I won't live like this..Oh God..:(((?

Question

from article:

http://green.yahoo.com/news/ap/20080524/ap_on_re_us/environmental_survivalists.html

Convinced the planet's oil supply is dwindling and the world's economies are heading for a crash, some people around the country are moving onto homesteads, learning to live off their land, conserving fuel and, in some cases, stocking up on guns they expect to use to defend themselves and their supplies from desperate crowds of people who didn't prepare.

Do you?

Answer 1

Let me start off by saying we (my family and I) live completely, 100% “off of the grid and are completely self sufficient”

The house is built utilizing natures natural elements, in the shape of an octagon with 8ft wide arch doors on every wall to catch every angle of wind (typical 4 sided homes have half the chance as one with 8 sides. A circle being the most efficient design). Woodburning stoves, solar chimney, solar AC, solar heating, solar water heating (pool and home), solar stove, solar power, wind power, hydrogen powered back up generator, hydrogen back up water heater, hydrogen stove, 2 hydrogen powered trucks, 1 EV (electric vehicle) and satellite internet.

We also built many green small cabins on the ranch that we offer to family, friends and our on-site off-grid workshop guests, including one straw bale, one papercrete, earth bag and adobe, one cob and cordwood, one underground and rammed earth, one log and post and beam and one rock. Each one actually started as a test for what the main house would be and were later finished and turned into guest cabins. I later wrote a guide on how to build with alternative materials using alternative methods for next to nothing.

We raise meat and milk goats, chickens for meat and eggs, ducks for meat and eggs, trap havilina (wild boar pig), rabbit, quail. brew our own beer from home grown products, preserve our fruits, vegetables, etc. smoke and jerky the meat, make our own soap, cheese.

There are no utility lines, no water lines, no roads, tv, cell service, etc. on our ranch. EVERYTHING needed is produced here. All electricity comes from 27 solar panels, 2 main wind gens and a back hydrogen generator if needed (typically we can last 9 days with all luxuries of sunless windless weather, hasn't happened yet). Water is caught and storaged from the rain. Hot water is made with solar batch water heaters with an on-demand hydrogen hot water heater as backup. Even our vehicles use alternative energy (2 hydrogen trucks, 1 EV electric vehicle converted). Because of this we have no bills, no debt and no mortgage.

Anyone interested can check it out at..

www agua-luna com

I believe this is the first step anyone can make “help the environment”. Once you convert your own life style to a greener more eco friendly route, you can start helping others.

my home has all the comforts listed above plus some. we live very comfortable without effecting the environment. just saying that tol et you know it's possible. you may not want to go as extreme as me and my family but anywhere in between is something.

Without getting to in depth here, Using alternative fuels in your vehicles and harnessing your own electricity from the sun, water, earth and wind are the 2 are key elements in making a green transition and erasing your carbon footprint.

here's a calculator to find out how much of a green impact your making (carbon footprint)

http://www.conservation.org/act/live_gre...

if you'd like to make your next step feel free to contact me personally at www agua-luna com

I've been installing home made Solar panels. Solar stoves, Solar batch and inline hot water heaters. Solar radiant heating. Solar home heating and AC, along with home made wind gens and other alternative energy items for the last 3 years.

You can even make the above projects on site with simple parts from the local hardware stores or auto stores or junk yards. For more info check out some guides I wrote / compiled on how to DIY www agua-luna com

Again these projects can be accomplished anywhere by anyone.

if you absolutely can't do anything in your home at least you can put alternative fuels in your car. most major automotive manufacturers (Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors, etc) recommend the use of bio fuels, and nearly every car manufacturer in the world approves ethanol blends in their warranty coverage.

In fact your probably even driving an ethanol car and didn't even know it.

The trick is finding fuel.

I've been producing biofuel for about 3 years now, it's not extremely difficult. Basically you need general household ingredients, a processor (or still for ethanol) and some used oil. Blend it, let separate, screen and use. I complied a guide a while back to help walk you threw the process step by step, just email me or check out..

www agua-luna com

as for recyling the best way i've found without taking money from your won pocket is to join a free freecycle group in your area or visit the habitat for humanity.

If you’d like help in making your self sufficient steps, feel free to contact me directly. I’ve written several how-to DIY guides available at www agua-luna com

on the subject. I also offer online and on-site workshops, seminars and internships to help others “help the environment”.

Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions if you’d like assistance in making your first self sufficient steps, I’m willing to walk you step by step threw the process. I’ve written several how-to DIY guides available at  www agua-luna com on the subject. I also offer online and on-site workshops, seminars and internships to help others help the environment.

Dan Martin

Alterative Energy / Sustainable Consultant, Living 100% on Alternative & Author of How One Simple Yet Incredibly Powerful Resource Is Transforming The Lives of Regular People From All Over The World... Instantly Elevating Their Income & Lowering Their Debt, While Saving The Environment by Using FREE ENERGY... All With Just One Click of A Mouse...For more info Visit:  

www AGUA-LUNA com

Stop Global Warming!!!

Answer 2

I've lived on a permaculture homestead/farm for over 20 years.

Not because I have this great fear the world is going to end, or humanity will be wiped off the face of the earth.  Rather we do so, because we very much value our independence, self sufficiency, and because we personally view it as an investment in our retirement.

How would it be, to be retired, and have only bills for phones, internet, and TV, if you wanted it?  Those are all luxury items.  Life does not actually end if you don't have them.

So if our mortgage is paid off, our farm generates it's own electricity, heat, and water from the well, and oh yes, we grow our own fuel to run our vehicles.  Not to mention all the delicious and ultra healthy food we grow for ourselves (and yes we butcher our own animals).  So we eat the stuff that costs huge amounts at the stores, because it would bear lables that say "organic, free range, grass fed, all natural"...yet it only costs us pennies to raise it ourselves.  That strikes me as smart.

We can raise and make our own fuel, for about $.79 cents a gallon.  Do people actually ENJOY paying a lot for fuel?  Isn't being self suffcient better?

The farm generates income, so we don't have to worry about paying the taxes when we become elderly.  

I fail to see what is wrong with growing, cutting and splitting your own wood stack, for your wood stove.  Do you know what kind of great physical shape that puts you in?  The price of our wood is not going up (because we can grow our own), unlike people who depend on heating oil.

I also fail to see what is wrong with families who become self sufficient.  Do you know how stress free we are, and how much time we get to spend together?  We are all able to pursue our greatest interests and joys in life (in other words we have time to play).  

I happen to personally be extremely suceptable to the flu, and suffer serrious complications.  Would you be able to shut your gate, or door, and remain home for 6 months, until a pandemic blew over?  Or would you have to go to work, or the store?  We could shut the gate to the farm, and remain here for a couple of years, and never run out of interesting things to do, or read, not to mention food supplies, nor even toilet paper.  How would your family fair?   Most spouses would want to kill each other, and the children, after the stress of being "locked up" for only a week or two.  

I personally wish MORE people were self sufficient!  Then they wouldn't be standing in line for a hand-out from the back of a Red Cross truck, or panic buying at grocery stores, before big storms hit their area.  They would also be able to weather things like spouse death, and long term unempoyment, or serrious illness of a family member, MUCH better.

Independent, self sufficient people ROCK!

Oh yeah....one other thing, what if bird flu, or peak oil, or WW III do come to pass in your lifetime....who will you turn to for help?  My neighbors would be given meat rabbits, goats they could milk, fresh fuits and vegtables, as well as seeds so they could grow their own.  I could feed my neighbors....about 30 houses worth of people.  What would happen to you, and in your neighborhood?  Would someone kill you for the last can of pork n' beans?

~Garnet

Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years

P.S.  I will also state that I feel sorry for people who become independent or self suffcient out of a sence of fear.  People should be doing so out of a sence of pride in what they themselves can accomplish.

Answer 3

What is your question?  Please do not take the name of God in vain.

Of course the oil is dwindling.  One day it has to finish.  We all should conserve resources.   It is the greediness of the rich which is squandering the earth's resources.   Our scientists also should search for practical ways to use alternative ways of energy for humanity's needs.

Answer 4

No, but their views do scare me. The thought of a situation like that arising is terrifying.

Answer 5

i just answered an identical question to yours.

check it out.

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind...

Answer 6

No big deal. The less they buy, the more there is for the rest of us. There's nothing wrong with being self-sufficient. I brew my own beer, vint my own wine, and make other, less essential, commodities as well.

Answer 7

MAYBE WITH OPEC, BUT THEIRS ANOTHER SOURCE

Answer 8

That is a worse case senerio, I wouldn't worry about it too much.  Of course if those kinds of things do happen, you won't have much of a choice, you will have to live like that.