[Gulo]

Prepare for more bad news – the economy of the U.S. is in its death throes (my country will follow shortly), and the powers that be know this. What we will see in 2009 is more attempts by the elites (politicians and their bedmates the corporations) to consolidate whatever further power they can before things really get out of hand.

The solution is for the common people to start digging their trenches, (and maybe even tunnels!) Take what positive action you can – for alliances in your communities, hone your survival skills, perhaps even think of forming communities, not as part of some ludicrous utopian dream, but as a basic act of survival.

I don’t think most people have done near enough holisitic research on the range of things going wrong right now in the world. Things are very bad. If you are going to do something decisive, do it now. The world of late 2009 is going to leave you fewer options than the one of right now.

Most of all, forget anything positive coming out of big centralized government or big anything. You like bad news, continue to look there. Your future lies in your local community. The draft animal community has skills that could stack the deck in their favor if:

i) they recognize how serious things have gotten;
ii) they organize and get proactive about survival and start thinking more interdependently.

Well, that’s my take, but it certainly isn’t my take alone. Do your own research, broaden your views, take in the range of things going sour right now. And forget about being anything more than left behind, if not mugged and left out to dry, by the power elites.

[Gulo]

Planned communities have not all failed, but many have, yes. I think they are “ahead of the curve.” They fail because there have been too many other easier options for people who, advocates of the idea of planned community or not, come from a culture fully steeped in the myth of independence.

I hope to see more planned communities arise and actually make a go of it (in fact, the former i am already seeing), as i think we are going to soon run low on working alternatives. Planned communities will begin to work when we have less option to let them fail. I hope many of the newer communities will in some way incorporate draft animal power.

Don’t forget that the Amish are a planned community. So are the Hutterites. Considering the odds, i’d say they’ve done rather well.

[Gulo]

I don’t think trying to make a living in a pre-industrial fashion in an industrial world and engage in extravagent travel is a reasonable expectation. Better to put your energies into local events and local people.

My partner and I experimented running an animal powered CSA this past summer. As you all know, one’s income can drop precipitously when making these sorts of lifestyle choices. In the meatime, i spent most of my equity on horses and equipment, etc. So i’m checking out some stuff in central Alberta at the place of this fellow who’s an enthusiast and has gone to great lengths to accumulate old iron, yet has an industry job, hence the vast hours he can afford to spend at obscure auction sales. He’s 4 hours from my place, in my “horse-farmer” perspective already a major trip.

He says, “What you really need to do is go to the Waverly sale – everything is there!” I think, great – i’ll go to Waverly – where in Alberta is that?! Then he tells me it’s in Iowa, and i fight a brief impulse to throttle him. Might as well be on mars, as far as i’m concerned.

This is the disconnect at work. Of having your feet in one world while everyone else’s are still in another. Even those of most of your peers.

[Author]

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