Horsepower?
I want to thank Susie over at Suburban Guerrilla for turning me on to this writer, Brian Kaller, who lives in rural Ireland . . . here’s an excerpt:
We live a strange life, those of us who follow closely the breaking of the world. We look at our kitchens and offices and bus stops and see products of petroleum-powered machines on the other side of the world, transported here in petroleum engines. We flick past the mainstream media every morning and go straight to BBC Science, the Oil Drum and Energy Bulletin, scroll through the allied blogs and listen to podcasts on the bus – all while working regular jobs, paying mortgages and caring for children and elderly, each week filled with the burning usual.
In my case, I am also a father, and I want my daughter to have a decent life in a strange time. I am in my 30s now, but I knew five of my great-grandparents, all born in the 19th century, and my daughter, if she is lucky, may live to see the 22nd. Her life might span humanity’s most important decades, and before she is even an adult, the world could grow much more difficult – energy shortages, food shortages, economic collapses and a Malthusian crush. I want her to be able to realize what is happening, and not to be bewildered by a domino line of solitary unthinkables –you can’t drink the water here, the power went out, it’s not safe there anymore.
You can read the rest of this post and more of his observations at Restoring Mayberry Kaller, who is a former newspaper reporter and managing editor, now lives in County Kildare, Ireland, helping prepare local villages for peak oil and other challenges.
Myself, I have eleven grandchildren and one great grandson and I think about these things in long time lines, too. My great grandmother told me about seeing a car for the first time. When I asked her what she thought, she said, “I thought it was a bad idea. It would scare the horses.”