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It’s happening in Belgium, Scotland, and Spain, in India, South Korea, Nepal, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Nigeria, Italy, Portugal, Greece, France…need I go on? It only remains “fragmented news” here in the US that, rising fossil fuel prices are impacting people’s ability to feed themselves, and they are protesting, loudly, collectively, sometimes violently.

What might we expect from the average working-class American, as economics in this country continue to worsen? Will they organize in labor unions or protest as isolated individuals expressing their individual sense of hopelessness and despair? Will it be sparked by some “organized” movement, or from some shift in their internal emotional reality? Frank Lee gives his future fantasy version of what he sees could be coming, and folks, it isn’t pretty…

Kathy

The fishermen blew whistles and chanted slogans, while helmeted police kept order.

Peak Toil
by Frank Lee

Wednesday August 4, 2010.

Another hot and muggy day in what seemed to be an endless summer of scorchers. Mary Cole was fighting an intestinal flu, but found it impossible to take time off from her job at Wal-mart. She couldn’t “afford” to be sick. When her bowels told her that she had to “go,” she notified her boss, who blandly told her that it wasn’t her “break time.” She tried to explain, but he walked away. Within three minutes, she soiled herself and started crying. Frank, another clerk, hears what happens, and begins an angry exchange with Harold, the manager. Enraged at being yelled at, Harold fires Frank on the spot. A small group of employees surround the two in a tight huddle. Frank, instead of leaving, continues to argue, as other employees join in. It escalates with Harold being dragged into the employee lounge and assaulted. Someone calls the police, and four men, including Frank, are arrested. Mary is eventually fired for “instigating” the incident.

When his wife bails Frank out of jail, they are strapped for cash, and fall behind on the rent. A buddy calls him to tell him that a guy has shown up to repossess his car. “I need that car for work,” he tells Frank. “If it goes, my job goes, just like yours did.”

It doesn’t take very long for a half dozen people to show up on the street where the repo man leans on the tow-truck. More people join them. Several of them have already faced the same tow-truck and bored looking repo. Shouts start, and bottles fly at the tow-truck, which speeds away in the August heat. The repo guy dodges a bat, and takes off with a fresh array of dents to the car he came in.

Frank has looked forward to his day in court:

“We are the decent, law-abiding citizens,” he began nervously, “that built America. We are the ‘Joe six-packs’ who have always played by the rules, paid our taxes, and our mortgages. But they lied to us. We can’t refinance, like they promised. We live in Ohio. We live in Kansas. We live in Michigan, and Indiana. The last few years have been hard, but we’ve known hard times before. We’ve been ground down, but what’s happening now is different. The plastic is maxed out, and the interest rate is insane.

“We’ve given up our decent car. Now we drive a beater to work. We gave back the keys on our dream home. Now we live in a crappy apartment. Go out to eat? Hell, our wives have been reduced to hitting up the food pantry behind our backs. We’ve eaten too many “Velvetta” sandwiches for lunch, and our families have shared one too many cheese pizzas for dinner. We took a second, even third job, and our crummy pay check can’t provide enough gas money, steady meals, or a decent roof over our heads. Our kids are freezing at night in the winter, and still the oil bill is completely ridiculous. We’ve cut out all the extras, but the “math” doesn’t add up.

“We aren’t getting by. Not in the slightest. And it’s eating us up. We tried to keep some dignity, some pride. We’ve even hit up our relatives until they’ve had to say ‘I’m sorry. We can’t help. We’re hurting too.’ We’ve lost our dignity, because we had to, to keep our kids fed. We fought with our wives and screamed at our kids. We became the kind of men we promised ourselves we’d never be… because we’re angry. No. Angry doesn’t even capture it. I’m sorry, your honor, but we’re pissed.”

Frank begins to tremble. His voice cracks. Tears well up in his tired eyes.

“I’m one of the people who was supposed to get by…. I spoke to Sean Hannity once, and he said I was a ‘Great American…’” Frank sputters. “ And I voted for President Bush both times…”

“That’s quite enough!” the Judge cuts him off. Frank’s mouth is still slightly open. His lower lip trembles.

Suddenly, Frank has an epiphany that feels like a ball of boiling oil in the pit of his stomach. Thoughts pop into his head. Strange thoughts. An eerie calm relaxes the muscles in his face, and spreads through his entire being.

He doesn’t care what I have to say. He doesn’t even care what happened to Mary. He’s just one more big shot that could care less if we can pay our bills, keep a roof over our heads, or feed our kids. There is no justice. I’m on my own… We’re on our own….

Frank is not alone. Something inside the American working class “snaps.” Soon the feeling spreads like a treetop wildfire.

No one knows why, or where it started, but thousands of people from working-class neighborhoods write, “I’m so broke I can’t even pay attention!” on there credit card bills, and mail them back, postage paid.

Frank tries to explain himself to the local news reporter on the courthouse steps:

“I’m not a criminal or some kind of terrorist. I’ve never been on probation before…”

But local TV news ran a story that night that said he was. They lied about me. It didn’t happen like that at all. He no longer trusts “El Rushbo”, or Sean Hannity. Once he listened to them every day on the way from work. He never really thought about it, but now realizes that they’re not on his side. They’re on the other side: Harold the Wal-mart Manager’s side, the repo man’s side, the credit card’s side, the banker’s side, the bankruptcy court’s side, the judge’s side, and now, inexplicably, disorientingly, Frank struggles with the knowledge that he is now on the opposite side from where he thought he was his entire life…

In Terre Haute Indiana 13 cars are vandalized in the parking lot of a collection agency boiler room. The next day in Columbus Ohio, another collection agency office is torched at 3 am and burns to the ground. Within 3 months 28 collection agencies have suffered arson attacks totaling over seventeen million dollars in property damage. Assaults on repo men become so commonplace that police escorts become necessary. By Christmas Day 2010, over 150,000 people with no prior records have been arrested for assault, vandalism, and disorderly conduct. Fox News labels them the “Deadbeat Vigilantes” and “Blue Collar Bullies.”

Bloggers, labor organizers, and talking heads, all scramble to explain what’s happening to all the “Franks” across the country. What’s behind this wave of “Econo-Crime?” Some attack or defend, while others apologize, or demonize. But it doesn’t matter. Not to Frank. Frank has already taken a baseball bat to his TV and dropped it on the curb.

When six families on his street get their electricity shut off, he visits the electric company, and smashes all the car windows in the executive parking spaces. The next morning, in silent solidarity, six more TV sets are in broken heaps, curbside, on his street.

Frank played by the rules and expected to keep his dignity in tough times, to keep body and soul together. He was even willing to surrender the notions of prosperity and upward mobility that his parents had told him was his birthright.

But how can he give up the expectation of having the basics? Food? Shelter? Gas money for work?

The “Franks” become political, but only in the most radically personal way. There are no “leaders” in any traditional sense, even though some will try and run ahead to act as “spokesmen.” Politicians at first, will strive to “contain” them, but it will not matter. Demagogues will try to harness their rage, but will be ignored. They will not be contained by politicians, or co-opted by opportunists.

It will all unravel, unexpectedly and sporadically. While “official” reactions will incoherently bounce between condemnation and conciliation, sympathy will burgeon on the sidelines. Like the Argentineans who took to the street chanting: “Everyone Must Go! No One Can Stay!” working-class Americans will come to feel in a very personal sense that the system has failed them, and they have nothing left to lose.

We haven’t seen this kind of class rage in over a century. So far these Americans have been quietly complacent, waiting for the fundamental change that never comes.

There could be any number of flash points: a currency crisis, bank failures, skyrocketing food and oil prices, massive lay-offs, etc. Or perhaps there will be concurrent whirlpools of misery, sucking in the collective grievances of millions. It will manifest what has always been the single greatest fear of America’s ruling elite: “There’s a f*ck-load of them, and they have guns.”

What will happen when Middle America can no longer muddle through? Maybe it’s time for a Frank conversation.

***********

Frank Lee is a community organizer, social critic, and writer.

Dear Peak Shrink,

Thank you for your web site and the knowledge that others feel as overwhelmed as I do. It has been seven months since I became aware of the peak oil concept, and I am relieved to hear that the initial emotional reactions subside with time. I am incredibly fortunate in some regards, and less so in others. To the good, I live on 11 acres of good rural farmland/woodland, and my wife has fully embraced the need to radically change our life style. To my detriment I retired early when my information technology job migrated to India, limiting my financial resources, and no other friends or family have responded to my tentative overtures in discussing peak oil.

I have progressed to the list making stage, and am dealing with one piece of the puzzle at a time. We have a fledgling pantry, garden, woodstove, hand tools, and two serious defensive rifles (I believe that I recognize some of the paranoid mindset in myself that you mention in your response to letters, lol). Thank you for providing some sense of community to help deal with my altered life view, it is much appreciated!

Preparing to Persevere

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Hi P to P,

Yes, we are all playing ball on running water, aren’t we? You have what I believe is our most precious gift right now, more precious than a small sum of money, and that gift is TIME. You have time to use local manure, instead of buying it in plastic bags for your garden. You have time to get comfortable using those hand tools and rifles. You have time to get to know and help out your neighbors, and you have time to be home and get used to it. In short, you are a wealthy man, as far as I can see, despite your lack of income. You have a wife who is on your side, a source for food and some way to cook it, and fuel to heat your house, water (I assume), a rifle to protect what’s yours and the right attitude.

Yep. You are a wealthy man.

Now it is time to get wealthier in friends. Join with a group of people doing the kinds of things that you’re doing: farming, woodlot harvesting, cooking on woodstove, animal husbandry, all the basic arts. They are out there. No need to talk about Peak Oil. Practice sharpening your aim with that rifle, so you can kill a badger who’s eating your garden, from a distance. Have enough people who also own rifles and consider you their friend, so you don’t HAVE to feel paranoid. They have land and loved ones to defend. So do you. Commonsense says that you have something in common. PLUS, you are neighbors. Draw a circle 5-10 miles around your home, and start there.

P.S. Yes, the negative emotions do subside when you realize just how fortunate you really are.

Anyone agree with me? Would you change places with P to P in a heartbeat? Hand over your IT job, if he gave you his farm, time and experience on farm?

In previous entries, I poked fun at Panglossians, the merry among us who are content to spin yarns about the magic of technology and pontificate about human ingenuity as the key to saving us all. I’ve engaged in an angry rant about those espousing the “power of positive thinking” in solving the Earth’s serious problems. It is now time for me to turn my attention back to my own world view, and more closely examine the payoffs and foibles of viewing the world through a “Doomer” perspective.

Politically savvy Carolyn Baker* insists: “Don’t call me a Doomer!” Chris Martenson, who brilliantly explains in video clips how we got to where we are, prefers the phrase “serious survivalist.” Zachary Nowak is also uncomfortable with the label, but nonetheless believes that it is prudent to err on the side of being overly grim, than being overly optimistic.

I, myself, am affectionately attached to the label, and I suppose, as the pejorative “Dike!” hurled at lesbians, has been reclaimed for use within the lesbian community (dyke), I’ve adopted “Doomer” as a descriptive label among my friends. When it is used by “the other” as an insult, it is usually followed by the chestnut: “Don’t talk about ‘doom and gloom.’” I use it here in the descriptive, not pejorative sense.

A Doomer Manifesto

“Doomer” is a provocative word, meaning one who expects a disastrous destiny. It’s a term that does not appeal to the “mainstream media,” and Doomers seldom craft messages based on “popular appeal.” We live in a commercial world that tells us “if you cannot bring good news than don’t bring any!”

Doomers are accused of being “irresponsible” or “irrelevant,” because we aren’t trying to conform and “reach out” to the masses. We’d argue that conventional thinking itself has brought us to this state, and our message lacks “mass appeal.” Mainstream media is not a source for “factual information,” but actually a barometer for how bad things really are. When the phrase “Peak Oil” finally broke through into popular culture, Doomers knew it was very, very, late in the game.

What’s there to be “doomy” about and why do Doomers expect tomorrow to be worse than today? The very structure of the system, itself, is quite impervious to change. It was aptly put by Dutch economist Maarten Van Mourik: “It may not be profitable to slow decline.” The profit motive fuels the engine of this “runaway train heading for the abyss,” and most of the passengers don’t have a clue what’s happening. The end of this ride will bring “calamitous” results. Massive scale “quick fixes” only serve to shovel more coal into the engine.

With such powerful forces propelling us forward, Doomers anticipate no “Big Daddy” or “Mommy” jumping in at the last minute to “save us,” or the planet we live on. “Growth” in every sense of the word, remains the unquestionable goal for most of our world leaders. The world financial system demands it. The businesses that feed our mainstream media outlets require it. Even modest solutions like “conservation” are commercialized and require still more consumption.

In the USA, Dave Cohen points out that “we are dealing with multiple failures regarding America’s status in the global economy.” Doomers reject the notion that most Americans can absorb skyrocketing oil prices and remain unaffected, or that simple solutions will emerge. Industrialized countries are already greatly affected by rising oil prices and the rest of the world is suffering. In the French revolution, Marie Antoinette purred: “If they’re hungry, let them eat cake!” Here in the industrialized world, politicians offer: “Let them burn biofuels!” Eating, itself, has become subordinated to the industrial need to fuel the world economy. This is crazy.

Therefore, Doomers doubt the likelihood of an intentional change happening on a global level. Is it “impossible” to stop this collapse? Many thoughtful scientists whisper to each other what they can’t address publicly for fear of spreading panic, but what they see is terrifying: hundreds of species dying each day, a vanishing polar icecap, areas of the world, now unrecognizable, are deserts or flood plains. Vast plastic “islands” in our oceans have become “dead zones” or worse. Part of the frustration is the incredible senselessness of it all.

Yet Doomers are the ones that are considered “crazy,” while magical thinking (“We’ll come up with something. I know…let’s trade ‘carbon credits!’ That way, the market will resolve it all!”) passes for a sane and constructive discourse.

“Doomers” of all stripes can agree on the severity of the situation outlined above. But what are the differences between Doomers?

The Fuzzy Sets of Doomer Descriptors

Just as there are many sorts of Panglossians, there are many sorts of Doomers.

These aren’t “hard and fast” categories, but rather “fuzzy sets” that often overlap.

We Doomers observe unfolding events, and respond along a continuum that ranges from malaise to massive action. We also differ in the extent to which we’re interested in the Philosophical/Emotional/Spiritual implications of global collapse. Therefore, we can place ourselves on a intersecting axises where X axis = Action to Inaction and Y axis = Philosophical to Aphilosophical Perspectives.

……………..Philosophical
…………………. |
Action———————Inaction
……………………|
………………Aphilosophical

Here we are talking about adaptive strategies, and not “pathologic typologies.” When we are discussing how to survive what is coming, folks, it makes little sense to talk in terms of pathology. Humanity has never witnessed the enormity of change coming, so how can we define what constitutes a “healthy” attitude towards it?

Philosopher Doomers

What is humanity’s place in the world? What is our essential nature? It’s common to ask “can we survive” but “should we survive?” Would our extinction benefit non-human life on Earth? These are the types of questions that engage a Philosopher Doomer, and these aren’t the rarefied debates that happen in undergraduate philosophy class. Their struggles with the meaning of planetary devastation puts them in the throes of a crisis that they can only resolve by intense personal struggle. debate, and self-reflection.

Ecosophic Subtype
Philosopher Doomers can be powerful advocates for environmental and species preservation, once they have asked and answered (for now) profound questions, and have made some sense of what’s going on around them. While the resolution to that struggle may be personal, the actions they choose to take may not be. They can be mighty warriors in the fight to save the Planet. They don’t see the goal as “personal survival,” if the planet itself becomes unlivable. These Ecosophic philosophers among us speak of a respect for non-human species, and possess a fierce critique of conventional scientific and religious thought. They dwell on deep and universal truths, and we do well to reflect on their words, if we are strong enough to bear the message. They help us see our place in the world as only a tiny part of the ecosystem.

Nihilistic Subtype
Others are asking whether life has any inherent meaning. Those new to Peak Oil can often struggle with these themes and we do well to hear them out, rather than jump to reassure them that “everything will work out…You wait and see.” They can disturb our own sense of “what’s normal” to think, and their pain is deep and moving. We might consider this subtype the “Nihilistic” Doomer, and it can either be a stage of awareness or be adopted as a philosophical framework. There are many other subtypes of Philosopher Doomers, and some may reject the “Doomer” label, itself. These include ones we might label “Primitivists,” “Neo-Luddites,” and “Neo-Pagans” to name but a few. What they have in common is an attempt to develop a perspective on life that captures within it the most pressing questions facing all life on Earth.

Deadbeat Doomers

Philosophical Doomers examine the deepest questions of what is the meaning of life here on Earth, and what our place should be in it. Some have faced deep discouragement, and struggle with the senselessness of it all, and have taken the posture of truth-sayers, prophets, advocates, and provocateurs.

Others have reached the decision that nothing can or should be done. This decision may have been reached after varying degrees of thoughtful reflection. Among them, are those who prefer not to think on these things deeply at all, but see the Nihilistic position as an easy way to avoid struggle, or having to motivate themselves to do anything inconvenient at all. “It’s all hopeless!” is an excuse that allows them to avoid changing anything in their lives, and to direct their anger against other people who try. I’ll call these Doomers “Deadbeats.” Deadbeat Doomers, mock and ridicule even the discussion of direct action: “You talk and plan because you are hairless apes and that’s what hairless apes do! Talk on! It’s pointless!” It is “too lame” for a Deadbeat Doomer to ask “what should be done?” because they’ve decided that no action promises guaranteed success. They’ve comfortable with the position that “nothing can be done,” and proudly proclaim “I don’t store food!”

Their inaction is a logical consequence of their hopelessness: “We’re all screwed, so don’t ask anything of me!” A Deadbeat Doomer might happily write about how hopeless everything is, but often they don’t bother. “You all suck anyway, so it isn’t worth my time.” They are the snipers, flaming others in Peak Oil chat rooms. More frightening, they are the folks encouraging those in the grips of nihilistic despair to “Go ahead. Kill yourself! The planet will be better off!”

Not all are hostile, however. Some simply choose to carry on the same way as before their Peak Oil awareness. Why? Despite the “Nihilistic” facade, it comes down to the fact that it’s simply easier that way. Others find the resolution to “hopelessness” in the pursuit of hedonistic pleasure. “If it’s all going down anyway, I’m gonna get mine, while it’s still here.”

Feelings of futility and hopelessness are not the sole purview of Nihilistic or Deadbeat Doomers, and neither is using hopelessness as an excuse for inaction. We may all seem like Deadbeats when we first learn about Peak Oil, and are struggling with our place in it all. We often ask not only what “can” be done, but also what “should” be done, if anything. We feel like throwing up our hands and proclaiming “It’s hopeless!” during setbacks. But most of us wear these feelings uncomfortably, and prefer to believe that “doing something” is preferable to “doing nothing.” We can bear the discomfort of being wrong.

While Philosopher Doomers question essential notions of our place in the world, Deadbeat Doomers challenge the utility of action itself. We all have inner nagging doubts about which actions will be the most constructive, and Deadbeat Doomers highlight fears that we may be wasting our time. They can be the provocateurs, the angry dissenters, the nay-sayers of hope. They speak to our deepest fears of hopelessness, and futility and the industrious next type, the “Do More Doomers,” especially, resent them for it.

Do-More Doomers

The final type are the “Do-More Doomers.” In contrast to the concern that adopting a “doom and gloom” outlook will lead to hopelessness and inaction, these Doomers see the serious state of the world as a call to action. To the Do-More Doomer, all is not lost and even if it is, there’s still lots of work to be done!

Although discouraged at the global level, Do-More Doomers can be optimistic about the capacity of a small group to create meaning in their lives, and promote sustainable communities, often called “lifeboats.” They may vary in the degree to which they believe such efforts will bring about meaningful community change, but nevertheless, put effort toward that goal. They are founders and volunteers of local sustainability groups. They write books and ebooks that help frame the nature of the problem, and encourage all to lead more self-sufficient lives. They try to create a new focus, a “decentralization team” that favors all the diversity, variety, contrasts, and struggles that such a notion suggests. They want less “stuff” in their lives, however, as we will learn, “Do-More Doomers” are the Peak Oil “shoppers.” They can be easily overwhelmed by the scope of the task, become impractical when assessing what are “essential” skills, and admire those who have constructed elaborate plans to change the entire world, and become easily frustrated when the world fails to cooperate. They are vulnerable to feelings ranging from expansive grandiosity to a profound fear of inadequacy.

Most of us like to imagine ourselves as “useful” and “industrious.” We hope to scare away the horror that we deeply fear, by putting up enough wheat, planting a big enough garden, or motivating our community toward constructive actions.

Do-More Doomers can often times escape into “doing” in order to avoid “feeling” the overwhelming sense of despair and hopelessness that the Nihilistic Doomers are well acquainted with.

Andy of Mayberry Disasters: Kunstler Style

Hard to imagine for some, but when hopelessness and helplessness overcome us, sometimes the charm of a Doomer novel often lifts the spirits! We feel a bit brighter when we read Fantasy Collapse novels. Despite knowing its a fiction, we are nonetheless irrationally reassured that we are on the right track! Ones we favor, however, may reflect our deepest wishes or the “shadow,” unacceptable parts of ourselves.

J.H. Kunstler has written a novel sure to become a Deadbeat Doomer classic: World Made By Hand. Some of us prefer to think that once the “collapse” finally happens, we’ll all be freed of daily drudgery, and will be able to hang out with our friends in fields of pot and clover. This novel promises just that. Yes, there will be hardship, and hunger, but at least we’ll get to dodge all of this meaningless, boring work we have to do today, to keep our daily lives going. The credit card and mortgage bills will stop coming. We’ll finally be “out from under.”

Kunstler’s slacker hero gets to sleep until the sun wakes him up, take leisurely strolls, fishes with his best buddy, and even gets to go on an exciting journey to fight bad guys with Mennonite Ninja troops. The Mennonite Ninjas are clearly the Do-More Doomers and thank goodness they came to town!

It is a sort of Andy of Mayberry Post-Collapse, except even better, because, in the end, he got the young Babette, not just Aunt Bee. Plus, he gets to tell the Babette “Don’t move my stuff.” And she smiles and doesn’t. No nagging Babette. Now that’s a collapse men can only dream about!

In contrast, Deadbeat Doomers will hate the real collapse, if it doesn’t happen quickly enough, because the reality will be one continuous hassle. The Babette you’ll be living with had your three kids 10 years ago, and they didn’t die of anything. She’s furious that you still haven’t found a job, and won’t be so understanding when you are leaving all your stuff everywhere. You can’t go fishing, because you can’t afford the permit or the gas to get there, even if you did believe the fish wasn’t contaminated. And your best buddy would definitely have an issue with you sleeping with his wife, Dude, even if he can’t “get it up” anymore. So would Babette.

It’ll be that sucky kind of collapse where the electric bill just gets bigger and the commute to work gets more expensive month-by-month, if you even get to keep your job. The raises will stop, along with the bonuses, but the credit card bills won’t. The supermarket will have less variety, but everything will cost a great deal more. “Mr. Necessity”, as Chuck Willis says, is just a big drag, and he’s hanging around us more and more, suggesting we skip the organic for the store brand labels, and buy the cheaper tires. Talk about a drag. And no Ninja Mennonites to point the way and provide inspiration and timely fire-power!

Do-More Doomer Novels

In contrast to the relaxed world of the Deadbeat Doomer, Do-More Doomers, will find comfort in “Patriots” by James Wesley, Rawles. There are no Deadbeat Doomers in “Patriots.” Instead, we learn that these exceptionally insightful college co-eds decided that collapse was inevitable and put themselves on a survivalist regime that continued religiously for almost a decade. These physically fit, gun-savvy men and women have done their homework and their preparations pay off. They don’t spend their time in chatrooms and writing blog entries. They don’t announce their preparations, to others, either. They carry out their normal lives (interspersed with week-end Boot Camp) until the final moments of “Collapse.” Then, like Clark Kent, running for the telephone booth, they G.O.O.D. (Get Out Of Dodge) and head back to the retreat location where one of their clan has been maintaining the spot. They aren’t “Prepar-asites”, or “Doomer Tumors” (someone you are responsible for, but contributes nothing towards their own survival). Over the years, they bought their own equipment and freeze-dried food, and stored it away in secured lockers until they needed it. Boy!

There are no Peak Shrinks in Rawles’ fantasy, either, because they don’t need them. In the worst of the depressing times, when one freedom fighter speaks harshly to another, our hero gently and lovingly guides them into another room for a quiet talk and a moment of prayer. Each has their role and area of specialization developed over time-the medic, the gun expert, etc, with diligence and fortitude. Their nerves are as solid as their stomach muscles.

Anyone who said “Scrub the Armageddon, let’s play ‘Beer Pong’!” never makes it to the retreat in Idaho, and neither should they. This “how to” book disguised as a novel, is the perfect Do-More Doomers dream, and we take copious notes.

‘Shop Til We Drop’ While We Still Can

Sometimes we attempt to find relief from our overwhelming feelings of inadequacy by buying stuff. Do-More Doomers are at the forefront of this. All those ads in the survival blogs are counting on us loading up on books (my favorite) and freeze-dried food. We are overwhelming the tiny “survivalist’ food stores by suddenly getting into the swing of Do-More Doomer Shopping (no ‘financial collapse’ happening there!) There are tons of lists on the internet we can refer to on what to buy. Nothing quells the anxieties of the average American like shopping and collecting things. We get to imagine just what kind of cool stuff we’ll need when TSHTF.

Even our Doomer shopping, however, reflects our hopes and fantasies. We’ll be really popular in our collapse communities because we’ve been clever enough to put up a decent whiskey (or vodka, if we fancy the Soviet collapse). With enough liquor in our basements, we can even bounce back and forth between Do-More Doomerism and Deadbeat Doomerism. If we are feeling hopeless, or in a slacker mood, we can drink that decent whiskey conveniently stored in our basement. There is nothing sexy about storing lousy whiskey. And you can’t drink white cotton socks.

Mainstream Media Doom
It took me by surprise when the mainstream media began to report its own version of personal collapse, (devoid of any real context, naturally). There are a lot of boring details in the real collapse, of course, that won’t make it to TV docudramas. There are the days or weeks when the month stretches on, after our paychecks are gone. There are the canceled vacations and pitiful milestone birthday parties. There are all the extra hours we waste working menial jobs, just to pay the utilities.

No one would write a news report on The Joneses’ eating more chicken wings instead of chicken breasts, or serving meatless pasta several times a week. Instead, we like to watch Mrs. Jones, with her carefully groomed nails, dumpster diving. These stories are becoming increasingly common in the mainstream media. Here we watch as Mrs. Jones climbs into her SUV (she can’t “afford” to sell,) and drives 25 minutes to dumpster dive for half-eaten Snowballs and expired yogurt. Does she still have cable TV? Buy Frito’s and Diet Coke? Why is she still driving anything at all if she can’t afford to eat? These aren’t questions we are encouraged to ask. This is “bread and circuses” for those of us who are not quite that bad. Yet. It’s mainstream media Doomer sensationalism, and we’re all silently reminded that we could be next.

A Formula for Hopelessness

Hopelessness may be more common in people who are required to change a major portion of the way they are living, and less common in those that have already made (or didn’t need to make) huge life transitions. Here’s a formula I’m playing with:

Hopelessness = Uncertainty + A Belief in the Need for Overwhelming Lifestyle Shifts + No Social Supports

If you live on a thriving farm in an area with a huge group of active PO community members with lots of practical skills, you’ll feel more “can do” than if you live in a suburban locale and know only other techies that are planning their in-ground swimming pools, and you, yourself, have never seen a cabbage grow.

PeakShrink’s Doomsday Dream…

I, myself, would not make it as a character in James Wesley, Rawles novel, but I enjoy reading him, nevertheless. I often retreat into a more manageable fantasy I label “Little House on the Prairie Meets Martha Stewart.” I like the image of whipping up a loaf of crunchy peasant bread, after grinding a few wheat berries on my pedal-powered bike/grinder. I’ll then add a pat of local butter and the leavening saved from previous batches. Brushing the flour from my ruddy cheeks, I then pick a sprig of rosemary to grace the top of the loaf, on my way to my backyard solar oven. The real pre-collapse version isn’t half as fun or pretty. I’m allergic to wheat, and have never made a loaf of bread from scratch. And I hear a little voice screaming out from my subconscious saying “Kathy, you are no Sharon Astyk!”

But then, again, The Little House was a children’s story and Martha, herself, ended up in The Big House.

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* Links are not to be interpreted as my attempt to diagnose or label the individuals or categorize them in any way. It is our personal prerogative to adopt or reject any label or to reject the entire notion of labels as useful constructs.

Hi Peak Shrink,

I was interested to see your site. I’m not sure how much it can concretely help, but, it was definitely needed, with all the peak oil stuff out there on the web.

I just went through a sickening peak oil depression, so here’s my story.

It’s strange how often the individual microcosm can reflect the macrocosm of society, isn’t it? If you’re used to being a “green”, or you fear Nuclear war, others often tend to assume that you have a “problem”, and that you’re “projecting” your negative view onto the world. But how much of your “personal” problem is due to issues in society at large? Peak oil to me seems to be an extension of this to it’s absolute limit. I have had zero luck trying to persuade friends, family and work colleagues. Except my father actually, he believes, he agrees, he’s seen it long coming, and he’s just…

The “micro within the macro” is particularly true for me - I am an automotive engineer. For years I have worked and become a specialist in this business, which I always knew was ultimately very stupid. But that’s what pays the bills, and the work is at least interesting, sometimes. I am also a previously-diagnosed depressive, and have experienced Prozac in my 20s, and Effexor more recently (I’m now 35). So you can imagine, when someone like me tries to tell those around him that the world is unsustainable, we have a problem, blah, blah, blah, the message gets met with well-meaning comments about me “getting some help”. Yeah right. I need help, we all do. Real help, from people around us, people who can teach us useful things, not a psychological palliative to “make it all go away”.

Peak oil makes me wish I’d lived my life differently. I made many mistakes, and I have regrets. For example, I’ve spent most of my money just living. I’ve got a few thousands in the bank, and a pension fund which is quite healthy (don’t quite know what to do with it, it certainly won’t be feeding me at age 65).

I spent my life looking for “meaning” to ultimately realise there isn’t much. Peak oil reminds us that survival is the only game in town. You can forget about individual expression, “meaning”, and other meaningless things. I became an expat in a foreign land (Switzerland) and never got onto the property ladder in my native UK - I had girlfriends but nobody I trusted enough to make a joint purchase, and the house prices were just prohibitive for single people.

So now, perhaps I can cash in my pension (If I leave the country) and move to the UK. Buy an allotment of land near to my father’s place, and go back and live with him. Start with his garden. Except as the prodigal son, I don’t think I’m allowed. Or I could stay here, with right to reside in a “safe” country - but how safe, when the international banking industry starts falling apart? Perhaps there will be a boom for engineers in the energy sector….Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps…..

But peak oil also makes me realise, that you have to give yourself a break. So much of what happens in life is just luck, and my feeling is that however much you read about the facts of peak oil, a lot of the future will just be an even bigger spin of the roulette wheel. Is it worth buying precious metals? Depends if we have inflationary or deflationary depression….lots of people discuss such issues on blogs but I’m not sure they’re well enough qualified. What if you’re already working on the land in a rural existence, are you “saved” ? I read of peak oil campaigner Michael Ruppert’s failed attempt to escape to Venezuela… basically he arrived in Caracas without any Spanish or any clue what to do next, as I understood it, with predictable consequences, depression, isolation, health problems…

I think we have to be realistic about our goals. I think we have to allow ourselves that we cannot see the future, and much of survival will be pure luck. Steps need to be small ones. Good luck to you if you’ve got the resources and you’re moving somewhere “safe”. But I think most of us are going to have to fight the situation wherever we are, with whatever we’ve got. Some of the people in “safe” places will not be there by virtue, perhaps they will even be those who stayed “home on the farm” with their aging parents, the laziest and least ambitious of the family.

Chances are if you’re reading this you’re in the west. So you were already born pretty lucky, by world standards, by no effort of your own. Perhaps I don’t deserve to live, having not been very sensible about saving and building a solid future in my life generally, and being somewhat nihilistic. I know, and know of personally, so many people who died before their time, people better than me. I know I have been very lucky to experience things in my life and have time and money to do and see things which will quite probably be outside of the experience range of future generations.

So to conclude, my response to peak oil is (1) to finally grow up, and stop looking for the next exciting experience in life (2) keep thinking of and discussing techno-solutions, which are not magic bullets, but can help to alleviate the problem, as oil prices make solar and wind more viable to industrialise on larger scales (3) See if I can find work in said industries, (4) Try to start gardening somewhere in the next months, not that I believe it will save me, but my previous experience is that hard work digging helps a lot psychologically, and at least doing that means working without pushing the ecosystem off a cliff (5) - the biggy - to accept death and suffering as inevitable, and just realise they may be much sooner than I’d vaguely planned for.

Because fear of these things, is in some way worse, than the things themselves. It only takes weeks or hours to starve or freeze to death, but you can worry about it for YEARS.

Good luck to all, especially to those with children. For the first time in my life, I genuinely don’t regret having no children. Another peak oil mindshift…

Automotive Engineer

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Dear AA,

Truly the rub is the uncertainty of it all. A few thing we know, however, which is that the more “stuff” you need, the more monthly bills that are attached to any sort of fossil fuel, the more expensive your life will become. This, unfortunately, includes most things in modern society, including food. The more people around you who are facing higher and higher bills, and the greater percentage of them who cannot pay those costs without severe hardship, the more social unrest there will be around you, even if you are doing fine, yourself, financially. There will be more thieves and break-ins. More shoplifting. You’ll watch businesses like expensive restaurants become pubs (if they survive) or dry cleaners close. People may buy “vacations” they can stick in their back yard, like above-ground pools, so the kids can “have a vacation.” Fancy “latte’s” will become carried coffee mugs. We’ll see a lot more brunettes who once went monthly to the shops to be blonds. We’ll see more desperate food pantries asking for donations, maybe a rise of soup kitchens, and people losing their homes they can no longer pay for.

I imagine there will be several “shifts” in “desirable locations.” As petrol continues to rise, those living in rural locations without rail transportation available to them and without a rising income (most of us here in the USA) will experience hardship. Those in the suburbs without rail and with resources will move closer to the city, if they reason that is a financially viable thing to do. And it may be….for a while, anyway. However, they will also be living with that larger group of folks who are stuck in a financial squeeze and are getting angrier about it.

Your best decision, I believe, is to look to simplify your life and rely less on social “handouts,” be they convenient supermarkets being there for you when you need a weekly shopping or the petrol pump, or a bathroom full of toiletries. Many people are happy to move closer to aging parents, even if not for the reasons you state. No decisions you make will be without unexpected consequences, because none of us have a crystal ball into the future. However, the more you can work on forgiving yourself for the past (and future) bad decisions, and get on making more of them, the more you’ll learn about what’s going to be the best spot for you, at least in this phase.

Might I suggest that anyone who can take engines apart and replace them is someone I’d like to live close to. We’d all have been better off to have bought things made to BE repaired, instead of disposed of and replaced. If you do move near Dear Old Dad, may I suggest that you make it known that you’d be willing to fix people’s tools for trade. You might find that a steady small business fixing other people’s small engines keeps you fixed in eggs, cheese, butter, manure, etc, when larger automotive companies have been forced to cut back their workforces.

Micro-solutions aren’t so sexy or dramatic to talk about, but we all need to start thinking small. Thanks for your thoughtful letter, and keep us updated about how your life is going.

Regards,

Kathy
“Peak Shrink”

Dear Peak Shrink,

How many times have I searched the web trying to find comfort for my anxiety about the future and preparedness?

Then I found this site. I haven’t read everything on it yet, but I intend to. I would like you to know, however, that my husband and I (72 & 69) read Michael Ruppert’s book some years ago, listened a lot to Jim Pupluva’s feelings about Peak Oil, plus a few other things, and we made a decision. We took our 401K and changed the Trust where we simply left the money to our 3 children. With a lot of that money, we paid cash for 30 acres of farmland and have about 30% of a huge, multi-family, geo-thermal strawbale farmhouse built, and have begun prepping ground for a large kitchen garden. We’re eating tomatoes and watermelons. We have 3 nanny goats and about 30 chickens.

We’ve completed enough of the geo-thermal strawbale to move into. The dwelling is pretty and nice, but nothing is perfect. We had to move a 40-year-old emotionally-ill son into a room of it. But we’re coping. We’re learning to live without refrigerated air once again, too.

The scariest part was the decision to do it. All of our lives we had saved. It was in our genes. We tried to impart that quality to our children, but it never took: cognitive dissonance. Anyway, the decision to purchase all the steel, straw bales, insulation, things too numerous to mention, was just terribly distressing.

There are times I still go into a rigor: Did we do the right thing? We had a million-and-a-half gallon lake dug, which stays full even in Central Texas. Everything we have done is paid for. Yet, we’re moving on into our 70s, and we tell ourselves we mustn’t get sick or have an accident or anything else until we get this done. It’s going to be large enough to accommodate several families — an alarming thought in itself — but it seemed the right thing to do.

That much I’ve learned in nearly 70 years. You can’t be absolutely certain that what you’re doing is the right thing. It may prove to be a mistake. But if it seems the right thing to do at the time, or the only thing left to do at the time, you have to have enough faith to take hold and move forward with it.

I intend to find great courage at your site. Thank you for the vision to compose it. And thanks to everyone: Carolyn Baker, Michael Ruppert, Stan Goff, etc. for their published work.

stray kitty

*****************

Hi Stray Kitty,

Ah, Uncertainty. The only thing “certain” are taxes and death, isn’t that how the saying goes? I’m interested in hearing what you imagine your future to be like in that new home of yours. What types of families will join you? What will you do in the evenings? What kind of crops are you interested in growing? Will you be providing all or most of your food? Will the lake have fish?

Maturity is the capacity to take responsibility for the decisions you make and live with the uncertainty of not knowing ahead of time that they are the right ones.

Thank you for your inspiring letter.

Kathy

Peak Shrink

Read the original letter HERE.

Peak Shrink,

Hi, I wrote to you a few months ago about my peak oil experiences so far. I wanted to give you an update and maybe people would be pleased to hear about my progress and remaining troubles.

I’ve managed to stay at the same job position these months despite its post-PO uselessness. I found it strange to watch people burn up the greater parts of their passion on what seemed like petty things, and saw the greater part of the work force turn over. Since I last wrote at least the “economic downturn” part of PO has gone mainstream, and yet people’s behaviors don’t seem to be changing. It is still a very much the typical office environment.

Much progress has been made with my mother. Although I don’t know to what degree she understands the problem of PO she is someone I work closely with on things now. She still speaks in terms of things like “when I retire in 9 years” and makes fun of me for some of my food purchases, and worries over how the bulky items wear on the fake tile floors, but at the same time she’s planted a nice garden and more importantly is helping get a rural farm location set up. With the savings I’ve stashed over the last few, I’ve managed to get a down payment for 10 acres near my grandparent’s land. What seemed like a distant impossibility a little over a year ago when I first learned about PO is about to become a reality.

That said, I’m troubled in the areas of life where I seem to be making no progress at all. In order to achieve what I have in such a short time I have given up a lot. Since I moved back home and threw my lot in with my mother’s side of the family, I haven’t had any personal contact with any of my old friends, who now live in other towns. Also PO has been a huge mental barrier for me when it comes to relating with people my age, and particularly women. PO can be a good conversation point with men, co-workers, people I meet online, because I can level a certain set of expectations against them even if in the end they just blow it off. My PO-prepping centered lifestyle seems to be the last nail in the coffin for my dating life.

Imagine my dismay when, as I caught up a girl whom is a friend online, and mentioned my soon to be closed on land and my hopes to telecommute and do some farming as well, that the response was something along the lines of “Oh wow that’s really out in the boonies.” That’s the moment when the various lances, spears, and swords appear from off screen and plunge into my now hunched over body, with new and more impressive ones appearing with each new dismissive comment made by the other party.

To sum it up, take someone in me that wasn’t exactly Mr. Popularity to start with, add all the distractions of living at home with your mother to make it happen, and having your jobless younger brother and his girlfriend living under the same roof as well, with the financial obligations involved in preparing a homestead location, I feel like I’ve “married” my existing family and its killing off whatever chance I might have had building a relationship. And before I get a bunch of replies from old people saying, “Aw, that ain’t important.” To a 25-year old guy is definitely is! I have to admit I feel as though my irresponsible little brother has got it right, he’s got all the same comforts as me, and will probably end up relying on my PO-efforts, and he’s got a cute but equally clueless girlfriend in sleeping in.

I have made a ton of progress. I’m about to become a officer in a State Guard unit. I’ve been working for months to lose weight to meet the requirements and I have gotten some good encouragement them from them as I’ve progressed. Then again…the average age in that room must be over 40 easily. I’ve gotten to be a descent shot and comfortable maintaining a rifle, and picked up some medical skills and disaster training. I’ve made money on trading metals, and all sorts of other great stuff to be the perfect doomer, but its like trying to put a square peg in a round hole. This type of life isn’t meeting some of my basic needs, and I’m wondering how to change this.

Now, when the world’s disintegrated to the point where arranged marriages based on merit make a come back, sure I’ll be fine. But, PO must be a huge turn off for the 18-30 female demographic or something. This is the single largest PO problem I haven’t been able to crack yet. I guess we can’t have it exactly the way we’d like, but I guess this the 25-year old guy living at home version of PO isolation.

Well, here’s to progress.

Dad’s Onboard But Writing Alone

***************
Wow, DOBWA,

You’ve got yourself land, a food storage, gun and medical training, and made some money on the knowledge you’ve gathered over the last year. And you’re Mom is getting onboard to boot! That’s quite an accomplishment in 12 months! I’ve decided to open up your search for a soulmate to our readers:

Any advice to offer this ambitious college grad in the love department? Are Peak Oil skills and farming a turn-off to the twenty-something female? If you fit the profile, could you imagine moving away from the city and to the “boonies” to begin a new life with a hard-working doomer, if he were “Mr. Right,” or would the transition just be too great?

Ideas?

Read the original amazing letter HERE.

Peak Shrink,

Well, I have been a very busy boy since we last spoke. I now am a part-owner in a wind turbine factory and a design engineer for a sheet metal fabrication business. I also manage a living history farm in [the Mid-West]. My goals are to implement a sustainable agricultural model to demonstrate sane agricultural practices to a very uneducated public.

This brings me to the issue at hand. I am designing a series of horse-drawn implements to replace the limited supply of old equipment available. Most of the machinery sitting around is 60 plus years old, some of over 100. I have been collecting older implements and studying the designs. I am trying to improve them and tailor them to modern manufacturing processes. (I plan to manufacture these items in our factory.) The lack of usable implements is one of the greatest obstacles to the reintroduction of draft animal power to agriculture.

I hope our outreach program will be successful. We have already had several visitors and inquisitive observers. We as a nation have much to do. I could easily disappear into our [Mid-West Farm] and quietly set up my new farm but is this really a service to my fellow man? We have to change course.

Revolutionary War Era Family Farmer

Hi RWEFF,

Wow! You certainly ARE setting your direction on helping us to “change course.” Thanks for the update!

Kathy
“Peak Shrink”

Hi Peak Shrink.

I stumbled across your website after reading through another dedicated to describing “Life After Peak Oil.”

I first heard about the concept from an acquaintance of mine back in 2004. We were chatting online and he sent me a link, detailing what it was, the catastrophes that are likely to occur, how to prepare for it, and so on. Since then, I’ve pretty much been paralyzed with fear and I haven’t really spoken to anyone about it. It feels like I’m just crazy for being concerned - for being afraid that I’m going to die. I’ve never been very good at taking care of myself, so to me, hearing that there’s a possibility that something like that is happening in the world, it was like giving me a death sentence.

Another friend - who is big on conspiracies - mentioned the December 24, 2012 date. He gave me lots of details and such about how the Mayans stopped counting after that date. He said it was the day that the world will end.

It’s silly, and I know that, but I can’t make decisions without worrying, without a voice telling me that I’m not going to be around in five years time anyway. I don’t have a job - I’ve pretty much given in to the anxiety and the fear that I’m just not going to make it through this. I have been depressed and withdrawn and can’t talk to anybody about it.

Because I feel silly.

There’s a part of me that believes that Jesus is coming back once this is all over, and I’ll be in Heaven, and I’ll be okay. But death scares me. Violence scares me. I’m 24 years old and I can’t get my mind off of death, off of Peak Oil, off of the countdown that I’ve got going on in my head since 2004. Five years. That’s all I’ve got.

My mom was talking to me last night, telling me about all these plans she has for me. I’m going to get married, I’m going to have kids, I’m going to write the Great American Novel…all these wonderful things. And I kept thinking to myself that I’m never going to have that. I can’t have that. I’ve given up, but I don’t want to give up. I want to believe that everything is going to be okay.

I’m tired of people telling me to just “read my Bible” without letting me talk about what’s going on in my mind. I don’t want to scare anyone, but I want to stop feeling this impending sense of doom that’s been lurking over my heart for the past four years. I’m sick of it.

I do appreciate that the website exists, and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about it. It helps.

Sincerely,

Fears Death and Peak Oil

*******************
Dear FD&PO,

You are 24. You will die, someday. Those two statements are facts you can’t control. Paralyzing fear, however, you can control. In the worst of catastrophes, decisions are made. Some of them are good ones, and make no difference in the outcome. Some of them are poor ones that can be avoided. Some of them are good ones, and they save the lives of many people that otherwise, would have died. Preparedness is a choice, and it requires the job of creating options for yourself. It means managing one’s fears, not eliminating them.

You feel silly, as in “foolish” — exhibiting or indicative of a lack of common sense or sound judgment. Do you feel this way because you can’t “prove” the things you fear might happen? Because no one around you, with a few exceptions, sees things the way you do? The way you don’t want to, but do anyway? The more you try to fight these feelings (don’t think of a pink elephant…) the stronger the feelings will be.

You look at what you truly value in life. What’s that? Who are the people in your life you really trust? If you were sent back in time (think the movie: “Back to the Future”) and had to pick up an occupation, what would you do? Of course you’d tend your kitchen garden, maybe have a few chickens, or know some people around you that could provide you with food. But what skills would you have? People 150 years ago had no fossil fuel, and they lived productive lives. How did they do it? How did they live more lightly on the land than we do today?

You are 24. Someday, you will die. Between now and then, you have your life, each day after the other, and during each of these days, you find meaning to your life that extends beyond yourself, if you are lucky. Meaningful work that allows you to be proud of what you are accomplishing for humanity.

Taking care of yourself isn’t a “thing,” but a “process” one learns to do, day by day. Don’t be frustrated for not having it all down. Simplify the tasks of self-care as much as possible, and try to set a few goals down like eating regular simple meals, keeping clean with simple soaps and tooth paste, spending some time outdoors each day, and interacting face-to-face with people you care about.

You say you don’t have a job. You have a huge job. You live in a community that is going through a transition time. You know it, and you haven’t figured out a way of talking to people about it, yet. Your job is to figure that out. You don’t have to talk about “the end times.” You can talk about how your community needs to focus efforts locally because the “price of gas is a hardship.” And it is, now, and
many mainstream media people are talking about it. People need to figure out how to spend less money because food, heat, cooling, transportation costs have all skyrocketed. You’ve been reading about people’s “ideas” about how life will be at some “end point” of the Peak Oil curve. But a curve is just that. It goes down and down, it doesn’t just disappear. Therefore, you can figure that things are going to be different over time. Many people, unlike yourself, will not have a clear idea why things are hard, they will just be going through it. What will the people of your community need, as money gets tighter and tighter? Will there need to be increased money for food pantries? Soup kitchens? Will schools need greater volunteers because taxes will dry up all arts and sports programs? Will the elderly need to be checked on during the cold/hot weather and maybe their fixed incomes supplemented with food deliveries?

Don’t worry about making the “right” decisions. Every day you make many choices. Try to choose the ones that give you the most options, because you and I cannot predict the future with any accuracy.

We must learn how to “play ball on running water.” If we dig in our heels, in the ocean’s bottom, the waves will knock us over. We have to touch down lightly, instead. Be ready to bob and weave when needed. Expect the unexpected, and realize that we may go under the water, but we can bob back up to the surface and keep going without panicking.

We must learn how to recognize and manage our anxiety, because it is not going to go away, and it is not a “problem” in itself. Anxiety, like waves on the ocean, come and go. Our thoughts can intensify the bodily feelings and cripple us. We can also learn many ways to allow those waves to come over us and move through us. Meditation. Exercise. Listening to music. Dancing. Biofeedback. An evening with friends. Prayer. Anxiety and depression are feelings that can be worked with and moved through. Constructive action minimizes both, and the best action brings us into community with other like -minded folks that can share in our goal of helping others.

You have a right to talk about what’s going on with you, and yes, it is important to talk about those things. Get another perspective. Sit down with someone in their 80’s who grew up on a farm, and ask them about their lives, and talk about the fears you have about being more self-sufficient. You have no job, so you have some time. Go out to the closest farm CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and offer to pitch in a day a week. Get your hands dirty. Trade your labor for a basket of fresh produce. Or work in a soup kitchen or homeless shelter, chopping vegetables for the evening’s meal. Sit down with someone who lives on the street, and figure out how they manage to do it, without a job, with a mental illness, or with a drug addiction. More and more families are losing their homes to foreclosures in the USA. They are doing it silently, just like you, afraid to talk about not having the money anymore to pay the mortgage, as well as feed and clothe the kids, keep them warm, maintain their lifestyle.

You write: “I want to stop feeling this impending sense of doom that’s been lurking over my heart for the past four years. I’m sick of it.” I say “Good for you!” That feeling of being “sick of it” as a sign you are ready to move on. Now head in some direction, and let your heart guide you a bit. Grab the book “What Color is Your Parachute?” and figure out if you’re a people person, like to work with ideas, things, etc. Or read a few history books or autobiographies of people who lived
before oil. Or write me a story with you as the heroine, and what things our heroine accomplished over the next five years. Forward vision into a story. I’ll send you my story if you are interested. Writing is great therapy.

You have fear and anxiety. You feel frozen right now. Accept that these are your current feelings, and they’ve been with you for several years, but now you are starting to get ready for a change. You wrote these feelings to a psychologist, and you are starting to express yourself. Great! Use the tools at your disposal to keep the action going.

I’d love to hear more about your situation, your community, your notions of who you are and where you want to be in 2012. It will be an interesting upcoming several years, regardless of whether it will be the “end times.” Maybe this will be the point where you’ve set a number of goals for yourself to accomplish by 2012…ones that give you the most options.

If someone tells you that they “know” what is going to happen, you and I both know that they are speaking falsely. You might want to read “A History of the End of the World” by Jonathan Kirsch about the Book of Revelations and how this impacted history broadly. Stories of “end times” have been with us a very long time–maybe as long as civilization itself–and it tells us something about our life and times.

I like the line by Franklin Sanders that says “The day after the Armageddon, there will be people wanting breakfast, and people willing to be paid to fix it.” Death is a universal fear, as is violence. A major “treatment” to such fears is engagement in joyous living, both in service to others, and in gratitude for the time you currently have.

You need a community of people you can talk to about your concerns, and if your focus is on specific issues that impact your community, you will not scare anyone.

You should talk to a professional counselor if you feel that your anxiety and depression prevents you from taking any of the steps I mentioned here. A therapist familiar with the treatment of depression, can work with you to help you take the first steps and give you support and encouragement, face-to-face.

I’m glad that you wrote to me, and I welcome any response you have to anything I’ve written here. We need you. The world needs your sensitivity, your depth of feeling, and your energy. Grab hold of it, and point it in a direction and then just start heading there. You can always change direction, as needed. I like that line that successful people don’t make “better” decisions than most people, they just make more of them. Like an aircraft, head out, and make constant adjustments
in your path as you go.

I hope my letter was useful to you, and that my readers will have other thoughts and ideas to contribute.

Kathy
“Peak Shrink”

Hello Peak Shrink,

My wife and I, both 69, live in England, a land where the common man, “the man on the Clapham Omnibus” as he is known, knows nothing of Peak Oil, or indeed anything else about oil except that “the government ought to make it cheaper”.

I know nothing of psychology other than sport psychology in my role as ski coach ( skiing eh - how profligate with earth’s resources can you get?). But the list of reactions to P.O., on your site echo, to me anyway, the sequence of emotions commonly associated with bereavement. Am I right?

Having spent much time and effort attempting to get omnibus man interested, I am still trying, but increasingly am simply making lifestyle decisions which I hope will benefit my children and grand children if they choose to live here at our 50 acre farm after (or who knows, before?) they inherit it.

Interestingly (or is it?) my wife thinks I’m crazy to waste me time on it all, and believes that whilst ours undoubtedly has been the most fortunate human generation in the history of the world, there’s nothing we can do, and our descendants will just have to sort out their own problems when the time comes because we can’t sort them out for them; nor she says, would they either want us to, or let us.

What is my own leading emotion I wonder? Probably just disappointment with politicians and their incredibly self-centred and short term time horizons. They consider themselves to be our “leaders” (they aren’t, they are supposed to be our representatives), but they either won’t or can’t lead. What I wonder, are yours like?

I have no idea what you were looking for, but if the ramblings of a “grumpy old man” can add anything, here they were.

Regards,
Grumpy Old Man

********************

Dear GOM,

You gave me your thoughts, and that’s enough. I don’t like the “bereavement” metaphor much, but yes, for many people, there are similar emotions.

You are also making a place for people you love to “retreat” to, if they are so inclined. That’s doing quite a lot. You are also talking to people who will listen, and trying to put a ‘frame’ on their understanding that is beyond “TPTB should lower the petrol prices!”

Your wife is entitled to her option, and it sounds like a far cry from “You are CRAZY, nothing is WRONG!”
Believing there is nothing one can do is a common (but unfortunate) attitude, but it doesn’t sound like her opinion interferes with all you’ve set out to do. Good for you!

I’ll throw out the question of whether politicians in other countries are “doing more.” What do you all say? Do you have able politicians in your country who are able to step up and speak the truth? Would they get support from the people if they did?

Here’s an article by John Nichols on George Carlin, who died today. It captures his essential points, I think.

Kathy

In South Korea, truck drivers are striking and the entire cabinet resigned after up to a million people took to the streets.

If you aren’t feeling some degree of apprehension right now, you aren’t reading the news. Here are some of my thoughts for turning that emotional energy into constructive action:

1. SET A GOAL TO CUT YOUR EXPENSES by some concrete number—10%, 20%, 30%, even 50%, and set up a plan to do it. Reducing costs is the fastest way to increase your income–faster than making more money.
2. LOOK AT CASH YOU ARE WASTING without enjoying its benefits, such as lights that get left on, computers that stay on day and night, “phantom loads,” like microwave clocks that use more energy than the microwave itself. If you get to know your electrical meter, and record the setting before and after you shut off those phantom loads, you’ll have concrete proof that you are saving money.
3. Set up a THREE TIER SYSTEM for purchases: a) necessities; b) conveniences; and c) other. Put everything you buy in one of these categories for a week, and examine the list. For example, if you buy clothing, you might have bought socks and new fancy shoes. While most people would put the socks under “a” or “b,” most of us would consider the fancy shoes “other” unless they are a necessity for work. The Great Spending Contraction has begun. Get far enough ahead of it, that you aren’t bit in the behind.
4. Consider BUYING FOOD IN ITS MOST BASIC FORM, and in bulk. For example, instead of buying Pancake mix, buy the flour, shortening, and leavening. This, alone, will not only improve your diet, but cost you a fraction of what the prepared mix would cost. Anything that the “Generals” prepare, (General Foods, General Mills, etc) they CHARGE YOU for the privilege.
5. SIMPLIFY. Examine each purchase, and ask yourself whether some other item would do the job equally well. Consumerism produces specialized products that increase demand. The more specialized, the easier it is to charge consumers a premium price for it. Shaving cream, instead of a good lathering soap. Window cleaner instead of vinegar. Do a bit of research and find out how your ancestors lived without most of the products under your sink or among your toiletries. Then, pare it down, and buy it in bulk.
6. SEEK OUT QUALITY. Seek out highly durable, long-lasting products that may cost more, but are well made and will last a long time. You may find out that the cheaper versions can’t be replaced easily, when they wear out. Buy now for the long term, and not on price alone. I’m finding better quality items being replaced by cheaply made products at the same price. Buy the quality stuff while you can still find it, and make sure it fits Tier A. (See #3)
7. Switch over to a CASH ECONOMY. Just do it. Start out deciding how much money you usually spend using credit cards and checks, and take out that amount in cash for a week, two weeks, a month. If you and your family members spend through it before that period is over, stay home and stop spending, until the next period starts. Consumer research has shown that moving to a cash economy, consumers spend on average 20-25% less than if they used a credit card. Use that research to benefit YOU. Get into the habit of using currency, not plastic.
8. GET THE ENTIRE FAMILY INVOLVED in cutting back Tier “B” and “C” spending. If you’ve set a goal of reducing expenses by 20%, make that across the board, and involve the kids. If this means cutting back on extra lessons, dances, mall trips, etc, give your children a say in which things are cut out or reduced. If you are sincere about your own cutbacks, your children will respect and adjust their expectations as well. If you say you are cutting back, but then buy something in the “C” category, you’ve lost your credibility and you’ll have a family mutiny on your hands. Discuss, as a family, all of your expenses based on these categories, and try to reach agreement, so there are no surprises.
9. Chart out your life travels in terms of MILES, instead of minutes, and then figure out how you can travel those miles in ways other than those using fossil fuel. When someone says “That’s 30 minutes away…” get used to asking “Is that walking, biking, or traveling by car?” It is a psychological shift that we all need to make.
10. Learn how to STAY HOME. It sounds funny to some, but for many people, “home” has become a “pit stop” to refuel (eat, sleep) before we head out again. Learning how to stay home might mean resolving the conflicts you have with your significant other. It might mean having higher expectations for better behavior from your children.
11. SLOW DOWN, relax more, and look for ways of improving your home surroundings. I don’t mean a new sofa. I’m talking about cleaning up that harrowing trip from one room to another because you keep tripping over the rug that sticks up, or putting up heavier curtains in the winter so the room stays warmer, or creating a better area to read, or listen to music, free of distractions. It might mean moving your most used kitchen utensils in a convenient place, so it’s easier to cook. Tell yourself “Home is where I’m going to be spending most of my time,” and check out your emotional reaction. If it’s panic or dread, try to figure out why, and do something about it.
12. “GET REAL” with the people you live with or love. Unfinished business, unspoken animosity, curt and angry exchanges not only make it unpleasant to be at home, it actually impacts your health. Bad marriages wreck good health. Come clean and own up to your own unhappiness, and try to own up to your contribution to the situation. The average troubled couple waits seven years before they seek out help, and often the problems by that point are well-entrenched. Try to fix it yourself, but if it doesn’t work, seek out a trained listener.
13. PUT YOUR KIDS TO WORK. Too many children have very little real “purpose” in family life, and this is a bizarre turn of events in the history of human-kind. If your kids seem focused on their own self-interests, ask yourself to what extent you’ve expected them to take in interest in things greater than their own amusements. If you can’t really say “Boy, I’m really glad I have my son/daughter to take care of X, so I don’t have to do it…” you’ve forgotten how to teach them skills like taking responsibility, being reliable, and the “quid pro quo” of living with people. Your future son- or daughter- in-law will curse you.
14. SHUT OFF THE CHATTER from the computer/ internet/television/cable/ telephone/cell phone/pager/Blackberry/fax machine for some period each day and make a space for you to be with those you love, uninterrupted. Make it a revered time when the most important people in the world are sitting with you, paying attention to each other, talking sincerely, relaxing together. Expect severe resistance and techno-withdrawal. Make this revered time long enough to allow for the “hyperactive” withdrawal to subside, and a sense of quietude to permeate the house. Keep it going (as an “experiment” if you must) for at least a month, and open up discussion about what kinds of things you could do, as a family or as individuals, that would be satisfying or fun without using electricity.
15. SERIOUSLY WEIGH WORKING OVERTIME against using this time to create a more sustainable lifestyle. We are used to thinking about making money as the number one priority, but maybe its time to seriously question this assumption. If some crisis should happen tomorrow, just how prepared are you? Have you put up food? Created a garden of some type? Gotten to know your neighbors well enough to ask for (or offer) favors? Connected with religious or civic organizations offering you a wider circle of support? Resolved your marital troubles? Learned to really enjoy your kids? No doubt, cash is important, but time is our most precious commodity. Consider its use very carefully.
16. Imagine a VISION for a future you’d be willing to live in. You know that line about how humans can’t live without hope? (I know, some of you don’t believe in that word, so let’s use the word “vision.”) The happiest families have a vision of what they are living and working for. This vision sustains them in times of trouble. Go ahead. Imagine the worst. Then, visualize how you can live a satisfying life through the worst of it, and what will make it worthwhile. (Hint: if you don’t imagine good friends and family, live music, simple foods etc, it probably looks overly dreary…) Write about it in a story, with you as the hero, draw it in a picture, sing it in a song. Make it real.
17. MAKE LISTS and MARK ACHIEVEMENTS. Most of us are overly optimistic about what can be accomplished in a year, but underestimate what can be accomplished in ten years. See the broader plan, and pick several projects to start on (that’s right, several…). Do something on each one every day, or make it okay to focus on one for a while, until you tire of it, and then shift to another one.
18. Keep the LONGER VISION in mind, and understand how the interim is likely to play out, based on that vision. Give yourself the space to make decisions now that you know will not ultimately be your future course of action. To make sure you are heading in the right direction, ask yourself: “Is this moving me toward greater self-sufficiency?” “If I am using fossil fuel to accomplish this goal now, is this in service of my learning some greater skill, that I can later apply, to accomplished the goal without those inputs?” For example, if you know nothing about carpentry, power tools can make learning about wood a great deal easier. Once you are comfortable with putting things together, you can later apply those skills when using hand tools. A recumbent bike with a “power assist” can get you out there and riding that bike, so you get into better shape to later ride it without the assistance.
19. Understand how the “herd mentality” is likely to impact you, and try to GET OUT AHEAD OF THE CROWD, instead of being trampled underneath it.
20. PROTECT YOUR MENTAL HEALTH as closely as you do your physical health. Depression, paranoia, drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, abandonment, verbal abuse, compulsive behaviors like overeating, gambling, cyber-sex, anonymous sex etc. are all common reactions to stressful times. Keep a tight grip on the loose reins of that mind of yours, and listen to other people who tell you they are worried about you and the way you are behaving. Find people, ideally true friends and family, to talk to about the pressures and ruminations you have—your deepest fears. If you need help, get it now, and make sure that help includes tangible ways for you to handle that stress better in the future. Talk about your mother only if it helps you understand how to live a more productive life TODAY and gets you moving in the direction you claim to want to go in. Make it okay to schedule “mental health” days..lyou know, those days when you are just taking time off from work to smell the roses, sleep late, schedule a ‘melt down,’ or otherwise live life.
21. Learn the difference between “HEALTHY PLEASURES” and ones that will burn out your neurochemistry and destroy your health. Most of us exaggerate our habitual way of being when under pressure, based on our personalities. For some of us, we’ll withdraw from other people and become isolated. For others, we throw ourselves into projects that make other people the focus, and ignore our own wellbeing. Some of us become instantly “action oriented” to manage our anxiety, without stopping to consider the purpose or goal of our actions. Others become immobilized, unable to make the simplest decisions, lest they turn out to be the wrong ones. Some become more self-centered, while others stop considering their own needs at all. Still others become dominated by destructive emotions and stop thinking clearly. Too much intellectualizing is the the direction others take, and this allows very little room for emotional expression or sympathetic connection with ourselves or others.

This is what makes giving “general advice” like “express your emotions” or “focus inward” so risky. Know in which direction to tend to err, and interrupt the pattern before it goes to extreme. Include people in your life that “balance out” those tendencies. If you are a “worry wart,” connect with someone who’s more carefree. If you tend to intellectualize, find an improvisational theater group. If you dramatize everything, befriend someone closer to a “brain” who “thinks” as a first response. And be prepared to be possibly annoyed by the personality difference.
22. Care for something NON-HUMAN. Eighty-five percent of us already do, whether its wild birds, squirrels, gold fish, a dog, cat or livestock. Scientifically, we’ve found out that caring for someone (or something) else is good for our mental and physical health. We’re likely to live longer through a life-threatening disease if we do. Spend time watching or interacting with this non-human, and access another part of your consciousness—perhaps and older, deeper part, and try to relax while you’re doing it.
23. LIMIT THE ‘BAD NEWS.’ If you find yourself checking the news more than once a day, give it a break, for your own sake. Take a “news holiday” once in a while. Go be around something beautiful, like art or nature.
24. Make a list of the ‘TWENTY THINGS YOU LOVE TO DO’, and post it where you’ll see it every day. Write down, next to the item, when is the last time you did it, and whether you want to do it more (M) or less (L) often. Write down if it was something either parent did (P), and whether you’ll still be able to do it at 85 (85). If it costs money to do it, put a dollar sign ($) next to it. If you need to do it with a friend (F) or special friend (SP) note that. Now, rank-order them, just for fun.
EXAMPLE:

Item Last time? More/Less? Parents? 85? Cost? Friend/SP? Rank?
SING…TODAY……….. M…………Mom…. 85……_……… _………..1.

25. DON’T TRY TO CHANGE THE WORLD. Try just impacting your tiny corner of it. Make your street a nicer place. Plant a few fruit or nut trees. Join a neighborhood group. Expand your community food pantry. Get a regular “rent party” together and pass the hat for those who have lost their job or have unpaid medical bills. Next week, that person might be you. Pick up the garbage you come across, even if it isn’t yours. Remember that the world is bigger than you are, and that you don’t own the Earth or the things in it, you are a part of the Earth, and are owned by it.
26. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. Just because people usually list 25 things, be different. List 26. Don’t follow the crowd, walk ahead of it. If they start following you, you’re a leader. If they don’t, you are ahead of your time or you are going in the wrong direction. In either case, enjoy the walk, and break your own rules once in a while.

And watch this video for more inspiration:

Maybe it’s just too soon for the US media to notice that a large part of the World is rioting, protesting, and otherwise screaming about the high price of oil. In the Philippines, Spain, France, Thailand, India, South Korea, Portugal. the Netherlands there are strikes, threatened strikes, protesting and deaths. Fisherman are burning their boats in Thailand. In Bankok, tens of thousands of trucks block traffic. One truck driver almost got burnt alive in his cab by strikers. Traffic is slowed down to a crawl by angry truck drivers. A million people are expected to protest soon in Malaysia. Supermarket shelves are empty in some Spanish cities, and farmers are kicking police officers and throwing eggplants. In India, they closed down a train station to protest a hike in fuel.

What’s on the cover of the NY Times online addition?

“Princely Monaco, on a Pauper’s Budget” is the center story for travelers. “Tornado Kills 4 in Iowa Boy Scout Camp.” “2 Top Executives Removed at Lehman Brothers.”

Under “World”? “Canada Offers an Apology for Native Students’ Abuse.” In “Asia” we read that “South Korea Seeks a Revised Beef Deal.” In “Europe” we read there is a “Debate Over Islam and Virginity.”

It took me hours of research in August of 2006, to learn that Europe was shut down by oil protests in September of 2000 (read about it here), and if you wait for the mainstream US media to tell you, you might still be waiting. But, it’s happening now, and the protests over fuel are ugly and they are happening all over the World, and they don’t want you to know about it, USA readers.

Washington Post Headlines:

“Supreme Court Rules For Guantanamo Detainees;” “Will technology help us go green?,” “Tiger Woods Even Par After Rough Start;” Playing in a power pairing with Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott,” “Hoagland: What Obama didn’t learn from the Rev. Wright affair;” “The Army Goes Partisan, “Gene Pool: Clooney’s Plastic Surgery Stand?” and “Prevent Separation Anxiety With Pets”

The Chicago Tribune have these breaking stories:

“Whispers Get Loud Around Michelle Obama” “Rating Chicago’s Ice Coffee” and “Marry Outside Your Race?” and “United Charging $15 for First Bag.”

LA Times, same stories. Miami Herald: “Do you believe teen sex pledges?” Houston Chronicle: “Continental cuts flights out of Houston;” “Americans are living longer: a record 78.1 years.” How long we’re living? Is this a “slow news” day?

There is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there? Why can’t we know what’s truly happening across the World? Are they concerned about a ’snowball effect’ where we’ll get nasty ideas by learning what’s happening in other countries? Did I miss a major mainstream news media that IS cover this story?

Hi Peak Shrink,

I stumbled upon your site while trying to find various sources of
information to educate myself on Peak Oil. My curiosity stems from
the manic traits I’ve seen one of my best friends develop as a result
of his growing interest in Peak Oil and its effects on civilization as
we know it.

My friend, who has been my roommate for 2 years, has an extensive
library about oil, the government and economics. As a reader myself, I
didn’t see this as a flaw in any fashion. However, before he educated
himself about P.O. he was a normal, fun 24 y/o guy. We went out with
friends, double dates with our girl friends-the usual stuff recent
college grads do. Now, my best friend is the biggest “Debbie
Downer”(SNL character) I know. I find myself, taking up for him a lot
with our other friends b’c they usually don’t want him around anymore.
He’s become selfish, preachy and just an overall buzzkill to be
around. This is my best friend, like my brother. What can I do to
help him? What can I do to understand his state of mind. I’m a bit
ignorant when it comes to this topic, so I’m curious to know if this
is common? It reminds me of that movie where anyone who watches this particular video dies…lol. I don’t want to watch the “video” if I’m going to end up like my friend.

Please advise….

Best Regards,

Frustrated Friend in MD

****

Dear FFnMD,

Sorry to hear about what’s going on with you and your roommate. Since I don’t know you or him, I can only talk generally about what others have told me (or I’ve experienced myself) about Peak Oil.

There are several factors to consider:

(1) How long he’s known about Peak Oil. If it has been less than two years, it is hard to have a sense of humor. It’s hard, anyway, especially if:

(2) He’s isolated in his belief system, and his other friends are the “Party on, Dude!” types. The more they tell him “There’s nothing to worry about, just let’s have a good time!” the more Debbie Doomer he’ll become. If he has a set of Doomers to hang out with, you might find a complete transformation in his sense of humor. Doomer wit is bitingly sharp, but often brings laughter so hard, that tears come to one’s eyes. Especially if:

(3) He’s actually DOING something with the Doomers, not just sitting around, complaining. Yes, there is about two or three months of Doomer dinners that consist of nothing but “Have you heard about….?” (bad news) But after a while, when Doomer creds are thoroughly explored (For us, it was the spontaneous up-to-the-minute knowledge about the price of a barrel of oil and the price of gold, for others it could be the detention centers, etc…), the topic turns more local and more preparation-oriented, particularly after 18-24 months, when the shock of first finding out about Peak Oil has started to subside somewhat.

Peak Oil brings out the worst in all of us in the early years. If we tend toward manic, we become more manic. If we lean toward paranoia, we become more paranoid. If anger is our fall back, we’re angry all the time. If fear or depression is pronounced in us, we feel these emotions more acutely as well.

No one likes a “know it all.” Tell him the Peak Shrink told you to say that. If he’s being turned away from party invitations, he’s preaching to the wrong choir. It is a very common mistake, FF. He has to tell somebody, and his current friends are the only “somebodies” he knows. He needs to widen his circle, and accept that “they don’t get it” or don’t want to. Tell him to move on, and accept them (or not) for what they have to offer him. An “inner circle” of preparation pals they will NOT be.

I know I sound like Anne Landers here. Maybe your letter brings it out in me. If I were you, I’d decide if what you’ve read about Peak Oil is enough to motivate you to “watch the video”, no matter what the consequences. Some folks don’t want to know, if it’s bad news. Some others want to know, and prepare in whatever way they can. You have to decide which type of person you are. Probably you’ll go through a series of emotions, none of them particularly pleasant, when you research enough to satisfy you, before you come out the other side. I’m happier now than I’ve ever been, to be honest, and much more realistic (and pessimistic) about the future than I’ve ever been. But I’m not pessimistic about my capacity to enjoy the days ahead of me. I know they’ll be hard times, economically. I’m no farmer, or in great shape, but I’m doing hard manual work and adjusting to it. I’ll be listening to more live music probably less often, but it will be from people I know personally. I anticipate great hardship, but I know that making changes and learning new skills day-by-day is the only way to go. Radical re-localizing is needed. Learning to be a true reliable friend. Being true to your word and learning to bite your lip to keep a working community working.

There was a time when I wasn’t very fun to be around, like your roommate. I’ve lectured my twenty-something daughter, until her lips turned blue from boredom and frustration, before I’d stop. But I don’t preach anymore, or even talk about Peak Oil directly to those who show no interest in the subject. My daughter acknowledges that she “gets it” occasionally. She even reads my blog from time-to-time. It might be very hard for your roommate to be close to people he cares about, and feel the responsibility to “bring them around” in their understanding. You can tell him it’s not. He can only bring them the information, and then it is up to them to either read more and come back to him, or not. (The old “bring a horse to water not you can’t make them drink.”)

Nothing kills the party mood like planetary collapse, a falling dollar, and a shrinking energy supply that impacts just about EVERYTHING. There is a time for that type of talk, and a time to enjoy one’s life. Your roommate’s time spent in each of these is out of balance with yours. He may need to enjoy a good party now and again. You may need to have more serious conversations with him a bit more frequently. You need go no farther than what’s in the main stream news right now. You don’t even have to read the alternative media, anymore. Once you get the gist of it, you can translate fairly easily. You may see a sift in this mood if you start out the day asking him “Hey, Buddy, what’s the bad news?” and be interested in what he’s telling you.

There IS very little good news except that (1) this is YOUR life, and you get to enjoy it, no matter what’s falling down around you and (2) doing something one believes is constructive is better than doing nothing and complaining that “nothing can be done.”

If you think your roommate is an intelligent, thoughtful guy, have an intelligent, thoughtful conversation with him about what you see in him and get him to talk about what he’s feeling. Follow his logic, and help him make some hard choices about what he should be doing with his life. Ask him what he feels HE can contribute to what’s going down. In other words, be a friend…a friend he can confide in, without his having to be “happy” so you don’t get freaked out or dismiss him as a nutjob.

Tell him how you see his behavior impacting your mutual friends, and ask him what he wants to do about it. Tell him there are groups he can get involved in all across the US. Ask him where he thinks the best places to live are, what are the jobs that will still be around (or increasing in demand) over the next several decades. In other words, ask him to apply all that “book learning” to his own life situation, and encourage him to start walking his talk, even if he’s walking to a different drummer.

You might find you both get into a dialog and both learn something from it. If he’s seriously depressed, and is isolated, you might be a vital link to getting him some help. If he’s talking good common sense, he might be your link to changing the way you see your future. Either way, you’ll learn something, and if you both keep an open mind, probably end up better friends. Friendship IS essential to future survival. Learning to get along and tolerate other people is a valuable skill. Learning to rely on somebody, trust somebody, are not easy things to do in the best of times. Start now.

I’m happy to talk more about this, once you’ve had a chance to talk to him, or to hear your response to anything I’ve written. Thanks for writing

Regards,

Kathy