Red Zones, FEMA Camps and the Heinberg Certainty Principle
So as you heard earlier on this site, we are looking at a food shortage. Actually, we've been in one since midsummer, but most of us thought it had to do with transportation - that is, the food was out there somewhere, it just couldn't get from there to where we were. But it turns out that a lot of the food never got grown. Or got eaten by bugs. And a lot more rotted in the fields or in boxcars parked on a siding somewhere near Texas.
HUNGRY PEOPLE
How much of the violence we experienced had to do with hungry people? That's the question that's now stalking up and down the corridors of power in Washington DC. I guess they don't read anda up there: she told all about this back in Week 17 (note: strong language).
Washington is still holding back the official figures on the food shortfall - they must fear panic and hoarding again. I don't think that's going to happen. I think - I hope - it's more clear to people that attempting to hoard food while others starve will lead to trouble.
FEMA CAMPS AND HEINBERG
So now the FEMA camps come into focus. They actually have a logic to them (I think however they lucked into it). The FEMA camps take people out of the cities and place them near food production areas. The people in the camps are put to work growing food: feeding themselves through intensive gardening, and feeding others by helping out on nearby farms.
I heard two weeks ago that Richard Heinberg had been to visit the White House. Heinberg, as some of you know, is a Peak Oil guy and predicted, pre-crisis, that an oil scarcity would force this country to retrain millions of people to work the fields again. Richard, are you out there? Can you confirm or deny that that is what is going on?
THE RED ZONES
Now if you are incorrigibly bitter and suspicious, as I am, you then begin to wonder how much the Red Zones helped "motivate" people to move out of the cities and into the camps.
THIS JUST IN
You heard it here first, folks: the White House has agreed in principle to bring back the troops from Iraq. We understand the decision has been made, it's just the timetable that's being hammered out. We could use some back-up on this info: lead_tag, you heard anything? (I wonder if he would be the first or the last to know.)
Why bring the troops home? Because I think it's been proved by now that they are not helping our oil supply one bit. The oil-producing nations determine who gets what, and if they're thinking that it's time to put fat ol' Uncle Sam on a diet that's more in line with what the rest of the world consumes, they can do so.
MPATHYTEST IS BACK
Did you see? I for one am glad. The chaos really got to her, so it's great to see her bounce back. She's asking the big question: how do we turn this thing around? Gas is still over $6 a gallon. How do we not just survive, but thrive? The first step is, what is working for YOU? What is enabling you to move forward?
GUT CHECKS AND GRACESMOM
Lead_tag kinda laid it on the line for us, folks. We gotta start moving mountains and do it NOW. Gracesmom got a reprieve but plenty of people out there don't have the kind of friends that she does.
We've seen communities that may be well on their way to taking care of themselves. Ones with some very good, very practical ideas going. But who's going to take care of others? We want to be addressing problems, not treating symptoms. Let us know what you're thinking, and show us what you and your community are doing, in your blogs, emails, videos and phone calls.
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