We went to our first Transition meeting last night, in Bristol.
Transition have really got a handle on the challenges of Climate Change and Peak Oil, proposing positive solutions and using a ground up approach.
If you're not yet involved then now's a great time to start, either by joining your own local Transition group, or starting the process of setting one up.
2 comments:
Hi, I found your blog via a peak oil group on facebook. I love it. I like what you say and suggestions you make for surviving peak oil.
Unfortunately i don't have the spare cash to buy a little farm and live off the land.
I'm 27, and have never owned a car. I do all my grocery shopping locally, and use public transport all the time. So at least it won't be as unsettling for me when oil shortages occur, at least in the beginning phase.
I don't think things will become catastrophic just yet, but oil shortages and long ques at petrol stations I can imagine. I can also imagine higher food prices. I can also imagine a strained public transport system. But I don't think people will be fleeing the cities just yet. Perhaps the government will bring back rationing for food and petrol - like they sometimes do during war times.
Living like perma-culture groups and communities is far away from the mainstream, and I think it will be difficult for most people adjust. So many people these days are caught up in their possessions, the latest fashion, celebrities, cars, mobile phones etc.
At least I know what direction the change has to be towards, and I am more mentally prepared for harder, and more physical times. But in practical terms, I am not that much better equipped if things get really bad further down the track. For instance I don't know how to farm or grow crops.
What are you doing to arm yourself up with the tools and knowledge to live in a post-oil age? How do you do that when you have bills to pay, a family to support, and you can't save?
Steven
Thanks for the compliments. You also raise some very important issues.
You're a little way along the line already. By not running a car you're saving money. Some argue that a small 4 acre farm is the ideal, but having lived in the country a lot of my life I'm not sure. Villages are pretty insular places and newcomers may not be welcomed with open arms, even now. Small towns may be a better solution, where there's a degree of community, where newcomers won't be quite so obvious, and where many of the essentials for living can be produced locally.
But I now live in one of the roughest council estates in Bristol (although we are saving for a place in Hungary!) But thinking about it this may well be a good place to stay. We have a lot of land free in the area - parks, hillsides etc - that would be ideal for growing crops. We have some small shops surviving and we're not that far from a railway. But the real key here is that we have a strong sense of community. I can see us all pulling together if things get bad, because we do now! We are now actively setting up a Transition group here. Almost the whole of Bristol is now covered.
As for learning the skills - read as much as you can. Borrow it from the library, buy from charity shops, learn everything you can. Those skills will not only help you but will give you real value to whatever community you are in when things kick off.
Also bear in mind that you don't have to buy when you move - at the moment renting's a better option in any case!
Contact Transition Towns UK as they have loads of useful advice and would be happy to help you set up a local Transition initiative.
And keep reading the blog! I want to put more and more practical stuff on it as well as the rants! If something is really useful print it off and keep it somewhere safe.
The earlier you start preparing the better. We may have 10 or even 20 years of consumerism left, but I doubt we'll ever see cheap petrol again!
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