This is a somewhat unusual post, for me, but it has its points of interest. It came to me via a friend, from the British paper (a very good one) The Guardian. Particularly note the website toward the end, http://www.transitiontowns.org/
NATURAL BORN SURVIVORS
By Harriet Green
The Guardian
May 2, 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/may/02/communities.fossilfuels/print
For three years, my husband has talked about taking to the hills. About
buying a smallholding on Exmoor where, with our four-year-old daughter, we
can safely survive the coming storm — famine, pestilence and a total
breakdown of society. I would wait for his lectures to finish, then return
to my own interests. I had no time for the end of civilisation. As an editor
on a glossy magazine until a few months ago, I was too busy. There was
always a new Anya Hindmarch bag to buy, or a George Clooney premiere to
attend.
But recently, I’ve wavered. Much of what he has been predicting has come
true: global economic meltdown, looming environmental disaster, a sharp rise
in oil and food prices that has already led to the rationing of rice in the
US, and riots in dozens of countries worldwide.
This week, the details got scarier. The UN warned of a global food crisis,
like a “silent tsunami”, while Opec predicts that oil, which broke through
$100 (£50) a barrel for the first time a few weeks ago, may soon top $200.