I've been engaged in several long diary discussions on peak oil and gas prices over the past few days and a recurrent theme is what can we DO about it. We feel incapable and despairing of getting train service or bus service in our particular locality, so what else can we do?
I teach sustainable living classes so I have some suggestions on the flip.... This is only my second diary so please be kind!
The first thing to do is begin to accept that peak oil is here. If you haven't been preparing, well kick yourself gently for being asleep and vow to pay attention. Ok. now, let's get down to work. Following is a list. Some of it may apply to you and some of it may not. Some of it may be obvious so apologies if that's the case.
* Get to know your neighbors. Talk with them. Find ways to work together. Get organized amongst yourselves.
• Find out what is going on, if anything, to address peak oil and climate change in your community, or the nearest community to you. Get involved in whatever is happening, or try to help get something started. We cannot solve these problems on our own. The survivalist who things they can just take care of their own family is deluded. So start building community wherever you can.
• Bring up the issues of mass transit, alternative energy and local food with your county commission, your city council, your state rep. There are many programs around the country that are duplicatable to help yours.
•Learn a tradeable skill so you won't be as dependent on money. This could be how to repair something, growing food, building a website, herbal medicine, anything you think folks will need. Build a network of folks to trade with.
TRANSPO:
• Assess your current transportation. Does it guzzle gas? Can you move to a more efficient car? Even a used one? This may take some sacrifices. We are used to having it all our way. Those days are gone. Try to think practically. Be willing to put up with some inconvenience.
• Get your car tuned up. Check the air for proper tire inflation. Drive slower - 55 mph is much more efficient than 75. It takes more time, but get used to that. Everything will take more time without the high energy buzz of expensive fossil fuels.
• Can you carpool with some neighbors? This may be inconvenient. You may get out of work at 4 and they don't get out of work until 5. Bring bills to pay, your laptop to answer e-mail, a cell phone to return calls so you can get stuff done while you wait. Try to negotiate them getting off at 4 a few days in exchange for you staying til 5.
• If you live rurally, start a "heading in to town" co-op of running errands. You can use a phone tree of your neighbors. Someone headed in to town can call everyone to see if anyone needs something. A few trips avoided will save gas. You can return the favor next time you go.
•If you can't afford a car, try finding a neighbor who might be interested in sharing a car. Look up CAR SHARE on google and perhaps work on getting a carshare organization started in your community. See if anyone else is already doing this in your area.
• Using craig's list or myspace or some other networking effort, start a ride share bulletin board to help link folks up with each other who can share rides, or share errands or share anything.
FOOD:
• Start learning new skills. Learn to grow some food. Start teaching others.
• Start buying locally. Local things will be less expensive because they weren't trucked where you are.
• Limit your purchase of packaged food. It's expensive, loaded with chemicals and sugar and lacks nutrition.
• Check in to CSA's (community supported ag) in your locality to get food from. If you don't know what this is, google it.
• Find local farmers. Support them. Buy their stuff.
• Start a garden. Potatoes are one of the easiest things to grow, a great source of calories and they store well.
• Start one or find an existing community garden if you live in an apartment. Or find an elderly person with a yard and negotiate growing some food there.
• Get some backyard chickens. 3 hens provide enough eggs for a family of four. Grow sunflowers to help feed them.
• Eat seasonally. Give up strawberries in winter. Buy apples instead.
• Buy produce and things in season or on sale and freeze or dry or store for the winter. Consider a root cellar. Consider buying a food dryer.
• Start cooking at home more. Learn to use a crock pot. Add beans to your diet.
• Learn about wild edible plants. Try some.
HEATING AND COOLING:
• Learn all you can about your heat source - by this I mean furnace. Get it serviced. Change the filter. Change it often. If the furnace is really old and inefficient, try to swing the cash for replacing it.
• Install a programmable thermostat so you can program your heating and cooling for when you are at home and awake.
• Seal any heating ductwork or air returns from leaks using mastic or metal tape.
• Insulate, insulate, insulate. This will keep you cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Attics, foundations, walls, floors. Pay special attention to anything that enters or exits your living space and seal around it - things like plumbing lines, electrical cables or vents that go through the roof. DO IT NOW! Contractors are often cheaper in summer.
• Make sure you have enough vents in your roof to allow hot air to escape in summer instead of beating down on your head.
• Seal around windows, doors jambs, and doors with caulk or foam. Use a lit candle to see if air is escaping.
• Replace single pane windows. If this isn't possible, add storm windows. If this isn't possible invest in sheets of clear bubble wrap to tape inside your windows in winter.
• Sew or buy insulating curtains. Not the curtains that are just for privacy but curtains or blinds that seal off the window. The top is the most important part. It must make contact with your wall or window inset along the top.
• Plant trees and shrubs around your house. Trees that can shade the west side of your home in summer are most important for cooling. Shrubs and trees that can block winter winds (evergreens) are most important on the north side. The more summer shade the better unless you are planning on installing solar on your roof.
• Wrap your hot water heater with an insulating blanket. Turn it down to 110 if it's higher.
• Install a wood stove. Meet your local arborist or landscape maintenance person and let them drop wood at your place if they need to get rid of it. Learn to split and stack wood.
We can wallow in feeling helpless and despairing or we can start to take charge and depend on ourselves. We might not be able to do all or most of these things, but there's probably at least ONE thing we can do.
It can be easy to feel overwhelmed with all we feel we must start to do. Take it one step at at time. Decide on what you are most worried about. Is it your transportation to your job? Is it heat in the winter? Is it food for your kids? Start there. Do one thing to address that. Then pick another. Keep making small and big changes one at a time.
You can do it. There are many of us out here who can help you.
And remember - hope. Its the new black.