General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How many people here want a country of low energy, low tech farms? [View all]Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)...(but it was in the Gungeon, so was promptly labeled nutty "survivalism" or something). Some important points:
(1) Why does everyone want to "bug out" to the hinter lands? Very few folks know how to deal with life in wilderness or even domesticated rural situations. Why not stay where you are (if it's the city) and make do in an environment you know best? Here, you will find your own place, probably a neighborhood to share work and ideas, community self-defense, more diverse resources, and better prospects for improvement. In Detroit, there is a renaissance (or more accurately) a return to "urban" farming, notably in former neighborhoods which have been scraped clean. Said another way: Check your yard and see how much stuff it can produce.
(2) If you had a choice of one utility, potable water is THE list. Any deer hunter or back-to-nature type who buys a hundred acres in Javelina Breath, Texas, knows to take the water, even (or especially) if it is wind-mill powered; you can make do without power until you create your own source or substitute.
(3) Schlesinger, in his 2010 book "The Battery," notes that more and more stuff is running on less and less juice, and with battery tech getting far better, distant communication may not be a significant impediment. (I have noted small battery-powered HAM radio devices are now available.)
Speaking of giddiness, the oft-stereotyped old fart who lived through the Great Depression and said "what this country needs is another depression," was actually waxing nostalgic for a time of personal contact, community connection and cooperation, as this person had already seen the wave of urban depersonalization and appliances in service of hermetically sealing oneself off from others and their problems during the Twenties. His eyes were not rose-colored glass, and his face was straight.