My wife and I have shared our home in the past with my youngest son and his family and we’re prepared to do so again.
I know that sounds drastic, especially to many North Americans, but in many parts of the world [e.g. in areas where the economy is not based entirely on cheap oil and natural gas], shared living space is the norm.
“Uncle Louie lives in the basement. My two brothers share a room upstairs,” says many a European.
["Can you make a ham sandwich?": photo link]
It will soon be our turn.
I suppose that’s part of Plan B for my wife and I in The New Age of Austerity. [link to Part 1]
But the book entitled The Long Emergency [see Read This at the right margin] addresses more problems.
“The U.S. economy of the decades to come will center on farming, not high-tech, or information, or services, or space travel, or tourism, or finance. All other activities will be secondary to food production...
“Americans have been eating oil and natural gas for the past century, at an ever-accelerating pace (because of massive inputs of cheap gas and diesel fuel for machines, irrigation, and trucking, and petroleum-based herbicides and pesticides - and fertilizers from natural gas).”
So, most food production will soon have to occur locally.
Q: How do I get ham sandwiches out of a pig... if I have a pig?
.
Can you make a ham sandwich on your own - start to finish?
2 comments:
Yeah, I see the future of america as small communities that will need to be self sustaining. Especially if another big crisis comes along.
We've lost our way, got greedy using natural resources and let our major industries fall by the wayside or go overseas (manufacturing, steel, etc).
Now we're sitting around with dopey looks thinking....I wonder what happened. Duh. big duh
I can only make a ham sandwich if I bought the ham. If I had to slaughter anything, I'd be skin and bones very quickly
Hi sheila,
the book i just finished reading, The Long Emergency, addresses the very things you mention in your first two paragraphs. very timely stuff.
i recommend the book highly.
cheers,
gord h.
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