The New Survivalist

Spend Nothing April

2010-04-07T09:46:00.001-07:00

Personal finances are in bad shape this month due to a very slow winter, workwise. When I start seeing red it's time to get thrifty. Not that I'm not usually a spendthrift but this month I need to get cheap. Yes, that's right, cheap. If it's not free, I'm not interested.

This doesn't apply to groceries and the regular bills that keep us warm and dry. Everything else is a luxury this month. I love to explore all the ways I can make life work without paying for fun. No spending months wake me up to just how much cash I bleed for small things that don't add a lot of joy to my life.

There are some things worth paying for, I just forget how much they matter and what they are. It's as though small, cheap thrills fog up my judgment apparatus and I can't see the big picture anymore. April is like a deep cleanse.

Today marks the first week of the month and it's not too late for you to join me.

Continuous Partial Attention

2010-02-10T09:15:00.000-08:00

Over the past few years I've noticed a dramatic increase in my distractability. I'm barely able to focus on one task for more than 30 minutes at a time and even a stretch that long feels like a marathon. In fact, I started writing this post in the middle of reading an article on distraction. It's possible I will finish the article eventually, maybe.

The term Continuous Partial Attention was coined by tech theorist Linda Stone, someone I've never heard of but who sounds to me like she's on to something. This haze of rapidly shifting attention I live in is usually only moderated by a healthy dose of nature exposure which brings me to the coining of another appropriate term NDD or Nature Deficit Disorder. I wonder if there are any pharmaceuticals available for that? The nifty little term comes to us courtesy of Richard Louv who wrote a book in 2005 called Last Child in the Woods. His theory is that children are spending less time outdoors which might explain why they seem to be overwhelmed by so many behavioural problems. I think the same can be said for those over the age of 18 as well.

Now, where was I going with all of this? It had something to do with the benefits of spending time outside the confines of home or office and actually interacting in a physical and psychological way with plants, animals, dirt and air. Oh yes, and water. Bodies of water are nature too. It's just hard to imagine getting wet when it's winter outside. All I can think of is hypothermia and a naked, frozen corpse. Come to think of it, people are nature too and people are so much more interesting and easier to touch in person than through e-mail.

Of course, I haven't finished reading the article yet (it's kinda long) but it's very well written so I trust that the second half is a good as the first and I will be so bold as to recommend you read it right now, regardless of whether or not you're on the phone with your client or mother. However, I do recommend you not read this article while driving.

And by the way (in case you don't get that far), there is really no such thing as multitasking.

http://nymag.com/news/features/56793/

From Invasive to Useful

2010-01-20T09:46:00.000-08:00

I went for a walk in a nearby park yesterday and I noticed many of the trees were wrapped up in strangling dog vine, an aggressive and invasive weed. As far as I know this weed is not native and has recently been introduced (gee thanks) to this area.

It's quite an easy plant to spot. It's thin, vine-like stalk will be seen strangling every living thing in sight, clinging noxiously to tender, native trees and shrubs as well as fences and other immobile objects. If you're still not sure it's dog vine try pulling it out. If it cuts into your palm as you strain and struggle, totally ineffectually, to remove the damn thing then it's definitely dog vine. Or you could just verify it here.

It will have menacing, pointy pods on the vine which do contain a fluffy seed that is very useful for starting fires if you are in need at certain times of the year. The one other thing this plant is good for is making cordage (that's rope or twine in survival-speak). I tested it out after collecting a bit on my walk and it made a nice strong twine even though I spun it quite thin. The photo shows the result. Since it is a member of the milkweed family this would make sense as other milkweeds make great cordage.

Considering how prolific and aggressive this unwanted invader is it therefore makes the perfect plant to harvest in large quantities while maintaining a clear conscience. If you haven't tried it yet, making cordage is easy, fun and it gives one the feeling of accomplishment, even if you never use your cord for anything although it does make a great emergency shoelace replacement. I certainly wouldn't use it for climbing or hanging yourself though, unless you have a death wish or just want some attention in the former and later case respectively.

Learning to make cordage is best done when someone else teaches you directly but there is an article here that might be helpful. I do think it's my responsibility to warn you that once you learn how to make cordage it is highly addictive.

Goodbye 2009

2010-01-12T12:35:00.000-08:00

Hello to a new decade. Although it's been a few weeks already the year still feels fresh. Could just be the cold Canadian air but it's not too late for a great bluegrass rendition of Auld Lang Syne by Lostmychops

In Awe

2010-01-11T07:30:00.000-08:00

One of the many things I love about nature is the way it often leaves me in awe. The natural world is of such great depth, power and beauty that our little human tribulations seem small and pathetic in comparison.

This is a good thing.

In order to deliver some awe to your desk on a Monday morning I offer up the following video as a pleasant distraction. http://www.vimeo.com/7566422

The Constraints of Language

2010-01-07T11:02:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you but I usually think in sentences. Thoughts that do not take the shape of words are nearly unreachable to me. I know, because I attempt to shut off the faucet of words from time to time and the best I can do is restrict the flow to a slow drip for a few, fleeting moments.

Yesterday I asked myself, in words of course, what it would be like if I did not have language and was not able to form sentences and paragraphs to describe how I felt. I would be left with only feelings. I would be free from the unending dialogue in my head and the connection to myself and my environment would be profound. I think. But I wouldn't really know that (or would I?) and I certainly wouldn't be able to tell anyone about it.

While walking the dog I've tried to use the experience as a meditation. I've made an effort to avoid a running commentary on everything I see. I usually fail miserably. "That's a really beautiful tree, I wonder what it is", "My goodness what a hideous colour, who paints their porch turquoise?", "What are you looking at?", "Oooh, a for sale sign. I wonder what the asking price is". And so on. If I had no words what would I feel? What would I think? Would the walk look something more like:

Sees tree: [warm feeling in heart].
Sees turquoise porch: [disgust] looks away.
Sees person looking back: [hello].
Sees a for sale sign: [confusion - can't read] inspects sign by sniffing and tasting. Discovers it is not food and moves on.

People often say that we are better connected to our emotions and intuition when we are young and that we loose our intuition as we mature and are molded into responsible citizens. If this is true I wonder if the disconnection between our minds and bodies occurs when we begin to learn and develop mastery in language. It would be at this point that we would begin to express ourselves in a more dignified manner - through words and sentences rather than laughing, crying or throwing things. Of course, remnants of these expressions cling tenaciously to our communication styles throughout our lives but they have been dramatically curtailed. And probably for the better.

One of the interesting aspects of language is it's inability to accurately express emotion. I've lost track of the number of times I've felt something but been unable to evoke a deep understanding of that feeling in another person simply through words. And even if we were able to reach someone with reasonable accuracy there is the matter of interpretation which further complicates communication.

I'd like to say that when I am surrounded by nature, in a place where there are no man-made sounds except those in my head, that I am able to find that connection that I've nearly lost, but that would only be partly true. The dialogue with myself slows but it never shuts off completely. The words come to me like wipers on a delay setting. There's a pause, and then then they hit me again, followed by another pause until I forget about the exercise completely and just start rambling to myself or fall asleep.

Language has many benefits to us but it does seem to fall short in a few areas. As a writer I cannot deny the incredible power and freedom that language affords. Before I go I'd like to remind you that this post was brought to you by today's sponsor - language.

Why Freecycle Doesn't Work

2009-12-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

I just discovered a (potentially) great magazine out of the UK called Permaculture. It's major flaw being that it is a UK based magazine with content that is inspiring but not directly applicable to a Canadian climate. While we're still worried about frost everyone in the UK is harvesting vegetables already. Big difference. Anyway, the Winter 2009 issue had an intriguing article on Mark Boyle, the founder of Freeconomy, who lives life without legal tender.

This is certainly a feasible endeavour and something I've considered but I believe it is only a surface solution and does not address the heart of the problem that is consumerism. In the article, Mark mentions Freecycle as a source of finding necessary supplies without the burden of currency and it was this very comment that reminded me about the flaw in denouncing the culture of money. And I have been waiting so long to gripe about Freecycle - this one has been brewing in my brain for some time.

I've used Freecycle in the past but not recently. I have only been able to acquire one small plant (that I have since ripped out) but I have been able to "re-gift" many unwanted household items that were collecting dust in a closet or the shed (oh the poor shed, collector of all that is unloved yet fiercely necessary). Giving away items on Freecycle is like tossing a bone to a yard of ravenous dogs. Within minutes my inbox is flooded with requests for whatever discarded contraption or household oddity I happen to be availing myself of. After weeding through the requests to select someone who does not come across like a spoiled mooch, I then have to arrange for a pickup, usually from my front porch which makes life much easier for me. I've been fortunate in that most people pick up the items when they say they will but when they don't... it's incredibly frustrating. And then some people change their minds or they want only one of the items I'm offering not the whole lot or they need some kind of special accommodation which is ludicrous since I'm giving them something for free, may I remind you.

All this furious activity makes it very clear to me that it is not currency that binds us to a consumerist culture but rather an innate desire to acquire. This powerful drive may be an ancient habit expressed in a gene yet to be discovered or it could simply be learned and passed down lovingly from one grasping generation to another. The only thing I am sure of is that money is not the cause of it but rather another tool to assist in the acquiring process like two hands and a basket are tools for collecting berries.

I know because this drive expresses itself in me from time to time and I need to actively remind myself that everything is okay just as it is.

It's All About the Shotgun

2009-11-29T16:06:00.000-08:00

Living self-sufficiently somewhere far from the oppressive smog and whiplash speed of a big city sometimes looks like a watercolour dream. So I'm glad I had the opportunity to listen to Cam Mather speak candidly about life off-grid. Cam is the author of Thriving During Challenging Times a book that has proven to be more popular in the United States than it has in Canada where he lives. He suspects this is because the crisis of 2008 (and it's after-effects) have been glossed over by our eternally optimistic politicians and I'm inclined to agree with him.

For the past 10 years Cam has lived off-grid on a 150-acre farm about 30 minutes north of Kingston, Ontario. He's learned a lot over those past 10 years and he's also changed a lot. It's funny how being surrounded by farmers and hunters can do that to a guy. He's hardly the hippie one might think and he's certainly not an avid hunter who collects bear skins for fun. Still, he's thinking of getting a 20 gauge shotgun to replace the 12 gauge that nearly knocks him off his feet. Of course, the less powerful weapon is really for his wife. Really, it is.

How does a pacifist vegetarian from Burlington become a shotgun toting father living in the middle of rural Ontario? There's no short answer to that, but I think I understand the psychological process since I'm going through it now myself. I find it's easier to ride the wave of change when you're not attached to the labels you've given yourself. When you can tear them off and throw them in the recycling bin it makes buying a shotgun all that much easier.

It's been an exhausting week and I'm still absorbing Cam's presentation from earlier today but I hope to write more about his talk in the near future. Stay tuned...

Altruism or Self-Interest

2009-09-30T07:01:00.000-07:00

Just this morning I was reading an article outlining the "either/or" approach to the peak-oil, climate change duo and calling for a new outlook that embraces the "and/both" approach in order to kickstart rapid progress on our transition to more sustainable societies.

Since I believe that both are critical and impending sooner or later this is not a novel concept. However, the author sets out 4 distinct motivations for action and that I found intriguing and wanted to comment on. The author outlines the 4 main motivations as:

altruism - anthropocentric (towards fellow humans)
altruism - Gaian (towards our fellow planetary dwellers - bugs, zebras, dandelions, plankton, bacteria, whales, air, water)
self interest
they have no choice

At some point in our lives we are faced with a difficult issue which encourages us to walk one of these 4 paths. In the past I believed I would lean toward altruism (Gaian) with a dash of self-interest thrown in, but several years ago it was suggested to me (likely in the form of a book or article) that there are no authentic altruistic acts, only self interested acts which give the appearance of altruism. In other words, everything we do for others we ultimately are doing for ourselves.

This statement was quite a shocker. I didn't believe it to be true but I couldn't dismiss it and went searching for evidence of genuine, altruistic acts. In short, I couldn't find any and I was forced to alter my position on the matter. If you closely examine your own and others intentions you'll find that there is always something to personally gain by helping others.

Let's look at some of the ways this would ring true: We give money to charities we like because it affects our lives in some way. Often our helping others is based on the fear that we may be in their situation sometime and would be grateful for the assistance. Or we are coerced or made to feel guilty for not helping out and so we give to ease our conscience. Heroic types often help others to achieve a personal high or public recognition for their work. If we're honest we can see ourselves in each of these situations.

The key to admitting that altruistic endeavours are ultimately in service of our own self-interest is to realize that it's ok to be self-interested. How else would all of the earth's organisms be here at this moment if it wasn't for self-interest? Humans would not have made it to where we are today without a healthy dose of it. Self-interest is necessary for survival. Helping others is necessary for our survival. It's not easy to set aside years or decades of learning that altruism is the only way and then beating ourselves up for every twinge of self-interest.

This is relevant to survivalism and self-sufficiency for obvious reasons I think. We are all ultimately out to look after ourselves and our family and that's a good thing. Without that drive we would not be here to discuss the fallacy of altruism today. So the next time you feel the drive to give yourself to someone or something ask yourself honestly, "what's in this for me?"

More Stuff, More Problems

2009-08-28T13:23:00.000-07:00

Frequently, I ponder all the stuff I have. And quite often, when I'm right in the middle of attempting to solve a problem caused by an item of stuff, I realize that this great thing is not so great after all. I acquired a Palm (which I should write with a lower case "p") in order to simplify my life. A noble cause, surely. Yet the damn thing is the bane of my existence. It has never really worked properly and new issues pop us every week. It's now August and I haven't been able to sync my Palm with my computer since April. I've given up.

For a long time now I've dreamed of having a little bistro set for our small back deck that gets a lot of glorious sunshine. Recently, my dream came true and it was everything I thought it would be. Until it rained that night and the bistro set started to rust. Now we have yet another make-work project sitting on the front porch. Rust proofing the bistro set. Although we've managed to coat the two chairs I have since realized we have another problem; wasps.

I'm talking about those things you dream of one day having and then suddenly you realize what a pain-in-the-ass it became. I do it again and again. A car is a great example. A car always appears to be an answer to so many problems, a great time-saver, able to cover long distances in a single bound. But then you have to find parking, or you just start accumulating parking tickets. You need to shop around for insurance or battle your insurance company when you have a little mishap which is a monstrous hassle on its own. There are car repairs and regular maintenance requirements, gas prices to worry about and friends who are always asking for a ride. Oh yeah and waiting in line at the transportation office at 8:00 in the morning, 30-minutes before they even open. That's always fun and seems to occur far more often that you'd like it to.

But how is a person to know which stuff will actually be an all-important addition to your life and which will be a phenomenally horrible idea?

Frozen in Fear

2009-08-20T07:06:00.000-07:00

Just yesterday BlackMacX posted a comment about self-defence in response to one of my posts a few months ago. He raised a really important point about one of the most neglected responses in an emergency situation. We often hear about fight or flight but we often overlook the third f-word; freeze.

Freezing is a common response when we are shocked and overwhelmed. It happens to us on occasion even during regular daily activities. How many times has someone said or done something unexpected and you momentarily froze, unable to respond for even just a few moments? These are all opportunities to practice being relaxed when we sense we're in danger. Even taking a few seconds to breathe deeply when these surprises come up can help increase the oxygen available to the body and brain which allows us to make a better decision in the moment.

BlackMacX mentioned that a relative of his, who was well-trained in self-defence, was assaulted in her home. Despite all her training she froze because, as she put it, "I can't believe this is happening". Her disbelief prevented her from being able to react to the situation in the way she had been trained. This is not an uncommon reaction among those we would expect to be able to handle something like this. The difficulty for a self-defence practitioner is in actually having a legitimate experience in order to test their years of training. It's similar to a solider being well-trained but yet totally unprepared for the realities of a real war. It's hard to simulate what happens in the body until you're really in the thick of it.

There are a few things we can do to prevent freezing in an emergency situation:

Do things that scare you on a daily or weekly basis. By doing this you increase your confidence and your tolerance for challenges. The overall effects of this simple act on multiple areas of your life are immeasurable.
Remember to breathe. Many people hold their breath when they are challenged, this is not helpful since the body needs even more oxygen to perform optimally in an emergency.
A great way to practice reacting without freezing is to speak your mind whenever someone throws an insult or shocks you with their words or behaviour. Let them know that you're hurt, shocked, insulted, or annoyed instead of smiling and discounting their rudeness. Come up with one or two phrases that sound natural to you and practice them often. This may seem totally unrelated to defending yourself against an attack but it's actually the same reaction in the body just on a smaller scale. Become aware of how you're feeling and where the discomfort is when these things happen. This awareness helps to prevent you from shutting down when you need to react.
Imagine the worst that can happen then invent positive outcome strategies to handle the situation. The relative of BlackMacX's explained it all when she said she couldn't believe what was happening. It may sound pessimistic but there is extensive research to prove that people who imagine the worst are often pleasantly surprised by the outcome of events. I'd rather be pleasantly surprised than disappointed or even devastated. There is also a body of research that shows that practicing something in detail, in the mind is the near equivalent of real, physical practice. I frequently imagine benign situations getting out of hand just to see what kinds of strategies and techniques I can come up with. It's not morbid or depressing, I treat it like a game where I'm the hero and I have to "take care of" the bad guys any way I can.
And last but not least, decide that you are a fighter. The kind of person who will fight to protect the right to exist and to protect your well-being, whatever you define that to mean.

And finally, there is the issue of genetics and learned behaviour from our parents. How our parents react in extreme situations can tell us a lot about how we will react. There are a few of us who are blessed with a predisposition to react calmly and rationally in an emergency. However, even if your parents tend toward hysterics when the going gets tough, all is not lost. You can train your body to develop new patterns of behaviour but it does take a little time and focus. It all depends on what you decide your priorities will be.

The Mini Emergency Kit

2009-08-18T12:22:00.000-07:00

A guest post by: GoldenBoy

Recently I resolved myself to the idea that one day I'd face some sort of emergency. I keep abreast of the news: both mainstream and alternative. It occurs to me that I have been building up a dependency on, for lack of a better phrase, “external systems”. These systems can manifest as any number of things: my job, public transit, food supply (including frequent garlic delivery, mmmmm garlic), the electrical grid, etc. For each system I've begun to consider what I can do to mitigate against any breakdowns. I'm not naïve to think I can insulate myself entirely, but I'm sure there are things I can do, learn, or have that will help me glide through any emergency.

The perfect companion to any emergency is the emergency kit. Emergency kits are like a matching hand-bag to a new dress or the role garlic plays with a fresh bun with cheese. You can't enjoy one without the other - emergencies can be exciting! Why be left having to suffer through one, when you can thrive through one?

The first kit I've chosen to tackle is the “mini-breakdown kit”. The theme I've decided to go with is: “small & useful”. To this end, I went out and bought a tin of Altoid mints (for the small tin, of course), and rustled up some items from around the house. The following is a list of what I currently have in my kit:

3 plastic band-aids

3 rubber bands

4 birthday candles

1 pocket screw driver

1 round magnet

2 fish hooks

2 bobby pins

4 Ibuprofen (400mg)

9 wooden matches

6 safety pins

3 sewing needles

5 twist ties

1 razor

4 buttons

1 sheet of tin foil

As you can see, this is a work in progress: I don't even have any fishing line for the hooks. But heck, better to build some momentum, than have none at all. I'm sure I'll modify the contents of my tin on a regular basis.

Do you have some feedback for me on what I should include? If so, please post a comment below.

Now, I think I'm going to make me some garlic bread...

Just Plain Silly

2009-08-11T18:20:00.001-07:00

Tonight I found myself needing some chocolate but was also tired and lazy so I walked across the street to the little convenience store to settle the craving. As I was looking at the unnecessarily busy box of Smarties I noticed this little gem:

No artificial colours*
*Non-artificial colours are prepared from natural sources.

Wow, it almost sounds healthy! Like eating a box of spinach. I feel far less guilty now, phew.

A Week Without Luxury

2009-08-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

An experiment in pioneer living.

The August issue of Toronto Life magazine features an alarmingly bright, red cover. The bold title Keep Calm and Read On does little to soothe and reassure the reader. The main feature article is written by Jason McBride who chronicles his week-long experiment in living without modern luxuries like electricity, lattes and flush toilets. The lengthy article is a compelling read dotted with poetic insights and wit. Jason is the perfect candidate for such an experiment as a model representative of the average North American who can scarcely imagine life without the internet yet during his week of simplicity he spends the dark evenings playing Boggle with his girlfriend by candlelight.

The delicious irony appears on the page facing the end of Jason’s article with an ad for a luxury resort in Muskoka followed a few pages later with a feature on a posh finishing school for wannabe socialites. Sometimes I’m certain we are doomed.

You might be wondering why an MEC clad tree-hugger like me would bother reading a magazine like Toronto Life. I don’t normally read it, however Jason interviewed me for his article so I had a keen interest in checking it out. Especially since I wanted to ensure I didn’t come across as a complete idiot and say something really awkward and embarrassing. As far as I can tell, Jason did an exemplary job making sense of my endless rambling while we were sitting on a patio a few months ago.

If you get the chance, I highly recommend reading his article. It’s not often those of us with dirt under our nails get to rub elbows with the Prada purse-toting elite (or the wannabes). If you don't live in the Toronto area the magazine has a website that opens up it's articles on the web after the issue has been out for a while. A great way to save trees as well. http://www.torontolife.com/magazine/2009/9/

White Rabbits, White Rabbits...

2009-08-05T08:08:00.000-07:00

A campfire is mesmerizing for me. Until the smoke stings my eyes or the flames start to fade and the dream that was must be stoked and offered gifts of fresh new logs. For the first time we started our campfire without matches. Seeing as we were hardly roughing it - with the car parked just 50 feet away - we didn't prepare our tinder and small wood beforehand and so had to rush around in a mad scavenger hunt for small dry stuff that burns well while the fire died down to a few tiny embers.

There was much blowing, heaving and lightheadedness until we got her going.

But we did get her going that evening and it was a cakewalk after that. Of course, attempting to put the fire out is just as much work as getting it started. Our fuel source rarely seemed to want to cooperate.

When I woke up the next morning there was a small trail of smoke sneaking out of the largest chunk of wood still let in the pit. It took me a while to figure out where it was coming from but with the help of a little tinder I had collected the night before and kept under the tarp, I was able to get a roaring breakfast fire going based on last night's efforts. Or rather our lack of effort in putting out the original fire. Which suited me fine as I enjoy the challenge of starting a fire with as few matches as possible. This weekend we used none. Well, except to light the butane stove. In which case I recommend Coghlans Wind and Waterproof matches. Their regular waterproof matches are terrible and one would die a frustrating death if they had them in their survival kit, but the windproof ones are fantastic. Every camping or emergency kit should have a package.

For some reason all this talk about fire makes me think of playing rock, paper, scissors as a kid. I'm sure you're wondering what that has to do with a game that doesn't involve fire, but that's because you didn't play the version my sister and I invented. It included a bomb (a rock with a thumb in the air), water (hand shaped like the crest of a wave), fire (fingers pointing up in the air like flames) and hair (just like fire but the fingers point downward). Don't ask me which ones beat the others, I have no recollection of the rules and we were too young to think of writing them down for posterity.

There were many other lovely memories of camping this weekend, like the tree-filled privacy of our site, waking up with a really sore neck, moonlight, falling asleep in a folding chair (not me) and Mountain House lasagna with meat sauce (unbelievably delicious) but the fire is always the highlight.

Train - The Sexy New Way to Travel?

2009-07-21T08:34:00.001-07:00

Well, it's not so sexy if you live in Europe. It's pretty much a standard and accepted way to travel long distances. In North America however, it has become the preferred method of travel for steel, lumber and vagrants. The few remaining passenger train lines have a hard time competing with the road system where money gushes from the public purse in a strong show of support. I wonder how long it will take before public officials relax their (likely fatigued) rubber stamping arms and realize that shoving money into potholes and geriatric car companies is equivalent to using cash as fireplace tinder and toilet paper.

It will probably be a very long while from now for they only have the ability to see about 3 months into the future and certainly not past their term. Which is a shame because we have quite an impressive network of rail track that has fallen into disrepair and could easily accommodate our upcoming transportation needs, or should I say, crisis? Depends on your perspective.

A few months ago James Howard Kunstler, a peak-oil journalist and pro rail preacher commented on Treehugger about a new proposal for high-speed train systems in the U.S.:
"One very plain and straightforward example at hand is the announcement last week of a plan to build a high speed rail network. To be blunt about it, this is perfectly f*****g stupid. It will require a whole new track network, because high speed trains can't run on the old rights of way with their less forgiving curve ratios and grades. We would be so much better off simply fixing up and reactivating the normal-speed track system that is sitting out there rusting in the rain -- and save our more grandiose visions for a later time.
I don't like to be misunderstood. With the airlines in a business death spiral, and mass motoring doomed, we need a national passenger rail system desperately. But we already have one that used to be the envy of the world before we abandoned it. And we don't have either the time or the resources to build a new parallel network."

Where his ideas start to get really interesting is how they are reflected in the responses from the posters who either aggressively support Kunster (as in resorting to calling those who disagree with him "Nit Wits") to those who think Kunstler is "absolutely clueless" and who think his argument is "f*cking ignorant and uninformed". Jolly good debate this is with all the responses as tempered and informed as usual.

I'll save you the frustration of reading through the childish rants and direct you to one of the more lucid replies that appeared to written by someone with intimate knowledge on the subject. And from there you can come to your own conclusions.

Movie Review - Into the Wild

2009-07-15T13:30:00.000-07:00

It might be unfair to review a film that I was only half-heartedly watching because I decided to write this review while the film played. But I'm going to review it anyway. Normally, I’m quite accepting of a film’s faults. Often I derive far more pleasure from a film than the critics claim I will. Perhaps it’s true form then that I would disagree with a large number of critics who rated this rather irritating true story quite highly.

The plot is based on the life and death of Chris McCandless who left his dysfunctional family behind and set out on a quest to wander the U.S. with few possessions. His hope was to reach Alaska where he planned to live in solitude for a while.

I haven’t read the book on which this movie is based so I’m not able to say if it’s similar or even better than the movie. On IMDB there is a note in the FAQ that states the following: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758758/faq#.2.1.6
Those who have both seen the movie and read the book generally conclude that the movie has "Hollywoodized" the novel. Arguably, however, the novel's implicit (and often explicit) approval of and admiration for Chris McCandless's actions was balanced in the movie with his focused shortcomings to create a more sympathetic and realistic character and to provide the emotional arc of the narrative. While most of the events in the two media are similar, the tone and texture of each is unique.

I found this note amusing due to the fact that the main character is so incredibly unlikeable in the film I couldn’t imagine him being even less sympathetic and realistic in the book. The film’s one redeeming quality is the wonderful support cast of characters he meets along the way. They are charmingly quirky and realistic despite their brief appearances. Perhaps it is this teasing quality that makes these characters so likeable, it’s certainly easy to fall in love with them when they’re standing next to the righteous main character, Chris McCandless (AKA Alexander Supertramp).

The other redeeming quality is the song Society from Eddie Vedder, a wonderful hippy theme song with intelligent lyrics. However, I liked the song a lot more before I heard it in context with the film. I wonder if a more sensitive, insightful film would have resulted if Eddie Vedder wrote the script.

There is a scene about ¾ of the way through the film where Chirs meets his (sort of) love interest in the film played by Kirstin Stewart. It’s in these few scenes he actually seems to soften and develop a few moments of rapport with the viewer.

Dedicated survivalists and bush folk won’t find much in this film that is of an educational or informative nature. Chris actually spends very little time in the wild, the majority of the film is focused on his time wandering throughout the warmer U.S. states. One benefit to seeing this film is that I no longer have to explain to people why I haven’t seen it yet.

If you’ve seen the film and/or read the book I’d love to hear your thoughts whether you agree with me or not.

Changing the Rules

2009-07-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

Life is just a game. I love to question the how and why of our existence, predominantly the how and why of our lifestyles. I find it fun, rewarding and often the people in my life find it annoying. But, if there aren't at least a few of us who choose to lead the way, who choose to ask silly questions and experiment with the idea that tradition is a hoax we would never change, grow, evolve or whatever you want to call it.

That's what I love about the idea of being an urban pioneer. Clearly the aspirations of modern, western culture are not all that satisfying for some of us and quite possibly for most of us but I can't speak for everyone's experience. I was inspired to write this after I paid a return visit to Tim Ferris' blog, which I do every now and then. His lifestyle itself isn't that interesting to me but what I like about his theories is their game changing nature. Everything he writes about and practices in his life is offensive to the 9-5 advocates and their offspring. Yet they've all begun to embrace his 4 Hour Workweek philosophy - possibly because it tastes like the golden retirement they're all dreaming of. I doubt there are nearly as many suits who dream of becoming carpenters and farmers or living in the woods. Which is fine, it means there's still lots of opportunities for oddballs like us.

A better way always exists. I'm learning to use the words 'always' and 'never' lightly but I think in this case it applies. The thrill is in exploring a path to this elusive better way. It only becomes frustrating if you expect to arrive at some destination - if you expect to reach a goal and stop. Full stop, never growing or changing from then on.

Eckhart Tolle once made a comment that I love. "Death is the opposite of birth. Life has no opposite".

Life is a pretty crazy ride if you want to look at it that way. You can live it any way you want. You can walk all over the rules or take them to the beach if you want. I bet the rules have never been to the beach. All that unorganized rock or sand, the unruly waves that don't respond to traffic signals or cries for help. It's a shame I don't spend more time there.

Neither Here Nor There

2009-07-09T08:03:00.000-07:00

When life presents major challenges it's easy to bring on the drama and take an extreme approach to combat this disruption to our idyllic status quo. Some survivalists suffer from this as do the naysayers who practice business-as-usual. This contrarian attitude also affects those who play the stock market game as well described by Jon Markman in his recent MSN Money blog which is well worth a read.

When I first saw the title of his post Why hope (or fear) is a bad bet now, it seemed to overlay nicely into our survivalist conversation. I don't think either of those extreme responses are helpful for living since neither of them really offer a present sense of peace but rather represent placing a bet on one of two extreme outcomes, neither of which are 100% likely. And then there are those who fluctuate dramatically between the two never pausing for long at that peaceful place inbetween.

It seems unreasonable to cling to either hope or fear when we consider that we never really have enough information about a situation to really make an accurate prediction anyway. We think we have all the details, usually because "experts" tell us they have all the details but if we critically examine the sources of information and if we simply look to past performance we get a very clear message that no one really knows what they're talking about. When dealing with complex future scenarios like climate change, peak-oil or pandemics our accuracy is even worse. This poor aim then creates situations where extreme reactions like hope or fear are probably going to be most unhelpful because the decision for either was based on bad information and often information that was invented in our heads. The stuff we make up is by far the largest hinderance to accessing internal peace and life satisfaction.

The solution is to remain neutral and flexible, preparing for difficult times while still taking in the wonderful experiences of the present moment. By reacting to new developments with a measured practicality, always looking for the facts instead of the stories, and taking our time we are more likely to make the best decisions.

We still could be wrong, but more likely kinda wrong instead of gravely mistaken.

Real Financial Independence

2009-07-03T07:12:00.000-07:00

It used to be that the words financial independence meant achieving a state of prosperity where one lived on nothing but the interest payouts from their substantial investments. In other words, it was something very few people achieved, especially without an inheritance or a big lottery win.

These days the term is starting to take on a whole new meaning. As millions of people tread water in a lake of debt and/or leave every detail of their financial existence in the hands of a stranger (or strangers) it seems that having any mastery in the area of personal finance qualifies for a degree in financial independence.

Even more rare is to come across a financial planner who encourages his clients to do just that. Laszlo Kramar is not only over qualified to be merely a financial planner, he also has a sharp and unconventional insight into the current state of the economic engine. How many financial planners ride their bike to meet their clients? Or participate in local farm co-ops? After everything we've been through lately I wonder if more people in the financial industry will be encouraged by their circumstances to take up cycling as a form of transportation.

I'd like to direct you to a recent post on Laszlo's blog titled How to Be More Self-Reliant. The title pretty much sums up the very lengthy and almost overwhelming post with extensive references to multiple resources. Many of the resources are beneficial for not only the financially inclined but also the generally self-reliant as well.

I'm particularily intrigued by his references for developing our general thinking skills, including Systems Thinking which I don't know much about but feel I should. The following points from Thomas Kida’s book Don’t Believe Everything You Think: The 6 basic mistakes we make in thinking are relevant to anyone seeking to be more self-reliant:

We prefer stories to statistics
We seek to confirm, not question, our ideas
We rarely appreciate the role of chance and coincidence in shaping events
We sometimes misperceive the world around us
We tend to oversimplify our thinking
We have faulty memories

I can certainly attest to the last point based on my own personal experience. But that would just be a story instead of a statistic now wouldn't it?

So, lets get on our way to real financial independence, shall we?

Beet Juice Doesn't Stain

2009-07-02T08:01:00.000-07:00

On the path to self-sufficiency it's fun to look for ways to get the job done using only the most natural of materials. For Christmas my mother bought me a wonderful pair of slippers made with bamboo fibre. The only problem; they're white. This is a problem because I do not make exceptions in the laundry room. I don't own anything white because I wash all my clothes together using the same detergent and the same cold water setting. These white slippers are not going to get washed on their own. In addition, white is a lousy colour for footwear.

In order to keep them from looking like dirty trash (which they do already) I wanted to dye them a darker colour, any colour really so long as they aren't white. I had been keeping the left over juice of a jar of beets for just this purpose. As a child I had been lectured extensively on the staining properties of beet juice and I was thrilled to finally have the opportunity to put that property to good use.

In order to achieve the best results I followed the process normally used for chemical dyes: clean the article first and then boil the dye in water and place the article in the boiling dye. Simmer for a while, rinse in cold water and allow to dry.

However, this does not work with beet juice. Not only were my slippers not the deep burgundy (or purple, whatever) I had hoped for, they didn't retain ANY of the colour whatsoever. They are now white and somewhat cleaner than before, but still very white.

I haven't given up on beet juice just yet, but I'm certainly not going to hang my hopes on it as a natural dye either. I wonder what would happen if I rubbed cut beets on the slippers?

We Do Have Choices

2009-07-01T16:58:00.000-07:00

People often behave as if they have no choices, as if their way of life and everything they do is forced upon them. I recall reading a story in an environmental magazine about a woman who was defending her choice to drive a thirsty SUV because her and her family lived in the country and some of the roads were not paved. I doubt they were farmers which means they chose to live in a place that was difficult to access and miles away from public transit - just because. I also doubt they were blackmailed or forced to live there and so their location choice made for a (supposedly) good excuse to drive a car they probably didn't need.

Years ago I used to complain about how far away my job was from where I lived. I traveled by bus and train for an hour and a half in each direction, which was absurd because I lived close to the downtown core. On top of it, I despised my job. It made little sense to complain when I had three clear choices: move closer to work, get a car, or find another job. I ended up driving my parents old car and shortly after that I found a better job although it was just as far away in another direction. Eventually I left that company and I've sworn off traveling to work. Now I work from home. I figured I've spent more time in transit since grade 7 than most people do in a lifetime and I've paid my dues.

Why do we pretend that we don't have options, that complaining about the way we've decided things will be is the best we can do? And why do other people pretend to buy our bullsh*t? Is it really easier that way? I don't think that's what real friends do which is why I appreciate my fiance, he never lets me get away with stupid excuses, he's far too rational for that.

I assume you are clever enough to see where this is going. I bet you've made all kinds of excuses for not developing your self-sufficiency skills or building up a pantry or owning up to the decisions you've made in the past that have lead you to where you are now, whether it's where you want to be or not. We live in an amazing time and we have an incredible range of options - I encourage you to use them.

Trees Are Made of Air

2009-06-29T13:54:00.000-07:00

As the great Richard Feynman explains, trees are not really made up of the earth as many would believe but rather of the air. And, if you believe all of that then fire is essentially the process of summoning the sun from the tree. If you heard Richard Feynman explain it himself, you would also believe as I do.

He is brilliant, dead and available on video thank god.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/028537.html

This concept is particularly potent and relevant if you've ever started (or tried to start) a fire from friction. I will never look at a burning tree the same way again.

Put The Big Rocks In First?

2009-06-28T17:43:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months I've been slowly and casually perusing a time management book that does have a few good tips and insights but sometimes I question the author's logic. The most recent chapter asserts that we should endeavor to work on the big, ugly projects first - those things that bring us the greatest reward for our efforts - and delegate, delete or postpone all the small stuff that's... well... beneath us. I take no issue with that suggestion, it seems simple and straightforward enough and there are lots of things I'd like to delete or postpone (I'm not very good at delegating). However, the purpose of this strategy is to allow more time to spend with friends and family which, most would agree, is a worthy pursuit and I take no issue with that idea either.

What I'm wondering is why not flip this around? Why not spend lots of time in the company of family and friends (that you actually like) and then fit the big, ugly work stuff in with the time you have left? My fear is most of us will end up tackling all these significant projects, make great progress and then... take on (or be assigned) more important, world-changing work to do thus leaving us with the same amount of time (not enough) for friends and family.

Didn't Stephen Covey preach the art of putting the big rocks in first? If you consider yourself and your loved ones the biggest boulders then I say take care of that stuff first and fit your work around the gaps. Just my humble theory is all.

Sometimes We Need to Smile

2009-06-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

One of the best tools I've found for dealing with any kind of strife is a good laugh. I can't remember what I used to do for a random laugh before the days of the internet. I recall I was rather depressed, actually. Anyway, in case you were having a crappy day so far or you've just finished reading that we're all doomed due to converging catastrophes, I'm offering up a few of my favourite things to help you get through your day:

Craigslist Best-Of Post
George Carlin - Saving the Planet (rather appropriate)
Awkward Family Photos
Fail Blog (you have to see to understand)

Enjoy!

Stunning Realities

2009-06-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

Recently I went to hear Joanna Macy talk about The Great Turning. The lecture didn't contain a lot of new content for me although I am intrigued about the "essential adventure of our time", as she calls it. There was much of the usual discussion about the dreadful things we're doing to the planet and each other, but despite how lousy many people think we are I feel we've made incredible gains in the past 150 years and it would be a shame to discount our growth. In light of this I've decided to explore the evolution of the human society over the past century and a half.

Dear reader, if you have a high-school education you are miles ahead of your 1850's counterpart who was most likely illiterate. Even if this blog were printed on paper and delivered to your door you wouldn't be able to read it. If you're over the age of 39, congratulations! If you were around in 1850 you'd probably be dead by now. Many people succumbed to death via infection or an accident before their 40th birthday. However, it's interesting to note that those who survived to the age of 40 had a good chance of living to the age of 70 or longer. We've simply made great advances in preventing childhood deaths.

If you were fortunate enough to travel outside your neighbourhood recently, or even take a vacation by plane you've seen more of the world than most people did one hundred-and-fifty years ago. Your house is probably three times the size, your family significantly smaller (perhaps thankfully), and your possessions far more numerous than almost any person who lived in 1850.

If you are not racist and believe that a woman should have the right to vote you are far more accepting and understanding than most people in the developed world were in 1850. If you generally work less than 10 hours per day and have ever hired someone else to do something as simple as drycleaning your clothes or repair work on your home you would have been a member of the small, elite ruling class of the 1850's. And you should most certainly give praise daily for the ease and convenience of a flush toilet, especially in the winter time. If you've ever spent time camping you'll appreciate what is was like to suffer through a little bout of food-poisioning in 1850.

I could go on and on but I hope you get the point. Yes, most of this was made possible with the generous assistance of oil which is the equivalent of many personal, hard-working slaves. However, I think we've reached a point where we have lived and thrived in such an advanced evolutionary state that we are unlikely to regress back to norms of the mid- 19th century even though, in some ways, we will certainly be living like it's 1855. I remain convinced that we are more likely to take a sharp right turn and continue our growth and development rather than taking a few steps back or a few steps forward off the pier.

Is Your Brain Ready For Anything?

2009-06-19T07:12:00.000-07:00

On June 25, 2009, Ben Sherwood's new book The Survivors Club - The Secrets And Science That Could Save Your Life will be released. There seems to be a number of books on this very topic flooding the bookshelves recently and I don't think it's a coincidence.

If you'd like to find out more about the book and read a very relevant article on the topic visit The Daily Mail.

You've Come A Long Way

2009-06-18T11:34:00.000-07:00

Today I was cleaning out one of my folders and I came across a to-do list that I had written a year ago on June 10, 2008. It was simply titled "Survival" with a list of bullet point items that I thought would be important skills to learn. At the time I recall feeling a bit overwhelmed over the amount of stuff I'd have to learn in order to improve my self-sufficiency so I made this list (which I never looked at, by the way) in an attempt to bring about order from the chaos in my mind.

The surprising thing is that, without even realizing it, I accomplished most of the things on the list. Here's the list with my comments on the matter:

Take a basic survival course. I'm not quite sure what I meant by this but I think it refers to learning how to make fire, shelter and find water, etc. which I have done many times over since I wrote this down.
Learn to spin yarn. This is the one thing I haven't done yet. I feel confident about it though.
Learn canning. Since I wrote this I've learned several different methods for preserving food firsthand. Just today I had a few bites of pemmican I made a month ago.
Learn solar crop growing and intensive gardening. I'm not really sure what solar crop growing refers to since I figure most crop growing involves solar energy but we have had a successful harvest since then and have redesigned our garden to be more productive this summer. I look forward to our second round of crops this fall.
Develop better self-defence skills. Done, although this is an ongoing process.
Acquire basic tools. By this I think I mean hand tools. This too is an ongoing process and we have acquired a few garden and building tools since then, many of them for free.
Create an emergency kit. Done! Which is very exciting, this to-do item plagued me for a very long time. I'm so done that I've even written a little e-book that includes how to put together a quick and dirty BOB (bug-out-bag) available for free at seed and stone. (I haven't uploaded it yet but it will be available online very soon).
Pay off debts. Not all the way there yet but serious progress has been made and we should be out of the woods very soon. It's amazing how much a person can accomplish in a year even when it doesn't seem like there's any extra money around.
Develop electrical and plumbing skills. We unintentionally got a lesson in both areas when our bathroom walls were caving in due to mold this past December. Although it's still a work in progress and we have finally called in the professionals, we did a lot of the tear-our and repair work ourselves including some electrical work which I'm quite proud of.

So there you have it, a very successful year after all. I hope this just goes to prove what we can do when we write down our goals, even if we never look at them.

Just Because I Like Kunstler

2009-06-10T08:52:00.000-07:00

Not sure why I hadn't stumbled upon this before but if you love to read about gloomy stuff or if, like me, you find gloomy stuff to have a delicious silver lining that satisfies your every future fantasy, then I'd like to direct you to James Howard Kunstler's Forecast for 2009.

"...I have long maintained that life is essentially tragic in the sense that history won't care if we succeed or fail at carrying on the project of civilization."

What is particularily charming about this quote is his reference to civilization as a "project". It is an accurate yet light-hearted way of looking at our daily existence.

The Inevitable

2009-06-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

After giving peak-oil a bit of a rest I've been getting back into the arena and have been gathering info about our future prospects like a squirrel getting ready for a cold winter. It's not that I'm fanatical about the concept, I'm like that with everything - a true information junkie.

The so-called experts on the subject all generally agree on a few things. Namely, that we will be living and working only in small, self-sufficient communities (good-riddance to the suburbs) and that globalization is nearly over. Many people suggest ways to help ease the adjustment to this more local lifestyle and although I must admit it sounds dreamy, there is always the possibility that the experts are wrong.

We are quick to discount the unseen factors at work that could throw the small world theory out the window and take us down a completely different path. This would make our preparations for a peak-oil existence futile and maybe even downright embarrassing.

I personally do not think this will be the case. Regardless of what happens in the future (climate change, economic turmoil, peak-oil, pandemics, etc.) the drive toward resilience, self-sufficiency and local communities is a natural trend anyway.

We have swung so far toward extreme individualism, intense specialization and the like that the only place to move to is back in the other direction. Buckminster Fuller spoke about this in the 1970's. He had a hunch that within the next 25-30 years we would begin to move from a "me to we" existence. Hmmm, that seems to be right about now and mounting evidence appears to be proving him right.

We now move so fast, change so rapidly and have become disconnected from our environment in such a perverse way that we will likely begin to swing back in the other direction until we settle nicely in a comfortable middle ground.

Look at the recent popularity of knitting and canning food. They seemed so old-fashioned and lame just a decade ago. Even I abandoned my crochet needles for a while and picked them up again randomly around the turn of the century (it feels weird to be able to write that really). And yes, these self-sufficient skills will be essential in the new era, according to the peak-oil experts, but at the same time they may also be a reaction to the breakneck speed and the outsourcing of everything that made us feel uncomfortable even though we pretended that everything was just swell.

Like any trend that has reached it's pinnacle of popularity, the fast, the me, the cleaning lady and the Chief Supervisor of Belly Button Lint are on their way out.

Take Care

2009-06-07T12:04:00.000-07:00

We currently reside in a very disposable world. On display in my bookshelf sits an old "walkman" from the early 1980's. It boasts a radio, a tape player, an earphone jack and a single speaker in the back so that it can be used without earphones. Sure the sound is not crystal clear, 192 kbps but it still works. I can't say the same for my collection of non and nearly-functioning iPods that are 4 years old or less. What frustrates me more is that I can't open an iPod and fix it myself. I also can't take it to a small repair shop, or a friends workshop, to have it fixed either. I have to send it back to California at my own expense to see if it can even be repaired, and if it can be, it would cost the same to buy a newer model with more features and storage space.

I get very irritated when my hands are tied like this. It's one of the reasons I love to ride my bike. Aside from some simple maintenance, I have a lot of control over my transportation. I don't have to pay for frequent gas or transit fare hikes (directly, at least) and I can fly past a row of cars stuck in traffic at a busy intersection. I also have the ability to quickly convert to a pedestrian by hopping of my bike and walking it. Or, lets be honest, not hopping off it and still behaving like a pedestrian. The police here have far more to worry about than minor cycling infractions.

Like many people of their era, my parents were loving custodians of every item in their posession. A blanket, a couch, a tool or utensils were, and still are, carefully cared for in order to extract the maximum amount of life out of each item (and often to preserve it's garage sale value).

This past winter I experiemented with riding my bike in the deep snow so as to extend my self-sufficiency into the cold-weather months as well. I didn't have a clue what kind of bike maintenance would be required in the winter so I did nothing. That proved to be a very costly error. When the weather improved I was eager to ditch public transit in favour of my bike and I hopped on in hopes to zoom off to an appointment not far from home. There was to be no zoom in this journey. My chain looked like a rusted artifact and was not even sitting on a sprocket. I tried to quickly get it back on line and when I finally did I pushed down on the pedal, only to have the rear derailleur snap off. In a panic, and already running late I grabbed my partners mountain bike. It too was not road worthy, for it had been sitting in the shed all winter, it's tires becoming very flat. I quickly pumped them up, with the pump I had bought last year because I hated trying to find gas stations that didn't charge for air, and I was finally on the road albeit rather late.

I brought my bike in for repair because there was no way I could fix or install a new derailleur myself and the bill for all the damages made me choke. I had very little choice if I wanted to ride my way through the rest of the summer. Despite the repairs there are still a few rusty components that don't work as well as they used to which is sad considering I bought this bike new only a couple of years ago.

It was a profound lesson for me. We are likely facing a time where we may not be able to afford a new iPod everytime it randomly ceases to function or to have our main mode of transportation completely overhauled. We are going to have to reinstate the era of the loving custodian.

Thunderstorms

2009-06-01T16:41:00.000-07:00

In a tent, in a thunderstorm with high winds. I'm a bit stranded but I know the rain will end eventually. As soon as I write this it seems to grow worse.

I've staked everything down but at times the tent looks as though it's going to lift off like a kite. At least the thunder and lightening are far apart. The chest rumbling of the the thunder makes me wonder if I should hike down the hill to seek refuge in the barn.

Now it feels like an angry tribe is beating on the sides of the tent and trying to lift me off the ground. If I had more windows I could see if the other tents are still standing. With this latest burst of wind the North wall collapsed in on me only to spring back out again. I should probably run for it. The driving rain sounds painful.

I wonder if a tent acts like a lightening rod. It literally (and I mean, literally) sounds like my tent is positioned under a waterfall.

Someone might be wondering where I am. If I were struck by lightening no one would know to go out and look for me. I should head out.

• • •

On my way out I realized I was not alone. Someone else was trying to rescue their large, non-aerodynamic tent from the storm so I ran over to help. Of course, I soaked myself in the process. I made it to the barn in time for a bite to eat just as the rain let up. Now I'm back in the tent, long after the rain, hanging my wet clothes. They probably won't dry anytime soon.

While I was helping to relocate the sopping wet tent that had been blown apart by the storm I noticed another camper making good use of nature's shower by running around in her underwear. She was enjoying the rain far more than we were.

None of this tent trauma would have happened if the poor folks has bought a better tent. As an informative note to the reader: Don't let the bargain price tag of a large, yet ultimately useless tent draw you in. Once you've set it up and spent a night in it you'll only buy a better tent the next year (I did). Just buy a good tent in the first place for your own comfort and sanity.

What makes a good tent? If it looks aerodynamic like a sports car, it's good. If it looks like a nylon box, it's bad. If the fly (the outer part of the tent) goes all the way to the ground, it's good. If the fly is a little hat on the top of your tent, it's bad. If you set up the tent and throw water at it and there's no water inside, it's good. If you sneeze on it and it leaks, it's bad. If it has clips to attach the poles to the tent, it's good. If it has little sleeves to slide the poles in, it's bad. This last one may be a bit contentious, but if you've ever tried to set up a bad tent quickly (ie. one with sleeves for the poles) you will be very frustrated (and wet, or cold, or tired, or all three). Also, if the ends of the poles are closed with a tip to slide into the grommets on the tent that's good. If the poles are open on the end to slip into a key like thing in the corners of the tent that's bad. The open ends get filled up with dirt and little twigs thus rendering it impossible to secure the tent properly with each subsequent setup.

Good luck, and stay dry.

A Statement Against Car-Camping

2009-05-26T04:51:00.001-07:00

Like many treehuggers, I enjoy packing up my high tech backpack with a fancy compact tent, just-add-water food, instant fire and miniature bottles full of a myriad of cleansing, moisturizing and nature repelling substances to head out into the woods.

In the past I would have taken any opportunity to escape this glass and concrete hot box of pollution to breathe in the fresh, cool air of the wilderness. Even if it meant car-camping with a group of friends who were cramped in the vehicle with coolers, flotation devices and cases of beer.

I'm am done with campgrounds and car-camping. To me, that is not a wilderness experience and it's the furthest thing from fun. Car-camping in a public campground is like taking a mini-vacation in a wilderness suburb. Everyone is close by and every amenity is just a short drive away. How could that possibly allow for a serene interaction with the natural world? How could one experience a cleansing of the senses and spirit when all we've done is take all our shit out to a patch of trees and set up a little subdivision.

From my perspective, if a person can't fit all their crap in one bag that can be carried on their back through rough terrain for at least 2 hours they've taken far too much crap. Yes, this is my metric for good-times. If it's not your idea of a good time then I guess we won't be sharing a wilderness experience together.

Late Bloomers

2009-05-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

I'm a little bit like my garden this year (and last); always in a state of transformation and therefore a little slow to start. Some people are at the top of their game in their youth and usually wither early. When I was young it was bit disheartening to see people racing past me to achieve whatever it is that early developers achieve. Sometimes it felt like I would never get "going". Wherever I was "going". And that is part of the confusion since we're not really going anywhere, there's nowhere to get to just a journey to be had. But when you're too busy running to notice that there is no final destination (except death perhaps) you forget to have a good time on the way and then the destination isn't really that satisfying after all. Besides, as far as I know, the only thing that comes after reaching your destination is yet another destination.

So for those of us who are slowly and patiently cultivating our gardens remember that garlic takes 9 months to fully develop and should be planted in the fall. You won't notice the transformation deep under the snow and soil but it will be growing despite your lack of attention. That will give you lots of time to play in the dirt this summer without worrying too much about bringing in the big harvest as soon as possible.

Silver Uncertainty

2009-04-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about upheaval and that precarious place that most of us strive to avoid, that place called uncertainty, is that it often bestows upon us great gifts that we are likely not open to receiving. We are unable to receive them because they are not wrapped in colourful paper and topped off with a jaunty little bow - these gifts often appear to be the very things we work hard to prevent from happening.

It takes a lot of courage to open those gifts. Shae Hadden has posted a great entry at Serene Ambition about this very topic. I do say that the last little paragraph is the best.

Networked to Death

2009-04-28T11:10:00.001-07:00

I have been traveling a lot and so I haven't posted in a while. I regret that all this commuting has been most detrimental to the environment and I'm glad it's over for now. I have no plans to fly anywhere for the foreseeable future and I'd like to keep it that way. There are too many wonderful things here at home to discover and enjoy.

In addition to being jetlagged I'm also feeling remarkably overwhelmed. I imagine there must be many other people who feel this way. My attempts at simplification have been put to the test lately. One of the things that is thwarting my need for solace is networking. Not just the in-person kind, the web-based kind that is currently seen to be the cure for all the world's ills. Not to mention the solution for business marketing.

Everywhere I look I am flooded with requests to attend an event, party, outing, luncheon, networking event (the worst kind), fundraiser, workshop, class, brunch, whatever. In addition to these invitations there is a lot of pressure for small business owners and organizations to get Facebook and Twitter savvy. Workshops abound on how to utilize these peer networks to promote promote promote. Which leaves me feeling a bit nauseaous. Every few months there seems to be a simple piece of online software that rises above the clouds to become a marketing mecca to the web-savvy. Keeping track of this clutter is a full-time job, something I don't have time for. I already have a full-time job and a few part-time hobbies.

It's hard to believe that about 8 years ago I would find myself bored with no plans on a weekend or most nights of the week. I had to look around for something to do. Now I'm looking around for a way to shut myself off from the world so that I can have a week or two with a clear schedule. Or at least a little breathing room.

Maybe that's unrealistic. Or maybe I need to polish off my rusty old "no" and start learning how to use it.

I think there is a way that we can be happy, satisfied and fulfilled without you Twitter and Facebook. Good riddance.

The Luxury of Sugar

2009-03-22T05:31:00.000-07:00

At times, when I indulge in simple luxuries, I find myself thinking about what it would be like if I didn't have easy access to these grandiose extras that are a normal part of our modern lives. Things we take for granted, like sugar. Delightful little things that even the royalty of history did not have access to.

I've been thinking about sugar because a good friend, Michelle, recently completed a 30-day cleansing that excluded sugar from her diet for the duration of the cleanse. In the past I've also gone without sugar for at least a month so I appreciate how challenging yet richly rewarding this experiment can be. At the end of her cleanse Michelle mentioned it not only improved her health and digestion, it was also a test to see how well she could cope without the luxury of sugar. Since sugar cane is a food that most of us (especially in Canada) have to import from faraway places we might find it becomes a high-end food product as energy costs increase and as we increase our awareness of the benefits of eating locally.

Another good friend, Adib, decided on January 1st to cut out sugar completely for one year. So far it's mid-March and he has not yet indulged his sweet-tooth. A most noble pursuit indeed.

The interesting thing about sugar is that is exhibits addictive tendencies like many of our other hard to break habits. A sugar habit is a lot like smoking. It's very hard to quit but if you can go about 3 days with none at all the chemical dependency dissolves and all you're left with is the physical habit which takes another 27 days to work through. The first three days are awful, sugar appears everywhere like a dream that beckons, chocolate starts to look like broccoli and other life-sustaining vegetables, a need rather than a desire. You can smell sugar like a sweet cologne or super-sexy pheromones. You just want to have a little, no no just a taste! But that would mean breaking your commitment and starting all over again. It's not worth it. Or is it?

Of course, there are those people who never really liked sugar much to begin with. I don't understand those people, most of the time. Until I give up sugar for three days and I begin to wonder what all the fuss is about. Yes, it is worth it.

In light of all the health concerns associated with sugar, energy and ecological issues and the possibility that we may not always be able to enjoy the sweet decadence of refined sugar in the future, I recommend experimenting with cutting it out of your diet. If you can.

Here are a few ideas that might help:
10 Easy Ways to Cut Out Sugar
My Year Without Sugar
Beat the Sugar Habit*

*Medical information is stated here but is not backed up by research references or citations.

The Drive to Acquire

2009-03-20T10:06:00.000-07:00

Its feels as though we have reached the peak of the "me" era. The "me" era could be characterized by the insatiable appetite to acquire things. Things that provide a temporary high but do little to genuinely increase our feelings of happiness and satisfaction. I too, feel as though I've graduated from this pathetic "me" phase in my growth and development and have moved on to higher and more noble pursuits.

How arrogant of me. This morning I was in the process of downloading a movie to my computer and a little Java pop-up informed me that my disk was full and I would have to delete something if I wanted to continue. I was shocked. How could my disk be full? I just archived a whole bunch of files a month ago, how did I fill up all that space so quickly?

I scanned through some of my main folders to hunt down any excess megabytes I could trash to free up space for Sweeney Todd. I was having trouble finding things I wanted to part with. Since I'm traveling right now I'm not able to transfer anything to my external hard drive and I don't have any blank DVDs I can burn files to. I felt cornered. I then realized I was still drowning in excess, still driven to acquire only I was now acquiring things that didn't take up so much physical space like books and jackets. I have a lot of jackets, it's hard to find one or two that will fulfill the myriad of functions I require. And, like my hard disk, it does present a storage problem.

So, here I am, sitting in the revelation that I have not much evloved past the "me" stage of human development but rather I have just replaced the objects of my desire with other objects. Instead of lusting after the latest technology I now lust after ancient technology like hand tools that will allow me to work with only my muscle power. Instead of lusting after books created out of slaughtered forests I now lust after ebooks, PDFS, audio files and iPod ready documentaries. Instead of acquiring and hoarding free samples and hotel shampoo bottles I now acquire and hoard fallen branches and discarded curbside rubbish.

I have not really changed that much. So much for my endeavour to simplify, I now have to examine all the other parts of my life that require purging. I have a lot of work to do.

Please put on your own mask before assisting others

2009-02-24T10:52:00.000-08:00

Right now I find myself in a tight spot. I have a habit of putting the needs and feelings of other people before my own and sometimes there's just not enough of me to go around, not even enough of me to take good care of myself. This is where I am now. This is why simplifying is urgent. However, my guilt is standing between me and the freedom I need to make great progress with all the important projects I'm juggling. It's that heavy, creepy feeling that comes when I've made a commitment in order to keep someone else happy at the expense of my sanity.

Am I nuts? Yes.

The solution is so simple on paper. Just say, "nope, no, sorry, can't do it, not right now, you'll have to ask someone else." Or not so simple, "that agreement we just made... yeah, I have to reneg. I forgot to include my own needs in the process. Oh, you don't understand? You think I'm a jerk? Well, you're probably right. But, I still need to bail. See, I'm new at this and I have no idea what I'm doing."

When you're on a plane and they give you the safety lecture they don't tell you why you have to put the oxygen mask on yourself before you assist other people. If they told you why, more people would probably follow their instructions. You see, in the case of a loss of cabin pressure, you only have about 10-15 seconds before you become unconscious thereby rendering you completely useless to anyone you might be able to assist. Not to mention rendering the both of you dead.

If you also suffer from an inability to act in your own best interest consider the oxygen mask every time you're about to say "yes". I'm going to give it a try.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

2009-02-17T09:59:00.000-08:00

It's funny how I get what I need when I'm not looking too hard for it. I think the only requirement for having everything we need to be happy is not being too picky about what life hands us. That sounds simple enough, but it's a hard condition to break when we grow up in a world that tells us to demand and expect nothing but the very best. But what about something that will just do? Every day I open a little more to things that will just do. And it seems to be working out quite well.

Last night or maybe the night before my fiancé mentioned that he'd like to have a desk to work on. I had been planning a bookshelf, coat closet, desk combo for him for about a year now but hadn't had the resources and time to design and build it so he's been working on the couch for some time, which he didn't seem to mind, until recently.

I thought of a few ways we could remedy this quickly and easily and told him we could buy 4 legs from IKEA or some place similar and then find a piece of wood and cut it to the right size for a desk. That would be a simple enough project that I might actually complete it, for his sake.

So this morning I was walking the dog to the off-leash park and I walked by 4 table legs rusting away on the curb. They happened to be the very table legs I had in mind the day before. The looked like they had been outside for a few days now which made carrying them home a bit of a chore but even if I can't clean them up and get most of the rust off I can cover or paint them. Heck, they even included the screws!

Thanks universe. I guess you really did want my sweetheart to have that desk afterall.

Social Collapse Best Practice

2009-02-16T11:50:00.000-08:00

Twice in the same weekend I was directed to a profound blog entry by a brilliant and charming writer named Dimitry Orlov. For those of you who are not familiar with him (I wasn't either) he is the author of Reinventing Collapse (Soviet Examples and American Prospects) as well as other books and articles on similar cheery topics. Dimitry's appeal lies not so much in his gloomy predictions for the collapse of the USA - much of which is an echo of many other fine futurists - but rather in his optimistic recommendations for mitigating the effects of the fall of a great empire. All while maintaining happiness and a fulfilling life. Well, that's what I got out of his most recent talk anyway.

I wasn't there, of course, I had never even heard of him yet, but thankfully he has posted the full talk on his blog and it's certainly worth a read. If you don't laugh out loud or at least grin widely while reading his speech you have absolutely no sense of humour and are likely doomed anyway.

Here's a small excerpt:

Here we are, only a year or so later, and I am most heartened to see that the US auto industry has taken my advice and is in the process of shutting down. On the other hand, the government’s actions continue to disappoint. Instead of trying to solve problems, they would rather continue to create boondoggles. The latest one is the idea of subsidizing the sales of new cars. The idea of making cars more efficient by making more efficient cars is sheer folly. I can take any pick-up truck and increase its fuel efficiency one or two thousand percent just by breaking a few laws. First, you pack about a dozen people into the bed, standing shoulder to shoulder like sardines. Second, you drive about 25 mph, down the highway, because going any faster would waste fuel and wouldn’t be safe with so many people in the back. And there you are, per passenger fuel efficiency increased by a factor of 20 or so. I believe the Mexicans have done extensive research in this area, with excellent results.

And the link:

http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2009/02/social-collapse-best-practices.html

Simplicity and Silence

2009-02-07T14:02:00.000-08:00

For nearly a week now I've been working to simplify my life. It's taken so long for my life to become as complex as it is now and undoing the intricate architecture of my life takes longer than I imagined it would. Especially when other people are involved, as is usually the case. I realized today that most of the complexities in our lives revolve around agreements with other people both spoken and unspoken. Because I need to scale back or eliminate some of those agreements other people can react as if they're being "let go". If your tendency is to say "yes", as mine is, this can be quite a struggle. Even if the other person is understanding I'll likely delay dealing with them because I need to brace myself for their reaction.

Even something as simple as adopting the early to bed, early to rise schedule involves a variety of agreements. Previously, I was not known to leave a party at a decent hour in order to be in bed by ten or to stop taking calls and e-mails after nine. I now need to rewrite the social script that I have developed after years of habitual behaviour. This requires me to be resolute and firm in so many ways that I've not had to before. It almost seems to rub up against the simplicity I strive for. I realize that this is the most difficult part of the process. Dreaming of simplicity, imaging all the places where I could make profound changes - that's the easy part.

There are endless examples of our previous agreements interfering with simplicity. For example, what do you do with all the unwanted gifts you've received over the years, hidden away in the closet? The guilt (and the possibility of discovery) can be enough to prevent us from getting rid of anything! To bring simplicity into our lives requires boldness.

I have found one way to simplify life without altering my agreements; silence. What if I only spoke when I really needed to? What if I only wrote or said what needed to be said? What if I eliminated all the fluff and filler from my communications?

It's a place to start.

February - Feast of Purification

2009-02-02T07:10:00.000-08:00

In Latin, Februa means feast of purification. In the old Roman calendar, February 15th was a day for purification rituals and the month was seen as a time to cleanse and renew, much like the New Year is for many people today. January and February were the last two months to be added to the Roman calendar and rightly so, because the Romans considered the winter to be a monthless period. I'm sure many people share their sentiments.

I recently stumbled upon an audio lecture by Bryan Tracy, a productivity and wealth guru, and although I don't share his wealth philosophy, I was intrigued by the title of the lecture - Simplify Your Life. Since simplification is something many new survivalists are working toward I thought I'd give the guy a chance and see if there was any value in his material.

I actually found the ideas so useful and well, simple that I'm onto my second listen. The concepts he presents can be applied to any lifestyle so if you can set aside his references to mainstream beliefs you're golden.

So, thanks to Bryan Tracy and Smashing Magazine, where this stunning desktop image comes from, I've decided to make February my month of purification.

Getting Out of Our Heads

2009-01-15T08:18:00.000-08:00

Perhaps this is something you suffer from, I know I'm a textbook case so I thought I would share this lovely article by Craig Harper on lifehack.org

Here's a summary of the main points to whet your appetite:

1. Stop waiting for perfection (perfect timing, perfect conditions).

2. Don’t assume. Don’t act on hunches, act on facts.

3. Be more proactive; do stuff! Get out of the theory and into the practical. Now!

4. Ask yourself the right type of questions Have a sounding board (coach, friend, mentor, relative).

6. In order to consistently and consciously move from mediocre to amazing, create a plan and totally commit to it.

7. Stop rationalising, justifying and explaining what you’re not doing.

8. Keep a Success Diary (wanky name but great concept).

9. Get out of your thoughts.

10. With all the thoughts traveling around in your head, some of them should be evicted, others are stuck and are too scared to come out.

Sound like the kind of advice you need? Read the rest of the article here.

Learning to Love Community

2009-01-15T07:54:00.000-08:00

The word "community" used to scare me, it's communal, 60's love-in undertones were a turn off to me, a person who has lived a rather solitary and independent life up to this point. Self-sufficiency was my unspoken motto for a very long time - I did everything myself and looked down on those who looked to others for help. Of course, I was happy to help those who asked and often I'd offer help without an invitation which meant a life of resentment and an overflowing schedule of rescue operations. Clearly, this was not a healthy balance.

Over the past couple of years, and especially since we bought a house, I've started to warm to the idea of community. Slowly (very slowly) my tough, independent exterior has been worn away to reveal a softer underside that recognizes the need for people to work together in order to thrive. Now that I've staked a place in a physical community, a place where what happens to my neighbours affects me and my future in this place, I've begun to see the people in my neighbourhood as my community and not as strangers who go about their independent lives. I've noticed that many people here chat with their neighbours and their kids play together and they have street parties and shovel each other's sidewalk.

Our neighbour to the West, an kind and gentle elderly woman, has told us on more than one occasion that we should treat her yard as our yard and hop the short fence anytime we like if we need to trim our trees or want to clip a few of her roses. That's community. Contrast this with our other neighbour to the East with whom we share a tall, wooden fence that provides the utmost privacy and protects us from the livid dog who barks at us endlessly while we work in our garden. These are the two sides of myself.

Several years ago I read something by someone I can't remember but that's not the important part. The writing got me thinking about the stages of our development both personally and as a culture. It seems we begin life dependent then move through to the other extreme, independence. If we outgrow that stage we then mellow out and move into a stage of interdependence, a stage that our radically isolated culture of individualists needs to grow into quite quickly if we're going to get through this mess we've created for ourselves.

Interdependence is the backbone of community, it's a philosophy of sharing and helping - something we may not be able to live without in the near future.

Legacy is Greater Than Currency

2009-01-09T12:35:00.000-08:00

The headline is a quote from Gary Vaynerchuk, an online wine expert who was referring more to business branding than he was to ecology but nonetheless I like this quote, a lot. It speaks to what the New Survivalist is about - creating a landscape that our great-grandchildren would be proud of instead of racing about frantically providing as much as we can for ourselves today. Our ancestors were concerned about legacy, they wanted to ensure we were provided for and that we had a solid foundation. Today the concept of legacy isn't so popular, currency and monetization are our motives now and we may pay dearly for that very soon.

When the economic turmoil starts to leave you feeling like a wilted tossed salad remember that "legacy is greater than currency", it might remind you what you're living for.

It Will Never Be Like It Was

2009-01-09T12:17:00.000-08:00

I've heard people say that we need to go back to living like our great grandparents did but I doubt it will actually unfold that simply. Our lives will never be like it was 100+ years ago. We are a generation of innovators and that is a characteristic that will not change no matter how future events shape our lifestyles and societies.

Our ancestors were not accustomed to the rate of change that we are currently living in, one might even argue that many of us are still not accustomed to this insane rate of change and development and that a slow down would be most welcome for our collective and personal sanity. However, despite any setbacks to the future rate of change our ancestors were never as innovative as we are today, they could not afford to be nor was it ever encouraged as it is today. A century ago the prevailing wisdom was one of tradition, things were done the way they always had been done and these customs were rarely questioned. Today we are living in an age where asking "why" has become a positive trait and the backbone of entrepreneurial success. Raising a middle finger to tradition is commonplace and rebels are rapidly absorbed into the mainstream. The status quo no longer reigns, especially among people 40 years old and younger which, I think, may prove to be a point of salvation in a world of radically shifting global socio-economics.

We've been raised to be experimenters and this curious nature we've developed will likely endure. Habits like these are very hard to change and because we will be constantly tinkering and playing throughout the future it is very unlikely that we will ever find ourselves living like it's 1899 ever again.

Vertical Farming

2008-12-08T09:24:00.000-08:00

Vertical farming has been getting some media attention and is touted as a way to solve our very near problem of feeding a growing population of people with a finite amount of agricultural land. The website verticalfarm.com provides some information on the concept and a few pretty renderings of these high-tech, architectural wonders.

As sexy as they appear and as utopian as they are thought to be I really wonder if this is going be the solution we need. The website states:

By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth's population will reside in urban centers. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about 3 billion people during the interim.

First of all these predictions are merely that. Just because people have been streaming from rural to urban areas for the past hundred years does not mean that the trend will continue to 2050. Anyone who knows a few survivalists will recognize that most of us - being urban dwellers - are hungrily eying a move toward a more simple, rural lifestyle. Perhaps we're just early adopters or unwitting trend-setters. As for the population predictions, they could very well pan out provided we don't experience any major hiccups in population growth like famines, pandemics, wars or natural disasters in-between now and then. Which, as any worst-case-scenario thinker knows is pretty likely to happen in some unpredictable combination.

The site goes on to state:

However, more often than not now, due to a rapidly changing climate regime, that is not what follows. Massive floods, protracted droughts, class 4-5 hurricanes, and severe monsoons take their toll each year, destroying millions of tons of valuable crops. Don't our harvestable plants deserve the same level of comfort and protection that we now enjoy?

I imagine that these indoor systems are also very delicate as they need to carefully recreate ideal growing conditions in order to produce food year round (especially in a Canadian winter). Imagine if a blizzard shut down the power to a vertical farm for a couple of days. What would happen to those strawberry crops then? I suppose, if the management was flexible in their thinking, they would start selling NEW frozen organic strawberries! I can't imagine what would become of a vertical farm in a class 5 hurricane, I don't care how well built the structure was, all that glass would not survive. And now that I think of it, a massive vertical farm would be a perfect target for terrorists. What better way to disrupt your enemies' food supply.

There are many other flaws presented on this site but I'm not going to get into them here, see if you can find a few more of them yourself.

Don't get me wrong, I think this idea is worth exploring, albeit cautiously. My issue with this particular project is that only the perceived and predicted benefits are mentioned and there seems to be no critical examination of the possible and likely points of failure.

The End of the Media Fast

2008-11-27T07:40:00.001-08:00

It's been two days since I completed my month-long media fast. No news for 30 days, no cheating. Of course I did cheat a couple of times, a few of them innocent accidents, "oh yeah, I'm not supposed to read that". And then there was the outright defiance the day after the U.S. elections where I spent about an hour online reading articles recounting the momentous occasion which made my timing of a media fast look pretty stupid, in hindsight. It's easy to plan badly when things go wrong unexpectedly but when you plan a media fast over the course of a scheduled historic event that's just silly.

Despite this it went very well overall. If it wasn't already clear to me beforehand it was certainly crystal clear during and after this experiment that we consume a lot of useless information. And because much of this useless information is negative, sensational, fundamentally flawed or intentionally altered it detracts from our quality of life in ways that are often too subtle to see.

Since I enjoyed my vacation from all this I intend to integrate the idea of less media into my life.

What Few of Us Know

2008-11-27T07:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I stumbled upon a rather unfortunate piece of information. I suppose I'm rather fortunate for now knowing something significant that I previously did not know but when you learn that you're pretty much screwed it's easy to prefer living in ignorance - for a while.

What I learned was that September 23, 2008 was a very significant day. And no one in the media was talking about it - they were all too distracted by unfortunate events of another kind. This year Ecological Debt Day, or Earth Overshoot Day, occurred on September 23. It's likely that you don't know what that means, nor understand the impact of this weird phrase that does not roll off the tongue as elegantly as Thanksgiving or Labour Day. I had never heard of it either.

At the time we were experiencing an economic crisis the earth was expressing her own crisis. On that specific day, September 23, we had now used 100% of the earth resources for that year and from that point forward were creating ecological debt. That means we are now eating into the earth's future resources and, more importantly (to us anyway), our future ability to sustain life on the planet.

I'll leave the rest of the explanation to Annie Leonard of The Story of Stuff which, if you have not seen it, is also a must. She has succinctly and sufficiently explained the crisis in a recent blog post with links to more detailed information. If you think credit card debt is scary - this is a nightmare.

Appreciation

2008-11-03T07:02:00.000-08:00

All this talk of doom and gloom, of economic ruin, of food and water scarcity, of pandemics and energy emergencies gets me thinking about what it would be like if I couldn't have some of the luxuries I now enjoy.

There are things I wouldn't miss, like the sound of traffic or dollar stores full of cheap, poor quality goods from China. But there are some things that I might long for like good cheese and hot water on demand. This used to cause me alarm and instead of enjoying what I have now I would drift off into a future worst-case-scenario nightmare of no running water and squirrel meat with dandelion leaves for lunch everyday.

More recently I've realized that I can take this opportunity to appreciate all the remarkable things that I have now. I can take my time with that really great blue cheese and appreciate it's subtle charms even more. If this is the only thing we get from these current dooms-day scares then it's worth it. Maybe that's what all of this fuss is for - to open our eyes and to show us real gratitude. Maybe that's the transformation that's coming.

Resetting our Sanity

2008-10-17T07:41:00.000-07:00

Media is not life. In many ways it doesn't even closely resemble life, at least, not mine anyways. Although I have not tried this yet I would like to. Even just the thought of not waking up to the news on CBC Radio sounds challenging. Here's the suggestion:

Take a 30-day media fast. Avoid newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and yes, internet news and e-mail updates. Use the time to learn a new self-sufficiency skill, spend time with people you care about or start building up those emergency supply reserves you've been talking about for ages. You could even start drafting your future plans or your plan B instead of just dreaming about them.

No cheating...

Hype-ocalypse

2008-10-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

Recently I found this amusing perspective on apocalypse theory in the book Pronoia by Rob Brezsney. I've reprinted it here for your reading pleasure:

Rank your favourite doomsday scenarios in order of preference.

__ A new ice age
__ Destruction of ozone layer
__ Dramatic upsurge in earthquakes, volcanoes, and hurricanes
__ Universal drug addiction
__ Mass starvation
__ Takeover by monsters created by genetic engineering
__ Genocide of the imagination; lethal proliferation of dangerous images
__ Terrifying, contagious superstitions spread by the apocalyptic pop prophecy
__ Insects and bacteria conspire to cull planet's most dangerous species
__ Multinational corporate criminals create a single, globe-spanning totalitarian state with concentration camps that are the setting for popular reality TV shows
__ Mutated flu strain becomes unstoppable plague
__ Extraterrestrial invasion
__ Cataclysmic degeneration of language into incomprehensible babble and cliché
__ Anthrax and LSD dumped in water supplies
__ Revolt of super-intelligent machines
__ Stupidity becomes popular
__ Mass hypnosis by evil political and religious leaders
__ President, suffering from mental illness, goes berzerk and nukes Mecca, Moscow and Beijing
__ Virus from outer space
__ Virus from inner space
__ Essential natural resources run out
__ Global addiction to porn results in accidental mass suicides through excessive masturbation
__ Psychic terrorists administer mass brainwashing that causes millions to buy so many products they can't afford that they become destitute, can't afford health care, and die from diseases caused by eating junk food out of garbage cans
__ The internet births itself as a sentient global brain, but it's so riddled with spam that it becomes a god-like cripple suffering from the Artificial Intelligence version of Alzheimer's
__ Earth is hit by a comet, asteroid, or mini-black hole
__ Wealthy philanthropists give everyone in the world $100,000 causing mass insanity
__ Sun goes supernova
__ Breakthrough in disease control makes it hard for people who are tired of living to die, leading to a pandemic of depression
__ The devil possesses everyone in the world
__ Nuclear war
__ Other (describe)...

This is it

2008-10-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

The New Survivalist is learning to be a better person, a better contributor, a sustainable co-habitator with all other living things. Not only now, through what some may perceive as though times, but into the future indefinitely.

I believe satisfaction and internal peace can be found by living inside two apparently opposing beliefs. Living in the belief that it will all end tomorrow and the belief that humanity will continue indefinitely.

These common fears we have that "this is it", "this is the end", have occurred throughout the world for thousands of years. Around 300 B.C. the Hindus believed they lived in the most "degenerate and unfortunate time" which they called the Kali Yuga. Augustine was consumed by the notion that the world was nearing it's last days, and that was in 426 A.D.. Of course there were they Mayans and many other societies that, although their culture perished, saw humanity itself continue long after their demise. These and other near death stories can be found in Annie Dillard's book For the Time Being.

Yet still, despite all this fretting, our departure has not occurred. But, this could really be it... or, it could not possibly be. It doesn't matter, the only thing I'm certain of is that I, personally, am ready for change.

Defining the New Survivalist

2008-10-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

In a way I'd rather not define the term and allow others to make their own definition that suits their needs and their world view. In a way I'm doing this for myself so that I can be clear what my aims are and what path I'm on. To define something as broad and increasingly popular as survivalism is often easier to start by identifying what it is not.

With the topic of terrorism being so prevalent in the media at the moment and conversations about war finding their way to many dinner tables and living rooms it seems crucial not to add to the hysteria. Our perceptions may lead us to believe that we are living in a brutal era but in fact statistics are very clear that we are living in an era of unprecedented peace. It's difficult to fathom this when the news markets nothing but violence and aggression and it's amazing that despite the bombardment of negative and devastating mass information the vast majority of us are and remain peaceful, caring individuals.

With this in mind The New Survivalist is clearly not fearful nor angry and is not intending to engage in warfare to protect what may be a few remaining resources. The New Survivalist does not subscribe to the philosophy described by Richard Heinberg as "The last man standing". Because if I should win the war and I am the last man standing I don't think I'd want to be alive and alone anyway.

Certainly it is prudent to prepare to protect oneself, family and community and to develop the mindset and will of a warrior, for these things can only be beneficial to surviving and thriving in a challenging and unstable future. But I hope (and maybe this is naive and utopian) that we are beginning to enter an era of enlightenment and consciousness that moves us beyond the war-like societies of the past. I've seen a lot of evidence recently that indicates there is a massive group of people who are looking for more than the consumer economy, people who are beginning to see the immense value of turning inward toward developing the self, the intangible, untouchable spiritual element of life and away from the physical material realm that provides only an illusion of value.

The New Survivalist aims for more than mere survival, perhaps because we've been spoiled but also because we've had the good fortune to experience the level of pleasure that thriving delivers and we're just starting to understand what brings about true satisfaction. And also because if we should loose many of things we took for granted we will be that much more delighted to have a small taste of these satisfactions in the future.

A key characteristic of this new breed of survivalists is their commitment and connection to the natural world, that which we are part of and which sustains us. Much like the Native societies who celebrated and honored the natural world by using it carefully and producing no waste, so too are we working to return to this sustainable and satisfying lifestyle.

If I could sum it up quickly and crudely it would equate to this:
Environmentalism + survivalism + the slow movement + A New Earth spirituality + technology + history + martial arts philosophy + the Boy Scout motto = The New Survivalist.