What Preps are you doing this week? Part 8.

[grenfell]

No idea on the timescale.Not even a guess

The decline has already started .

Tend to agree that it has already started and it probably gives plenty of ammunition to argue as to when the decline started in the same way as the argument as to when the second world war started. It could be the early 70's when America reached peak oil , or perhaps the crash of 2008/9 or maybe last year with the covid business.
I have my own theory but i 'll just ask if people think things have got better or worse since the early 90's.

[jennyjj01]

No idea on the timescale.Not even a guess

The decline has already started .

Tend to agree that it has already started and it probably gives plenty of ammunition to argue as to when the decline started in the same way as the argument as to when the second world war started. It could be the early 70's when America reached peak oil , or perhaps the crash of 2008/9 or maybe last year with the covid business.
I have my own theory but i 'll just ask if people think things have got better or worse since the early 90's.

Well, Global energy consumption has almost exactly doubled since 1970
Maybe 2020 was one of the best years the planet and global economy ever had or will ever have.

I reckon that since the energy use / global warming / resource grabbing global threat is sort of growing exponentially, there's never really such a thing as 'When it started' except to say that it already has and we are accelerating towards an end point. Like jumping off a building, the acceleration is not what kills us.

Oh hum. Here's to being wrong.

[grenfell]

This isn't a very black and white answer and largely depends upon the metric one uses to define decline. If we were to look at living standards prior to WW1 compared to say the 1960's there was a definite increase in line with global energy consumption. There was more food available , more consumer products and better health care. So it could be argued increased energy use is consumate with there not being a decline which isn't something i'd actually agree with but many exponents of continuous growth do. Then we could look at real wages which haven't risen for the most part for several decades despite global energy use going up . Plus of course there's population to consider. We could be in decline but still have greater energy useage simply because there are more of us. That i find is a very sensitive issue . Many don't accept that we are over populated both as a nation or globally and any mention of lowering immigration or the birth rate are answered with accusations of racism .
My own theory is that revolution has played a part here. If we look at living standards up to the first world war it grew very slowly. Comes the Russian revolution and living standards ( and energy consumption shown in the graph) start to rise in the western world. Throw in the Chinese revolution and we see a huge leap in living standards from the 1950's. As if the western world is so scarred of communism that they go all out to show how we are better off as we are . Fast forward to the 1990's and the fall of the soviet union and i see living standards and wages starting to stagnate . Suddenly there is no alternative way and no need to keep us overflowing with the bread and circuses . I might be wrong as well but that's how I see things. Not saying communism is the answer although by definition a controlled economy should manage consumption somewhat better than a free for all . Decline will still happen but the can should be further down the road.
We seem to be getting away from the basics of this thread and perhaps some posts should be moved to a seperate topic of it's own?

[jansman]

...and with grenfell’s last sentence in mind, my preps are ( these days) more focused upon the changes we have been discussing.

Today, I made sure I have enough compost stored for NEXT Spring. COVID-19 taught me a lesson there! Seeds will not be a problem - plenty left from this year, and I shall be saving a fair bit too. Heating fuel is building nicely, and stored food too.

Where I work is a busy old place. However, as people leave, they are not being replaced. Everyone is having to pick up the slack. My boss is a ruthless *******, and I never consider myself safe. I have been made redundant more than once. That’s going to be a familiar story as time moves on.

For *me* my prepping is now geared towards rapid economic change, which *I*feel is inevitable
given what we have been discussing.

[peejay]

Have sown some new lettuce seeds today - last year those in the ground were virtually untouched but this year they've just getting cut off at the base, presumably slugs. No idea why so different but might be due to a different bed this year (with different compost in the current bed).

[Arzosah]

My basil seedlings arrived in the post yesterday tiny compared to the sage plants. I've been hardening off the sage, which nearly got shredded by a **huge** hailstorm, never seen as much hail as that.
Massive amount of tidying too: a lot of my lighting gear is now stored together, which has meant a drawer is free for the storage of other things I really have to clear the 2nd bedroom, so that I can store stuff in there from my own bedroom while a workman is replacing the wobbly windows, plus if I need help of any kind (dental sedation companion etc) whoever it is will have to stay in that room, and it feels like it'd be a real slum at the moment Incidentally, it gives me a higher standard of living once it's clean and tidy, so it's a win-win.

[peejay]

I've just realised - I replaced the side door & windows in our garage recently as they were rotten and I never had a key for the door anyway, so only had the electric up & over door which would have been useless for access in a power-down situation. Now that I have a "manual" door available I can move some of my power-related prep items (usb lamps etc.) from the shed to the garage...

[bobble]

Bought some replacement bulbs for my car today.

[jansman]

Just ordered some more hexamine blocks. Went fishing today, and the weather was awful.Whilst I kept dry,the wind really cut through,and after three hours I was COLD. I was catching,but I made the decision to get some warm grub in me. My get home bag came in to play: fetched out the hexi- stove and mess tin,water and a pasta meal. Within 15 minutes I was getting some warm scran down me. Then the sun came out, and I fished on, feeling a lot more comfortable.

I didn’t think a lot about it at the time, but it was a good test of my kit.The new Dragon fuel is crap.Doesn’t burn long enough.The old style Hexi burns twice as long,even though the eco police don’t like it and it does stink Food replaced,water replaced.Done.

[diamond lil]

I think a lot of the new stuff is garbage so it's a good idea to test everything before you really need it.