How to prepare for Peak Oil on a personal level?

[NickB79]

If everything that's been posted over the past few months is close to true, the social and economic impacts of Peak Oil should begin to be felt within the next 1-2 yrs. Is anyone else here contemplating how to get by if and when "the crap hits the fan"? My first instinct is to stockpile like people did to prepare for the possibility of Y2K, and make contingency plans on where to move should Peak Oil make living where I am now unfeasible. I don't want to come across as some survivalist nutball, though. Is anyone else thinking about this too, or am I just over-reacting?

[no_hypocrisy]

1. You will need to reorganize your life that involves as little driving as possible.

Job close to home if not working from home.
Shopping just once a week from a minimum of sources.
Get a good sturdy bike.
Sweators for cooler interiors during the fall and winter months.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. Learn to walk, bike, and take public transit wherever you can instead of driving

Even without peak oil, you'll be healthier for it.

If you live in a car-dependent suburb, move to either a real small town, the kind you can walk across in half an hour, or a large city.

If you build or remodel a house, take your climate into consideration. Look at the pre-modern building styles for your region and imitate them.

[GliderGuider]

3. Here's my take on it:

This article outlines what I think people ought to be doing and also describes my own progress towards those goals.

http://www.paulchefurka.ca/Actions.html

[unhappycamper]

4. Plant a Victory Garden or two.

Raised bed gardens are compact, efficient, and can be used three seasons a year.

See this google search for ideas.

[Autumn Colors]

5. A few things

I'm in the process of buying a house. One of my first projects, once all settled will be looking into converting the heating system to a geothermal heat pump. Radiant heating system installed in the floors/walls can also cool the house.

Solar water heater.

I already work at home, but my office uses a lot of electricity, so .... solar panels on the roof or in the back yard (an acre of land) and/or one of the new small rooftop wind turbines to cut down on electricity cost and act as a backup.

Someone mentioned cutting down on grocery shopping. Invest in a freezer and stock up on food. With planning, you can do one big shopping trip for nonperishables once a month (or even less if you really buy in bulk) and then buy things like milk, etc once a week from the closest source (not necessarily the big supermarket).

Going out for entertainment won't be possible for me, so the internet and things like Netflix will be used more.

Start growing fruits and vegetables in the backyard (possibly putting up a small greenhouse for this) because food costs will go up with the gas prices.

I hate to say this, but I probably will have to fence in my property, too. The economy is already tanking. This will make people desperate. One has to not only think about cost, but protection. That sounds terrible, I know.

[kestrel91316]

11. Don't forget to insulate the hell out of your house as you are able.

I wish I had your situation. The house I have rented (and had a nice garden with) has been sold to be bulldozed. I will have to move into an apartment.

[Shallah Kali]

17. not just a freezer - root celler if land is suitable. also drying food is good

mother earth news article on root cellering
http://www.motherearthnews.com/DIY/1985-09-01/Root-Cellaring.aspx

if things to as badly as some expect merely storing a years supply of beans and rice won't be enough. as many people as possible need to produce as much food as they can. Look at what Cuba went though when they lost the USSR's oil. This won't be a short term shortage it will be a permanent shortage where only the wealthy have access to any remaning oil. and on the bright side if everyone is wrong well we will all have gotten good exercise without paying gym fees and stocked up on excellent fresh healthy fruits and veggies.

[NNadir]

6. Hole up in Idaho with a bank of solar cells, a million gallons of gasoline,

some light and heavy weapons, a generator, and twenty years worth of grain.

If you can squirrel away some nuclear weapons, this will help. You may be able to disassemble them in twenty years to build a small reactor if you need it.

You will also need some switch grass, some batteries, a bioreactor, a small reservoir, a fishing pole, and several types of ethanol powered fuel cells.

Take these simple precautions and you should be fine.

[IDemo]

12. don't do that

Growing season here is way too short, plus the heavily-armed populace will become unruly and difficult to deal with. Oh wait, they're already like that..

[NNadir]

19. Sorry to malign your state. On the other hand, I live in New Jersey.

Those of us who aren't mobsters wallow in toxic waste.

[Double T]

7. Survival skills and learning to live lean are BOTH lessons that will..........

serve us well in the years ahead. Peak oil, overpopulation, declining job markets, declining wages, spent consumers, robber barons and etc., etc., etc. will lead to the 'crap hitting the fan'. You can stick your head in the sand or do some serious planning ahead. Stockpiling always helps for a while BUT the coming events are likely to be for extended periods.

[Strelnikov_]

8. ELP

http://graphoilogy.blogspot.com/

While hope springs eternal, I have doubts about any policy changes, at least in the short term, especially with groups like Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) and ExxonMobil telling Americans that we don’t have to worry about Peak Oil for decades to come. By the way, note that oil companies working the Lower 48 and the North Sea have so far been unable to reverse the Lower 48 and North Sea declines, no matter how much technology has been applied. Oil fields are still being found—we just can’t offset the declines from older, larger fields.

George Bush has talked about the US “oil addiction,” and he has talked about curtailing US gasoline consumption and encouraging biofuels production, but the underlying assumption is that we can continue our current lifestyle, perhaps with just more efficient SUV’s. If he were still with us, I suspect that M. King Hubbert would disagree.

I recommend “ELP” on an individual basis.

Economize--Try to live on half or less of your current income.

Localize--Try to reduce the distance between work and home to as close to zero as possible, in much smaller more energy efficient housing, and integrate yourself into the community.

Produce--Try to become, or work for, a provider of essential goods and services.

[jaksavage]

9. You aren't alone

But a little behind if you're just thinking.

The mormons have a plan/guide
but simply

Eliminate debt
store food
store drinking water
have multiple systems for heat
live close in
grow food
be part of a community

the ideology of isolation and militancy
is not a world I want to live in

Unfortunatly the small towns have already seen an influx
of newcomers who move there to get way from evil cities
but immediatly begin turning new town into where they just left
and they bring their kids!
Mostly they are lucky sperm club members and able to relocate, w family
the haves, pushing out the have nots

so if you go to a small town...I hear that many nice ones in Nebraska are welcoming newcomers
Kansas was giving away lots in one town.
And the locals can teach you everything you want to know about survival

Buy locally, today
reduce fuel use

damn it
if we just put solar on 30% of the building in the sun belt
and encouraged conservation!!!! We wouldn't have an energy problem.
and the oil cos wouldn't be making record profits!!!!

aaaahhhhhh

[IDemo]

10. Spend some time with this group ->

Plenty of ideas here, from peakoil.com - Planning For The Future

[4dsc]

13. There's really no planning needed..

Remember that no man is a island and that no one will be able to fully escape the consequences of peak oil, I say there's no real way to prepare...

Read "Powerdown" by Heinberg (http://www.richardheinberg.com/endorsements/powerdown)for a good look at what we should do. Its different that what we will probably do.. Or at least what the powers to be want to be done about it..

[NickB79]

14. Thanks for all the tips

I must confess, I've been doing a lot more than just "thinking" about this problem. I didn't want to come out and admit to what I've done though since my friends think I'm nuts. Very few of them take me seriously, so I've stopped talking to them about it. I thought this would be a more accepting place to solicit ideas.

Thankfully, my girlfriend takes me seriously, and we've decided that when things get bad enough, we will move to my dad's farm in central Minnesota. It's a nice mix of woods, farm fields, and lakes and streams. I still know most of the people up there, and they remember me, so I will fit back into the community fine. It's still mostly rural, with towns of 300-1000 people scattered every 5 miles or so. There are a few rail lines still in existence, though most are no longer used. Hopefully they will be brought back into use in the future. I've been putting a lot of work into renovating the farm with my brother, who is a carpenter/electrician. This includes:

-installing a woodburning furnace to replace the propane one.
-installing more insulation in the attic.
-replacing all the bulbs with CFL's where possible.
-restoring soil fertility in the gardens with compost from our livestock.
-replacing hybrid vegetable crops with heirloom seeds, so they seeds can be saved for next year.
-planting trees on marginal soil to provide additional firewood in the future, as well as wildlife habitat for game such as deer and rabbits.
-planting a small orchard of apples, hazelnuts, Nanking cherries, pears, and cherries. We have wild grapes, chokecherries and crabapples growing in our 25 acres of woods as well.
-enlarging the windbreak to reduce heating costs in winter.
-learning from my grandmother how to can, pickle, and otherwise preserve foods without refrigeration.

I will be doing more work this summer, including digging a fishing pond if the weather is dry enough. Currently the pond is about 120 ft long X 50 ft wide, but only 3 ft deep, so I plan to dig it down to 8-9 ft and stock it with sunfish and perch next year. I also want to see about practicing making homemade biodiesel from soybeans, I was able to make up about 2 gallons last year that ran fine in the tractor when blended with another 2 gallons of regular diesel (technically a B50 blend).

I must confess I have been stockpiling a few guns and a bit of ammunition as well, since I don't think too highly of my fellow men when they become desperate. I pray the guns will never be used for anything more than hunting. But thankfully I have an understanding girlfriend who doesn't mind if I come home with 5000 rounds of ammo so long as I used a coupon :evilgrin:

[Extend a Hand]

15. I've been thinking about it...

I first heard of peak oil at the end of 2004.

My husband and I, at that time, decided our number one priority was to get out of debt.

How you prepare kind of depends on where you are in life. We are close enough to retirement not to have to plan based on having a job for the long term.

How old are you? do you have children? do you live somewhere that is not likely to have severe water shortages? do you already have debt or are you just starting out?

I don't think you are over-reacting...I think an awful lot of people are either sticking their heads in the sand or putting their fingers in their ears singing lalalalala, or just not paying attention to the ominous signs.
The best comment I read on preparation was this...preparation is like buying insurance...you don't buy insurance for the 'best case' scenario. ;)

There seem to be in the peak oil community two different schools of thought on preparations:
The survivalist school is busy stockpiling, buying weapons, looking for isolated acreage, and sometimes self-sufficiency.
The 'community solution' school has two camps both focused on sustainable economic and environmental goals.
The first group is focused on preparing best they can in their own community, creating networks and (sometimes) working on awareness in the general population
The second group believes it to late to transform the general population and are forming or joining 'intentional communities' with the aim of becoming a self sufficient community.

I would urge you to prepare best that you can. Good luck.

[depakid]

16. Learn some practical skills

and teach or encourage your kids to learn them. Enjoy them as hobbies.

Organic gardening, permaculture, wood and metal work, sewing & quilting, etc.

Whatever else happens, "things" are going to get expensive as cheap petroleum and natural gas grow scarcer.

[Eclipsenow]

18. Get political!

Good work all. An impressive list above there.

But can I add that it's time to REALLY get political, both with your politicians and with your local community?

Write to your local member.
Read my campaign suggestions.
AT LEAST PUT UP SOME OF MY FREE POSTERS — I have American US Letter versions as well, adn more posters will be coming soon.

The more people know about this the better.

I'm glad to see such a large online political group is already so aware of peak oil.
It really does seem to change how you view reality — it's as mad as being abducted by aliens.
Except that it's inevitable, and it's true.

My page "Why now" has a few pieces on why peak oil is inevitable in the short term.
Just a collection of a few favourite geologists and engineers I know.


http://eclipsenow.blogspot.com/2007/03/why-now.html