The Doomer’s Dilemma
- Posted by e4 on November 8th, 2007 filed in General
With apologies to Michael Pollan, I want to delve into a topic that seems to cross my mind with startling regularity - something I’ve started thinking of as “The Doomer’s Dilemma”.
First, let me just explain that a “Doomer” is somebody who thinks the world may just be going to hell in a handbasket - usually with reference to peak oil, sometimes climate change, or if you really want doom-and-gloom… both. They have no faith in their government to overcome its own rectal-cranial inversion and actually do something meaningful.
But Doomers are often closet optimists. They may think we’re headed for some very uncomfortable times, but they’re not fatalistic. They may plant orchards, or try to figure out how to build a pedal-powered washing machine, or take on the Herculean (yet fascinating) task of cutting their own resource consumption to 90% below the national average.
They often develop a sense of humor about the whole Doomer mindset. One person wonders (half-jokingly) about the nutritional value of the abundant locusts in her back yard, and after finding out that 17-year cicadas were emerging, responds, “Time to get the canning jars out!”
Once you accept the possibility that petroleum may soon become a luxury item, or that the time to act is ten years ago, your perspective changes. Your decision making process goes from “iPhone or Blackberry” to “shotgun or hand pump for the well”. Things can get weird.
Do you drive five miles to Walmart, or 35 miles to Whole Foods? Do you get the cheapest tool to cut your consumerism, or the most durable tool so you don’t have to replace it for a long time? Can you justify a 40-mile round-trip to get lots of locally grown foods at the farm market? Or just keep expanding the garden? Is it better to buy a fan to keep you cool, or spend some more on a shade arbor that may take five years to get established? Stay in the city, where you can walk to everything, or move to the country where you can pursue self-sufficiency? Drive 20 miles to the library, or buy it used on Amazon? Cash out your 401k, or invest it in precious metals and railroads?
You juggle risks and probabilities and priorities. Save the world, or save yourself?
Sometimes the answer is easy and obvious. Sometimes it’s impossible to reconcile. And sometimes you want to just go all blue-pill, forget the whole thing, and hop a plane to Barbados to gulp cheeseburgers and umbrella drinks on the beach…
[Note to Self: That last thing is not an option, so stop thinking about it.]
December 19th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
What do you mean? We can’t runaway to a tropical island? Damn.
It is hard, and I’ve answered some of your questions for myself, but there’s always that little nagging voice that says, “what if …?” Very annoying.
The answer, by the way, is shotgun. You can always dig a well later ;).