I agree. I also think sometimes instead of logging in some users check out things as a guest.
I was one of those guests. This whole concept of rewilding facinates me. I grew up in boy scouts, and learned to tie knots, learned a minimal amount of information about wilderness survival, attempted to make fire from a fire drill, albeit unsuccessfully, etc. I have always had a deep love and respect of nature.
I did not lose that over time, but over time I conformed more and more to civilization. I got more and more education, and here I sit today, a lawyer with an office job. I sit and peer out my window and daydream of the day I can get back outdoors. I dream of living a simple life. If I could live my dream and if I had no committments, I would be tempted to go into the woods as Henry David Thoreau did and live off the land around me.
I have little to no skills, but this idea draws me. One day when I was low on work, I was bouncing around in cyberspace and came upon this board. I have been a lurker for a couple weeks now, staying back in the shadows and reading. I have often come here to see new ideas and new posts.
I read about the civilization collaps and Peak Oil. I must admit, I am largely ignorant on these topics, but want to be enlightened. Peak Oil make a lot of sense, and quite honestly, as I’ve thought about the concept the past couple weeks, it has scared the hell out of me. I am torn between whether it is just a theory that civilization will collapse or if some other sort of energy source will be discovered or invented and if civilization will merely evolve and adapt to a more primitive state, while still being somewhat civilized. I don’t know, but I now want to learn all about these ideas.
So that is what brings me. I don’t have much to contribute because I know nothing of foraging, or natural shelters, or pulling fire from sticks. Although, as I mowed the yard last weekend, I stooped over and plucked a dandelion and ate it. I had never done that before. Now I wonder if any other edible plants grow in my yard. In early spring there are violots…I think I saw where those are edible. I do have a small cultivated garden that brings me much joy and pleasure, but it is not wild. I also have a variety of herbs growing…mint, basil, rosemary, etc. for seasoning. I also have developed a keen interest in beekeeping and want to get some beehives and keep bees and have fresh honey and make products from the bees wax such as candles, lip balms, etc.
I wonder if I am much to ingrained with civilization to ever truly be a rewilder. But I am on the path to knowledge right now…a good first step.
KoB,
You and I sound very similar. While I am not a lawyer, I am a paralegal w/ the desk job, but I haven’t got the “office spread” yet, LOL. Thank the gods for small favors.
Peak Oil is somewhat disconcerting, but an intelligent person like yourself can survive it. My advice is not to take it too seriously. Sure, the world is gonna end, but a new one opens up to us with that ending. Follow your old Boy Scout Training and “Be Prepared”.
Anyone can rewild. The first step on any path is believing you can do it.
Welcome, and enjoy!!
[quote=“23, post:5, topic:213”]KoB,
You and I sound very similar. While I am not a lawyer, I am a paralegal w/ the desk job, but I haven’t got the “office spread” yet, LOL. Thank the gods for small favors.
Peak Oil is somewhat disconcerting, but an intelligent person like yourself can survive it. My advice is not to take it too seriously. Sure, the world is gonna end, but a new one opens up to us with that ending. Follow your old Boy Scout Training and “Be Prepared”.
Anyone can rewild. The first step on any path is believing you can do it.
Welcome, and enjoy!![/quote]
Thanks 23!
I do know I need to be prepared. And I know education is the first step in anything. So, what are some good resources on Peak Oil. What are the projections as to when the Peak will occur? Do current rising gas prices indicate the peak has occured, or is that just politics causing the high prices?
I have not yet studied these questions in depth. I just have periphrial knowledge about the issue.
a couple of good places to start are
John Greer’s blog: thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com My favorite
The Tribe of Anthropik: www.anthropik.com very very informative, the thirty theses are the definitive (IMO) works on why Civilization sucks whale sperm, a must read
The Oil Drum : theoildrum.com lots of info
Jeff Vail’s Blog: www.jeffvail.net very good blog, about many things other than peak oil, w/ some PO stuff
and of course Urban Scout’s Blog www.urbanscout.com not very related to PO but a MUST-READ for primitivists. Watch his movies too, they are pretty funny.
That’s all I can think of right now.
ON EDIT: I forgot one www.worldwithoutoil.org a fictional online “game†where “we†see what life would be like after the first and subsequent oil shocks. Game started May 1st, and runs to June 1st 2007. A lot of interesting responses and blogs about life after oil. pretty fun thing to pass the time.
Welcome, kindofblue!
Your situation sounds pretty similar to mine. I have been at office jobs for a long time, wishing I was somewhere green.
I’m glad you found REWILD, and I hope we can help you find a way to gain back the knowledge that has been lost in civilization.
On peak oil and the collapse:
I think we’ll see the whole gamut of possibilities you mentioned. Cities will try to hold on–by continuing to rape the land or by trying to use sustainable resources. There will be survivalists who think they can hole up with a rifle and some rations, a garden and a goat, and survive whatever comes. Then there will be the ones who walk away, who form tribe, who hunt and gather their food. I think only these will truly survive–in the enduring sense of lasting beyond a few generations. Like Derrick Jensen points out, stone age cultures are the only ones that are truly sustainable.
On gardens:
I’m trying to start a garden myself this year. Partly to see whether I like it or not and how hard it is. Partly in the hopes that I’ll have something delicious out of it. Partly to see what weeds come up in the disturbed ground.
When I first heard about one of my friends’ amazing garden, the first thing I though was: “sweet! I wonder what kind of weeds come up there.”
On rewilding:
wonder if I am much to ingrained with civilization to ever truly be a rewilder. But I am on the path to knowledge right now....a good first step.
You’re not alone in these feelings. I don’t think true feral living will happen in our life time. But I believe it will begin before I die. We will be the first contributors to the new lore that our descendants will carry on until it is such ancient knowledge that it is considered to have always been known.
I wonder if I am much to ingrained with civilization to ever truly be a rewilder. But I am on the path to knowledge right now....a good first step.
I would definately say that is a good first step, KOB. The thing is, there really is no turning back from here on out, no matter how conditioned to civilization you are. That’s just the way it goes… 8)
And while you’re on this path to knowledge it makes it much easier to surround yourself with like minded people. Daniel Quinn explains how to do this clearly and coherently in his book, Beyond Civilization. It’s a handbook to help us get beyond this prison culture.
I don’t think anybody has recommended Ran Prieur’s work to you yet. His work is definately worth checking out as you continue on down this path.
Good luck!
Curt
I sometimes have started to read posts as a visitor,forgetting to log in.
:
:’( ; ;D ofthewood
I hear you all,
If you have come this far you have started. Many starting points exist ya know?! Depends on the persons situation, right? No body the same. Many steps to look forward to too as far as I go. Lots to learn too. I enjoy the ideas "walk away, step by step, go tribally (not necessarily indigenously/natively/aboriginally/ or “primitively” tribally) [Daniel Quinn description from his tools and frames of references]. A one right way for people to live doesn’t exist. So go ahead do what you want, experiment, rechild, change minds, unite and divserify, idk. MY journey (my small part) really started with Daniel Quinn, Tom Brown, and MYSELF after my bro. hooked me up with the book Ishmael and later Tracker. They especially helped me open my eyes to see the community of life for what it has to offer and DQ taught many of us about the law of life. SHIFT has changed my life greatly and in some ways I’ve searched for it (or something like it) for a log time but only recently participated. Yay!!! My life has gone desettling for the last 9 years. Like I say ‘my civilization life suck for the most part, I want a more wild life’ so that myself, our children, and our neighbors in community of life don’t have to put up with totalitarian agricultural and lock and key like we do nowadays on such a enormous devastating and genocidal scale. I personally don’t care if the world has a “small†civilization that just wants a little land to call their own (as long as it doesn’t come my way with annihilation of diversity), but I do care about a civilization (OUR civilization) that has encompassed and exerted full-time control over MOST of Earth’s terrain and looks forward to continue. I don’t believe we will find a resource that will take over the job of oil, I think we already have a resource that can’t do the job of oil, however, can keep us alive for more than a hundred years along WITH the need biodiversity. And many of us call it: The New Tribal Revolution (give support, get support, and all that good and bad stuff). You don’t have to know everything, in order to join with me you just got to want to with me. I believe everybody has opportunities and resources to make a difference and a one right way for people to make difference doesn’t exist. In no way have I hated on civilization (especially OURS which I hate the most lol), I just only desire diversity to restore, and our civilization currently doesn’t except THAT. It wants everything to get ordered around by it. Fuck that!!! Rewild away.
Earnestly ours,
Dedomesticator
p.s. KOB, welcome and thank you.
*&%^!, i just went to reference Daniel Quinn’s book/tool that I had in a tool box but can’t find it. The book, The Story of B, has this one part that I wanted to post, but like I said, unfortunately, i don’t have it anymore. Well, if I find it or a copy, I look forward to posting it.
KoB,
I wanted to say something else about Peak Oil. A few years back my friends and family did a radio interview with Richard Heinberg. He wrote The Party is Over and Powerdown. Those two books are probably some of the best books out there when it comes to understanding and doing something about Peak Oil.
And if you don’t have the time to read those you can listen to the talk he gave at the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair a few years back. Just click on the link below. It’s an amazing audio piece when it comes to understanding what we face when it comes to running out of cheap oil.
http://www.superiorbroadcast.org/Heinberg.htm
Again, good luck!
Curt
Awesome discussion!
On gardens & gardening
Permaculture is great, but can often be a little overwhelming. Another perspective to play with is Masanobu Fukuoka’s “Natural Farming” or “Do-Nothing Farming”, which is really a form of horticulture. One of the things that the method relies on (that he does not always draw proper attention to, IMHO) is that timing is very important!
Admitedly he spends less time on a simple veggie garden than anything else, but there’s still some great ideas like:
"Sowing a good quantity of fall vegetables such as daikon, turnip, and other crucifers will hold back the emergence of winter and spring weeds. When left in the orchard until the following spring, however, these flower and age, becoming something of a nuisance in gardening work. If a few of these vegetables are left to grow here and there, they will flower and drop seed. Come June or July, the seeds will germinate, giving many first-generation hybrids close by the original plants. These hybrids are semi-wild vegetables that, in addition to having a taste and appearance quite different from that of the original vegetable, generally grow to absurdly large proportions: great big daikon, turnips too large for children to pull up, giant Chinese cabbages, crosses between black mustard and Indian mustard, … a garden of surprises. As food, they are likely to overwhelm and many people may be hesitant about sampling, but depending on how they are prepared, these vegetables can make for very flavorful and interesting eating."
http://fukuokafarmingol.info/fover.html
And, on a more personal note, I’ve found that my gardens are actually pretty good places to encourage certain weeds to grow (my neighbors think I’m crazy, but…). So I have a pretty decent sized patch of lamb’s quaters in one garden (finally tried that cooked this past weekend, and god damn that stuff’s good!), clover, shamrocks (wood sorrel), wild onions, dandelions (of course!), chufa, rose of sharon sprouts, pokeweed and probably other stuff I haven’t managed to identify yet!
On Peak Oil
Yeah, once “Peak Oil” sank in, I just kind of walked around lost in thought, not saying anything for a few hours as I worked through it. It can be a pretty big pill at first, but, once you get past that, it’s really for the best. Anthopik’s “30 Theses” is an excellent guide to getting comfortable with the position that leaving civilization behind is the best thing we can possibly do for both ourselves and our world.
Also, I’d like to add this site to list of urls to visit:
http://poweringdown.blogspot.com/
It’s often not specific to Peak Oil, but it’s still an excellent blog.
On signing on as Guest
Yeah, I do that too sometimes. If I need to clear out my cookies during testing and/or debugging, I might be wandering around for a couple weeks w/o actually signing in!
(oh, yeah, I’ve got an office job I’m not that thrilled with either… )
I moved kindofblue’s latest reply to this thread to a new thread here due to a change in topic.
Feel free to continue the above thread and to comment to kindofblue’s new question at the other thread.
Great replies, with a lot of great resources. I have added these links to Penny’s Media page over at the wiki. Feel free to add more.
This rest of this post has been moved to Rewilding Mind & Heart due to a change in topic.
[iurl=http://www.rewild.info/conversations/index.php?topic=277.0]http://www.rewild.info/conversations/index.php?topic=277.0[/iurl]
Wow, 61 quests on line. I’ve never seen so many. 8)
I saw’d 67
84 guests…
:o 107! Amazing!
155! And 3 users! Holy crap!