The Future Will Belong To Those Who Prepare For It

(I thought I'd re-post a popular installment today that maybe some folks haven't seen. I'd love to know what you think, leave your thoughts in the comments!)

"Do your best to change the world, Do your best to be ready for changes in the world"

~Chinese proverb~

When was the last time you had a power outage that lasted for more than three hours? Has your neighborhood ever flooded or come through a landslide? Have you ever been laid off and unsure where grocery money was going to come from? Has wildfire ever threatened your home? Have you ever been suddenly thrust into an unsafe situation?

The world as we know it is different for everyone. The many ways our world can, and is, changing is staggering. So a radical change to our world as we know it can be anything to suddenly being without power for days (which happens to more people than you may realize), to a massive flood (been there, done that), to an unforeseen job loss, nearby chemical spill (which yours truly has lived through) ... you get the idea. Even in a minor power outage, we cannot pump gas, pay for anything electronically, and eating out if there's no power at home is likely not an option either. You will not be able to cool your home by either A/C or fan in a power outage, you won't want to be looking in the fridge every 15 min, and what about flushing the toilet? Let's not forget food shortages brought on by a massive snowstorm or being cut off without transportation after a flood or snowstorm (been there, done that too). So, the number of ways our world can change radically is staggering. But we don't have to wring our hands and moan, we can do something, lots in fact.

I am well known for having backup plans on top of backup plans. Once, it was only for childcare, but as the kids grew, having a Plan B, and Plan C, and so on, spread throughout my life. In these challenging times, we can plan for many life surprises, and not only end up in control of our lives but also change our mindset. Think about it, if you can plan for a sudden layoff, your attitude changes. Let's say one day, you and 150 of your co-workers are informed your factory is closing next month. This has happened to so many people, I can't count that high. So, how do you plan for this BEFORE it actually happens to you? Times are hard financially and you're only living two paychecks ahead of panic, so investing $200 in stocks isn't going to happen anytime soon. But let's set aside the investing, money security for a minute. Let's think about something more basic. Food.

If you're laid off and you have some food put by, your attitude towards this crisis will be different than the outlook of someone who has not planned for just such an occasion. It will still be a huge upset, but you won't have to wonder how you'll feed the spouse, two kids, and the family dog. I've been there, and I can tell you that visiting a pawn shop to trade in jewelry so I can feed the kids isn't fun. So, when you go grocery shopping, make a list. If your grocery list calls for three cans of kernel corn, buy four cans. If you were going to get two pounds of ground beef, and you can afford it, get three. I know you might not be able to do this all the time, very few people can. Every time you go shopping, look realistically at your list. One week get a couple extra cans of vegetables, the next shopping trip, get a bit of extra meat. The next shopping trip, consider getting a home first-aid kit or improving on one you may already have.

The next thing you need to do is keep track of these extras. I work in retail, and we have a system of rotation that is summarized by FIFO. "First In, First Out". If it's easier for your family, get a permanent black magic marker and write on the can or box the date you bought it. Meat can be wrapped and sealed in a freezer bag. Be sure and write the date purchased on the bag before the meat goes in. If someone in your house bakes, consider buying an extra bag of flour. (TIP: if you can, freeze it for a few days before putting it in a storage container. That way you won't be unpleasantly surprised by small, black, wriggling things. We found this out the hard way)

Using this method of buying a few extras as we could, we've been able to set aside large tubs of coffee, drink crystals, peanut butter, meats of all kinds, yeast for baked goods, pasta, a variety of sauces, and the list goes on. Now, I'm employed, but it's been less than a decade since I had to visit the pawn shop before the grocery store. I remember all too well that feeling of fear, depression and hopelessness. I also remember living in Northern Ontario and being snowed in with my spouse-at-the-time being gone already for a few days. I didn't drive, but I had a toddler to feed. Again, having food stores made all the difference in my attitude and outlook.

The wisdom of food storage cannot be overstated. Everyone, regardless of income level, tax bracket, location or age should consider doing what they can to put some food by. The more, the better. Give careful thought to storage, record keeping and how all that can be achieved cheaply. 

How To Take Back Your Power

While the world falls to hell around us, think about this today, and ponder how you can apply this wisdom at your house.

"To let people arrange their own food, energy and shelter is to lose economic and political control over them."
Bill Mollison

The A B C's of An Urban Trench

The obvious place to start is "A", of course, and with agriculture.

Wikipedia says that agriculture can be defined as "the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi, and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life". The New Oxford American Dictionary  says agriculture is the science or practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products.

That's still pretty broad. There are dozens of  branches to get lost on in the study of agriculture. If one were to go to school to study agricultural sciences, we would be studying irrigation, agricultural productivity, plant breeding, agricultural diversification, pesticides, soil, agricultural techniques, and the list goes on. So, if we use the two definitions above as our starting off point, we can study how we use animals, plants and fungi in our day to day lives, how they're raised or grown and how we modify them for our own use. Our track record, generally, isn't good.

We have a bad habit of squeezing animals in massive numbers into cages or pens too small for them, denying them basic comforts, force feeding them so that rapid growth benefits us, and even feeding them in a cannibalistic manner because slaughter house floor scrapings are cheaper, never mind the health risk. All one has to do is sit through half of Food Inc. to really see how we treat the animals destined to become our food. Now, I'm not a vegetarian, and I have no plans to become one. My standpoint here is that we, as a higher life form, really should know better than to continue down this slippery slope. We already dance with danger every day. E. Coli and Mad Cow runs rampant, and usually it's because some member of the human race has done something they know is wrong. E. Coli in melons killed 13 people, because two brothers thought they could save a few bucks. 9 people died because of salmonella in peanuts back in 2008. The list is exhaustive, and not the main thrust of this post. You get the point I'm sure.

One way to live healthier is to eat healthy food. I've written here before about diminishing nutrient values in our fruits and vegetables, and while I'm still appalled by it all, let me say that the declining nutrient levels have caused many to start their own gardens. Indeed, it is the main thrust behind my passion for organic growing methods. Growing healthier food starts with healthy soil. Soil that is teeming with life in the form of worms, microbes, fungi and bacteria. Before you get grossed out, these tiny critters are the keystone to good food. If your spadeful of shovel has no worms, chances are it is bereft of the smaller soil-dwellers too. That's not good for the plants. To feed the plants, you must first feed the soil. No soil ... no food.

Massive industrial agriculture is not a viable option for the future as the model stands today. There needs to be a change in our habits, and while there is a revolution that marches on, it is still small. We need to get politics out of our fields so that monsters like Monsanto wither and waste away. We need to get politicians to stop paying farmers to let their fields sit empty, and instead pay them to think more organically. We need to educate more people so that they better understand soil and what should live in it. We need to spread the word about compost so that everyone knows what it does, what it should be and what it can do for us. We need to understand water and how to live with less, as well as how to conserve it both in a small scale and a large one. We need city councils to allow us to raise chickens in our backyards, and sell eggs and grow tomatoes in our front yard if we want; not take homeowners to court when they rip up water-guzzling lawns.

This conversation is a massive, ongoing dialogue, one I hope we can all wade in on and share our opinions. It is only through the exchange of ideas and truly listening to one another that we can learn. So tell me what you think of agriculture today, perhaps you'll teach me something or get me pondering some aspect of it that I had overlooked!

The World As Our Skin

Change is inevitable.
We all change, every day, every minute, every second.
We change our minds, our skin changes, our hormones....we're never exactly the same from minute to minute.
Plants change too. They get taller, or they wilt, or they go yellow, or a deeper shade of green, or they develop a seed pod...or not.
Our animals change. Chickens, dogs, cats, goats, snakes change their skins regularly...
Change happens.
It should be a t-shirt.

I used to hate change. I railed against it, I threw myself into fighting it, only to have to give in to the very thing I objected to. My attitude changed, see, there's change at work again, when I realized that in many things I don't have a choice, so I might as well see the benefit in change. There is a large change planned for our neighborhood. Developers are going to build 70-150 homes in two neighboring cornfields as well as build a water treatment plant down the hill.
It will be a huge change for those who live here. No longer will they be able to walk their dogs down the quiet dead-end street lined with stately cherry, oak and maple trees. There will be a wall keeping people out of the green space beside the river. It will be even more crowded, noisy and very few people will know the person walking down the sidewalk toward them.

Our world will no longer be here, but our world will be changing too.
Our world will soon be ruled, to a great extent, by little balls of peeping fluff, by germination and planting times, by yellow school buses and tides of the river. It will be surrounded by cleaner air and bluer skies, and food we can taste the proper essence of. We will be surrounded by old friends and family once more, and in time, it will be a positive change.

This change will bring with it growth, confidence, a firmer moral compass and clarity. In time, we will grow not only healthy vegetables, but better people.

I can handle a change like that.

Five Years From Now

Home In Five Years

I received an interesting email this morning, "24 Stats To Crush Anyone Who Thinks America Has a Bright Economic Future".  It is well worth a read, and then another. The most  disturbing thing is that the trend has been sliding downhill since the 80's, and not just for the United States, either. I've written about  this issue before, in Why We're UnEmployed And How We Can Fix It so it's reassuring to see I'm not the only one who feels this way.
However, the article I mentioned is one of the few that actually discusses how desperate some people are getting to make ends meet. To quote Mr. Snyder,


"As the economy continues to crumble, large numbers of Americans are becoming really desperate.  For example, a recent Mother Jones article detailed how large numbers of formerly middle class Americans are now actually growing marijuana in an effort to make ends meet.


As things continue to get worse, people will become even more desperate.  There are millions of people out there that find themselves unable to pay the mortgage and put food on the table for their families.  When people hit rock bottom, they often find themselves doing things that they never dreamed that they would do."


I work in  retail, and  I know I have a few customers that are dealing drugs on the side, even though they have jobs. One is a mother who says she couldn't make ends meet without her "second job". Whatever the justification, more people are turning to creative ways to make ends meet, because they have to. One of my customers is a mechanic, but takes a second job every now and then to pay off his credit cards. Another customer of mine takes in babysitting jobs to help make the rent during the lean months. This happens all across Canada and the U.S. This has become our new normal. Gone is the career in government, or the mill, or the factory job one had for life. Gone are the days when someone you knew could get you a job, and if you minded your P's and Q's and worked hard, you were set for life. I have worked in retail for a number of years, and despite the fact that I have a good boss and I like my co-workers, our job is soul-stealing more often than not. I know I'm one of the lucky ones though.


I still maintain that both Canada and the U.S are barreling down a slippery slope. I don't see the world ending in 2012, I'm too much of an optimist for that. (I have plans to live to be a hundred). I can see the world economy drowning. I don't watch the news and I know enough to see it happening already. The U.S may never recover, and where the United States goes, Canada trails along after like a dog after a bone. I wish I could say that I see Canada growing a spine as a nation and standing up for themselves, finding their own way for a change. But I don't. My own country will probably do what we always have and follow the States into economic ruin.


Our salvation as people, I think, will only come if and when, we re-think our own priorities. When each person re-evaluates what is important to us; wealth, comfort, health, status or a shiny car. When each of us can take those priorities and assess honestly how those fit into our current lives. Someone asked me over a decade ago, "Where do you see yourself in five years?" When I answered her, she responded, "Now what do you need to do and have to get there?"
I think that's the question we need to ask ourselves today, but we need to take an honest look at our surroundings and also ask if where we want to be in five years will be feasible within the world. I would like to be in my own home in five years, but in today's economy, I doubt that will happen.


I know my own priorities have shifted in the past couple of years. In my next post, I'll expand more on that, but for now, suffice it to say that I want to be less dependent on others.
So I challenge you today to envision yourself five years in the future. Where do you want to be, in your life circumstances, not necessarily geographically. Share your thoughts with us, tell us what you want to be doing in five years.
In my next post, perhaps even later tonight, I'll share my vision with you!

2012 ... A Year of Change? Or Not?

One of the blogs I read each week is The ArchDruids Report (found in my Blogs I Read, to the right and down the page a bit), this week he raises some interesting points. Here is an excerpt, I'd love to know what you think about what he's said. What do you think will happen? Do you see things changing for the better? Leave your thoughts in the comments, I'm hoping we can get some interesting dialogue going!


"I’d like to suggest that when we take a backwards look in the early days of 2013, we will most likely see that that’s what happened in 2012, too: a slow worsening across a wide range of trends, punctuated by localized crises and regional disasters. I’d like to predict, in fact, that when we take that backward look, the US dollar and the Euro will both still exist and be accepted as legal tender, though the Eurozone may have shed a couple of countries who probably shouldn’t have joined it in the first place; that stock markets around the world will have had another volatile year, but will still be trading. Here in the US, whoever is unlucky enough to win the 2012 presidential election will be in the middle of an ordinary transition to a new term of office; the new Congress will be gearing up for another two years of partisan gridlock; gas stations will still have gas for sale and grocery stores will be stocked with groceries; and most Americans will be making the annual transition between coping with their New Year’s hangovers and failing to live up to their New Year’s resolutions, just as though it was any other year.


That is to say, nothing much will have changed, if by the word "change" you mean exclusively the kind of dramatic break with the existing pattern of things that so many people are predicting just now. From any other perspective, plenty will have changed. Official US statistics will no doubt insist that the unemployment rate has gone down—do you ever get the feeling that when the Soviet Union collapsed, the people who used to churn out all those preposterous propaganda claims for their government got hired by ours? I do—but the number of people out of work in the United States will likely set another all-time record; the number of people in severe economic trouble will have gone up another good-sized notch, and public health clinics will probably be seeing the first wave of malnutrition-caused illness in children. If you happen to have spent the year in one of the areas unfortunate enough to get hit by the hard edge of the increasingly unstable weather, you may have had to spend a week or two in an emergency shelter while the flood waters receded or the wreckage got hauled away, and you might even notice that less and less gets rebuilt every year.


Unless that happens, though, or unless you happen to pay close attention to the things that don’t usually make the evening news, you may well look back in the first days of 2013 and think that business as usual is still ongoing. You’d be right, too, so long as you recognize that there’s been a stealthy change in what business as usual now means. Until the peak of world conventional petroleum production arrived in 2005, by and large, business as usual meant the continuation of economic growth. Since then, by and large, it has meant the continuation of economic decline."