Post lady came today! So letters are headed out.
I took a hike down the main road yesterday. Mumford & Sons was the perfect soundtrack. I managed to scare a deer. I saw him go galloping away, and I even felt the vibrations in the ground from its hooves. It's so strange that an animal which is larger and much more muscular than I could be afraid of me. Then I got up onto a stump, closed my eyes, and pretended to be a tree. It was satisfying.
When I was little, I had this little book in which I would draw lots of pictures of plants. My parents joked about my future as a botanist.
Turns out, they may not have been far off.
I've decided to grow medicinal herbs in my garden when I get back to school, and start running myself a little apothecary. Not only has it always been a fascinating field of study for me, but I would rather hand out my knowledge and remedies for free than see my friends give their money to the pharmaceuticals. As long as everyone promises never to reinstate witch trials; the herbalists were always the first to go. :P
But my biggest motivation is that botanical knowledge is a highly desirable survival skill. Which segues nicely into the next part of this entry.
My dear peers, I can't stress this enough. If you want to live to be fifty, get ahold of this book, The Oil Age is Over.
Matt Savinar does a great job of explaining what peak oil means, as well as addressing questions and doubts. Just for the moment, I'll give a go at explaining it for you myself.
Everything in your life exists because of oil. Your computer, your water system, your food, your clothing, your house, your electricity... all of it. It can all be traced back to oil. Now, oil production follows a bell curve. The peak of the curve represents the moment at which half of the Earth's oil has been depleted. Once the peak is passed, cost goes up and production goes down.
If Peak Oil occurred in the year 2000, that means that we will have the same amount of oil production in 2020 as we did in 1980. However, the population will be twice as large in 2020 as it was in 1980. Demand will outstrip supply by an impressive margin, and clearly, that's not going to work out.
And guess what? We are also at Peak Water.
There is a lot more that I could say about what is going to happen to us, especially those of us with debts. All I'll say for the moment is, guys, is that it is time to learn some kind of skill that will make you a valuable part of a survival community.
If you think that I'm a crazy alarmist, you need to read the book, and look in particular for this quote.
"There is a difference between an 'optimist' and a fool. An optimist is somebody who looks at bleak facts and decides to make the best of the situation they can. A fool is somebody who looks at bleak facts and decides to ignore them because they are too upsetting."
- Matt Savinar, The Oil Age Is Over
If you need more convincing, look up the story of the Easter Island heads, and why nobody remembers how they were built.
I had myself a nice little cry today while I was reading the book. I just put my face into my hands and thought, Dude, my generation is so shafted.
And... yeah. We pretty much are. But I eventually got up and started thinking instead of freaking out. And that's how I circled on back to botany! Because eventually, I'll be able to trade that knowledge for water.
Oh yeah, so I think I'm going to do archery instead of guns. Also, I just said goodbye to two piggies... I will definitely not be participating in the consumption of those piggies. :(
I also used the circular saw again to build a shelf. So besides being upset about the end of the world as we know it, I am still really loving it up here.
Okay, going to go run through some more fields now!
<3
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