fluttering cloud at dusk to keep the mosquito population in check.
My mother would sometimes pause in the midst of her non-stop maternal motion of rearing five children to point out the fact that there is always some small helping of good to be found in the bad.
… Although the downturn will be downright difficult for many of us, perhaps we can focus on the small goodnesses that will bloom out of these hard times, some of which are already budding. Here are a few where I find hope:
* Borrowing Eggs: As oil prices begin climbing back up, we are turning to our neighbors instead of our automobiles when we’re short an egg or cup of flour for a recipe. There’s nothing that builds community quite like the old-fashioned knocking on a neighbor’s door to borrow a cup of sugar or a stick of butter, or a simple egg. And when the bread or pie is baked, we might return the favor in the form of a warm slice, perhaps delivered by a child.
* Peddling Proudly: We are bicycling more, which pushes blood to our cheeks, slows the pace of our lives, and puts us more in touch with the elements of the natural world. Look no farther than China to see how the simple, but super-efficient bicycle moves masses for next-to-nil. And think of all the bicycle mechanics we’ll employ!
* Growing Good Food: Front yards, porches, school grounds, and vacant lots are becoming vegetable gardens where we’re growing food in pots or on plots the way our grandparents did. At community gardens, we’re sharing the weeding as well as the bounty, relieved our children are learning how to grow food before the whole concept is forgotten by a generation reared on buying it sealed beneath plastic wrap at air-conditioned supermarkets. To wash soil from a freshly-pulled carrot and see that brilliant orange, and then taste the sweet crunch, ranks right up there with miracles in my mind. Every child must experience this.
* Clothesline Confidential: The simple clothesline is making a bold comeback, with backyards, balconies, and apartment-building rooftops erupting with the bright, billowing colors of clothes drying in the breeze—consuming only energy supplied by that fireball, the sun. Clothespin factories will soon employ laid-off millworkers.
(16 May 2009)
“Mow Green” Takes On The Loud Guys
Melinda Tuhus, New Haven Independent
It was an unintentional but friendly battle of the lawnmowers, two houses apart on Livingston Street on a sparkling, birdsong-filled spring day.
On one lawn was Dave Taddei, with his helper and his $100,000 worth of equipment — ride-on mowers, trimmers, blowers, rakes.
On the other was Natalie Coe, with her 30-pound non-motorized reel mower and a bag for collecting the sticks — even tiny ones — that can stop a mower like that cold.
The two happened to be mowing lawns in East Rock at the same time Wednesday, with two very different sets of machinery. If Coe has her way, it was a contrast between the past and the future.
(15 May 2009)
Vandana Shiva review: “Soil Not Oil”
Telegraph (Calcutta, India)
Soil Not Oil: Climate Change, Peak Oil, and Food Insecurity (Women Unlimited, Rs 225) by Vandana Shiva is a well-argued book that asks to be taken seriously. Shiva examines the nature of the climate change affecting India, and finds that the situation is not entirely beyond redemption. To reverse the trend, “We need a new model, one that respects people’s right to land and food, to their commons and biodiversity”, she says. The “new model” is one of small farms and local economies that would tackle the food crisis while narrowing the gap between the rich and poor. For Shiva, only a future that dispenses with fossil fuels and concentrates power in the people can be an antidote to the harmful effects of unplanned industrialization and urbanization.
(14 May 2009)
