No, we are not heading back to the stone age – even though it has become certain that some of us are going to feel that way during the months and possibly years that lie ahead.
But the technology we have has been used for purposes that only serve the interests of greed, profit and those who are ‘at the top’.
Technology doesn’t need to be used on a massive scale to make it work. Technology doesn’t have to replace people or human input – just because it can.
In fact, the technology that we have isn’t being used in the best way possible, at all.
Up until now, technology has all been purposed on the basis of maximising profit and then repeating the process of obtaining that profit, over and over again.
The technology we have has been pursued, funded and purposed without regard for the practical reality of life, that:
Life for all exists so that ALL of us can live. Not so that a profit can be made by the few.
Local systems and micro economies that use advances in technology in the most practical, localised and intelligent way, keeping people at the centre of everything, are the only way that a genuinely healthy society can advance.
There is a cost-of-living crisis underway, right now, that is going to get exponentially worse. So much worse, its going to contribute to a complete systemic collapse.
However, the people least aware of what is happening and what this means for everything that lies ahead of them, aren’t necessarily the same people who you might immediately think.
So good have big business and corporate interests had it over the past two and a half years, whilst politicians have tried to solve every single problem by writing cheques, that they have now fallen into a trap of their own making. They have decided to keep on inflating prices of the goods and services they sell – being as certain as they are, that government will have to step in and sure-up the price and the ability of everyone to keep on paying the bills.
Wholesale energy prices have come down, as have the prices of wholesale petrol and diesel in recent days. All this comes amongst other goods and services that each and every one of us are using every day, shooting up in retail price. Or being reduced in size or value – which in real terms amounts to exactly the same thing – as people have to buy even more of everything, just to stand still.
Yes, the people we have running the Country are responsible for creating the myth that no matter what happens, everyone will still continue to get paid. But that isn’t a green light for businesses to keep charging more and keep charging whatever they like.
Just because you can, doesn’t make it right.
Greed-driven, unethical business have been at the creative centre of the cost-of-living crisis, right from the very start.
Yes, our poor excuses for public representation have allowed industries to plunder resources and exploit us all and everything with it for profit. But that doesn’t make these private interests right.
The question of legality does not put any of these actions above that of morality and the duty of care that we all have to everyone else.
When we were kids, all had bikes, and were allowed to go off for rides, it wasn’t uncommon for us to have a puncture repair kit handy – even if we didn’t have any idea how to use it if we had a punctured tyre, and would usually rely on a parent or another adult fixing it for us if we did.
Good times. Especially when there was always an answer to the problem and everything could always be fixed.
As we navigate our way through the challenges that lie ahead, it wont just be punctures on a bicycle that we need to think about being prepared for.
In fact, it would be a good idea for us to have the most practical contingency plan in place possible, to take care of anything that we have a genuine need to use regularly – if its something that can be easily fixed, or something that we need to use to feed, heat or support ourselves when we are unable to access our ‘normal’ supplies.
Some of the following items are things that we will need. Some we will use regularly. Some we will never need – but it will be better that we have and don’t use them, than finding ourselves without them if we do!
There will be others – and if you start thinking about what you would need if there is no power, water or heating, you’ll begin to get an idea of the things you might need for you to be able to do all the things that you need to do:
Sewing kit (including some needles, different coloured thread)
First Aid Kit (including plenty of plasters, some antiseptic cream etc)
Paracetamol/Aspirin or other basic pain relief tablets that you and those with you would normally use
Large air-tight resealable bags
A ‘Swiss Army Knife’ of multi-tool gadget that you have tested for robustness
Water Purification Kit – the kind you would take for a long camping trip
Firelighters
Matches
A small torch with spare batteries
Candles and/or Tea Lights
A wind-up / solar radio and phone-charger
Cable Ties (assorted sizes)
A hatchet or small handled axe
A small pan for boiling water that can be heated on a naked flame
A small frying pan / griddle pan that can be heated on a naked flame
A small sharp cooking knife
A few packs of baby wipes / wet wipes
Some basic dried and canned foods including pasta, rice, fish and the types of things that you can turn into a meal without need of anything else – clearly depending on what your dietary needs (NOT WANTS!) and those of the people with you normally are
A can opener (if there isn’t one on your tool gadget)
There will probably be others too. But again, the emphasis is all about what we will need and not about what we want. The two are very different things and this is all about being happy with what we have already got!
Please remember that this is just a guide. Visualise a situation where nothing is available, and you will soon know what you will really need.
You will find all of these things online, and most of them will be available in supermarkets, DIY and home stores too. Please remember that as distribution systems increasingly fail – as they are going to, even goods that are available online, wont be shipped or even delivered to local stores so that you can buy or collect them there.
The time to prepare for all eventualities is NOW. NOT when there are shortages of everything and being prepared makes real-time sense!
Make do and Mend is not a new catchy term that I have dreamed up to make a point. I am unashamedly borrowing this one from the most recent period of human hardship that I can reference around the Second World War, when Rationing and shortages of just about everything meant that people applying principles to their daily lives then, that in today’s world might seem to be lightyears ahead!
Yes, the supply of everything we either buy or have supplied to us could stop for at least a short time. But the shortages of everything will almost certainly fluctuate, with some things being available when others are not. Let’s just say that it is going to be a very interesting time!
What this means in reality, is that when anything we wear or use breaks, its quite likely that it will not be something that can easily be replaced.
The choice that we will have, will be as simple as this: Throw it away and go without, or repair it and continue to have it to use.
Regrettably, one of the massive overhangs from the world we are now leaving, will be the comparative poor quality of the things that we use daily, that because of planned obsolescence, were deliberately designed not to last.
The thought or rather the question of how anyone can survive without money is not a pleasant one.
Indeed, please spare a thought for the many who are already in that place, not only in the UK, but right across the world.
People, like you or I, who are only different to us, because they don’t have enough money to even afford the basic essentials of life.
These are human beings, just like us. People who don’t have the option of becoming self-sufficient, simply because they are relatively few in number.
We frown on them or look down on them because the normal way of doing things is based on money being the benchmark of life.
Once enough of us don’t have enough, the shibboleths and miscreated rules of this current societal structure will no longer hold their meaning or purpose. We will no longer shame others, be shamed, feel shame or be restricted from simply doing the things that we need to in order to survive and live.
Adam Tugwell 