Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 11:52 AM
To: wwo@worldwithoutoil.org
Subject: contribution
23 May 2007
(This isn't actually a story about how my life changes in a future world. It is an expository description of my life now, but it would be equally true in the future scenario proposed by your web site.)
Expensive gasoline? Who cares. The last time I bought gas was in March and I still have half a tank. The last time I drove was mid April to pay my property taxes (I like to get a receipt in person) and do a few errands.
I ride my bike to work - a part time job. I walk to the grocery. I use the great privilege of property ownership to grow as much of my own food as possible - currently about half of my needs. A vegetarian diet is vital to the success of this lifestyle. It has taken me a decade to teach myself how to do this, such is the inane state of public education that these vital survival skills are rarely taught.
From a monetary perspective I live in "poverty", yet my life is far richer intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally than most people I meet.
My advice: spend a little more time off line; cancel your cell phone service; talk to the people nearby (love the one your with); learn to value a breath of fresh air more than the latest gadget; learn to savor the exuberance of a hard day's work whose reward is not a pay check, but a good workout without the health club fee, and the promise of provisions in the coming winter; and most important, learn to forgo all the unnecessary "needs" which strangle your life and keep you running like a pathetic rat.
- Cy Ocybin
P.S. obviously my email address is a pseudonym and a temporary account: I value my privacy. If you can not respect my anonymity for this one time flirt with fools, then the souls following your pied pipe will be deprived of the benefit of my experience - obviously that decision is your choice, as are the six degrees of consequences that flow therefrom.
The only real question is: do you really care about others with the hope of teaching them useful skills, or are you just another noisemaker looking for a way to profit from the hysteria of other people?
1 comment:
Welcome Cy,
Check it out! We haven't included *anyone's* email address except our own, wwo@worldwoithoutoil.org, so people know where to send their contributions. Your identity is safe with us.
Looks like you've reached a lot of the same conclusions that many netizens here have. A lot of biking & growing-your-own round these parts. My question now is, how many of us does it take doing this to turn the oil frenzy around?
That's sort of the whole point of this gathering site for people's reports of what *is* going on in the oil shock, and perhaps more importantly, *what we can do about it.* So your hope for this site is correct: We aim to be a clear-thinking antidote to hysteria!
Take a look around, see what people are up to. And if you like, offer more of your wisdom garnered from 10 years on the job of living with less oil. How have the people around you reacted to your change in lifestyle? Have you been an inviting model for how else to live?
Rainey
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