Sad Truths

Wow, another brilliant and challenging article from George Monbiot. I especially appreciate his challenge to back to the land folks (I guess I'm one of them--just ignore my computer), around manufacturing. We obviously will need energy and mining to make gardening tools, butchering tool in the future. Anyway please check out the article. If you don't here are some highlights below:

"The problem we face is not that we have too little fossil fuel, but too much. As oil declines, economies will switch to tar sands, shale gas and coal; as accessible coal declines, they'll switch to ultra-deep reserves (using underground gasification to exploit them) and methane clathrates. The same probably applies to almost all minerals: we will find them, but exploiting them will mean trashing an ever greater proportion of the world's surface. We have enough non-renewable resources of all kinds to complete our wreckage of renewable resources: forests, soil, fish, freshwater, benign weather. Collapse will come one day, but not before we have pulled everything down with us."

"All of us in the environment movement, in other words – whether we propose accommodation, radical downsizing or collapse – are lost. None of us yet has a convincing account of how humanity can get out of this mess. None of our chosen solutions break the atomising, planet-wrecking project. I hope that by laying out the problem I can encourage us to address it more logically, to abandon magical thinking and to recognise the contradictions we confront. But even that could be a tall order."

I guess I really have to start talking to people about powering down in a real way, make it real to them. I don't feel much like a spokesman but we really need to start talking about these issues. I have no idea how to challenge all the advertising that promotes the destruction of the planet in such a pretty package. We are up against it friends. Again check out that article.

Up, Up and Away

I just got what I thought was my credit card statement in the mail. Happily I rarely use it but I'm glad to have it in my back pocket. So I was ready to make my usual payment of a hundred dollars, usually the purchase of some gasoline to travel to Halifax or something like that. But when I opened the letter it seems that they are offering to raise my credit limit once again.

I had to laugh out loud. I can't remember exactly but about 6-8 months ago I was offered another raise of about $2,000. The funny thing is that I don't have a regular income to speak of but I guess I'm a reliable customer because I always pay my bills immediately. But I guess they're hoping that I'll start spending like a madman, and maybe I'll pay them some interest and get into debt. They don't know me very well.

(Incidentally I just got a call from a company hoping to restructure my mortgage. Good luck.)

Desperation abounds it seems. Lacking imagination these companies keep trying their old tricks, but it's over. The chickens, I hope and pray, are coming home to roost.

We must all avoid debt at all costs. I can't shake the feeling that soon, as the economy collapses due to a lack of abundant, cheap energy, debt will logically become the basis of the reincarnation of the pre-oil economy: the slave economy. So if you have debt obligations from the six cars you own, or the three houses or the new 3D television you bought on a payment plan, then you and your family will be sold into slavery. Ideally for the powerful, debt will be transferred to the next generation and interest accrued so that a long-term slave supply is assured. Instead of tractors and pesticides, you'll have slaves and hand weeding (and if you've ever hand weeded carrots get ready for purgatory).

Incidentally check out news that debtors prisons are growing in the US. Is this the start of the future? Debtors prisons are supposed to be illegal but not in this climate. The silly thing is that it costs so much to incarcerate someone so how do these prisons break even? Well I guess that's why we have private prisons to manage the slave, uh I mean prison population.

Things are happening so fast it's certainly hard to keep up and it just makes me incredulous. And still there is no revolution?

But for now I'll take the offer. Or maybe I should do something unexpected and decline it? Nah, maybe I'll buy an ivory backscratcher someday. On credit of course.

Frack This

Across North America, nationalism, peak oil, climate change and the fearful mood in the air are combining to build a new insta-industry. This industry drills for oil and gas in an unconventional way called hydraulic fracturing. It's also known more colloquially as fracking.

I read about this a few years ago when I read an article about western governors visiting the tar sands in order to learn lessons about their own hard to reach energy resource: shale oil. At the time, I just laughed off their plans since it seemed to involve destroying the Rocky Mountains to get at oil and gas trapped in the rock below. Surely this was unthinkable even in the United States and Canada?

It turns out I was wrong and that the plan is indeed moving ahead. But they won't be destroying the Rockies in the end. Though they will be drilling into the earth and pumping in fresh water, sand and a cocktail of carcinogenic chemicals. Under intense pressure these chemicals crack the shale rock below and the gas or oil bubble up to the surface where it is captured and burned for fuel. Unfortunately many wells pollute groundwater and wells and much of this fracking fluid is left underground.

And it's not limited to the west. A big seam of shale gas sits under New York and Pennsylvania. Others are in Quebec. There's probably one under your feet right now. I know there is under mine.

That's right: Cape Breton is open for business. And it's breaking my heart.

I guess that humans aren't going to be forced to stop after all, whether by choice or by natural limits. We are going to do anything to keep this dysfunction going. There are no alternatives as much as I would love to offer one. This has to proceed to the end I guess. It means wells everywhere, seeking out every last drop and square metre of gas.

Seeking refuge in the sports pages, I came across the new name of the Pittsburgh Penguins' arena: the Consol Energy Centre. The instant I read it I knew that this was a fracking company. I decided to visit their website. I was met with a slowly flapping American flag looking like it was carved out of coal. Welcome to "America's On Switch". Rugged miners held up an American flag urged me to consider a career with Consol.

This propaganda image was very impressive. Good ol' photoshop.


Here are a couple of quotes from the main and careers page (I couldn't view the flash at my speed):

"If everyone up there (presumably on the surface of the earth) is willing to learn how to read in the dark, then maybe this profession will become obsolete. Fact is, everything we do requires energy. And that fact is a growing one. Just take a look at what your home entertainment system is made of now versus 10 years ago."

"When America runs out of oil, it won’t run out of energy thanks to our vast reserves of coal and natural gas."

But I don't want this insanity. Do you?

Drought?

So everyone is saying that we might be headed for a dry summer. These are people who have lived here for a long time and haven't seen a winter and spring like we've been experiencing before. This could be bad news for our plans to plant well over a hundred fruit and nut trees in the coming weeks. Bad news because it means I'm going to be hauling water from the brook to water trees all over the land. Ugh.

We have implemented a new low-tech grey water system in response to the potential drought. If there's no drought then we can go back to business as usual and if there is a drought then we'll look quite wise. Our grey water system just means that we save all our grey water and take it out and pour it in a 45 gallon barrel outside the mudroom door. Pretty simple but again another easy way to be water conscious in a changing climate.

I took a shower this evening (after a hair cut, the cut hair then being stuffed into old stockings to hang on our new fence and deter curious deer; they don't like the smell of old hair apparently). I left the plug in and the water filled up the tub and I filled a bucket and took it downstairs and out to the barrel. My shower used 3 gallons of water. Frances' baths use 6 gallons of water. So that's 9 gallons plus maybe 2 gallons of dish water. That saves me a couple hundred feet walking up hill carrying two buckets with 6 gallons in each.

Not that you probably care about all this. But if reducing the expenditure of energy is what life is all about (I know strange coming from a pig North American) then developing these new systems saves on caloric and fossil fuel energy (ultimately most of our calories come from fossil fuels anyway).

I just checked the weather and what was a sunny week ahead has suddenly turned into a week of rain. Wild weather, changes all the time. Time to get some seeds sowed.

Starting Stopping

This weekend I had some lovely conversations with friends about a lot of things from peak oil to family relationships to overconsumption and overconsumption of pot. And all in the bright sunshine of a spring day.

But it was a nighttime conversation with a certain Brentor X, the man who gave me my handle, that really blew me away. He had just finished reading a book by Jared Diamond called The Third Chimpanzee. Obviously it had left an impression. Though Diamond may not have said it directly (perhaps it's time for me to read this book) this books seems to be all about civilization. How the rise of agriculture and empires has led us to this point in history and why we are destroying the planet by dominating literally every square inch of the earth with farmland and cities and towns and "managed forests" and roads. With civilized humans taking up all this room there is no room for other creatures.

This was the line that really touched me (and I'm paraphrasing now that it has been a few days): "All the things humans are trying to do to help save species and 'protect' the planet are pointless unless we stop growing our populations and our economies".

That really says it all.

Of course once you realize this, that next step of stopping growing becomes the big challenge. How do you fight against 10,000 years of myths and stories and change the course of your species when very few people even give any thought to our collective impact on the earth? I'm happy to say that Brentor X and his partner are making a start by stopping at two children. What a conscious choice!

Coming Clean

Oh temptation! Though I'm definitely not a Catholic I want to confess my sins. Since I got my driver's license and moved to Halifax, I've been borrowing the car now and then and not riding my bike (never it seems!) nor even taking the good transit system here. I have no excuse really. Driving is faster and I'm lazy.

This realization has been a big challenge. Basically I'm going against everything I stood for and believed for the past few years. I feel shame, especially because right now I'm not living in the country where driving is kind of the only option.

The other part of me though says: don't feel shame, every other fucker is driving and everyday. You use the car to go to your late night indoor football matches and driving lessons (funny I know). That's a few times a week and soon it'll only be one time a week.

But that's not the point. We are all wrong, we are behaving badly and mistreating the world on which we depend. The problem is that I may recognize this and never get on another airplane and try and grow all my own food but most people don't take these steps, in fact they probably can't for a whole bunch of reasons.

Bring on the waterless flood and wash away all my sins!

Ham for All

Finally he adds a short video. Not revolutionary by any means. Actually I take that back. The idea that the economy can't grow for ever is revolutionary. Good luck fellow hamsters!

Keep 'Em in the Ground

They will be stripped. Every piece of fine ornamentation removed and placed in storage for another year. Their bodies will dry in the cold wind as they are dumped unceremoniously, compared to their previous occupation, at the roadside. Like so much trash.

Christmas trees of course are being dumped by the thousands, by the tens of thousands, perhaps millions all across North American cities. The cities are arranging for special pickups. Happily for the consciences of some, the trees will be mulched or used in high-tech composting facilities. Yet I can't help wondering if, much like coal and oil, we shouldn't have just left them in the ground.

The birth of Jesus, stripped of all meaning and transformed into a reason to go to the mall is becoming a global holiday. One close friend in a recent email described what she saw on that holy day as "obscene". But think of the day that all 6 billion (or will it be 9 billion by then) of us want a tree in our living room. That will be the definition of obscenity.

I don't quite understand how people started chopping down and hauling trees inside their homes. I assume that it's a pagan thing. Rightly worshiping the beings that provide the oxygen you breathe, not to mention the winter warmth and countless other selfless services they provide. I might also assume that people, our ancestors at least, wouldn't have been so stupid as to actually uproot a tree.

But then things got a little out of control.

And so we have to face the logical conclusion. We must cut out Christmas trees from our annual tradition. Obviously we have to first cut out all the "obscene" gift giving so I'm not holding my breath. That would be terrible for the ailing economy after all.

I'm happy to report that our Christmas tree is a mere branch and that it does the job. Another friend decorates a wreath.

Just some ideas for next year.

Repulsion

I have to write about this one because I feel that it's a good sign. Yesterday I walked into a massive Atlantic Superstore. I do this maybe twice a month when I need flour or nachos (well the truth is that I don't really need them). Not a big deal.

But this time when I walked in I had my head in my hands in no time and I was literally stumbling through the aisles trying to find what I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. It was a completely bewildering experience, I don't usually get instant headaches (in fact I never get headaches) and really a sense of repulsion, no other way to describe it. Not even when I'm dumping the shit bucket.

That's the thing. Finally life is making sense. A shit bucket makes sense. I shit, I compost it and I eat it in the form of veggies later and then I repeat. Makes sense.

A supermassive grocery store doesn't make sense. All that food with no garden--certainly no shit--all the bright packages, all those bright lights; who fucking knows what death solvent they use to clean the floors. Imagine working there! Yikes.

I'm quite proud that my civilized body is learning intuitively what is right and wrong. Because there are things in this life that are right and wrong. Things that we just know inside. The problem arises when you grow up believing that the grocery store is where food comes from and that veggies are all perfect with no blemishes, just like your skin should be. These are insane lessons of an insane culture.

More and more I'm realizing that I have to start telling new stories because teaching how to grow food isn't enough. Humans need legends. Right now the corporations decide what our legends are, what stories create our world.

A winter challenge. Next to knitting my felted clogs.

Car Curse

Oh the pain of it all. In planning my future, I never planned on thinking about a shitty vehicle. Not that I don’t appreciate my mum’s ancient Nissan. It used to get us around, with only a hint of gasoline left on our clothes and in our brain cells. But today, it failed on Kelly’s Mountain. We figure it must be the transmission. It felt like it couldn’t change gears and was constantly shuffling and slowing. Then it gave it up altogether. Dan just got it rolling off the road. Thankfully it wasn’t the 401.

We’re now waiting on its prognosis. Much like “invaluable” human life, there’s always one more procedure to keep you hanging on. But at what cost, $250 or $1,000? Is our car a vegetable? If so it certainly doesn’t smell like it. But this very well could be the end.

And that means that with money tight, we have to make some tough decisions about a new vehicle. Mostly that I have to make the tough decision because I have to pay out for it. Shudder. If you know me at all, you know that I don’t need much convincing that buying a vehicle is equivalent to flushing your brain down the toilet. Vehicles only suck money and if you’re lucky you’ll get a decade out of them while paying out double what you did initially in repairs. I know that on balance I’ll get a reliable vehicle but we never think that way do we?

And of course I want to get as new a vehicle as possible, with as little mileage as possible. You can, I’m sure, visualize the price tag climbing. I did buy a lottery ticket today in vain hope that it will make my dreams of a new Toyota Tacoma come true.

We’re trying our best to be peasants but when you “need” a new truck it’s kind of hard. There aren’t any options unless the neighbourhood is interested in banding together to purchase some shared vehicles—they aren’t there yet though this might be reality someday. And don’t get me started about horses. A truck is a breeze in comparison. Maybe one day we’ll do without a vehicle but unfortunately we’re not there yet.

So my combing of Autotrader, Kijiji, the Maritime Merchant and RepoDepot continue. It’s kind of fun searching, like the old me is back again, the one who wanted all the technology in the world at his fingertips. But paying certainly won’t be fun. And I know that in six months vehicles will be so cheap that I’ll kick myself. The one guy who might win from this recession because he doesn’t invest in murderous companies and is planning to produce things people actually need and he’s going to be out a few thousand dollars. Oh well, small price to pay, fingers crossed, for the end of capitalism. If only . . .

And now, ironically, we don’t have a vehicle to go and purchase a new one. Our thumbs will have to do.

Buyer Beware

Deciding to abandon a wandering life can be bewildering. I suppose that I am no longer a renter, having a new home to call my own. No more rent, no more lease agreements, no more landlords threatening or repairing things, no more new places to be. Just here. The change has come so suddenly.

It's a strange experience to go from owning very little to realizing that if I am going to make a commitment to this place that I will need certain things. In most cases, this means driving somewhere to pay for something; there aren't many dumpsters around here. So the credit card is definitely getting a workout. I guess in one way the timing couldn't be better since fewer people are spending there are more deals to be had. I probably shouldn't feel as bad as I do since spending a few hundred dollars on practical things isn't much compared with what most people spend. But I wish that I could just do everything myself or get everything all at once and never have to venture below bright fluorescent lights anymore. But there's always something new to buy. It's designed that way until it is no more.

Right now I'm wrestling with the purchase of a vehicle. Yes you heard correctly, a vehicle. Our current car is on its last legs and, realistically until the pumps run dry and we can grow our own food, having a car is a reluctant necessity outside of cities. But when I think of the purchase price, insurance, repairs, gasoline, vehicle inspection tests and all those other little incidentals it's definitely off-putting.

And if this is the big one and our recession will never end as I think it might, then surely prices are going to drop a lot further. Car prices are a strange thing to worry about at the end of the world. But our minds are still in this system and not wholly in the one that we are all going to build in the years to come.

Yesterday at the kitchen table, where most of the action in our house takes place (because it's near the fire), we joked about the uses of hummers in the years to come. One suggestion involved digging out a hill and moving one inside to make an earthship (or perhaps earthshit would be more appropriate given their propensity to defecate where they live) for chickens or ducks. Seriously though, a vehicle can make a good food dehydrator in the summer so there are potentially some uses.

So maybe buying a new vehicle is not so bad after all.