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I was thinking this am as I was getting up about how spoiled we are with our gadgets and our hot water and our cars and our money giving us so much. But even within this country there's a subset of people who've been living without a lot of these conveniences on a day to day basis - the homeless! There's a guy here in Mtn View with a little gas powered scooter and attached to it is this crazy jury-rigged cart which he piles recycleables on. *How* did he make that thing? How much did it cost? Where did the parts come from? There is some serious genious to this kind of thinking. I was also thinking about why the Government and big business want to but seriously cannot help. BUREAUCRACY. I am a worker in it - I know how this goes -- If you have to do anything in the city that requires over $100,000 being spent - for any reason - you have to get City Council to approve it. Even if you try to get grant money - and spend it - you have to get City Council to approve it. And that's Municipal Government. Vendors, Contractors, they have to go through a RFP/RFQ (request for proposal/request for quotation) then a bid process. These things take months. I get it that this is to keep corruption and graft at bay and also its about politics so the elected officials have something to do. But seriously -these are obstacles that will keep nimble decisions and ACTIONS from being made/done. So what's the solution? Grass Roots Efforts, Volunteering, Co-ops, Maybe even slightly subversive actions (like doing things without permits) when it comes to retooling our world. I was reading in ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=91.6) juiceman1 's lj about how in dystopian novels a despotic dictator takes power. I"m more concerned about organized crime and gangs taking power. We got to get our stuff together before they do! And I am dead serious about this. How about a group talk about skills sets and a resource sharing plan? I know how to: Research - that's my job I"m a librarian and at work I have access to over a million volumes in print and god knows how big the internet/databases I have access to are Do some basic computer stuff - I've built a couple of my computers and can show people how. Fix basic things - install toilet, etc. I can use a hammer and most basic tools in a toolbox. Sew Knit Crochet Leatherwork I can make chain maille and that is totally useless... Cook - a lot of stuff from scratch and know how without a cookbook Sorytelling and singing (well you never know what skills are needed) Paint Play Guitar in a basic way I have: 3 bikes, some basic tools, a prius, a teenager and a husband, a lot of computers and gadgets like that, sewing machines (including a treadle sewing machine I bought in a pique of survivalism) Fabric and stuff like that (if we were making banners or something...heck, I dunnooo) I *don't* have: land to grow anything on - I live in a crappy apt an alternative living plan a big savings account oh man - now i"m all depressed. Tags: grassroots, homeless, subversion, worldwithoutoil, wwo
Current Location: home
Current Mood:  depressed
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 The Valley of Heart's Delight...that's what Silicon Valley used to be called. It is one of the most fertile valleys in the world -soil wise. And until the boom of the computer age, was a producer of most of the worlds Apricots, peaches and plums and Prunes... I interviewed an old guy last year for the Zero One art festival - the techy guy who wanted the interviews never put this guy in it and never responded. Anyway, I interviewed this guy for over an hour he went on about the history of San Jose as a small big town and how he and his family bought adjacent apricot farms up in the hills near Berryessa. They would dry the fruit out in the sun on the sides of the mountains that ring "silicon valley" and his house had a few of the apricot trees left, but they were getting to the point of not producing anymore, and he is at the point of not really wanting to put new trees in-- that's awfully melancholy. He gave me a dried apricot from the last harvest he dried. It was really intensely flavored - more tart and less sweet than the dried apricots from the store. He said that's how the apricots here are - smaller, more intense and of course way better. There are a few orchards around still. And truck farms here in Silicon Valley. There's a big agricultural history in this area too - and they're not all dead. We're going to really need their wisdom in the upcoming days if we're planning to stay and become more local and self-sufficient. another essay on the decline of the orchards Tags: apricots, history, valley of heart's delight, world without oil, wwo
Current Location: home
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Okay so we sold the civic and got more for it than it was worth a month ago --  I was able to pay off the loan *and* have a couple hundred dollars extra. And we bought bikes, which are more than they were a month ago. We already had this old (I mean nearly as old as me) girls Schwinn Speedster that had been gathering dust and rust. We had to buy new tires and inner tubes, with a lot of oil and some cursewords and a couple of hours, I got it working so my kiddo can ride it to school.  We bought 2 more bikes. Nothing fancy - really gilding the lily there with 15 speeds and whatnot. But with wide seats for our fat butts and a lot of reflector-ish stuff and lights. Helmets, locks and baskets. Since my job is closer to the light rail, and I get an eco-pass through work which essentially lets me ride for free, I am the commuter who doesn't get the car. Lucky me... God I'm feeling old. I dont' even WANT to get on that bike, but I would rather ride a bike to the VTA station than walk the 1.5 miles to it. AND I am wondering what I do with my bike while I'm on the train? Do I stand there and hold it? Do I put it on a rack somewhere? You know I took buses everywhere in high school and in college while I lived in Chicago, I rode the el everywhere. Now it seems so foreign to me. I'm not worried about weird people or being robbed or any of that crap that you might associate with a suburban 40-ish woman. But I'm just not used to it. It feels wonky. I guess we love our habits. And changing out of them is a strange feeling. We're going to be doing a whole lot more of this. Better sooner than later right? Tags: bike, eco-pass, habits, old, sold, vta, worldwithoutoil, wwo
Current Mood: restless
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So a hundred years ago, we were living in a world that didn't rely on oil like we do now. How did people live? They lived locally number one, but they also used trains to get places, bicycles, horse driven carts/carriages and they walked. They were a lot skinnier too!! Hey an answer to the obesity crisis has just shown up! Of course farms were closer to urban areas too - the green ring around a city has been transformed in the last hundred years to a suburban donut around a lot of dying cities. Then the green ring past that. But not even a ring. I should be counting myself lucky to live in California where food is actually produced. We will be able to eat no matter what.  I am trying to think about all the impacts of this crisis. The primary one I'm worrying about it coffee. (that's kinda silly, but that's me and my addiction talking) Coffee is grown far away in exciting places that take a lot of oil to ship. I'm going to be kicking the coffee habit, it looks like, whether I like it or not! Heck, let's talk about soda! There's lots of folks addicted to that too. Think about those big old trucks to ship it. And other products requiring a lot of shipping - sugar? C&H Pure Cane Sugar from Hawaii? Not in the near future. What goes away so that things can continue as close to normal as possible? Road trips. Joy Rides. Quick trips to the store becasue you forgot something. Hey we might get to know our neighbors by askign to borrow a cup of sugar again. (beet sugar, not cane sugar) I live a half and hour's drive from work. My husband lives a half an hour's drive from work. In Opposite Directions! We either have to get new jobs closer to home or closer to one or another's work and then move closer in that direction. Or on mass transit. But I was readign somebody else's blog - that might start cludging up real soon too. We're talking foot power and bicycles. Both of us have hybrid cars. Should we sell one? There would probably be a buyer. And I read that some people were converting hybrid cars to pure electric. How much would that cost? $6,000 to convert our Prius IF we could find someone to do it. Will electricity also go up in price as it becomes more used? That's domino effect. That's a lot of money we don't have...  Okay - let's talk brass tacks. What to do now. - Use the eco-pass I got at work and start commuting by train/bus to work. This will add 2 hours to my commute time. Well I'll read more books this way. :)
- Look at the electric car/hybrid conversion dealio.
- Put my kid on the bike and tell her to suck it up. (and probably fix up bike and get her a helmet)
- talk to the husband about him also commuting to work via bus.
- Sell one of the cars - the civic hybrid.
- Look into either one of us getting a new job. I'm more easily employable, but I also make way more money than he does, but I"m a city employee and may be laid off or working unpaid if the financials go down the toilet.
- Stock up on coffee now before prices go through the roof - or wean myself off it.
- Stock up on other things that are shipped across the globe. Or learn to do without!
Why didn't I listen to my paranoid self years ago?? Tags: coffee, electric cars, hybrid cars, paranoia, worldwithoutoil, wwo
Current Mood:  thoughtful
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