Get in the lifeboat now!

SUBHEAD: There is not much time left to find a way off this sinking ship. Find a seat soon.

By Juan Wilson on 19 June 2018 for Island Breath -
(http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2018/06/get-in-lifeboat-now.html)


Image above: Abandoning the Costa Concordia that capsized and sank in 2012 off Isola del Giglio, Tuscany, Italy. From (https://paullaherty.com/2015/01/05/lessons-from-the-costa-concordia/).

I know it's comfy in the First Class State Room on A Deck but that won't be for long. As Americans we've grown accustomed to having "the best". However, now in the first part of the 21st century we are beginning to realize that we all are not "on board". An increasing number are in steerage... already below the waterline.

People around the world in places that have been trashed by over population, war,  bad agriculture, eco-collapse and fanaticism have been rushing to the exits - primarily to Western Europe, America, Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the world held together by some combination of modern technology, advanced military, historic plunder, natural resources  and/or isolation.

Those "safe havens" likely won't be able to handle the additional load. This is particularly true if those escaping intend to live in the style that "western civilization" has become accustomed:
Automobiles for everybody, highways to everywhere; universal electric grid, internet, and cell service; air conditioning, refrigeration, supermarkets, frozen food;  jet travel and fresh fruit on the table from another hemisphere, next day Amazon delivery service - total security... etc.
Those services cannot be provided for the eight billion people that inhabit the planet now. At this point of degradation of the ecosystem it is probably not possible for even a tenth of that number. That's about what the population of the world was when America became nation independent in 1776.

Basically, this human population explosion is a function of the consumption of fossil fuels. See the chart below:


Image above: World population from US Census Bureau inj blue, overlaid with fossil fuel use (red) by Vaclav Smil from Energy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects. From "Human Population Overshoot: What Went Wrong?"2/15/12 (https://ourfiniteworld.com/2012/02/15/human-population-overshoot-what-went-wrong/).

What is the solution?
Back away from your dependence on fossil fuel (and all that it supports) as soon as you can. Make your life livable (and hopefully enjoyable) off the grid as soon as you can. Get in a lifeboat now! By that I mean have at your immediate disposal a place where you can survive, and even thrive, without dependence on "The Mother Ship" (The System, The Grid, Civilization, the United States of America. etc.).

There is no time for any delay. My wife and I have been working towards this goal for over a decade and we are not quite there. If the container ships and tankers were to stop coming to Hawaii we would face drastic changes, but likely our homestead could support human habitation.

Are you in such a place now? If the lights go out can you be in such a place securely within a couple of days? I say that because that is about as long as most people have the resources at hand to survive.

For starters, you will need your own sources for water, food, energy and shelter.

See also:
Ea O Ka Aina: Settling into a Collapse Rant 11/15/17
Ea O Ka Aina: Oases on a future Eaarth 6/28/15
Ea O Ka Aina: Tales of a Dark Kauai 5/23/14
Ea O Ka Aina: The New Game 11/10/13
Ea O Ka Aina: Food, Water, Energy & Shelter 1/31/13
Ea O Ka Aina: The Titanic or Noah's Ark 3/4/12
Ea O Ka Aina: The Hero's Way 1/13/12
Ea O Ka Aina: Time to Stop Pretending 4/27/11
Ea O Ka Aina: All Aboard 12/9/09
Ea O Ka Aina: Here the Deal!  7/5/09
.

No comments :

Post a Comment