Is the Price Right?

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Is the Price Right?

Submitted by Keith Hufnagel on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 4:53pm.

social contract

As we face another 30 years of carcinogenic reliance on fossil fuels, our economy must be rebuilt now. What should our economy do to end reliance on fossil fuels? Any ideas? Replace monofarms with diverse scatter plots? We don't need gmo for this. Natural, free products work fine to keep insects away there. Harvest is more reliable on a diversified plot and you don't need to worry about field rotation. So what do we pay when money exchange is required? How many farms are stocking up on canned goods? Or is all that coming from the government? What do Olympians feel is worth purchasing? Protection? Fresh food? What should we pay for a cup of soup at Traditions? When we pay that price how is that money distributed? How is a bill for a cup of soup distributed at a larger establishment? What about a frozen cup of soup? I am guessing that lots of us have found amazingly economical ways to live happily here. I just wondering about other ideas.....

Keith Hufnagel's blog
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reliance is coupled to consumerism

Submitted by chad360 on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 5:56pm.

The simple answer is don't buy gas.

Save the money for food, or whatever-

Unfortunately, most folks don't have the knowledge to raise food (...even if they have the time and the land to try); it seems that vast amounts of practical knowledge has been lost in the last 200 years just for the sake of convenience.

...as for economic stability for the US?

I'm not sure if there is alot Americans can do (besides trying to reduce reliance on credit and by being informed consumer), but I'm open to suggestions =)

Economic Crisis...

Submitted by Keith Hufnagel on Thu, 06/26/2008 - 1:16pm.

...can be dramatic eye-opener. Now people will simply (as I have done) stop purching automobile fuel. People now will think (just like you) that maybe they should live where they donot need an automobile. 50 years of change can occur in 1 year at 5 DOLLARS PER GALLON!!!!!! Then what? Nabisco would have to pay its psychologists share of 80% of the total product production costs to do a whole different kind of work. Nabisco would have to pay psychologists millions to manufacture artificial desire for even going to the grocery store. Without a car people are ten times more likely to shop at a farmer's market if the proximity is good. The first thing we could do in Olympia is boycott gas and offer alternate employment to gas station attendant at local farms that produce local food. That might even help their health if it has been hampered by the constant plume of benzene fumes that permanently linger around automobile highways and filling stations.

Oh dear. More Blue Skying. Don't buy gas? Uhuh...

Submitted by Laurian on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 6:35pm.

Monofarms are economies of scale. Check out any Econ text on specialization. The long and short of it is a profusion of Green, politically correct farms can only mean substantially higher food prices. This may not be a bad thing in the long term but just where in our current budgets is the additional money for non-industrial food to come from? The Man sure ain't jumping to give me a raise right about now. I say this even as I am blessed with a very socially aware employer. I'm interested in transition.

I guess I am speaking to a larger disconnect between Environmentalism and Class. A greener future is all about the survival of our species but the housing and nutrition for our species is measured in weeks and months whereas green energy and earth friendly food production will take years and decades to come on line. Ideas? I admit I'm short on them.

it didn't happen overnight...

Submitted by chad360 on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 7:56pm.

The energy crunch (for lack of a better term) has been coming for a long time, and stuff like "peak oil" made sense to me when I was real young...

...making "green" changes in my lifestyle to cut back on car trips and reduce fuel costs has been easy, and actually fun (excuses to buy bicycles =). I'm really proud that my partner is bicycling to/from work, and so I try to match that dedication and cut down on car trips when I can walk, bike, or take the bus.

It is like a diet (simple idea, hard to do)...but the gas you save is ca$h in your pocket, so that is where I "buy in".

Concrete Transitions...

Submitted by Keith Hufnagel on Thu, 06/26/2008 - 1:07pm.

...In order to convert, Kraft would have to steer its psychologists away from creating artificial demand in the marketplace for processed foods and instead apply that money (which is a huge portion of big business spending, you might be shocked to know just how much big agrifarms and food processers spend on creating desire for nutritionless food in mass society and on lobbyists and so forth if you don't already know like how college students might be shocked to know how much a college *costs* a city and not how much a college *makes* for a city) towards creating a mass society desire for fresh local food and raw ingredients in the kitchen instead of tv dinners. The artificial desire could even be slightly sexists if that's what large corporations demand....it could be like..."just imagine how delicious your pad will smell with dinner from a pantry instead of a box when he gets home from work..."...or something like that...I'm not a advertising marketer or anything. Here in Olympia we can look at what we as Olympians feel are necessary products in our homes. This is especially necessary given the fact that many large-scale entitys' audits have turned up many foul spending practices which have resulted in beneficial reallocations of funds.

How about... less

Submitted by Just another voice on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 7:01pm.

How about... less people.

Seriously. 6 billion miracles is enough.

But I am Just Another Voice

And how to go about that?

Submitted by Laurian on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 7:51pm.

Economic development is proven to lower birthrates but has the consequence of each child consuming more resources. The most environmentally destructive force on Earth is a child born into western civilization. Then again China has a one child policy that has resulted in aborting female fetuses. I'm just saying...

should have been making changes 40 years ago

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 8:09pm.

We should have been making changes to ween off of petroleum 40 years ago.

It's so late in the game now that I think it would be a good idea to make take serious action in order to avoid a serious catastrophe.

Dependence on fossil fuels looms over our economy like the grim reaper on Halloween.

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