Welcome Dedshelly.
You might want to look around the forums to get a feeling for the people and issues. They may not turn out to be what they seem at first.
Peakoil.com hosts a great diversity of viewpoints:
Students, survivalists, business people, back-to-the-landers, journalists, engineers, farmers, programmers, activists.
If you are farming, you may want to look at posts by Pops, who is one of the most level-headed of the po.com denizens.
Best of luck.
PeakOil is You
Okay A question for all you older POers. 40+ bracket
Re: Okay A question for all you older POers. 40+ bracket
by bart » Mon 10 Apr 2006, 22:04:38
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Re: Okay A question for all you older POers. 40+ bracket
by jimk » Mon 10 Apr 2006, 23:12:37
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kam30en', '
')Dude, I just wanna punch you. Who cares about minor political events or wars in faraway places. We are talking about depletion of the resources that made all those trivial events even possible.
...
Dude, the kids that are born now are gonna be living like a subsaharan african in 20 years time. If they're alive at all.
')Dude, I just wanna punch you. Who cares about minor political events or wars in faraway places. We are talking about depletion of the resources that made all those trivial events even possible.
...
Dude, the kids that are born now are gonna be living like a subsaharan african in 20 years time. If they're alive at all.
It is hard to get perspective. I just turned 50 so I figure I'm practically dead anyway. I can understand how somebody maybe 25 years old might feel like the prime of their life won't be as fabulous as some other time they heard about or dreamt of, i.e. may not meet expectations.
Not like being 50 really gives a person much better of a perspective. The world certainly seems crazier to me now... a lot of the stuff that was predicted 30 years ago, that seemed rather remote, is really a lot closer now. The reports of the melting glaciers, yeow!
But how much of this is just me getting older. I sure remember my Dad being all grumpy about the way the world wasn't living up to his hopes.
The time scales involved are difficult to judge. Think about the folks who came to the Americas from Europe. Sure there were difficult challenges, but these continents were sure a lot richer three hundred years ago. The salmon were so thick they got used to fertilize the fields! So if one wants to think about how much better some previous generation had things, it can be tricky to figure out which generations to put in the "unlucky us" pile and which to put in the "lucky them" pile.
Plus just consider, we rich Americans with our 40 barrels per year per person petroleum consumption or whatever it is, compared to e.g. the poorest 3 billion on the planet. We cry about the prospect of having our petroleum consumption cut in half so it will only be 10X the poor half instead of 20X. We might have our food supply cut so severely that obesity rates will decline and people will be healthier. Tough break!
Here's my little dose of 50 year old's wisdom: it's worse than useless to waste time whining about the poor hand one has been dealt. Nobody likes the cards in their hand; everybody thinks they deserve better. Face the facts: everybody with access to this discussion is extremely privileged to be among the wealthiest people who have ever walked the earth. This is the peak, after all!
Ran Prieur has a great slogan: you're not here to win, you're here to help. We have an enormous responsibility to future generations. What we do now, from our situation of almost unimaginable wealth and power, will echo for centuries. Learn from the mistakes of the past, but just think how folks in 25 years and 250 years will look back at YOU, and how the life you lead will affect the future.
Not that I have any magic formula nor am I in any position to hold myself up as an example to follow. Maybe I will yet survive a few years - how can I make a positive difference? I ask myself that constantly, but my stupid crystal ball is all fogged up. And I sure do look back and think - did I really spend the first 50 years in any very effective and responsible way?
God willing, your turn will come too, to look back and reflect! Actually I am an atheist but it's a nice expression.
Jim
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Re: Okay A question for all you older POers. 40+ bracket
by Doly » Tue 11 Apr 2006, 06:00:14
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jimk', 'S')o if one wants to think about how much better some previous generation had things, it can be tricky to figure out which generations to put in the "unlucky us" pile and which to put in the "lucky them" pile.
When I was a kid, when I read history books, I used to read about those times described as "golden ages" (like classical Greece, the Renaissance, and so on) compared with those times described as "dark times" (like the Middle Ages), and wonder if people living then knew whether they lived in a "good" or "bad" time.
My answer now is that I believe some people do know, and some don't. Some people will whine in any situation, some will be positive in any situation, some will just be moody and change their mind every second day, but there are some realists out there as well. I think a lot of people on this forum can tell that we are living "good" times and that the future doesn't look as good.
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Re: Okay A question for all you older POers. 40+ bracket
by bart » Tue 11 Apr 2006, 06:29:36
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jimk', 'R')an Prieur has a great slogan: you're not here to win, you're here to help. We have an enormous responsibility to future generations. What we do now, from our situation of almost unimaginable wealth and power, will echo for centuries.
Dude, I want to shake your hand.
Excellent post.
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Re: Okay A question for all you older POers. 40+ bracket
by Atlantean_Relic » Fri 14 Apr 2006, 01:17:00
Thank you for the replies. DeShell this wasn't a cry for help. No since crying about the evitable. I just wanted a perspective on this hairball from people that have been around longer than myself.
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Re: Okay A question for all you older POers. 40+ bracket
by Dedshelly » Fri 14 Apr 2006, 22:41:03
Cool. i can dig it. This is my perspective. We are at the end of an Age. Witnesses to the birth of a new one. It's happening now. The end of living and the beginning of survival. As individual entities survival is a dog eat dog type deal. Nature is ruthless. In groups, communally, much easier, much better survival rates. Many will die. Starvation sucks. Why wait for the inevitable? There is a workaround. Prepare. Maybe you don't have the finances to get a place and develop a sustainable lifestyle, maybe you do. If you do, do it now. If you don't, I've got it here and you are welcome to come and go to work. This seems to piss some people off for some reason. But there you go. My perspective. Just as real as a heart attack. I kid you not.
When THSTF there will be no time to plant a turnip and wait for a sprout. Gotta eat every day. Good luck and love and all that.
When THSTF there will be no time to plant a turnip and wait for a sprout. Gotta eat every day. Good luck and love and all that.
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Re: Okay A question for all you older POers. 40+ bracket
by threadbear » Sat 15 Apr 2006, 00:15:21
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Dedshelly', 'T')he threat of death...it's always been there. Aborigines or aliens, roaches or galaxies, every living thing will die-if not in the aggregate, most certainly in the intimate, the personal, the individual. You yourself will in fact die and be gone. That ain't what I would call no news at all. Transcend it. Get over it. LIFE goes on. Help! Promote! Facilitate! How are you going to do that? FEED something hungry dumb ass! A decent man should be supporting 25 people with his labor. I'm sorry-but it seems to me you mewling infants will whine your way to a communal grave with your pitiful selfish bawling gimmee. I'll pay your way here if you will work. Shut the fuck up and go to WORK!
The energy you expended in that rant was a complete waste of calories. Get a grip. Why would anyone want to support 25 people with his labour? Talk about encouraging endless growth. Your work, work, work ethos is what has caused so many problems in the Western world. Your type think they'll reach salvation by walking uphill on their knees to the promised land. No pain, no gain. I say bullsh**. In reality you're stuck on hamster wheels burning hydrocarbons, or food calories to get precisely nowhere. Hard work isn't the answer. Working less and being satisfied with what is needed, and no more, is.
In answer to the sensible question posed by the poster. We've never had so many guns aimed at us, from so many directions. I'm 50, my mother's 77 and she says she thinks the world has never been more unstable and potentially dangerous. She lived through a depression and the second world war. So, it's not your imagination, things really are coming unglued.
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