What is it we are afraid of?

[catjac1975]

Go? Go to your door and beg or steal your food. I get mad when people complain about welfare and food stamps. WHat would happen if we didn't feed the poor. They would come take ours!

There is quite a learning curve with "self sustaining" and the state of our land (meaning in general) would NOT sustain everyone. I think that the "city folk" that have no idea where their food really comes from would probably be some of the first ones to go. I also think that the first thing that would need to be done if SHTF is that all the GMO crops should be burned to the ground to prevent contaminating any of the non-GMO foods. Most of those aren't really edible anyways!

 

[journey11]

I thought a little too much on this today...kinda creeped me out.

 

[nachoqtpie]

Oh no.. that's not what I'm saying at all catjac! I mean.. that if they can't figure out how to grow their food, then they will likely be the first to perish. With the state of America (and most other places as well!!) there would be no WAY to make enough food to feed everyone! Everyone would need to pitch in and help! I'm not saying anything against those that CANNOT help themselves, and I'm not against aiding the poor! Heck... I've been there a couple of times myself! If I had enough food and my neighbors were starving? I would most definitely help, but I don't like the idea of helping someone who is more than capable of taking care of themselves and chooses not to.

 

[catjac1975]

An event that stands out most clearly in my mind was one I will never forget. I was at a checkout line one winter day at the grocery store. The young man at the register picked up my beets and other vegetables and turned to a co-worker and said, "What is all this stuff?" I guess he had never seen something that did not come in a package and was ready to heat in the microwave. How would one save himself if he could not even recognize what food is?

Oh no.. that's not what I'm saying at all catjac! I mean.. that if they can't figure out how to grow their food, then they will likely be the first to perish. With the state of America (and most other places as well!!) there would be no WAY to make enough food to feed everyone! Everyone would need to pitch in and help! I'm not saying anything against those that CANNOT help themselves, and I'm not against aiding the poor! Heck... I've been there a couple of times myself! If I had enough food and my neighbors were starving? I would most definitely help, but I don't like the idea of helping someone who is more than capable of taking care of themselves and chooses not to.

 

[897tgigvib]

CatJac, one time when I went to town I was waiting at the truck for a friend to finish in the store. A kid was sitting waiting too nearby, all plugged in with tiny things in her ears. She asked me for a smoke, and then we were talking. (I say kid. A 24 year old) I asked if she was listening to her ipod, she laughed and said nobody uses those antiques anymore. She uses an app to get tunes on her iphone. I know someone with an iphone4g or something like that, so I said is that an iphone 4g? She laughed even more and said only old people use those, hers is an iphone5s, and she uses gaming buds to get 7.1 surround, and certainly would never go back to 5.1. Now, I read wired magazine, and thought I was keeping up, but I found an entire cultural gulf in our generations. I guess I know nothing of what the youth are into.

I suppose that on some super cool forum for youngsters talking about the latest app they laugh and wonder about folks who are not intimately involved with the very latest android multigaming experience.

The city folks, especially the youngsters, are so in tune with their own experience of the world that a good number of them don't know the basic things of life. They watch these survival shows on their wireless ledhdtv's outside on their porch, where young actors with perfectly trimmed 3 day beards and smooth skin seem so all wise and powerful with superhuman strength, shooting 2 arrows at a time faster than a person can shoot a single arrow in real life always getting the beautiful princess...lol! (I saw one the other day). And yet, the kids who watch these shows think dried beans come from a factory in Mexico. Course, I thought an iphone 4g was the hot stuff. Heck, I'm not even sure that was what it was called. I laugh at myself for not knowing.

 

[digitS']

. . . there would be no WAY to make enough food to feed everyone! Everyone would need to pitch in and help! . . .

I believe that is what we call subsistence agriculture, 'qtpie. It works. There can be problems but for 10,000 years, it sustained our ancestors.

A garden can be greatly more productive than a farm field. The food industry likely has a good deal of adjustment to make with regards to future fuel shortages. Food will have to be produced closer to the population. More attention will have to be made to maintaining soil fertility. Specialization will look a good deal different in future years than it does now. And, there may be more people involved in food production. What's wrong with that?

John Jeavons has said that a bio-dynamic gardener uses 1/100th as much energy to produce a pound of food as does a commercial farmer. He said that was being "conservative" and I'm inclined to believe it. But, even if it is 1/10th as much energy - well, you see where I'm going.

The alternative? If we look at what surrounds us in a "civilized world," we see a good deal of uncivil behavior. I very nearly spelled that "behaviour." The French would say, "comportement," I believe.

Steve

 

[so lucky]

In my former job I was trying to encourage a very low income person to stock up on groceries, in case of a natural disaster. I reminded her that there might be no phone or electricity. She laughed at me and said "What good would extra cans of food be? If you don't have electricity, you can't open them!"
So, apparently, some folks need a little survival training.

 

[nittygrittydirtdigger]

Smiles, I'm so sorry for what you had to go through. My best friend is a decorated Viet Nam vet. He still has nightmares, too, after more than 40 years.

What amazes me is that you and he have both made lives for yourselves despite what you witnessed. Your name, "Smiles", tells a lot about who you are.

Bless you.

Nitty