economic collapse is scary, but

:grouphug:

 

Right on! That would make a good sig. It's taken me a lot years and many foolish choices to learn this most important concept. As strange as this sounds I actually learned it from Mother Earth News and adventures and trials following the Grateful Dead and the challenges of living between tours.

 

Good to hear someone's listening, thanks man.

Mother Earth News is a fantastic resource for self sufficiency, and, well I'm sure the Dead never had any trouble getting by, even in the early days. If you can give the people what they gave us there are plenty of generous souls out there who will take care of you in every conceivable way.

Self sufficiency begins with "needing" less to survive and be happy, scaling back what you've got, reducing your consumption, using less energy. All we really need are the basics, like food, shelter, live music, and something to feed our heads, right? Looking at sustainable energy sources for my house I realize I've got a lot of work to do insulating the place, getting smaller more efficient appliances (and getting rid of a lot of 'em), before shelling out $$ for solar panels, which I'm gonna try and build myself, using materials I've salvaged from construction projects--it pays to save your junk.

Most of us are probably in deep shit when it comes to local agricultural sustainability now that so much fertile land is buried under concrete. My lady's hometown is known for the richness of its soil, yet is now a strip mall hub for retail, pretty sad. Lately I'm seeing a lot of empty store fronts. Wouldn't it be cool if it becomes more profitable to grow crops again instead of retail, and they tear all those buildings down and replace them with farms again, a bright side of an economic downturn.

'bottom line is, as hard as it is to swallow, if you're an American, chances are you're consuming far more than your fair share of the world's resources, and that's gotta stop.

 

If we had a total economic collapse, I think that whatever replaces it will be just as stratified. There would probably be an unsettled period with loss of life, but what I think shakes out the other side will display the same kind of disparate distribution of resources. An economic collapse does not portend, of itself, a paradigm shift in human behavior. In form it might look different but in content it will reflect our current attitudes.
There will be leaders and followers, those with skills and those who do not practice.

 

The people must come together through love and trust rather than fear and greed. Which is why small tribe like communes are a good idea.

 

I agree, in the sense that the rejection of materialism may be an idea most of us have entertained for a long time. Now we've got no choice.

Assuming no one in the commune is ego-centric or power hungry (or greedy), which can happen if you're not careful, avoidable if you know everyone really well before you jump in. That and localization, basically a group big enough to get everything done, yet small enough not to require political overhead, other than group decisions on how to manage resources.