Friday, June 12, 2020

On bumps in the road

[This is a repost of a thing written in 2008 (for obvious reasons). Currently U.S. infections of COVID-19 are at about 30% of the world total, with no coherent public policy, and rent for tens of millions comes due soon with unemployment running out -- and in this matter again there is no coherent public policy.]

Most of us want to live, so some may want to hear elders who've thought about resiliency. I've thought about it (and acted on it) over the years, but am rapidly aging out of the skills, the skills to communicate about the skills, and the motivation. Your Mileage May Vary.

Ready for the open road -- we thought.
Back when our family was living a nomadic lifestyle that revolved around tree-planting contracts on mostly federal lands, we pulled a small travel trailer behind an International Travelall with most of our worldly goods in the one or the other.

And one day we left home to go to a contract five hundred miles away, and in ten miles came to a brand-new sign that said, “BUMP.” As in, “the county road crew has removed the top four inches of asphalt from the bridge fifty yards ahead, with a vertical drop at each end, and if you hit it at any speed between five miles an hour and the posted speed of fifty-five at which you are now traveling, well, have we got a surprise for you.”

We saw what was coming, but with three second’s worth of brake time, there was not much to do but grin and bear it.

It took days to sort out our windshield and flour and beans and lamp chimneys and toe-in and trailer tongue and so on, and we lost some work. Fortunately no one was hurt.

All that was, was a bump in the road. But suppose it had been a cliff?

:::

"Civilization" has, since about 1973, seemed to me to be nearing a cliff, so (while younger) I did what I could about it. If you might wish to do the same, read on for some glimpses of doomer hobbies you might take up.


Our solutions were low-tech, and for reasons.

You can do nifty technological off-grid solutions to keep comfy. But for that it helps to be well-heeled, with stable surroundings. In other words, it helps to be a colonizer, so give that a good ethical look before going all in. There might be worse things than being the last one standing. 

When in doubt, be good to your neighbors. Yes, those. This planet is only 7,917.5 miles in diameter.

Look:


We're on the right. Sustainable is basically on the left. Can't get there from here with the available political will. Systems were under strain before the coronavirus arrived, and are cracking now.

:::

I’ve picked Zen meditation and Bodhisattva precepts as my outgoing hobby -- cheap and portable.


Something else may work better for others.

May we and ours be ever more thoughtful, wise, resourceful, just, and kind in all our dealings than we have been hitherto. 

And may we live in peace and unafraid.




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Stony Run Farm: Life on One Acre