Sister Sage's Musings

I ran across an interesting blog in my travels today called Peak Oil Blues.  A very well written blog by Kathy McMahon, Psy.D.   Considering that governments around the world are quietly preparing for the civil unrest that is sure to follow the sudden repercussions on the day they pull the plug on public denial of this reality, I thought about how that might affect my life personally and us as a culture.

 

 

I really encourage everyone to read the entire article, it is very well written.  We need to consider this as we make choices for the future.  For instance, travel.  In this day and age, affluent societies feel entitled to travel the world.  It does certainly broaden the mind to experience as many cultures as possible, but at what cost?  I do not travel far anymore.  I haven’t been on a plane for 22 years.  I will never board another plane in my life, willingly.  I am not afraid to fly and I am still curious about other cultures, I just can’t justify the expense, both environmental and economic. 

 

I wish we could also ask professionals to curtail their travels.  Why send a delegation to China, when Skype could get you there for pennies?  At my expense, in the case of public officials.  And why are our politicians all rushing to China anyways?  I know, next world superpower, but why are our politicians giving away finite resources so cheaply?  Take Enbridge (please!)  They want to build a pipeline across the most potentially productive land in Canada and allow Oil Tankers to transport the crude to China for processing.  For a few jobs.  Why don’t they process the oil in Alberta and keep it for Canadians and have Canadian jobs?  They should not feel entitled to travel the world at our expense.  We recently paid Gordon Campbell to attend the latest Bildenberg Conference in Spain.  Hilariously, they mistakenly addressed him as Prime Minister Gordon Campbell.  Why did we pay his expenses to go to this meeting so wracked with controversy?  That is just a drop in a very large bucket though.

 

On September 11, that fateful day of infamy, I was working on a Saanich farm in the perennial field.  It was eerie working outside on that fall day and not a single plane passed overhead.  It was one of those AHA moments for me, when I could suddenly imagine a post entitled world.  We could all cope with staying home, cancelling plans to be halfway around the world.  What if we could all imagine curtailing un-necessary travel altogether, for the enrichment of everyone.  We would save huge amounts of this finite resource that way.  I think we may dramatically reduce the spread of disease as well.

 

Another thing we could do is make friends with winter vegetables.  Eating locally and in season is a great way to adapt.  Let’s face the fact that avacados are expensive in more ways than one.  The more financially secure we make our closest farmers, the more secure our food supply becomes.  Ditto with wild salmon stocks versus farmed fish.  And local farmers need protection from takeover bids from Agribusiness.  Monsanto wants the Agricultural land base of the planet, they also want to own the seed that gets planted and the phosphate fertilisers that replace good farming technique.

 

I always had the feeling that I was born out of time, that I would have been happier and more successful if I had been born 150 years ago.  Maybe I’ll get the chance to find out.  I have a feeling it won’t be pretty though, with the police and military having 21st century technology.

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