New Blog

I've started a new blog that is open for the public to see (as opposed to my friends and family only everythingsinteresting.blogspot.com). This blog will mainly be focused on my journey towards a viable life in the future that we face on earth. I don't believe in being "doom and gloom" and preparing for the time when society goes out of control because of disastrous climate change and peak oil. But I think that is a possible future that we face. So what I am doing now is trying to make myself less of a contributer to the causes of this possible future, while also trying to arm myself with the tools I would need to be part of a community that could ride through those times successfully, if they came.

I think that a lot of people realize that the lives we have formed for ourselves over the last hundred or so years have given us a number of benefits, but it has worn away the very fabric that keeps the earth and all it's living beings (including us) running smoothly. I remember being in middle school and there being some talk of this, as if it were a far off problem that we should probably be concerned about because our grandchildren might have to deal with it. Basically, it had to do with the hole in the ozone layer and the fact that we all needed to stop using styrofoam and hairspray because of the CFCs. That was pretty much the extent of it. Now we are all coming to realize that the foundation of our lives, our cities, and our economy has created so many unwanted effects, from our health to our weather to our food and our incomes. Especially out here in the West, where our cities were primarily built after the invention of the car, it seems especially difficult to envision a way to rework our lifestyles to become more locally focused, to drive less, and to know your neighbors. And with a predicted influx of 800,000 more people in the Puget Sound area by 2020, what are we to do?

It's a big problem, but this blog is about how I might deal with things on a much more personal scale. I decided to move back to my old neighborhood of Ballard, where I am close to many business districts, my place of employment, and many friends. I decided to rent a house instead of an apartment, so that I could do more at home. This year I am starting a garden, so that in a few months, much of my food can come directly from my yard. I think it will be a great lesson in food production and help me appreciate the real value of food. We have been accustomed to the "more stuff for less money" economy for such a long time that I think we have lost sight of the real value of food and the meaning it has in our lives. I think that it is going to be a worldwide crisis to have a food shortage, but I think that in America, the majority of us could stand to learn a few lessons about the real cost of food, and also the real cost of oil. I don't know if America will weather the coming years very well. I feel like places like Europe are much more well equipped to handle smaller scale lives, as they've been doing it for hundreds of years. But I am in America for now, and in a forward thinking city that is growing at a frightening rate. What will happen?

Stay tuned to Lesley's Gardening to find out....