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Post by campbeji on Dec 12, 2011 20:30:04 GMT -5
So I have been thinking about my future plans for quite a while now, and while nothing is fixed I think I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do. For a couple of years I had been thinking of moving house so I didn't want to do anything to the house because I thought it would be just a waste as I'd never get to see the benefits of it all. Anyway the recession has well and truly scuppered that idea, so I am going to move ahead with my 'plans'. I have always had this fantasy of living for free or having a 'Zero cost' lifestyle, like growing your own food and producing your own energy. I'm pretty sure that it is possible but too be honest I'm too lazy to push that through to the ultimate conclusion, that and the fact that I live in a 3 bed semi in a residential area with so many cats that every time I plant something the little buggers dig it up Anyway I intend to pick a few projects and work them through to the point where they are either fully operational or a good working experiment. These projects will include; Installing solar panels (I'll be talking to you again about that Cye if you don't mind) Converting my old diesel van to electric power Producing bio-diesel and buying a diesel car to use it Other power generation systems such as wind, pv, heat pumps, hydro etc Growing fruit/veg in pots or beds that can be protected from the little buggers I'm also looking to install various types of insulation in the house. There are more but I can't remember them all just now. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions It would be great to hear them. Oh I am also going to record it all in a blog (along with some other stuff) so that I have a good record of it all. Bye Jim
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Post by tomhill on Dec 17, 2011 9:27:24 GMT -5
Thinking of future plans makes me wonder which way to go. I listen to the radio and I hear serious suits talking about finicial doom or at least a depression. It seems that saying it as it is might be worth the risk of talking it down. What will happen? I have always guessed that energy and food (same thing) would be the most difficult problems in the worst case scenario but then if you look like you are not as hungry as everyone else or your lights are on when everyone else is in the dark, you might have people you don't want, at your door. I was looking at some US prepper sites recently. Many of them seem to cater for camo clad Mad Max blokes. One man had built a cabin in the hills and had a shed with a 6kW petrol generator to run all his toys which included what looked like a walk in fridge. He seemed to think that whatever happened there would always be 'gas' and ammo. When I look out at the hens in our yard and think about what is in the store and still in the ground, I don't feel as well prepared for all eventualities as I used to. I don't think the Mad Max route is the way to go either but the preppers seem to have lots good ideas. Does anyone have any thoughts? I might just get my teeth fixed and hope that community survives the crash. tom
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Post by cye on Dec 17, 2011 13:07:20 GMT -5
well i'm not into the madmax stuff either, but a lot of the outback prep stuff they do is good sound sustainable green practice, so for me it's a case of not throwing the baby out with the bath water.
so, what if there is an inkling of doubt in the back of the mind of an eco person who is not a mad max? or what if us non mad-maxers wanted to encourage a mad-maxer to ease back on the mad max stuff but still keep up the good sustainable eco behaviour?
maybe one alternative, or compromise would be to encourage building up a good library of how-to-knowledge that could be used, in the unlikely event of a collapse of society/order, to fill the gap left by not hoarding weapons, ammo and tonnes of fuel? E.g., salt peter (potassium nitrate), a key ingredient for black gun powder, was in the old days made from collecting the efflourescence growing on the wall of a masonry sewerage 'bin'. the instructions for this could be saved onto a laptop, and maybe keep an old obsolete antique flintlock above the mantlepiece. whilst it's highly unlikely one'll ever need to make the powder you would still have the wherewithall to hunt game, and at the same time have the pleasure of having a nice safe antique above the hearth?
any views on this and any other ways to placate the mad maxers?
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Post by caveman on Dec 17, 2011 15:28:05 GMT -5
Toms point about having unwanted visitors at the door is a real one. That is what worries me most about the Mad Maxers - they might be right. Dressing in camo. and having a deadly armoury is one way to deal with that problem. The only alternative is to be part of a solid co-operative community then you can worry a bit less about who is at the door. All the easy money of recent years has done a great deal of damage to the glue that held community together. Everyone became a king or queen of sorts and really did not need anyone else. Community became a big game of one-up-manship. Having the newest car or building the biggest extension were the master strokes of the game. That party is now over and the hangover is well under way. Are people too sore to renew old aquaintances? In an while might they get together on some project? Is there enough time or should I oil up the gun and buy some camo pants?
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Post by cye on Dec 17, 2011 17:04:20 GMT -5
well it's easy to say things are going to work out fine, but my intuition is that we are on a slow decline. the crisis 2-3 years ago was not as severe as the one that is now upon us, though most folks more than likely do not realise it yet. then it was banks not trusting one another, and for good reason, because banks had been selling other banks pigs in pokes. now the crisis has a different and more threatening form, as we have a crisis of confidence in sovereign debt and in the governments that issue it.
the huge increase in money supply that occurred over the last 10-15 years, contrary to what most people believe, was not backed by gold, reserves, or indeed any other assets of real and lasting worth (in the main). the money was created by the banks as digital debt money essentially out of thin air, for unsecured debt only on the back of a borrowers ability to pay, and for secured debt, secured on assets valued at 'market rate', i.e., what people were prepared to pay. now, wages in real terms are declining, and the things people need to spend their wages on, mortgage interest aside, are far more expensive than they were 2-3 years ago. wage increases in GBP or EUR are not rising with the reported (understated) rates of inflation. Indeed, in ireland gross wages are actually declining. the ability of people to pay off their debt is being significantly eroded.
european banks are no longer lending to one another on the interbank market and now only trust the european central bank. this is an unprecedented development and no-one really knows what will happen next.
the mist may lift & people may see they have allowed themselves to be hoodwinked by the financial system. governments may lose the ability to raise further funds to cover their deficits. there is a very good chance that more reliance will have to be placed on our local communities, local trade, with the trend towards greater self sufficiency at a community level, greater reliance on local knowledge, skills, & trust.
this is not necessarily a regression mind you. yes, back to the way things worked in the old days in many respects is where we have to go, but with the benefit of our new technical expertise i hope it will be a lot easier to get by. the cloud most certainly has a silver lining.
surely it is better to start rebuilding the local communities and our local skills now, as we will be better able to weather any storm that the evolving financial crisis can throw at us?
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Post by Hermin on Dec 18, 2011 6:38:48 GMT -5
If the core issue is trust, or the lack of it, then a fuel crisis might be the best thing that could happen. People would be forced to co-operate. Transport is the obvious first problem but after that there is the fact that anything that is going to happen has to happen locally. Everything from fixing things to dancing. PS. Great forum
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Post by campbeji on Jan 22, 2012 21:35:44 GMT -5
Hi all, I have a wee challenge for you all and myself. I want you to pick a project that you want to do, something with an eco type of application, and then just do it! Preferably something that will take a bit of time and effort. As you work through it I want you to report back to the forum and let us all know how you are getting on, tell us about your successes and your failures, what you have learned and any advice you would have for anyone doing the same thing. Lets make this forum a place where people 'do things' instead of 'talking about' things. I'll start the ball rolling by taking up the challenge of creating a veg garden in my back garden. This is a real challenge for me as the whole horticulture thing is a bit alien to me Generally my food comes in packets or tins, all prewashed and prepared, when I think of it I just can't remember the last time I ate something that I picked. Anyway wish me luck and let us all know what you are going to do. Jim
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