Saw "The End of Suburbia" last night.

[PDittie]

http://www.endofsuburbia.com/index.htm

Then I read more about James Kuntsler (he's prominent in the film) http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/05/14/kunstler/index.html">at Salon this morning.

My impression/conclusion?

We're fucked, people. It's just a question of when the sheep wake up and realize it (and how rough it is).

[Extend a Hand]

1. our way of life will certainly have to change

clearly our government isn't going to address the issue. But it does seem like more and more individuals are planning and making changes personally. I'm still hoping that individual and grassroots movements to change lifestyles can save our society. My fear is that our government will hamper any progress by implementing a draft so that it has bodies for its resource war(s). :scared: :scared:

[Warpy]

2. People are still buying houses in the exurbs

meaning over an hour's commute from work in a city, just so the kiddies can have a swing set in the back yard. Meanwhile, most of the city parks have gotten rid of playground equipment, thanks to paranoia about lawsuits.

These are the people who are going to get hurt the worst, the younger families who can't afford to live close to where they work, and the whole prospect is sickening.

[brokensymmetry]

3. Yep.

If you get the time, read Jared Diamond's book, Collapse of Complex Societies. You might also wish to read Mr. Kuntsler's blog at http://www.kunstler.com/index.html

Also, take a look at http://www.simmonsco-intl.com/research.aspx?Type=msspeeches

And then there's another little problem. Back in the 1950's, we had about 2 billion people. Now we have 6.5 billion. The key to feeding them is energy intensive agriculture. Hmm....what happens when the energy starts getting really, really expensive and billions begin to starve?

[PDittie]

6. Matthew Simmons was in the film also

He's local (to me; I live in Houston).

He was also on the Cheney Energy Task Force, the one the minutes of which will never (apparently) be made public.

[pstans]

4. Pick up Kunstler's new book

Pick up Kunstler's new book "The Long Emergency" about Peak Oil. I just started reading it this past week and it is great. Kunstler has a talent for describing a scary-as-hell situation in a blunt, humourous manner.

Or you could read his classic, "The Geography of Nowhere," about the decline of Subrubia and the importance of redoing our built environment into New Urbanism. This book gives the history of our Cartoon buidlings and hopeless surburbs.

And if you have the time, money, and aren't tied down, get the hell out of Texas. Once we crash, living in Texas, without AC, around those RW gunloving evangelifreaks will not be good. Kunstler says that the midwest, NE, and Pacific NW have a far better chance of a surviving than the Sunbelt and SW.

[Zorbuddha]

5. You are correct, sir...

This is something for which those who have seen coming have been shouted down as so many Chick Littles, but the handwriting on the wall is becoming decipherable by even the most short-sighted among us.

The tea leaves tell a grim story, indeed.

We might have squandered our chance to get back to the garden.

[PDittie]

7. Welcome to DU, Zorbuddha n/t

[Zorbuddha]

8. Thank you. n/t

[crispini]

9. Just read the Salon article.

:scared:

Which really makes me wonder about where good places to live would be? I have to admit that the moderate climate down here makes me want to stay. Also, as I look around Dallas, I see a LOT of green space that could be converted into farms and gardens. I have an eighth of an acre, for example, and most of my neighborhood is like this. If people were to really put their energies towards food production gardening in this neighborhood I have no doubt that we would be able to feed ourselves. One of my neighbors even keeps chickens and I am thinking of doing the same. Of course, we are a neighborhood of gardeners, which is why we live in this area, which is a very old neighborhood for Dallas -- 30s and 40s. The new exurbs, which feature 4000 square feet of house on 4005 square feet of land, would have problems, IMO.

Energy, however, would be another thing. I don't think we could go off-grid very easily. Has anyone done much looking into solar?

Has anyone here done some thinking about this in general?