voluntary simplicity

VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY
Civilization collapse is a perversely fascinating topic with me. When one takes into account the millions that inevitably die after slow malnutrition and a bit quicker from civil unrest and wars of resource conquests, that is akin to the legions of fans who watch a particular sport such as hockey or car racing just to see the blood and destruction. Most likely this would thus be classified as a normal behavior. Species survival through scarce resource allotment through warfare. Blood sports being a thinly covered substitution. But, being oh so politically correct as I am, I call it historical research with no sick fascination of human suffering at all. Even if ninety percent of humanity is a worthless blob of oxygen wasting primates they don’t deserve to die slowly and horribly. Perhaps quickly is okay.
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All civilizations collapse. All paper currencies become toilet paper. Nothing lasts forever. Forests will start slowly, attract different species, become enlarged and dominated by a group of species, then collapse due to lack of diversification to combat a new threat. Mother Nature likes to wipe the slate clean in her kingdom, and man is no different. Man starts out exploiting a newly discovered niche. The Agricultural Revolution being a prime example. For man to go from leisurely hunting and gathering to being chained down by a plot of land working twice as hard for the same food intake ( the surplus was to the warrior class to protect the crops and the ruling class to keep the irrigation waters flowing ) was due to necessity not by choice. We would still be stampeding herds off cliffs and running around without underwear if we had a choice.
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Once man finds a profitable niche, he starts using it to increase the population. More food and/or energy equals the biological urge to procreate. More population means a chance to live into old age through your children’s welfare, an increase in the military to steal more resources and more taxes and booty to fatten the ruling treasury. Everybody wins at first. Then population starts to exceed resources, or a weather change or natural disaster wipe out crops and people start to go hungry. Since it is perfectly natural to harvest the easy and abundant resources first, in order to exploit additional supplies more energy is required to get the same output. The irrigation ditches must be enlarged, storage ponds built, fertilizer brought from further out. Our oil supply is typical. We took the easy stuff close to the surface first. That is mostly all gone. Now it takes more wells and more energy to get a lesser amount of oil of a lesser grade of purity. Same with farmland. Naturally fertilized soil is used to grow crops. After the ground is depleted of its nutrients more energy is needed to fertilize the soil. More crops must be used just to maintain the soil. More work is required to get less crops.
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In order to coordinate the increased energy being used in the system, more complex government is formed. More tax collectors, more engineers for the water supply ditches and retaining ponds. More military to steal from neighbors ( the movie Apocalypto was a small scale illustration of this ) and to maintain order from a restless dissatisfied population. And yet for all this extra energy being put into the system in the form of human labor which must be paid for in food calories, even if output increases, the return per unit of energy decreases. When a farmer moves into a virgin valley, he gets, say, thirty bushels of grain per acre from rainfall and fertile soil. After rain patterns change and his soil is depleted of nutrients, he must put each acre over to half its production in animal feed to fertilize the field. Another quarter to pay taxes to the army and the national government for building an aqueduct. So he now only gets eight bushels of grain per acre, but he has to do a lot more work to get it.
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This is how a system grows in complexity. After a certain point of increased energy inputs, production falls so much the land is abandoned for a time ( at least until the next cycle ). And oil is no different than food. We use oil to grow food, substituting it for less efficient animal fertilizer/animal labor. The whole field can go to mans consumption instead of feeding the animals that work it, or even paying the government to protect it. Oil runs the government and the military and so a field can go just for people feed. And oil grows a lot more of it. A wonderful arrangement, allowing six to ten times the population that could survive otherwise. But then, it must end. All complex systems are destroyed and must start over. I submit to you that we are in a very complex system at this point in time. Look at the levels of government needed to sustain our system ( the industry of stealing the oil we need takes into account the CIA, the military industrial complex, at a bare minimum ). And look at how for more and more effort we are getting less and less in return. Our oil output is requiring more and more energy yet yielding less and less. Our farmland is 100% oil input dependant. We need massive amounts of financial activity just to keep forward motion. Our wages decline in real terms as we work harder and harder. We build more and more military bases and spend more and more money and can barely hold everything together.
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It should behoove you to embrace voluntary simplicity before it is forced on you by our complex society collapsing. I’m sure the usual argument is that you deserve to live the good life now and later you will adapt to changes. And if no collapse occurs you would be silly to sacrifice comfort and luxury. It all depends on what kind of survivalist you are. If you only see natural disasters impacting your life than minimal preparations are needed. A months supply of food, a water filter, extra shelter and supplies such as camping equipment. House insurance and money in the bank. A “Depression” survivalist has precious metal and a huge food production system ( and hopefully no mortgage to lose the farm to the bank ). But a “System Collapse” survivalist such as Peak Oilers need to realize that it is all going to come apart. It will all end and technology will regress. Mass die-offs will occur. Civilization will remake itself. Why devote resources to collecting equipment that can’t be maintained? A thirty year mortgage that requires a good job that can easily be sent overseas or replaced by technology. That same mortgage that requires both husband and wife to work, one that requires a job dependant on commuting. A motor vehicle that in most cases is close to the price of a house just a few decades ago. A motor vehicle that depends on a stable middle east to get its fuel.
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I won’t get into items that depend on a functioning economy in an advanced industrial society such as modern smokeless ammunition. If survivalism depended on going totally Stone Age, none of us would even try. You will always be dependant somewhat on storage items that can’t be replaced. But what you can do now is reduce your dependence on items that are in a fragile state now. We all need a job, but try to at least make your recession proof. Budget below your income to weather the dips. Try to maneuver around needing to commute. Try to supplement fossil fuel use with cheap renewables ( passive solar rather than PV panels ). Explore your options out of the traditional mortgage arrangement. Move towards more primitive alternatives ( wear wool instead of synthetics ). Try to move towards needing less of what we are going to run out of. If you take minor steps now the shock will be less severe. And that can make all the difference in survival, if you are less stressed and more adaptable.
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To answer the comment on the straight razor for sale through the Amazon page off of my web site, www.bisonpress.com, it is stainless steel, not the good stuff. I covered this some time ago, but basically a good blade costs $50. A crappy blade costs as low as $3. Well worth the trouble of sharpening it and keeping it that way.
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Two frugal tips I saw on the TimeBomb 2000 web page. I am mad at myself for not thinking of them. An improvised solar cooker. Take an old tire, place it on a board or other insulation, place a black pot with lid in the middle and cover with glass ( the whole tire, not just the pot ). A use for soap scraps. Place several in a wash cloth, tie shut ( plastic security tie? ) and wet and use like a scrubber. I once saved three years worth of soap scraps and couldn’t think of a use for them. Now I can save again, as I hate wasting anything.
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Creekmore is back for another try. Try to support his efforts, we need as many different views as possible out there ( as long as you realize mine is the correct one ). His information can vary from mine, giving you a better education on prepping and survival.
www.thesurvivalblog.blogspot.com