Posted on 05/24/2008 11:30:31 AM PDT by decimon
BUSKIRK — A few years ago, Kathleen Breault was just another suburban grandma, driving countless hours every week, stopping for lunch at McDonald's, buying clothes at the mall, watching TV in the evenings.
That was before Breault heard an author talk about the bleak future of the world's oil supply. Now, she's preparing for the world as we know it to disappear.
Breault cut her driving time in half. She switched to a diet of locally grown foods near her upstate New York home and lost 70 pounds. She sliced up her credit cards, banished her television and swore off plane travel. She began relying on a wood-burning stove.
"I was panic-stricken," the 50-year-old recalled, her voice shaking. "Devastated. Depressed. Afraid. Vulnerable. Weak. Alone. Just terrible."
Convinced the planet's oil supply is dwindling and the world's economies are heading for a crash, some people around the country are moving onto homesteads, learning to live off their land, conserving fuel and, in some cases, stocking up on guns they expect to use to defend themselves and their supplies from desperate crowds of people who didn't prepare.
The exact number of people taking such steps is impossible to determine, but anecdotal evidence suggests that the movement has been gaining momentum in the last few years.
These energy survivalists are not leading some sort of green revolution meant to save the planet. Many of them believe it is too late for that, seeing signs in soaring fuel and food prices and a faltering U.S. economy, and are largely focused on saving themselves.
Some are doing it quietly, giving few details of their preparations — afraid that revealing such information as the location of their supplies will endanger themselves and their loved ones. They envision a future in which the nation's cities will be filled with hungry, desperate refugees forced to go looking for food, shelter and water.
"There's going to be things that happen when people can't get things that they need for themselves and their families," said Lynn-Marie, who believes cities could see a rise in violence as early as 2012.
Lynn-Marie asked to be identified by her first name to protect her homestead in rural western Idaho. Many of these survivalists declined to speak to The Associated Press for similar reasons.
These survivalists believe in "peak oil," the idea that world oil production is set to hit a high point and then decline. Scientists who support idea say the amount of oil produced in the world each year has already or will soon begin a downward slide, even amid increased demand. But many scientists say such a scenario will be avoided as other sources of energy come in to fill the void.
On the PeakOil.com Web site, where upward of 800 people gathered on recent evenings, believers engage in a debate about what kind of world awaits.
Some members argue there will be no financial crash, but a slow slide into harder times. Some believe the federal government will respond to the loss of energy security with a clampdown on personal freedoms. Others simply don't trust that the government can maintain basic services in the face of an energy crisis.
The powers that be, they've determined, will be largely powerless to stop what is to come.
Determined to guard themselves from potentially harsh times ahead, Lynn-Marie and her husband have already planted an orchard of about 40 trees and built a greenhouse on their 7 1/2 acres. They have built their own irrigation system. They've begun to raise chickens and pigs, and they've learned to slaughter them.
The couple have gotten rid of their TV and instead have been reading dusty old books published in their grandparents' era, books that explain the simpler lifestyle they are trying to revive. Lynn-Marie has been teaching herself how to make soap. Her husband, concerned about one day being unable to get medications, has been training to become an herbalist.
By 2012, they expect to power their property with solar panels, and produce their own meat, milk and vegetables. When things start to fall apart, they expect their children and grandchildren will come back home and help them work the land. She envisions a day when the family may have to decide whether to turn needy people away from their door.
"People will be unprepared," she said. "And we can imagine marauding hordes."
So can Peter Laskowski. Living in a woodsy area outside of Montpelier, Vt., the 57-year-old retiree has become the local constable and a deputy sheriff for his county, as well as an emergency medical technician.
"I decided there was nothing like getting the training myself to deal with insurrections, if that's a possibility," said the former executive recruiter.
Laskowski is taking steps similar to environmentalists: conserving fuel, consuming less, studying global warming, and relying on local produce and craftsmen. Laskowski is powering his home with solar panels and is raising fish, geese, ducks and sheep. He has planted apple and pear trees and is growing lettuce, spinach and corn.
Whenever possible, he uses his bicycle to get into town.
"I remember the oil crisis in '73; I remember waiting in line for gas," Laskowski said. "If there is a disruption in the oil supply it will be very quickly elevated into a disaster."
Breault said she hopes to someday band together with her neighbors to form a self-sufficient community. Women will always be having babies, she notes, and she imagines her skills as a midwife will always be in demand.
For now, she is readying for the more immediate work ahead: There's a root cellar to dig, fruit trees and vegetable plots to plant. She has put a bicycle on layaway, and soon she'll be able to bike to visit her grandkids even if there is no oil at the pump.
Whatever the shape of things yet to come, she said, she's done what she can to prepare.
___
On the Net:
Peak Oil: http://www.PeakOil.com
bump
OOPSIE! I should have kept reading! ROTFLMAO
BWAHAHA!
You’re not alone! We hit a spell when the kids were little where it was either do something or go on welfare. I did something—I got a milk goat. Do you think my husband would go along? NOOOO. He refused to drink it, made loud nahing sounds every time I milked or got the kids to drink it. Sometimes, that man just does not know how lucky he is to be alive!
Butter has been running about $2.50 a pound here for a good long while, $1.99 on sale. But the milk prices are really getting ridiculous. Whole milk is actually the cheapest of all the types, which is a good thing, because that is the only kind of milk we buy.
“‘Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman’ could’ve saved him with a mustard plaster and a strong prescription of arsenic and absenthe. :)”
Don’t forget the asafoetidae!
Clean Air Movement meet and greet the survival of the Warmest, non-carbon footprint types....
The survivalist drill seems to come up fairly regularly, oh last time was... millenium. Remember?
The worry was the "grids". The electric grids. So now while libbies make hayrack out of NSA's and Homeland Security's measure to protect the grids, suddenly the goal posts gets moved to "no OIL!" and from the "No Blood for Oil" harpies.
Let the games continue, say I.
No surer, cleaner energy way to battle the Global Climatoes movement!
Green Energy vs Survivalism. Fur vs. faux fur. Pesticides vs painting each plant stalk with organic garlic.
But, another looming battle for those less rural? More and more "bureacracies" are attempting to lay seizure to private wells. Heritage Rivers Water Act, courtesy of the Democrats.
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT! Throw in some panic and urgency. ACT NOW. Only you can plan your own survival.
This has been a courtesy notice provided you by your future....
Couldn’t agree more with you. And thank you for that lovely link. I really enjoy seeing the newer technologies.
Thank you for the ping, Gabz! :)
That was what I asked too, just didn't reply as such. I know many ex special forces troops could tell a few stories about eating not just wild plants, but bugs and snakes as well.
It is extremely disturbing to see members of a conservative website slamming people for living conservatively, their politics notwithstanding (not that I saw any direct mention of their politics in the first place).
Welcome to the new FR..
How do you spell paranoid schizophrenia?
That is exactly the kind of hoarding that we are doing, and we are doing it right here in the middle of town.
I agree Gabz. In the 1970s I made quilts, grew and canned my own veggies, carried water from a spring.
I don’t want to carry water anymore, I’ve gotten spoiled with running water (LOL).
I do live 10 miles from town now (20 mile round trip). Since my gas bill was $400 last month (I make a trip every other day because my elderly Mom is in town) I have decided to cut back on expenses every way I can.
I have a firepit in my yard, and I am cooking all my meals on it. Since I am surrounded by woods I have an endless supply of wood. I haven’t had my air conditioning on yet, and don’t plan to use it this summer unless the temps get up in the 90s. My house has lots of windows and I have ceiling fans in every room.
And, of course I have my garden. Right now I am harvesting lettuce, onions, radishes, everything I need for salads. I have green beans with a few blooms, and even a few tomatoes. Later I’ll have lots of both, since I expanded my garden this year.
Guess I’m not doing the right thing (firepit) when it comes to global warming (LOL). However the food is awesome cooked on the pit. Yesterday I had smoked, barbequed pork and beef ribs.
gnarledmaw is right Diana, you can forget the cows and raise goats!!!
Here in Tennessee we have tons of Kudzu. I’ll ship you some (LOL). Your goat will eat well, as we have an endless supply!!!!
>I want a milk cow<
Do you have the acreage to graze it on. Are you going to grow cattle corn for sillage, you know for them winter months. How are you going to impregnate the gal? What are you going to do with the calves. Raise ‘em and slaughter them for meat or sell them off as day olds? Then there’s that twice a day milking. Planning on making cheese too, huh? And you think kids are a pain in the butt. hahaha
Diana Darling, buy your milk and save your fingers from a lot of milking. They appreciate it already.
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