Saturday, June 02, 2007

location, location, location



The big question - where to live as the world runs out of oil ... and heats up?

Clue 1 - not anywhere like the above! This is Littlehampton seafront, benign enough on a warmish May day with no wind. But look behind the prom and the lands slopes DOWN. This prom is actually Littlehampton's only line of defence against rising sea levels. If breached by heavy seas in a big storm the sea will spill over into the town, possibly wiping it out altogether. It's not a question of if but when ...

Clue 2 - not the cities or suburbs! These are totally unnatural environments - just think tower blocks. There is nowhere near enough space to grow food or wood. And the services will be unmaintainable, the whole area will soon break down. Roaming gangs of scavengers will make life impossible for the survivors.

What's left? Isolated farmhouses - plenty of space for wood and food but possibly difficult to defend. Villages - better, but possibly more of a target for scavengers and too small for some of the specialist services needed in the post Peak Oil world.

It may be that the very best location is - a small market town with a rail connection (essential!), on a river, preferably with easily defended borders and a fertile hinterland and woods (for defence and fuel). Within that the ideal home would be a medium sized house with a spring, woods close by and half an acre per person for food. Expect these homes to become very valuable in the future - and be ready to sell seaside property, city centre property and isolated indefensible farmhouses bereft of real land. And put your cash into gold, silver and oil company shares - bank accounts etc will become valueless as the economy collapses.
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