Homesteading, self-sufficieny and alternative energy.

[UncleJoseph]

I recently purchased an ebook on homesteading. As you all know, I'm always trying to increase my preparedness for any contingency, which I collectively identify as the Zombie Apocalypse.

Anyway, first I was interested in emergency survival, which is short-term survival until infrastructure elements are restored (water, power, waste, food supply, etc). Then I became interested in alternative power and removing myself from the grid, so as not to be too dependent on those infrastructure systems. That led me to homesteading, which is about as close to full self-sufficiency as one can get.

Homesteading largely refers to the practice of working your own land or space by raising at least enough food (animal, plant or both) to supply most of your own needs, and not being totally dependent on power, water, sewer and food supply infrastructures. Homesteading is as old as history. When a group of people settled a new land, they had to homestead in order to survive, because those typically necessary infrastructures did not exist.

How does this relate to the Zombie Apocalypse? Well, we all know that our infrastructures are very fragile and susceptible to disasters. We could lose power for weeks or months, lose our water supply, lose our food supply network, etc. But homesteaders would be largely unaffected by the loss of these things. Certainly, if the losses of those resources were temporary, a homesteader might not even notice. Homesteaders, unless they get overrun by raiders or zombies, will likely be the only ones to survive with their culture and sanity intact. The rest of us will be forced into scavenging and survival. Homesteaders will just continue to live their lives.

So I've been looking at homesteading as a sort of expanded version of my alpaca ranch. I can certainly raise animals for their fleece, and not homestead. However, I'd still be totally dependent on the power grid, food supply chain and water/sewer systems. Since I want to go off grid, I've been looking at waste disposal, water delivery and power generation. In theory, I could develop all of my own food, power, waste disposal and water supply, without ever drawing off municipal water, power, gas or sewer, or visiting a gas station. This type of self-sufficiency is quite desirable, but also a lot of work.

This is not to say that I support a return to pre-industrial society, and live the Amish way (although there certainly exists some appeal to that). However, I think we've lost that balance between self-sufficiency, independence and embracing the modern world.

Think of the Northeast Blackout of2003. So many folks were left without power. Now, the first thing I think of when considering a power failure, is "What will happen to the food in my fridge, or how will I heat my home in the winter?"

A lack of home heat can certainly be health and safety issues. Spoiled food can be a health issue over the long term. But the Northeast Blackout caused fuel supply shortages (which causes problems for everything from food supply to medicine), water supply problems and communications issues. Emergency calls for fire department services increased significantly from the use of candles alone! Now imagine if this power outage lasted for months...certainly possible, given how fragile the system is.

So there we have it. So much of the population is dependent upon systems that are terribly fragile. It's amazing we've made it this long without some other major catastrophe. People are resilient, and will survive worse situations. But wouldn't it be so much better to have a system that wasn't so susceptible to failure? It's easy...people can do so much to improve their self-sufficiency. Folks in small apartments can grow some of their own food. Folks with no land can compost and grow things in window boxes. People can switch to alternative energy, or even easier, simply consume less.

Homesteading can mean so much more than living on a farm off the grid. I, for one, intend to make my home, wherever it is, as much of a homestead as I can.

[Serious Paul]

This is why you're on my team come Z day.

What's surprising and frightening about infrastructure security is how terrible it all is. We basically rely on the mantra "Well no one will really do that, because they'd have to live through it too!" This of course does nothing to prepare for the unexpected scenarios in which that happens.

[DV8]

It's interesting that you'd call this undefined catastrophe the "Zombie Apocalypse" because I've been reading World War Z recently, a Max Brooks novel. It's a collection of interviews held with a wide range of people ten years after the zombie apocalypse, which tells the story of how everyone dealt with the chaos, survival and the fight against the zombies. It's a really, really good book and even though it's fiction, it's written in such a way and with such logic that it reads as an account of something that happened before you were born, something that did actually occur and could happen again.

I believe that the chances of a complete social collapse is very unlikely, but while improbable, it's not implausible. If it does happen, only a handful of people will survive, most of which will have made some sort of provisions, if not for the zombie apocalypse as well for something equally disastrous, like the invasion of the Chinese, or a nuclear winter.

[3278]

Think of the Northeast Blackout of2003. So many folks were left without power. Now, the first thing I think of when considering a power failure, is "What will happen to the food in my fridge, or how will I heat my home in the winter?"

Okay, look, you're going to need to buy the book Connections, so you stop repeating huge portions of it. Another solution would be to watch the BBC series that the book is a companion volume for. It's certainly available on bittorrent, but it's fortunately also available [in low-res version] on YouTube, here. Although honestly, if it's available on YouTube in the low-res version, you can probably morally justify just downloading the torrent.

He talks about not just how dependent we are on fallible technology most people don't understand, but also talks about, for instance, the massive power outages in the NE...the ones that happened when we were babies, which gives you an idea of how much "progress" has fixed the problem. He also talks about why more blades keep popping up on razors, for example, relating to another thread of yours. In short, he's saying what you're saying, but with a film crew, a history education, and a british accent.

[UncleJoseph]

Okay, look, you're going to need to buy the book Connections, so you stop repeating huge portions of it.

It's on my Christmas list. Although, once I read it, you know I'll be quoting it to get even more discussion going.

[3278]

It's possible it'll send you into a singularity in which you realize all modern progress is futile, and the direction of the human race, while impressive conceptually, is based on assumptions which are clearly incorrect. Then you turn inside out, cry whenever you set foot in a city, and never want to do anything but raise your children on remote, uninhabited islands. Or so I hear.

[UncleJoseph]

Then you turn inside out, cry whenever you set foot in a city, and never want to do anything but raise your children on remote, uninhabited islands. Or so I hear.

I sort of do this already. Except I don't cry (no tear ducts), and don't have children.

[Jeff Hauze]

[quote="3278" Then you turn inside out, cry whenever you set foot in a city, and never want to do anything but raise your children on remote, uninhabited islands. Or so I hear.

I sort of do this already. Except I don't cry (no tear ducts), and don't have children.[/quote]

Hell, if you're just able to turn inside out at will...I'm jealous. That's an awesome superpower.

[WillyGilligan]

[quote="3278" Then you turn inside out, cry whenever you set foot in a city, and never want to do anything but raise your children on remote, uninhabited islands. Or so I hear.

I sort of do this already. Except I don't cry (no tear ducts), and don't have children.

Hell, if you're just able to turn inside out at will...I'm jealous. That's an awesome superpower.[/quote]

If a starfish can do it, I'm not so impressed.

[Jeff Hauze]

If a starfish can do it, I'm not so impressed.

Yeah, but think of what you can do to your kids? I mean, you fuck with the neighborhood kids just flipping your eyes inside. If you could actually flip inside and show them literally what you had for breakfast? That's made of win and awesome.

[UncleJoseph]

and a british accent.

This singular fact means that he is correct about everything, more important than anyone, and is certainly multitudes higher intelligence than anyone who does not have a British accent.

The book is good, BTW. Funny, I'm also reading it in a British accent...it has so much more gravitas that way.

[3278]

Burke is a fantastic orator, the British version of Dan Rathers or Walter Cronkite. He covered the Apollo missions, and was the main presenter for the BBC on the moon landings. And he's hilarious. The book is most notable for its presentation of his ideas; the TV series is most notable for its presentation, period. Funny guy.