We have been thinking about moving to someplace that has more/better resources and infrastructure than our current location. We live in a small (less than 5,000) southern town with no public transportation, little shopping resources, high poverty rate and almost no infrastructure support. It does have a hydroelectric dam, good schools and relatively low crime.
We have been looking for jobs in areas that we have identified as having the things we would like to have and they have been places like Montpelier Vermont (well almost anywhere in Vermont) Charlottesville, Virginia, and Hendersonville Virginia. Jobs in these areas are scarce and do not have the same pay/benefits that my current state job has. Plus our house is paid for and the only debt that we have is my student loan (Kristina was smart enough to go through school without acquiring debt) so moving is not really the best option for us. Even though our lot is small we can raise a good amount of food on it and we do have friends that have a farm with in 12 miles of our house.
A good friend of ours (that’s you Carey) suggested that we try to improve our community instead of leaving it and seeking greener pastures (I’m paraphrasing). This is a wonderful idea and I am actually a little ashamed that this wasn’t my first thought. I should have started by trying to improve our community instead of seeking a new one. There are lots of things we can do to help our small town, like getting the city to allow us to use some of the vacant downtown area as a local farmers market., or petitioning for an old rail bed to be turned into a rail for trails (or ideally a light rail line) type walk way.
We have decided on taking steps to improve the energy efficiency of our house and want to put in a wood burning stove, drapes and numerous other relatively low cost things. We still want to have a house with at least 5 acres but that is a ways off. There are several things that we can and need to do to prepare ourselves for the coming energy crisis and the changes to our society that it will bring. We can start to live more simply so that any adjustment that we have to make will not be as difficult, produce more of our own food and find local sources for most of our food. We have a long list of skills and things that we think that we need for any coming emergency. We do not want to be unprepared for a crisis and have to rely on the swift response of the government to save us. These are things that we can and should be doing and we are just now really serious about doing them.
I am still worried about racial tension, tea party type militias and all the Bubba’s being mad that stuff at Wal-Mart starts costing so much more or that all of their stores in our small town went out of business when a Super Wal-Mart opened 30 miles away. I don’t think that the unthinking masses that populate our town will be able to process how and why our society is changing, but will just become angry and very susceptible to a charismatic leader who can tap into their resentment. But these problems can happen anywhere in our country.
Basically we have decided that we need to be prepared in the spot that we are at now, than looking for the perfect spot and preparing when we get there.
If you really want to go energy efficient, look at some sailing websites. Living off of a few car batteries makes you think hard about what energy you use. I'm in the process of replacing all the lights on the boat with LEDs because they only draw a few 10s on milliamps. Look at the energy draw on your appliances, and look at that first when you shop for new ones.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely. It is not cost effective or environmentally sound (well, it could be if we donate) to replace our current appliances, but when we are in the market for new, energy use is definitely a top concern. I am going to do some research into solar cookers/ovens and solar battery chargers. We don't really watch tv, but I wish I weren't so addicted to computer use!!
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PS - in Virginia, we were looking at somewhere around the Charlottesville/Harrisonburg/Staunton area in the Shenandoah Valley.
Have you investigated the transition town movement? It's worth a shot, although it didn't even work for me in a supposedly liberal suburb of Boston. There are ways of framing the issue in a way that conservatives can grasp (think more Pickens Plan "stick it to the ay-rabs" than powerdown). I'm just not that good at tailoring a message to reach people where they are. I'd rather yank them out of their comfort zone by passing out red pills, which is a hard sell.
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