Transition Towns

 

Locally grown foods sold at a farmers market

So I just heard of this thing called Transition Towns, and I am in the process of joining one.  The overall idea is to adjust to life without oil and with climate changes in order to make life “Post Oil” livable and even enjoyable.  Read more here.

The first problems which come to mind are our oil dependencies in the areas of food and heating.  

I am writing from central Illinois, so food is all around us, but delivering it to the rest of the country/world will become impossible.  Industrial agriculture is also dependant on oil.  Without our tractors, combines, and other oil driven machines our capacity to produce will be diminished.

Living in the mid-west is an exercise in suffering the elements.  This year we had several cold snaps lasting for more than a week during which the temperature did not raise above zero degrees Fahrenheit.  No amount of insulation would have kept our house warm enough without gas heating.

Further Post Oil challenges include but are not limited to transportation, medical care, law and order, art, and education.

The climate change element is something I am not certain we can completely prepare for.  The idea of unpredictable weather patterns disrupting agriculture and displacing large urban populations is staggering.  Does that mean the interior of continents should prepare to host millions of refugees?  To do so while facing food and transportation shortages is going to be a challenge if we don’t have an oil free solution ready to implement when crisis strikes.

Email Fraud

I don’t know if that is a real crime but I just got an email that smacks of the Nigerian 419 Scam.  I replied to it, I hope to hear from Dr. Terry Williams soon reguarding my prize.  Here is the text:

OXFAM INTERNATIONAL
Oxfam House, John Smith Drive,
Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2JY.,
United Kingdom.
Date: 21th July, 2008.

Dear Funds Beneficiary

This is to notify you that you have been officially chosen by the Board of
Trustees of the Oxfam GB (NGO UK) as one of the final recipients of a Cash
Grant/Donation for Economic Growth and a Poverty  Alleviation Scheme through
your email.
Oxfam GB (U.K.), a Multi-Million Pounds NGO group, was established with the
objective of Human Growth, Poverty Alleviation,Educational and Community
Development around the world. In line with the 61st anniversary program,
Oxfam
in conjunction with the European Council is giving out Twenty-Five
Million,Five
Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling as specific Donations/Grants to 10 lucky
International recipients worldwide in different categories for their
Business
and Social Development.

These funds are freely given for your Business,Economic and Educational
Development, as well as the enhancement of the overall standard of living of
the less previledged people in your region.
It will interest you to know that your email was selected from your
country’s
chambers of commerce,due to an internet random selection and you have been
confirmed as one of the lucky recipients of this year’s donation programme.
You are also entitled to the sum of Two Million,Five Hundred and Fifty
Thousand  Pounds Sterling(2,550,000.00 GBP) as charity donations/aid
from the
Oxfam GB (UK) International donation scheme.

Further information on the processing and disbursement of your grant
entitlements, alongside the provision of your qualification documentations,
will be dislosed to you by the National Secretary of the foundation, Dr.
Terry
Williams.
Please contact him with your Qualification Number [OXG /101/231/BDB]
as soon as
possible.

Dr. Terry Williams
Tel: +44 704 578 1442.
Email: oxfamgb.intl47@googlemail.com
Oxfam-GB, United kingdom.

Signed:
Sir. William Boykin
Programme Manager.
?xfam-GB

I hope he gets back to me, I would like to know if he is in England or Africa.

Out With the Old

This is across the street from the Cornerstone office.  Illinois State University is going to build a student recreation center on this site.  This building was once a dorm, now upperclassmen are forced to live off campus and only freshmen are required to live in the dorms, I think.

The University should have had housing built before they tore it down, but now we have a taxing number of people all hunting for apartments.  I should be thankful because the tight apartment market pushed us towards a house, but still.

Being Married, It’s Different.

Last month I got married to a wonderful woman named Karen. It was just a month ago, but I am going to weigh in on my experiences thus far. It is, of course different. We wouldn’t hold a big party and change names and banking information if it were not different. It is good difference. But here are some things I have learned about.

Literally sleeping together. Simple right? Not at all. The first week or so neither of us got much sleep. I turn and toss in my sleep. She likes to be warm and hates cold, I like to feel cool and I hate feeling hot. We both snore. And now, the last several nights when we lay down I have been feeling chatty.

Here’s a trick for anybody who shares these problems. Games. That’s right. It starts by one of us saying a word like ‘Illinois’ the other can answer any number of ways, but how they answer the first time defines the game. For example: answering ‘Springfield’, then responding ‘California’, the correct answer would be ‘Sacramento’. The second person could have just a easily answered ‘USA’, and responded with ‘Bavaria’ (the answer is ‘Germany’). It really makes you search for a while for something you know for certain, but your spouse wouldn’t know. That is when you fall asleep.

Openness. I am not an open person. Working and living with another person has forced openness on me. I think of something I don’t want her to know, and then I realize two things: 1) She will find out, and 2) when she does, the fact I wasn’t open will hurt her more than the concealed matter would have hurt both of us combined.

One funny outcome is that I tell her things she doesn’t care about, or would never be upset over me not sharing. For example: She asks what me what I’m thinking about, and I answer honestly that I was day-dreaming about being in a rock band, and playing rock music alternating between instruments. Karen then tells me I am random. Some mornings I tell her about the cigarette dream I had the night before (it is a recurring dream of mine, where I smoke one or many cigarettes). She would be sad if I really smoked one, but she doesn’t care if I dream about it.

February Prayer Letter

2_08.pdf

Civil Servants

Recently I renewed my drivers license (it expired in July). I also applied for a passport a few days later. I know what kind of service we all associate with the DMV and the post office. I would normally expect to use all my patience and rage suppression exercises. But not this time.

The first visit was to the Bloomington DMV for a fresh license. The staff was friendly and cheerful. We were all smiles and jokes. When I mentioned to Karen that I needed to register to vote and that I wanted to get a motorcycle license, the guy came out with the forms for voter registration and a booklet for attaining a motorcycle license. Most helpful.

The next stop was at the Bloomington Post Office for passports for Karen and I. We walked up to the counter and had a good time with the employees, bantering about the honeymoon location (Cancun) and joking about the photos we brought. It was a very nice experience.

Maybe I was in a good mood so it was a combination of my attitude affecting those around me and I had rose colored glasses on… or it’s because civil servants treat white people better.

January Prayer Letter

This is my prayer letter, no sense in not sharing it.

1_08.pdf

New Beginings

This is not my first blog. No, I once used a blog as a personal journal made public. Even I found some of my personal writings lame and pathetic. This, I hope, will be more idea centric; simply a place for me to weigh in and for some discussion.

I look to make this part video log. Which will be fun.