Homestead mailing list

["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT dtnspeed.net>]

<<There are some worried Nellies that say Peak Oil will
get prices so high that it will cause a mass exodus
from the cities, just like Katrina did, with similar
problems: looters, people begging for food and
shelter, etc...>>

I don't see it happening myself. Even in the aftermath of Katrina, looters
were a small minority. Most urban dwellers are most comfortable in an urban
setting. Even in the panic and chaos of NOLA, most people were helping each
other to get out alive as best they could. If looters had been in the
majority, a lot more people would surely have died from the elements or been
murdered. People who left NOLA have mostly ended up in other urban settings,
places where they know how to function.

<<All of this makes local markets and local communities
really important because they can help each other
without spending too much on transportation. Help each
other on protection from looters, on completing each
other's pantry, etc..>>

Then there's the other side: the sheriff deputies who turned people trying
to walk out of the city back to save themselves as best they could.

<< I give you milk you give me corn
to feed my animals... We both share the electricity
from a wind turbine and we both join the neighborhood
watch for crime prevention.>>

I imagine people *will* cooperate more, but unless your homestead is within
a mile of an urban area, I just don't see city people hiking out if they
they can't drive. Anyway, I'm of the school of thought that supposes the
situation will develop over a decade or two. During that period, few urban
dwellers are going to want to move away from their jobs.

The new Harper's magazine came a couple of days ago. I just noticed the
back-page ad: The ad headline reads, It took us 125 years to use the first
trillion barrels of oil. We'll use the next trillion in 30. [And then in
smaller print] So why should you care? There's a reference to a Web site
where you can probably read the whole text of the ad: www.willyoujoinus.com.

The sponsor of the ad? Chevron.

Marie, who is pretty sure nothing will turn out as we imagine it right now
even though we *will* have to figure out a new energy source, which will
probably turn out to be a long, rough road -- and maybe one we won't be able
to go down in the end.