|
Spring Don't Hold ...cont'd from page 7
solar collectors, building up the soil and stocking provisions to survive independently for 6 months to 2 years after the fall. They all agree that oil production is peaking now and it will be only a short while -- one to two years--before this brings down the entire petroleum-based house of cards in this country, which will most certainly collapse the entire world financial structure, and with it, bring a close to the industrial age of mankind. Well, I don't know. The idealist in me wants to be part of that certainty, go invest my retirement savings on a survivalist retreat in Nebraska. Stock up for the never-ending ordeal. But the winter winds blow bitter and cold on the great plains, and it's hard to maintain the heat of idealism in that climate. So what's left? My own little acre in Texas (1/4 acre actually) won't sustain me and Susan, not to mention our 3 children, hungry neighbors, or the 25 starving babies that will show up on our doorstep a week or so after the collapse. We can catch rainwater, actually put in that pu- rification system; probably will, too. We have a solar electric system now, I'm building a compost pile, planting a garden, stocking half-pints of Jim Beam for barter, buying solid rubber bicycle tires that should |
last longer than me, and considering getting dentures.
But it all seems too little and too late. And there is no
good outcome on which to pin hopes of ever seeing
that spring thaw. I guess if people really do come
together in a community dedicated to preserving each
other using and honoring local resources, that would
be a good thing. But how much trust can we, the
pampered generation of boomers, not so rugged
individualists after all, actually put into a system that
demands real self-sacrifice for the good of community?
Sounds like a lot of Marxist clap-trap--and we all
know now that ole' Karl didn't have the right answer.
So it's hard for me to get motivated. I'm a
project-oriented kind of guy. I like start, middle and end to stuff.
This one ain't going to end. It'll be there for lifetimes.
We're facing a long winter, and this time there may never be that epiphany, when the sharp-eyed among us notice that the sun is coming back, working slowly its inexorable way back to shine on mankind again. It would be a new day, but one that no one here will ever witness, if indeed it can happen again at all. I fear that the only thing worth devoting energy to now -- and it's not how will Larry and Susan make it through the coming winter -- but what seeds can we protect for those who may survive to see the sun shine again on a vastly diminished planet?
(Larry is a former president of HPNA) |
Hyde Park 2005 Homes Tour Map