I value the adaptability and hard work ethics of my grandparents and their parents generation as well. When we, as a country, start slipping down the steep hill our values will get a shake up that’s been a long time coming! The coolest shoes or what money can buy will no longer judge a persons worth. Living harmoniously within your local environment is going to prove far more valuable than having the latest Dolce & Gabbana handbag.

I am currently writing a book of the history of British capitalism (based on rise of fossil fuels) and of French democracy.

As well as http://www.candobetter.org/ where I write articles about issues related to overshoot, I have my thesis (which compares the response to the first oil shock of France and Australia) at http://www.candobetter.org/au

I was also interviewed by Kellia Ramares twice on the subject of Peak Oil.

I have filmed Mike Stasse, Australian Running on Empty Oz list owner, viewable here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuetSASTxXU

I think that oil depletion is a sexy issue due to its enormous importance and the need to understand some basic thermodymanics to grasp it. I have noticed that a lot of men like to be identified as peak oilers because it gives them a sense of importance to be able to warn people about the future; they can imagine saving people, or trying to save them and failing – being leaders. It also offers engagement and peer discussion. I think also, whilst it is entirely real, it also serves as a powerful metaphor for death and as such is unconsciously used as a way of coming to terms with one’s own mortality.

Because it is a ’sexy’ area, there is a lot of competition from men to be heard in it, and that tends to put women off. Most women will not compete with men where there is real jostling for the podium.

In my own case, the many issues surrounding oil (and other fossil fuel depletion) are too fascinating to leave me much time for heroic blogging.

I have a number of other ideas, but just wanted to let you know that I exist and that I am a Woman.

cheers,

Sheila Newman
Energy, Population, Environment, Land-use Planning and Housing sociologist.

any of the fat asses who can’t grow, survive and thrive will die….

We have kept a lot of stupid people alive too long because we make it easy for them to eat.

The intelligent and hard working will SurThrive….

no worries…

got preps?
got seeds?
no how to grow?

excellent!

I would love to attend one but as a non wage earning homemaker I don’t have the resources or the time to do so. Plus, my garden needs watering!

All you dummies who can’t plant a seed or turn a screw driver will simply have to turn to us (and probably serve us) which is how it should be. The dumb have always served the smart.

“I think we will see a lot of ‘women only’ villages spring up after PO – a consequence of women having learned they don’t need men”

Great – keep all of those fascist lesbians together! Out of sight, out of mind, a win-win scenario for everyone.

“Men, get a vasectomy NOW – because you won’t have much of a sex life post PO without one.”

If that’s the case, we wouldn’t need vasectomies, would we? I hope you conjure some suitable organic sex toys after we’ve passed “peak Rabbit vibrators”

Succinctly: Peak oil will probably be accompanied by peak opportunities for women, and most women, regardless of their politics, understandably might not want to think or talk about the implications of that probability–until they can no longer put off thinking about it.

For myself, I spring-boarded out of metropolitan life. Apart from delivering a life worth living, rural life also delivers some kind of viscerally recogisable set of values. As well as these factors it appeared to me that the risks of metropolitan life were becoming unacceptable. I should also extend this to the suburbs – equally reliant on complex food supply-chains, politicised and (arguably) diminishing energy supplies, ever-ramping security constraints and a vast array of social disease.

Boys and girls…it’s all or nothing. You either make the leap or continue to be a ‘dancer on the edge of time’.

I’ve never planted a seed, grown a tomatoe, or milked a cow. I’ve never been a DIY kind of person. I’m not a bad person, its just my personality. If i can give some of these dollar bills, which I have plenty of, to fix my car,hot water heater, plumbing or anything else, then I will. I never had or have an interest in such things. Ive never had to wrry about these things……so I didn’t!! As I get older I realize that was probably a mistake of mine. Instead of going out every weekend to the latest and greatest club or party maybe I shouldve been more interested in learning something other than IT. But i wasn’t. Now, you guys are telling me I’m screwed becuase of Peak Oil? I dont think I’ll see doomsday in my lifetime. I’m not that arrogant to think I’m that special. So, I’ll continue my pampered , party driven, sex loving, good time. Besides, if the SHTF, you guys will help me out, right?

I agree completely, and you can all do this, too! It doesn’t hurt much, once you’ve given up your “life style” for one that is at least equally rewarding.

What is it that people who love their country and see it invaded do? They revolt. Why do they revolt? Because the invaders are destroying their country.

My personal fight against the “invaders” is a commitment to build soil and to stop spewing carbon and nutrients into the air.

It’s fairly common here to see wafts of smoke going up here and there, as people gather brush and slash and burn it.

I got a wood chipper (that I power from biodiesel we make here) and have been “saving” slash piles from the fire. We berm and compost the smallest branches, split and dry the largest ones for next winter’s heat, and chip up the rest. We may even be able to sell some of that to rich summer people, who get a nice warm green feeling about putting cedar chips down instead of mowing grass.

Other people’s free waste plus your labour equals an improved future!