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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Energy fears looming, new survivalists prepare
  • Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 11:28:11 -0600


People may be going that route, but it's not realistic IMHO and not my way. I
won't live in fear of "marauding hordes". We just try to do what we should
have been doing all along anyway.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net
-----------------------------------------

Energy fears looming, new survivalists prepare
Too late to save the planet, they say, so they focus on saving themselves
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24808083/

Sat., May. 24, 2008

BUSKIRK, N.Y. - A few years ago, Kathleen Breault was just another suburban
grandma, driving countless hours every week, stopping for lunch at
McDonald's, buying clothes at the mall, watching TV in the evenings.

That was before Breault heard an author talk about the bleak future of the
world's oil supply. Now, she's preparing for the world as we know it to
disappear.

Breault cut her driving time in half. She switched to a diet of locally grown
foods near her upstate New York home and lost 70 pounds. She sliced up her
credit cards, banished her television and swore off plane travel. She began
relying on a wood-burning stove.

"I was panic-stricken," the 50-year-old recalled, her voice shaking.
"Devastated. Depressed. Afraid. Vulnerable. Weak. Alone. Just terrible."

Convinced the planet's oil supply is dwindling and the world's economies are
heading for a crash, some people around the country are moving onto
homesteads, learning to live off their land, conserving fuel and, in some
cases, stocking up on guns they expect to use to defend themselves and their
supplies from desperate crowds of people who didn't prepare.

The exact number of people taking such steps is impossible to determine, but
anecdotal evidence suggests that the movement has been gaining momentum in
the last few years.

Saving themselves
These energy survivalists are not leading some sort of green revolution meant
to save the planet. Many of them believe it is too late for that, seeing
signs in soaring fuel and food prices and a faltering U.S. economy, and are
largely focused on saving themselves.

Some are doing it quietly, giving few details of their preparations — afraid
that revealing such information as the location of their supplies will
endanger themselves and their loved ones. They envision a future in which the
nation's cities will be filled with hungry, desperate refugees forced to go
looking for food, shelter and water.

"There's going to be things that happen when people can't get things that
they need for themselves and their families," said Lynn-Marie, who believes
cities could see a rise in violence as early as 2012.

Lynn-Marie asked to be identified by her first name to protect her homestead
in rural western Idaho. Many of these survivalists declined to speak to The
Associated Press for similar reasons.

'Peak oil'

These survivalists believe in "peak oil," the idea that world oil production
is set to hit a high point and then decline. Scientists who support the idea
say the amount of oil produced in the world each year has already or will
soon begin a downward slide, even amid increased demand. But many scientists
say such a scenario will be avoided as other sources of energy come in to
fill the void.

On the PeakOil.com Web site, where upward of 800 people gathered on recent
evenings, believers engage in a debate about what kind of world awaits.

Some members argue there will be no financial crash, but a slow slide into
harder times. Some believe the federal government will respond to the loss of
energy security with a clampdown on personal freedoms. Others simply don't
trust that the government can maintain basic services in the face of an
energy crisis.

The powers that be, they've determined, will be largely powerless to stop
what is to come.

Getting ready

Determined to guard themselves from potentially harsh times ahead, Lynn-Marie
and her husband have already planted an orchard of about 40 trees and built a
greenhouse on their 7 1/2 acres. They have built their own irrigation system.
They've begun to raise chickens and pigs, and they've learned to slaughter
them.

The couple have gotten rid of their TV and instead have been reading dusty
old books published in their grandparents' era, books that explain the
simpler lifestyle they are trying to revive. Lynn-Marie has been teaching
herself how to make soap. Her husband, concerned about one day being unable
to get medications, has been training to become an herbalist.

By 2012, they expect to power their property with solar panels, and produce
their own meat, milk and vegetables. When things start to fall apart, they
expect their children and grandchildren will come back home and help them
work the land. She envisions a day when the family may have to decide whether
to turn needy people away from their door.

"People will be unprepared," she said. "And we can imagine marauding hordes."

Prepared for insurrection

So can Peter Laskowski. Living in a woodsy area outside of Montpelier, Vt.,
the 57-year-old retiree has become the local constable and a deputy sheriff
for his county, as well as an emergency medical technician.

"I decided there was nothing like getting the training myself to deal with
insurrections, if that's a possibility," said the former executive recruiter.

Laskowski is taking steps similar to environmentalists: conserving fuel,
consuming less, studying global warming, and relying on local produce and
craftsmen. Laskowski is powering his home with solar panels and is raising
fish, geese, ducks and sheep. He has planted apple and pear trees and is
growing lettuce, spinach and corn.

Whenever possible, he uses his bicycle to get into town.

"I remember the oil crisis in '73; I remember waiting in line for gas,"
Laskowski said. "If there is a disruption in the oil supply it will be very
quickly elevated into a disaster."

Breault said she hopes to someday band together with her neighbors to form a
self-sufficient community. Women will always be having babies, she notes, and
she imagines her skills as a midwife will always be in demand.

For now, she is readying for the more immediate work ahead: There's a root
cellar to dig, fruit trees and vegetable plots to plant. She has put a
bicycle on layaway, and soon she'll be able to bike to visit her grandkids
even if there is no oil at the pump.

Whatever the shape of things yet to come, she said, she's done what she can
to prepare.






  • [Livingontheland] Energy fears looming, new survivalists prepare, Tradingpost, 05/25/2008

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