INTERESTING TIMES

ENERGY LITERACY
CONSERVATION
RESILIENCE
RELOCALIZATION
FAMILY PLANNING
BEAUTY
BIODIVERSITY
( the Post Carbon Institute, that is )

At least, that's what I heard on the radio. Whenever I hear that "Everybody" says something, I am immediately suspicious. Everybody? OK then, what jobs do we want? Jobs with health insurance, and a paycheck, right? How about a desk, a telephone, and a computer? A window? A coffee maker? Boy now we're talking about the kind of job I could go for. But is that really what we need? I mean WHAT DO WE NEED?

I think we need a bunch of adventurous entrepreneurs to figure out what it is that we really need, and get busy developing the means of production. I went to naturopathic medical school because I see natural medicine as a sustainable and beneficial profession in which I can continue to serve no matter what the economic condition of my community. I am going to offer my assistance, and I trust that my knowledge and service will be of adequate value to allow me to live a good life.

I don't want a job!!! Jobs for me have been dead ends, places where I can get comfortable while my life drains away doing someone else's work. When do I get to do MY work? To be creative? To do my good for the world?? I saw this culture headed for the brink a long time ago. And it's still headed that way. I want to create a window to a better future.

What do we really need after all? A safe and comfortable place to call our own. It doesn't have to be fancy. We all need shelter, somewhere to keep our pillow and toothbrush. We all need fresh water, and good food, and we all need touch and love. That's about it! Jobs and insurance are figments of this paradigm that's headed for the drink.

( today's news: U.S. poverty rate rises to 15.1 percent, number of uninsured Americans hits record high  )

Here's where you can unsubscribe from catalogs easily:
https://www.catalogchoice.org/

The dump is more than one floating mass of mostly plastic garbage that some say is as large as the United States. I guess there are no shipping lanes that go through those parts of the ocean. I wonder if there's any connection between all the floating trash and the increase in ocean-bourne MRSA.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/16-6
( some images from the web today )

For fuel scavenging this looks like a great manual pump, discussion and other pumping ideas found here.

OTEC = Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion

( on an interesting way to generate electricity from temperature stratification in the ocean )

Please follow the link to his page, because all the links work from there:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/05/08/beware-food-crisis-getting-worse.aspx?source=nl
( Mercola's comments behind cut, for reference )

After Kunstler's talk at NAU, an insight is still worming its way through my consciousness. It's a simple one, of which I was already aware, but Kunstler brought it to the forefront. Our economy is based on making more of the very things we need to get away from, for sustainability's sake. Our GNP looks as good as it does because we put our money into war, building things like modular suburbs and infrastructure for automobiles, and providing everyone with cheap plastic crap. And none of these things are essential for life. Our economy serves the people as long as we wish to kick ass for oil, drive our cars, and have nice houses in the suburb. In order for us to rebuild sustainable local economies, our current economy must crater. Yes, I'm rooting for the demise of our corporation dominated global economy along with the conspiring imperialist governments. When our economy finally tanks, we'll be headed in the right direction.
( Thoughts on the future )