Cottage Industry - Build Tools

Okay - we can see the bulldozer coming at us, wiping away half of all that has been created in the past century. Let's guess that oil prices will get back over the four dollar mark like last summer, before the election. What happens when the trucks stop shipping and each location is left to fend for itself. How well will your community do?

The regions that will do best are the ones that can make products for trade. As manufacturing has left the country, people will need to develop the skills to feed and clothe themselves from virtual scratch. The skills necessary to operate equipment are not available through the current education system, but will be necessary in the short term future. Time will come to pull out the designs of old equipment from 150-200 years ago and start recreating self-sufficiency from the bottom up. Lawns to gardens, cob and adobe housing, flow-form wetland fountains, water catchments, food storage - it takes only moments for you to think of other low-tech, widely necessary village tools and skills.

My friend Catie is right on top of this idea. Her proposal for a sustainable support services center combines the underutilized talents of eight community members at a single location for exchanging information, building and recycling goods and providing technical services. Access to tools will require that we build the tools ourselves - a true apprentice program that is an exchange of time for training is one of the keys to viability. (We could use angels and investors)

However, the politicos don't seem to be getting the message - Obama stimulus funds are directed to fixing highways, not lifestyles. If you have some ideas, share them with your neighbors and see if you can get people together in your own location. Develop an idea of the local talents that people might be willing to share and establish a place to be able to develop the methods of making the items we need to get by. The Walmarts will disappear fast once they no longer can get goods to sell. Be ready to establish trade route with neighbors in a theatre near you by being able to build something people need. A venue will arrive shortly to widely distribute available knowledge - start collecting yout thoughts, blueprints and mechanisms.