Where Have I Been?
You’d think that with my prolonged absence from the blogosphere I’d have some great excuse, like I’ve actually been writing for once, or the Punkin decided that she would only eat striped foods, or the American Punkin clothing line got bought out by Babies-R-Us already.
No such excuse.
Why the long silence?
I read a book. It was my hubbie’s fault (well, actually, it was my uncle’s fault originally–he told DH to read it).
The Long Emergency, by James Kunstler.
Basic premise: We’ve passed peak oil output, there are no alternative fuel sources strong enough to take over from oil, so it’s all downhill from here.
Kunstler is very doom and gloom, going on about no oil, no cars, no electricity, no suburbia.
His solution? Prepare to move back into small towns (like in New England) and farms, and back into agriculture and handicrafts.
Now I’m not an end-of-the-world type person, and I’m still not so sure about Kunstler’s credentials (he was an editor. Of Rolling Stone no less.). But I have a background in International Affairs (no, not the kind James Bond has) and a lot of what he says resonates true.
I’ve always liked to imagine what I would do if thrust back into a non-tech world like Swiss Family Robinson (okay, so how many of you just loved that treehouse?). So the past few weeks I’ve been letting my imagination go nuts with this scenario.
If nothing else, it’s finally gotten the DH to agree to look into buying land. And building a nice “green” house. 
And I can consider all this reading research for some future novel.
Anyone out there have any thoughts they’d like to chime in with?
May 24th, 2006 at 8:15 am
I loved Swiss Family Robinson.
There was a spate of post-apocalypse novels years ago.
Maybe it’s time the trend returned.
Just don’t invade Canada.
May 24th, 2006 at 11:08 pm
Unfortunately, this wasn’t a novel. Kunstler is serious about this happening in our lifetime.
Canada should be safe–sorta. According to these same doomsayers, there’s a mini Ice Age coming, and Canada will be under the glaciers again. Wanna come down here to Dixie where it’s nice and warm?
May 25th, 2006 at 12:41 am
I got enough tangible things to worry about with out fretting another Ice Age…LOL….I’ve got laundry to do, a large TBR pile to tackle, and a manuscript to rewrite….Apocalypse will have to wait until I have time!! LOL
I own land. Live in the country in a log home…spend lots of gas to drive into the city to my business sigh
May 27th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
There’s a guilty catch-22 for me involved in the energy crisis. I’m moving from Seattle to a smaller town, where I will probably have to use my car more often… and this makes me feel guilty because living in cities is actually more environmentally sound, but I can’t actually afford to live in the city.
Difficult.
Have you ever checked out YES magazine? They call themselves “a journal of positive futures” and I read them whenever I’m feeling too doom-and-gloom. Their articles are all about things people are doing in the world to solve energy crises/social justice issues.