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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] What should I do?
  • Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2010 21:51:44 -0600


First I must agree with your point, "having a bunch of people trying to hoard
stuff is just switching them from hoarding DVDs and cars to hoarding food and
gold".

I assure you if his writing was worthless I wouldn't bother to question some
of it. It's not. Some of his writing is a valuable springboard for
discussion. Yet no one among us can get everything right. It's too
complicated.To me it seems those nine steps are a very tall order for most
people. Other than the sheer amount of work and organization called for, some
of it requires more money than most of us can spare. We're in hard times
already.

I'm skeptical about most people being able to "have a strong local community
with deep connections". There is no hope for this in the suburbs. Personally
I wouldn't want much connections to those I've seen in my sparsely settled
area. The Lions' Club has a gun show going on this weekend in connection with
a Tea Party meeting in the next town. He is correct saying "Any steps we
might take to prepare for a potential environmental, societal, or economic
disruption, no matter how grand, are nearly certain to be insufficient.
Nevertheless, they are still necessary." The business about water storage is
highly impractical for millions of us. And any way you cut it, storing food
is going to be out of the question for millions living paycheck to paycheck
anyway - not to mention those without paychecks, or space for adequate food
storage. He's correct about our vulnerable food distribution system, but that
doesn't solve the problem. One other snag: food with a shelf life of months
or more isn't fresh enough to keep us healthy very long. And IMHO a CSA is a
poor model for local food security since most people can't or won't pay for a
season's produce in advance. He's right, gardening is a steep learning curve.
But I can't agree your local garden store is a good source of information.
Bad idea. Worse, getting seeds for a complete vegetable garden is dumb when
you're starting out. You won't know what you can grow where you are, with
your climate, your time and energy, and what's a waste of time and money
until you get some experience under your belt. That "ReadyGarden™ 1-Acre
SEEDSAFE™" says "Our premium non-hybrid, open pollinated garden seeds are a
must for your emergency supplies. Each garden comes with 21 individual seed
varieties and almost 25,000 seeds!" HUH? Have they ever touched a shovel and
hoe? Only $84.49. And I'm sorry folks, but "emergency supplies" don't jibe
with a garden that takes months to produce food. Besides, if we're trying to
grow some food security, the first thing is to learn to produce certain foods
with the caloric and vitamin content to sustain us long term, and make it
foods we actually like and will eat. If we also learn to cook. Sometimes
these people sound like food grows and cooks itself.

I'm stopping there. All free to disagree.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net


*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 10/16/2010 at 12:58 PM dan conine wrote:

>Hi Paul,
> Though the people on this list are probably well versed in the idea
>of self-reliance, community, and food, Chris Martenson's intentions, I
>think, are sound. I don't think picking apart his list here is serving
>our time well.
>Let's just suffice it to say the basic premise implied is that people
>need to be aware, have food, question their money's reliability,
>question the system in general, and be prepared in mind and tools.
>What's truly missing in Martenson's list is that the first thing to
>remember is that no list is going to be useful when TSHTF unless it's
>written on something you can eat (no war plan survives the first battle).
>Things could go a lot of different ways, and having more people aware
>that they are in the same boat as everyone else might be good for the
>community. Having a bunch of people trying to hoard stuff is just
>switching them from hoarding DVDs and cars to hoarding food and gold.
>
>Dan C.
>Belgium, WI
>
>> I'm going to take exception to a lot of this guy's "experience", but
>first anyone else can jump in if the urge strikes. It's not likely we'll
>agree on it all tho, and don't have to.
>>
>> paultradingpost@lobo.net
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>
>> What Should I Do?
>> http://www.chrismartenson.com/page/what-should-i-do
>>
>





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