Words Like Locusts Flew From Her Fingers

How to Survive World War III

Civil war? What civil war? | Salon.com
That there should be a political controversy over whether there is a civil war in Iraq is a tribute to the Bush administration’s Orwellian attention to political rhetoric. By the most widely accepted social science measure, Iraq is incontestably in a civil war.

Which, of course, is what I’ve been saying for at least a month now. And I’m not even a professor of modern Middle Eastern and South Asian history at the University of Michigan, like Juan Cole (the author of this salon.com editorial) is. So… there you have it.

Okay, so… Assuming this is the beginning of World War III — and if the Bush administration has its way, that’s definitely the direction we’re headed — what’s a peace-loving old hippy to do?

First, I’d suggest significantly reducing your personal dependence on petroleum products. As things start getting REALLY bad in the Middle East, the supply of oil is going to trickle down to pretty much zero. Consider, too, that we’re not just talking about using a bicycle instead of a car. Many of the products we’re accustomed to buying are only available in our local stores because they’re brought by trucks using — of course — gasoline. We’re talking about clothes, household goods, FOOD, and more. Start a big vegetable garden. Use non-hybrid plant species. You can save the seeds and use them to re-plant every year. Grow organic. (Commercial fertilizers and pesticides are produced using… you guessed it! Petroleum products. Besides, organic is healthier.) If you’ve got the land, it wouldn’t hurt to keep some sheep around for wool. You might need it to spin your own yarn and make your own clothes at some point.

While they’re still relatively cheap, this would be a very good time to invest in solar and wind energy for your home. Learn everything you can about how these technologies work — and how to fix them if they break. When the oil dries up, the means for producing these sorts of things will disappear.

There’s lots more to think about, but this should be enough to get you started.

(Okay. I’m not really a crazy survivalist type. I read a lot of apocalypse fiction and, no doubt, that has an effect on how I see things. But, you’ve got to admit, the direction the world’s headed is more than a little disturbing. It never hurts to be prepared.)