[Peakoil] Re: Wealth preservation and land

[Keith Thomas]

On 04/09/2005, at 5:24 PM, Leigh Kite wrote:
>
> The only thing I'm worried about is how to plan for my old age.  At 
> some stage I'll be too old to labour effectively on a farm or 
> whatever, I hope society won't have degenerated to the point where old 
> people are managed Eskimo style.
>
Planning for your old age is simple.  Simple, but not necessarily easy. 
It's the same as planning for the best of the present.  Make yourself a 
valued, respected, trusted member of your community. The coming Long 
Emergency will give us plenty of opportunities to earn a few Brownie 
points.  In doing this you'll be working to become a treasurehouse of 
knowledge, skills, techniques and even wisdom. You'll be able to 
contribute as a teacher, counsellor and adviser even when you can't 
exert as much muscle-power as you once could.  In the years immediately 
after losing youthful fitness, you'll be able to contribute with 
lighter chores and - especially - child-minding.  Read up on the 
'grandmother hypothesis' for more info.  Older people were valued in 
earlier civilizations and we can create a society which does this 
providing we are prepared to drop our Western version of 
extra-individualism, intolerance of difference, infidelity (of all 
kinds) and 'right' to speak our mind at all times (that'll be tough!).  
If Alzheimers kicks in, I hope someone disposes of me early and 
painlessly!

Prepare yourself mentally, psychologically (and spiritually, if that's 
your way) and emotionally for the future so you are in a position to 
begin contributing for the rest of your life to the comfort and 
well-being of others in your group/community. Being actively involved 
in this list is a start - we are all preparing ourselves mentally to 
some extent. I am learning what others find in my nature that upsets or 
repels them so I can change, effectively and with humility, in ways 
that may be uncomfortable.

Daniel Quinn's book Beyond Civilization is a good jumping-off point to 
explore future possibilities.  His other books less indirectly (but 
even more powerfully) fire the imagination about possibilities.  Quinn 
makes the important point that we should not assume that the best path 
to the future is to mimic the successful ways of the past.  We can draw 
on the ideas of the past but, as we will have had personal biographies 
very different from those who created past societies, we can't go back, 
only forward.  Looks exciting!  It seems to me that dealing with peak 
oil on the assumption that we can continue pretty much as we are but 
with an energy source that will replace oil is a dead end strategy. My 
own view is that none of us around today will see the end of the 
consequences of peak oil and climate change in our lifetimes, but in 
four or five generations the humans on this planet will be - generally 
- happier and living more in harmony with (what's left of) their 
environment that we are today.

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Keith Thomas
www.evfit.com
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