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permaculture - [permaculture] end of cheap oil= end of middle class?

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  • From: Rain Tenaqiya <raincascadia@yahoo.com>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] end of cheap oil= end of middle class?
  • Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 21:39:30 -0700 (PDT)

I haven't done much research, but doesn't it make sense that the end of cheap
oil will radically reduce the size of the middle class in the US? All that
cheap oil, which replaced the nearly free labor of slaves freed up a large
segment of the population to do white collar work and made it possible to
produce all the affordable gadgets that make the middle class lifestyle what
it is today. If prices go way up, less people will be able to afford these
gadgets, which will undermine the economies of scale that make mass
production possible. Say goodbye to cheap computers, telephones, cars, as
well as the pumps, photovoltaic panels, water tanks, metal roofing and
fencing, and all the plastic that makes a rural permaculture lifestyle easy.
The permaculture homestead that I am creating today may only be possible for
the rich of tomorrow.

As oil becomes more scarce, the middle class is going to have to start
doing physical labor again (watch those precious waistlines trim down!), and
let me tell you, the work to live without fossil fuels is hard work,
especially when setting systems up. I'm not promoting doom and gloom, but I
think it might be naive to expect that all the handy little machines and
materials that we associate with modern permaculture systems will be
available to the masses in the future (40 years from now?). In setting up my
own site and building my own house, I am even more painfully aware of how
much even my own relatively purist lifestyle is dependent on fossil fuels. I
am really hoping that plastic doesn't disappear, especially plastic pipe. My
spring is .6 mile away and I really love indoor plumbing and drip irrigation!

What do y'all think?

Rain


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