Things To Look Forward To With Peak Oil, #5
GETTING FIT & EATING HEALTHFULLY
This post will likely have some critics -- then again, it might get some sounds of agreement, as well. I apologize if this sounds shallow in any way, because I know that habits, health and fitness are largely a matter of choice. Nonetheless, this is what I think: the end of petroleum will naturally mean being more physically active, and eating in a way that is better for our bodies.
Yes, I look forward to the day when I'll be more self-mobile, walking and biking exclusively, instead of taking the car because I'm in a hurry to get somewhere or haven't figured out how to haul a large load of groceries effectively. To when I'll not be sitting in front of the computer 8 hours a day, and instead be toiling outside to produce my own food and raise some chickens, rabbits and sheep.
Eating healthfully will be a natural byproduct of (relative) food scarcity. Sure, the first few years might be enormously challenging, and we'll "starve" compared to our excessive over-indulgent eating habits at present. But I have much faith in the abundance of permaculture practices applied to growing and raising food in small spaces, even urban settings, and hopefully in large, reclaimed public spaces in neighbourhoods for farm-scale production. Eating healthfully will be inevitable when there's no more fast food, processed "food", imported out-of-season produce, mercury-laden fish and pesticide-coated fruits and vegetables. We'll eat less, we'll eat seasonally, and we'll eat naturally.
Happily there is, of course, time to make the transition now. In a year or two, I'll have a home which I'll own and start to convert into the self-sufficient mini-eco-village I dream of, and begin the toiling and growing and making and working. And my 13-year-old car will likely be dead by then, too.
This post will likely have some critics -- then again, it might get some sounds of agreement, as well. I apologize if this sounds shallow in any way, because I know that habits, health and fitness are largely a matter of choice. Nonetheless, this is what I think: the end of petroleum will naturally mean being more physically active, and eating in a way that is better for our bodies.
Yes, I look forward to the day when I'll be more self-mobile, walking and biking exclusively, instead of taking the car because I'm in a hurry to get somewhere or haven't figured out how to haul a large load of groceries effectively. To when I'll not be sitting in front of the computer 8 hours a day, and instead be toiling outside to produce my own food and raise some chickens, rabbits and sheep.
Eating healthfully will be a natural byproduct of (relative) food scarcity. Sure, the first few years might be enormously challenging, and we'll "starve" compared to our excessive over-indulgent eating habits at present. But I have much faith in the abundance of permaculture practices applied to growing and raising food in small spaces, even urban settings, and hopefully in large, reclaimed public spaces in neighbourhoods for farm-scale production. Eating healthfully will be inevitable when there's no more fast food, processed "food", imported out-of-season produce, mercury-laden fish and pesticide-coated fruits and vegetables. We'll eat less, we'll eat seasonally, and we'll eat naturally.
Happily there is, of course, time to make the transition now. In a year or two, I'll have a home which I'll own and start to convert into the self-sufficient mini-eco-village I dream of, and begin the toiling and growing and making and working. And my 13-year-old car will likely be dead by then, too.
posted by Claudia Davila (Fran) at 5:06 PM
8 Comments:
I dunno, Fran. I love eating the tomatoes and squash we've been harvesting from our home (organic) garden, but weeding it is one of my least favorite activities.
I'd still rather be in front of my computer writing about food than growing it. ;)
i think we can look to other cultures around today which are less dependent on oil (or consumer products from oil-guzzling countries) to get a preview of what food production and exercise will be like post-oil. there are some folks around the world who are very capable of feeding themselves comfortably without shopping at grocery stores. the stories by indigenous activists in the book "Horizontalism: Voices of Popular Power in Argentina" come to mind.
cool post - this is an intriguing topic!
i found a related link i thought you'd want to check out, too, from The Nowtopian:
"Vandana Shiva pointed out that most of the world's population is still farming as a regular occupation (especially if you consider the several hundred million women who have kitchen gardens outside their doors) and the problems we face can be addressed as much by stopping World Bank and international financial incentives for agribusiness, as by recommitting to family farms. The knowledge and traditional agricultural practices are still there, still largely intact in many places, and we here should direct our efforts to stopping international institutions that are bent on destroying those ways of life. This means halting the aggressive, subsidized export-agribusinesses that are so politically powerful in the U.S. and Europe, and stopping the fake "World Food Program" that funnels hundreds of millions to Cargill and other multinational food giants."
um, wrong link. here's the right one. sorry to leave so many comments. :)
John, I never knew you were such a homebody! ;-) I'm the same, that's why I end up on the computer even when I don't have work to do. But I think I will enjoy weeding when I get a big garden again, or maybe the weeds need to stay as part of the microclimate created -- how's that for win-win!
Ari, it's so true, millions or billions around the world are already practicing this, and most likely have better health than north americans because of it -- we can join them soon! Unluckily for most, thouth, the IMF and World Bank are indesputably two of the biggest forces of cultural destruction internationally, thanks for the great quote and link(s).
I really really love your birdsploitation drawings, btw!!
I do think it is easy to idealize the daily struggle to cultivate edible food for large numbers of people, the old-fashioned, pre-industrial way. Part of what makes us as a generation so lucky, with leisure to think, philosophize, express ourselves, is that we have been freed of the life of peasant toil and exploitation which our ancestors experienced. I, for one, don't imagine a post-peak oil pastoral idyll. It is much more likely that we will turn on each other when resources become scarce. It is nice to dream of agrarian co-operatives, but the human race has never proved itself natrually given to fairness and equality. Eating healthfully is a luxury. Just eating will likely be difficult, post peak oil.
Thanks Kate, and you're right. But personally, it's because I have a healthy fear of our future post-oil that I started this blog of positivity -- trying to imagine and hopefully cultivate a society where the end of oil and modern life as we know it will be seen as an opportunity and wake-up call. Most other sites focus on the doom and gloom, which is justified, but I think peak oil can be a good thing and frankly we need more examples or visions of how it can be (that's why I subtitled this blog "A blog of hope for sustainability, community and peace in a post-peak oil world"). Also, there are great models of agricultural abundance in existence, as described by Masanobu Fukuoka, and the whole permaculture movement. No doubt we'll be hungrier, but I think ultimately healthier.
Fran, I agree that positivity is in short supply, which is why I enjoy reading your blog so much. Looking at events globally, there is reason to fear, but I agree that shifting the balance on a local level can begin now, and need not be forced in the wake of some terrible apocalypse. I just wish more people were as aware as you are! Most of us seem to be wilfully sleepwalking into the future.
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