Discussions
(small) Ebola outbreak in Uganda
7
11
Harvest envy thread
27
12

Agree about supply chains. In fact, in a lot of ways rural supply chains are more precarious. I live on the outskirts of a major city, we have roads, ports, airports, and rail lines. If some of that infrastructure is unusable, we still have other options. Also, although high gas prices increase the cost of shipping and thus the goods I buy, I rarely need to drive as I can walk, bike, and use public transit. On the other hand, my parents who live in a more rural area, have to drive a few miles just to get rid of their trash/recycling, and 20 or 30 miles for groceries.  Oil is a finite resource, and we are scraping the bottom of the barrel, but I’m less gloomy about peak oil than I was some years ago. A solar/wind/hydro/battery/long distance transmission electric grid is a solved problem from a technical and economic perspective, we just need more of it, and it’s scaling fast. Electric cars are also a solved problem from a technical perspective; they’re still somewhat more expensive, but getting cheaper as they scale. Electric freight trucks are still in development, but there don’t seem to be major technical barriers to using basically the same tech as electric cars. Electric air and sea freight are still pie in the sky, but that may just mean we do a lot less intercontinental trade in the future, which is not civilization ending.  Of course, just because there are workable solutions doesn’t mean we can’t still screw up the energy transition. But ten years ago I wasn’t even sure there was a way out of getting crushed by peak oil, so I’m less pessimistic than I used to be about that. Re: urban yuck, I also have an aversive reaction sometimes to images like that, but on the other hand think how much environmental destruction would happen if each of those people wanted two to ten acres in the country. 

Cold steel ‘Bushman’ knife. I had just started prepping, and I thought how versatile it was that the knife had a hollow handle and could be made into a spear. Previously, I’d only used cooking knives. As I gradually learned a bit more about ‘woodsy’ skills, and practiced a little (I’m still not very good), I found that the Bushman knife was wildly impractical; too heavy, weighted weirdly, hard to store (I made a sheath, it kept cutting it’s way out of it because of the curve). Now I keep a couple of Mora knives around instead; they have rubberized grip and don’t slide out of your hands, the shape of the handle keeps your hand from sliding up over the blade, they are light and well-balanced, easy to sharpen, and come with a great, lightweight, durable, well-fitted plastic sheath.  The other one that comes to mind was also a knife. I had read how great the British hacking knife (used in construction) was because it has a soft spine and can be safety used to baton, wood, also hefty enough to serve as a sort of a hatchet. Well, I practiced with it, removing invasive vines and brush, and I almost cut my thumb off! Admittedly, I was chopping too close to my other hand, but with a chopper that small, I had to do so in order to get any force. After that scare, walking home blood dripping from the gash in my thumbnail, I later tested the other thing it was ‘great’ at and found that the spine was so soft it deformed if you used it to baton wood. I recycled that POS and bought a few folding saws until I found one that fit my hands nicely (Bahco Laplander). Not totally satisfied with that one, but even if you’re exhausted and getting sloppy, it’s hard to hurt yourself more than a minor cut. And, with a 7″ blade, if you’re patient enough and have the grip strength, you can cut though 6.5″ branches!


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(small) Ebola outbreak in Uganda
7
11
Harvest envy thread
27
12
Bike trailers
7
21
Safety Goggles for Protesting
9
21
Knowing who has what skills
8
20

Agree about supply chains. In fact, in a lot of ways rural supply chains are more precarious. I live on the outskirts of a major city, we have roads, ports, airports, and rail lines. If some of that infrastructure is unusable, we still have other options. Also, although high gas prices increase the cost of shipping and thus the goods I buy, I rarely need to drive as I can walk, bike, and use public transit. On the other hand, my parents who live in a more rural area, have to drive a few miles just to get rid of their trash/recycling, and 20 or 30 miles for groceries.  Oil is a finite resource, and we are scraping the bottom of the barrel, but I’m less gloomy about peak oil than I was some years ago. A solar/wind/hydro/battery/long distance transmission electric grid is a solved problem from a technical and economic perspective, we just need more of it, and it’s scaling fast. Electric cars are also a solved problem from a technical perspective; they’re still somewhat more expensive, but getting cheaper as they scale. Electric freight trucks are still in development, but there don’t seem to be major technical barriers to using basically the same tech as electric cars. Electric air and sea freight are still pie in the sky, but that may just mean we do a lot less intercontinental trade in the future, which is not civilization ending.  Of course, just because there are workable solutions doesn’t mean we can’t still screw up the energy transition. But ten years ago I wasn’t even sure there was a way out of getting crushed by peak oil, so I’m less pessimistic than I used to be about that. Re: urban yuck, I also have an aversive reaction sometimes to images like that, but on the other hand think how much environmental destruction would happen if each of those people wanted two to ten acres in the country. 

Cold steel ‘Bushman’ knife. I had just started prepping, and I thought how versatile it was that the knife had a hollow handle and could be made into a spear. Previously, I’d only used cooking knives. As I gradually learned a bit more about ‘woodsy’ skills, and practiced a little (I’m still not very good), I found that the Bushman knife was wildly impractical; too heavy, weighted weirdly, hard to store (I made a sheath, it kept cutting it’s way out of it because of the curve). Now I keep a couple of Mora knives around instead; they have rubberized grip and don’t slide out of your hands, the shape of the handle keeps your hand from sliding up over the blade, they are light and well-balanced, easy to sharpen, and come with a great, lightweight, durable, well-fitted plastic sheath.  The other one that comes to mind was also a knife. I had read how great the British hacking knife (used in construction) was because it has a soft spine and can be safety used to baton, wood, also hefty enough to serve as a sort of a hatchet. Well, I practiced with it, removing invasive vines and brush, and I almost cut my thumb off! Admittedly, I was chopping too close to my other hand, but with a chopper that small, I had to do so in order to get any force. After that scare, walking home blood dripping from the gash in my thumbnail, I later tested the other thing it was ‘great’ at and found that the spine was so soft it deformed if you used it to baton wood. I recycled that POS and bought a few folding saws until I found one that fit my hands nicely (Bahco Laplander). Not totally satisfied with that one, but even if you’re exhausted and getting sloppy, it’s hard to hurt yourself more than a minor cut. And, with a 7″ blade, if you’re patient enough and have the grip strength, you can cut though 6.5″ branches!

For some reason, it’s very difficult to find newer information on American per-capita carbon footprint than circa 2010. That being said, I think the (unfortunately stale) data backs me up: https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/cooler-smarter-geek-out-data https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/news/when-it-comes-carbon-footprints-location-and-lifestyle-matter If you take a look at the Union of Concerned Scientists article, of the 28% chunk of per-capita emissions they call ‘transportation’, it’s 92% car, 8% plane. If you add up driving and home energy use, you’re already at almost 60% of total per-capita emissions. Drastically reduce both of those things and you’ve cut your personal emissions by about half. On the other hand, even if you stopped flying entirely, that’s a rounding error, unless you are an extreme outlier who takes hundreds of flights per year for work or something.  Of course, in practice, we should do everything we can to reduce our emissions on all fronts, but start with the low-hanging fruit. I will also admit that I’m getting pretty frustrated with people who buy recycled paper towels and shut the taps off when they brush their teeth, then dust off their hands and say ‘well, I’m doing my part’, while ignoring the elephants in the room.  I agree that in the long run our lifestyles will have to radically change, but if we can at least make a good start now, it may help us change in a more smooth and gradual way rather that the sudden sharp stops we survivalists worry about. 


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