Sharon Astyk's Depletion and Abundance

I recently treated myself (all self-Santa like) to a copy of Sharon Astyk's recently published book Depletion and Abundance. I've been following her blog for over a year now and had been looking forward to getting my paws on a copy. I was wondering if anyone reading this has either read the Astyk book or (better!) is in the middle of reading it? If so, I'd be interested in discussing some of it over the next few weeks. I'm only 30 pages in, at this point, but am already liking what she has to say about the devaluation of work that's been deemed part of the private sphere -- work that until very recently was defined as "women's work" that was completed in and around the home, and that mostly revolved around one's family. I hope to get through the rest of it over the next week and a half while on vacation.

I'd picked up an additional copy of it for an old-fashioned doomer friend, hoping to be able to discuss it with him, but he's discounted the relevance of a woman's voice in the Peak Oil awareness / preparation movement, asserting that the Trinity of Heinberg, Ruppert and Savinar hold all of the answers that he -- or anyone -- should need.


(Listening to: Charles Mingus' Self-Portrait in Three Colors)

Sharon Astyk's Predictions for 2009

In 2007, Sharon Astyk figured that the economy would tank this year, as well as that the term "Peak Oil" would become commonly known and mainstream. She also asserted that Hillary Clinton would not be the next president of the United States. She was right. This year, what she foresees is bleak. It seems that the only light at the end of the tunnel involves our really making an effort to brace ourselves -- to learn skills, to prepare for shortages of supplies and services and for shortages of money in the face of rising unemployment.

Here's what she had to say about her predictions for 2008 (and how they turned out), as well as what she thinks we have in store for 2009. It isn't astrology, folks. And it doesn't have a happy Hollywood ending.

Sharon Astyk's new book Depletion and Abundance

I'm hopping over to my favourite local book store after work to order Sharon Astyk's new book, Depletion and Abundance. I've referenced her a few times in my blog and have referred many friends to her own incredibly informative blog, Casaubon's Book. Astyk is a farmer in upstate New York who writes (prolifically) about sustainability and Peak Oil. There's a short and sweet review of her book over at The Blogging Bookworm, where the reviewer asserts that Astyk's focus is on how it's ordinary individuals who must lead the way -- not government -- and that this is especially applicable now in the face of the global economic turmoil that's just started to brew, and with Peak Oil still a reality, regardless of the recent nosedive in the price of crude.

The review also reaffirms what I've sussed out about Astyk from reading her blog. She's a lot like Heinberg in the sense that there are no rose-coloured glasses in her world. While some may find a lot of what she and Heinberg have to say depressing, the truth is that both of them use their unapologetic assessments of the state of the world as springboards. Where a lot of Peak Oil writing seems to just dwell on the gloom, Astyk voices the "So what can I do?" with which a lot of people are left after learning about fossil-fuel depletion, and she provides solutions -- on all levels, however seemingly slight each proposed action may be. It's hard to read her writing and walk away from it feeling lost. In an age of so much uncertainty, it's reassuring.

Last month, The Energy Bulletin also had a review of Depletion and Abundance. The reviewer describes Astyk as providing a much-needed women's voice in the Peak Oil movement and states that she provides this "by reclaiming th[e] traditional sphere of women's work from a feminist perspective". The book is said to dismiss the myths we hold, within the context of our high tech and high energy world, of how our lives should be lived. Astyk goes to the root of things, expressing that we need to revisit a simpler way of doing things -- living more frugally and becoming more responsible citizens. She suggests that change can indeed be started with as simple an action as starting your own garden.

I'm looking forward to reading it and intend to post my own take on it after I do so, regardless of being a bit slow on the draw.

How to explain Peak Oil to anyone

Sharon Astyk wrote this piece for Grist's blog (Gristmill) a few weeks ago. I read it and forgot all about it, getting side-tracked by visitors and gardening. I thought I'd post a link to it here today for a few chuckles. For instance, she writes:

If the person is a lot like Homer Simpson:

The way to explain it is: "Beer comes from oil. You use oil to run tractor to grow barley. You use oil to run fermenting equipment. You use oil to ship beer to liquor store. You use gas, made from oil, to drive drunk to the store to get beer. No oil means no more beer -- ever."

The solution you offer: More beer good. Beer comes from oil. Must. Save. Beer.

Women in a post-carbon world

Just a few articles I thought I'd share...

Carolyn Baker wrote an article a few years back examining women and (quite interestingly) the feminine principle in relation to Peak Oil -- more specifically, as a part of life after the crash. In it, she raised issues that would mainly impact women in a post-carbon world (e.g. access to contraception and reproductive health-care) and questioned the fact that more women weren't (aren't?) involved in the Peak Oil movement. By exploring the "feminine principle", Baker refers to "nurturance, acceptance, generativity, eroticism, warmth, generosity, openness, introspection" and how these things contrast with the damage we've done to the ecosystem and how it's brought us to where we are today with global warming and Peak Oil. (Baker's website can be found here.)

Sharon Astyk wrote a piece that same year called "Peak Oil is a Women's Issue" that addressed the current vulnerability of women living in what's essentially a man's world (i.e. wage disparity, high percentage of women taking on solo childrearing, et al.) and what this could entail in a society in the midst of (or following) economic collapse. She also addressed the non-involvement of women in the Peak Oil movement, writing about her experience at a conference for The Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO) and the ridiculously misogynistic old boy's school mentality which she encountered there. Astyk described it as "the habit of people in power of being powerful, and thus, not thinking very much about less powerful people". Astyk raised concerns that in a post-Peak world, women's access to education, health care and social programs -- three things that are often the first to suffer cuts in hard economic times -- could contribute to furthering the poverty and vulnerability of women, and that this would all tie into the population issue which will be of foremost concern in harder times as resources become more scarce.

Sharon Astyk's list of 100 Things You Can Do To Prepare Yourself for Peak Oil

Sharon Astyk is a writer and subsistence farmer in rural upstate New York. I've been seeing her name pop up on various Peak Oil and organic farming websites, discussing everything from relocalisation and self-sufficiency, to the future of agriculture in a post-carbon world. I recently found a list she created of 100 things a person can do to prepare themselves for life after the crash on The Organic Consumers Association's website. Her original list is broken down according to seasons on her own website. The Organic Consumers Association, however, featured it broken down into general areas of interest (e.g. home, garden, clothing, etc.) in two separate articles, here and here. Some of the tips are things that could be incorporated into the daily lives of anyone just wanting to lighten their load on the environment, or lower their cost of living. Some of the tips take it further and bring up scenarios that you'd never think of having to deal with, but that will definitely become issues as oil becomes scarce. They're worth a read.