Silver Linings

Time to check in on the state of things. As you know, we are in the third year of a great recession that was supposed to be mostly over in two years. I think that initial forecast was due more to wishful thinking than a studied assessment. Estimates now call for 4-6 years, and that is definitely wishful thinking. As much of our resource base is depleted or severely strained, we can’t go back to the world we knew before 2008. I’ve noticed again this year the reappearance of the moronic speculation as to whether we will consume ourselves out of the doldrums with an orgy of Christmas spending. Spend what? Our future earnings, I guess, when we get the job that was created by the debt we just put on our plastic. The scary part is this sort of thing is the best they can come up with. I think the only stable economies in the world right now are in the pockets of traditional subsistence farming that we haven’t managed to mess up yet.

To the reigning global political and economic instability, add the state of the climate. Note the record breaking early blizzard in the Northeast, continuing drought in the Southwest, Southeast, Eastern Africa, Australia, China, and more. Thailand, coming out of a drought, is now underwater.

One’s view of the world depends upon the lens we choose to view it through. From early on in my life, I’ve not been able to completely buy into the American Dream, (that is, the economic one), and so, it has always been easier for me to keep one foot planted outside of it, hoping for something better. I grew up with a silver spoon (well, silver plate maybe) in my mouth, but, having seen the downside of avarice in my family, have always gravitated toward cooperation and economic justice. In the Peace Corps, I visited and lived in communities in the third world that we considered to be in the direst of poverty. I saw that their wealth is in community, and that, in many ways, they are a lot happier than we are. Unfortunately, the more they’re exposed to the trappings of our society, the more discontented they become. This consumer lifestyle of ours is alluring and addictive, and it is wholly understandable that most of us have a hard time considering the possibility of having to give it up.

So, in being a harbinger of hard times, although I grieve for the inevitable suffering, I am also buoyed by the possibility of real change for the better. I really feel that our society is on the wrong track, and that there is real opportunity in the crises we are facing. I wish that we had started adapting to climate changes and away from fossil fuels when we first saw the need 30 years ago. We didn’t, and, although we could salvage something with large-scale action now, our political institutions don’t appear to be up to the task. That means that it is up to us to do for ourselves; something we should never have given up in the first place.

It has only been in the last year, I realize, that I’ve personally taken the need to change seriously. At first, I decided that I would ride my bike more and drive less, we would expand and improve the garden, and make the house more energy efficient. Over time, it has become more and more difficult for me to hop in my van to go anywhere if it doesn’t involve picking up or delivering something that utilizes its space.

My more cautious and far thinking wife, Elizabeth, deserves much of the credit for moving us towards more self-sufficiency. Recently, she suggested that we only shop once a week and make do otherwise. The repercussions of this started to become apparent to me when I experienced corn chip withdrawal in mid-week. Elizabeth subsequently made me some cookies to ease my pain.

Another affect was really planning meals around what was available in the garden. That means you sometimes get less variety. Lately we have been eating a lot of kale and roots,….night after night, but have actually enjoyed the challenge of fixing them in lots of different ways. Kale is super food so I don’t mind eating a lot of it.

Another discovery for me (nothing new to Elizabeth) was the idea of making our own condiments. As we ran out of mustard mid week, I decided to make some. I emptied out our mustard seed jar and proceeded with a gourmet mustard recipe. I ended up with something more like the expensive stuff and didn’t have to buy another #5 plastic container to store in a landfill for future generations.