Prepping and climate change

[jansman]

So it's all over the news this morning: Prince Harry says that we have a decade to save the planet,Mark Carney has told businesses to get out of fossil fuels,and a farmer has been telling of a supplement he feeds to his dairy herd to reduce methane emissions!

Climate Change is the new buzz - phrase.It cannot be ignored though,as it is obvious to all with the exception of the USA and Russia it seems.It is a situation that will affect us all,in one way or another.Our own government tells us we will be a Zero Carbon Economy by 2030,or 40 or 2050.They don't know themselves!

Whilst I am aware that the change is real ( I am a gardener,angler and hunter,and nature has been indicating change for twenty odd years),I am rather cynical about how we will combat it. One thing is for sure; It ain't gonna happen by refusing plastic carrier bags and saying, " I recycle. " The government seems to think that replacing millions of petrol and diesel vehicles with electric ones will do the job.Just remind me please,about the small number of countries that have stocks of that finite resource,Lithium?
We will be an all- electric society that can carry on regardless,as our Utopia will be fuelled by wind and sun,or so say our Cloud-Cuckoo-Land-Leaders!

Bear in mind that over Christmas,about 1500 homes were without gas up in Yorkshire.They were warned that overuse of electric radiators would crash the local grid,as there is not enough spare capacity in the system! How in Hell's name then, are we going to fuel homes ,cars and businesses with enough juice? If The World and Society is really,REALLY, serious about "Saving the planet",then we could only do it by seriously limiting population growth,and returning to an almost mediaeval agrarian system.A totally local life. No imported goods ( that takes carbon), no travel beyond where your legs can carry you, and your food and water would have to be very local,to the point of providing it yourself.Truly the only way the Earth could survive,is for humans to try to pretend they are not here.

That is extreme of course,and humans, being as we are,then it won't happen.We know what's happening,and we are like the proverbial frog that allows itself to be boiled alive! That phrase, Saving The Planet,is blithely trotted out.Most folks won't even take the time to really understand the seriousness of those three words.Big change is coming,and I personally think that this is the slow decline to the end of mankind's rule of Earth. Our ' Dinosaur Moment' if you will.

So,getting to the point,as a Prepper, where do you feel that climate change will put you? Personally,I am reinforcing my food - producing efforts.Using Permaculture techniques and extending my rainwater harvesting,investing in small scale power generation,hopefully we can weather the economic storm.Transition to a low carbon economy ( Zero is an impossibility) will be economically painful,without a doubt.Political decisions will change domestic economic plans overnight.For instance,if my car becomes illegal then I will lose my current job.If we are forced to eat less meat,I will lose my job.If my woodburner is oulawed,then how will I heat my home economically?

I am sure we will find out in the fullness of time.

[Yorkshire Andy]

There's been rumblings of power shortages for a good 15 years and on a few colder days we've been right on the edge reinforced with the large grid disconnection this summer when 2 power stations dropped off the grid it's bound to happen again at some point


https://www.wired.co.uk/article/uk-powe ... ional-grid


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.indepe ... html%3famp

Which went very quickly went quiet in the media....

I'm fortunate on my commute that depending on my route I can avoid traffic lighted junctions and with a minor detour any level crossings which as I understand it can drop and stay down to ensure safety. .


I've got a big but noisy generator but short term we don't need electric our fridge freezer is power cut resistant for about 12 hours according to the manufacturer blurb

Worst case I've got the LPG camping fridge for some stuff

Think that is the big issue for most is the loss of frozen / chilled food

[diamond lil]

Excellent post and great to see that some people share my views on this! The amount of silly wee lassies I come across on my FB groups who seem to think they'll achieve sainthood by not using plastic bags and thereby saving the planet, is doing my head in. And Greta Whoosis is the new messiah whose every word must be obeyed at the double. All the buzzwords and carbon footprint garbage sounds great - but few appreciate what it means. They won't do without their yearly holiday in the sun, nevermind walk or cycle to work in all weathers and shiver in unheated houses. Oh boy aren't they in for a shock

[Arzosah]

Climate Change is the new buzz - phrase.It cannot be ignored though,as it is obvious to all with the exception of the USA and Russia it seems.It is a situation that will affect us all,in one way or another.Our own government tells us we will be a Zero Carbon Economy by 2030,or 40 or 2050.They don't know themselves!

I think any action by the government is the result of a rearguard action to let the status quo continue as long as possible (no music attached to this sentence ). The situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets better, *if* it gets better in terms of the human lifetime.

Whilst I am aware that the change is real ( I am a gardener,angler and hunter,and nature has been indicating change for twenty odd years),I am rather cynical about how we will combat it. One thing is for sure; It ain't gonna happen by refusing plastic carrier bags and saying, " I recycle. " The government seems to think that replacing millions of petrol and diesel vehicles with electric ones will do the job.Just remind me please,about the small number of countries that have stocks of that finite resource,Lithium?
We will be an all- electric society that can carry on regardless,as our Utopia will be fuelled by wind and sun,or so say our Cloud-Cuckoo-Land-Leaders!

I haven't come across many "I recycle my plastic bags so everything will be fine" folks but I don't actually talk to many people at large about it, I probably live in a bit of an echo chamber about this but the truth is, if someone's opinions differ from mine that radically, then there's no shared assumptions to start a conversation.
Lithium, and cadmium too, I was reading? Not sure, I can't find a reference, but the principle of "mindless utopia built on wrong assumptions" is spot on

If The World and Society is really,REALLY, serious about "Saving the planet",then we could only do it by seriously limiting population growth,and returning to an almost mediaeval agrarian system.A totally local life. No imported goods ( that takes carbon), no travel beyond where your legs can carry you, and your food and water would have to be very local,to the point of providing it yourself.Truly the only way the Earth could survive,is for humans to try to pretend they are not here.

I don't think we'll need to go back as far as medieval times. I definitely agree that human population growth needs to reverse, but we know so much now about how to nurture the soil, how to sequence crops so that the soil benefits, how to insulate homes and get the most from the fuel we *do* use, I think it will be some version of life between 1850 and 1950. But thats probably assuming that people are willing to learn the new skills needed and the old attitudes that will also be needed: re-use, reduce, recycle as never before. That means not buying a greenhouse, it means getting some old windows from the tip and cobbling together frames from lengths of wood or plastic.

That is extreme of course,and humans, being as we are,then it won't happen.We know what's happening,and we are like the proverbial frog that allows itself to be boiled alive! That phrase, Saving The Planet,is blithely trotted out.Most folks won't even take the time to really understand the seriousness of those three words.Big change is coming,and I personally think that this is the slow decline to the end of mankind's rule of Earth. Our ' Dinosaur Moment' if you will.

I think of Scott Morrison and his "business as usual" with the Mayor of Sydney insisting on those fireworks (how far did the sparks go? Did any new fires start up because of those fireworks? I bet we don't get told); compare that with thousands of people sitting on beaches or wading into the sea overnight to avoid flames that are more than a hundred feet high My optimism deserts me at such moments

So,getting to the point,as a Prepper, where do you feel that climate change will put you? Personally,I am reinforcing my food - producing efforts.Using Permaculture techniques and extending my rainwater harvesting,investing in small scale power generation,hopefully we can weather the economic storm.Transition to a low carbon economy ( Zero is an impossibility) will be economically painful,without a doubt.Political decisions will change domestic economic plans overnight.For instance,if my car becomes illegal then I will lose my current job.If we are forced to eat less meat,I will lose my job.If my woodburner is oulawed,then how will I heat my home economically?

I've been thinking about this, where will climate change put me in terms of my prepping .... exactly what you're suggesting - low-energy input for food, water and power. One thing that strikes me very strongly is the way flash floods happen so often now, in areas where they never happened before. The soil can be very badly affected by that, the local ecology can break down, the crops can be lost.

For me personally, I think I only need to worry about the next 20 years - after that, the physical effort that goes with the new way of life will be beyond me, and unless there's some form of joint living situation, with family, or with other older people, then I'm sort of done for My prepping books and prepping equipment may be the most important contribution I can make in that situation.

[Arzosah]

Happy New Year, by the way

[Yorkshire Andy]

that strikes me very strongly is the way flash floods happen so often now, in areas where they never happened before. The soil can be very badly affected by that, the local ecology can break down, the crops can be lost.

The flash flood aspect is a worry we were hit locally a few years back but it's never flooded before......... Hmmm you've bought a home on land that always flooded really didn't go down well with a bloke in the pub new builds put on the site of a old nursing home which had a huge garden and ditch round it guess what they filled it in crammed as many houses on it and people are supprised.

That and the the waterboard are not investing in increased infrastructure to handle increased run of in storm drains

After the wet autumn and winter watch wheat prices sky rocket as they didn't get winter wheat in

[jansman]

The flooding is an issue here too this year. The river has flooded as never before. Agricultural land is sodden to the point of being useless right now.

Regarding the standard of living we may be reduced to living, Arzosah has probably got it right. Mid nineteenth century to mid twentieth century, although depending on the severity of climate conditions, who knows. We did well during WW2 ( as did other nations) with limited resources, repairing and reusing, and making -do. An all-out national campaign is needed ( NOW) to galvanise the country into reducing consumption, repurposing and then recycling. That would lead to a general attitude of self-reliance amongst the population.

However, can you really see our spoilt, bloated nation having that? The Selfie Generation. At the other end the Boomers. My mother was whining because she has to pay for her next tv licence( she has just qualified for a free one)even though she has an income that makes your eyes water!

The time to learn to swim is now, not when the lifeboats are in the water.

[Deeps]

As Jansman has said there are too many of us, especially 'First world' types who consume a huge amount. Its the elephant in the room that nobody wants to acknowledge. Its all very well for Greta or David Attenborough to get all angst ridden about and for us to ooh and ahh over but until 'WE' change our ways then it will be business as usual.

Then how do we stop the countries like Brazil, India and China who aspire to be as affluent as us....

Its a proper mess that really needs dealt with at a world level, apart from 'smug points' there's not a great deal the UK can do, we're fairly small players (and quite good at trying to improve) in the big picture of who's to blame (we do have a lot of previous but we're trying to be good now). All the money that we're looking to spend would be better invested in the developing countries who are doing much more harm than 'us' now. It won't happen of course, we're a very tribal bunch.

[jansman]

Whilst it is ( ecologically) wrong to disagree,the UK is planning to hobble itself by banning petrol,diesel,gas,coal and cows farting.We will be reducing ourselves to a crap life,whilst the rest of the planet just says, " Party- on".

[diamond lil]

The last two posts say it all! you pair have more commonsense than all the western govts put together. I always wonder what the hell the point is of this tiny wee silly country bothering it's ass, when China alone is adding to it's coal fired power stations every single week. Then there's India. And South America. And Russia. Oooh and America. We seem to think we still have an Empire. Or that anybody pays any attention to us at all.