Aftermath

The Mountain Top School has announced the creation of a quarterly magazine to host articles from any writer taking any perspective on the concept of creating a new future for humanity. The magazine will be available for free in PDF form, or available in bound copy at lulu.com for the price of printing. This could potentially be a wonderful contribution to the general movement, allowing all of these disparate voices to be heard in one place. Or it could be absolutely nothing. So spread the word! All articles meeting the criteria will be published, even if you are a completely new voice. See the details here.

- Benjamin Shender

I will be the first to admit that changing your diet is hard.  Cookies, chips, candy, ice cream…they all scream, “Eat Me!”  That is a little creepy if you think about it.  Typically it takes at least 14 days for a new habit to form.  Once the habit is formed, will power is much stronger against anything keeping you from that habit. Once, when Ben and I hit an all time low on money, we decided to go off of Paleo.  What we found is that we actually spent more money than we typically did on Paleo.  We found that we were hungry more often, and so we ate more often.  We “satisfied” our hunger by eating cereal as a snack, eating pasta for almost every meal, and having sandwhiches to satiate us.  We never stayed satisfied for long.  Beyond the hunger issue, we also found our energy levels were way down.  Needless to say, but I will say it anyway, we went back on Paleo. What I am going to share with you are some tips and recipes to at least remain paleo-style. 

Always eat breakfast!  Have leftover dinner if you have to.  Have a piece of fruit.  Just make sure you’re eating something, and not a doughnut as you walk out the door.   

Snacks are good!  Snack on veggie sticks.  Snack on fruit.  Snack on meat.   

I personally enjoy a good salad for my lunches.  Not just a few pieces of lettuce, but a substantial salad with a lot of vegetables.   

Have someone around you that is on Paleo as well.  At the very least, have someone around you that will support you.  It is much easier in pairs. 

Don’t skip meals.  Unless you are fasting, which actually is healthy on occasion, skipping meals “just because” is never a good idea. 

For dinner have a meat and a vegetable.  Have a salad if you are still hungry.  Still hungry after that?  Have fruit. 

You can have as much meat, vegetables, and fruit as you want!  There is no limit on these. 

We have found that a package of strawberries costs rougly the same amount as a bag of chips.  Do yourself a favor…buy the strawberries and snack on them.  Don’t feel guilty about eating all of them at a sitting either.  

Drink throughout the day.  If you like juice, good!  But try to limit it to one glass of juice a day.  Water and tea are your friends.   

Exercise.  You’ll be amazed at how much energy Paleo gives you. 

Stock up on meat when it is on sale!  In the long run it will save you a bundle.  Do the same with frozen vegetables.  They are not as good as fresh, but you’ll feel better having eaten them.  

There are several meals we do that have become regular meals for us. 

Honey Chicken - We like to do this one for camping especially.  Just cut up pieces of chicken, pour honey over the chicken, and cook!  Add fruit in there if you like.  I personally like putting pieces of pineapple in with this dish. 

Sausage, Mushroom, and Onions - This is a favorite when we have little time to cook.  Grab sausage (I know, it is a fatty meat, but it is paleo-style), cut up onions, cut up mushrooms, and broil. 

Spiced Chicken - You may notice that chicken is frequent in our diets.  Well, it is cheap and it is paleo.  Just grab chicken legs, chicken wings, chicken thighs, or any other kind of chicken and spice them with whatever spices you like!  If it is white meat you can pour eggs over top of them before spicing and you will have a very juicy meat.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.  Serve with a vegetable or salad (or both!)  

Orange Chicken - I typically use chicken legs for this recipe.  Spice up the legs with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger.  Pour orange juice over the legs and bake, same as above.  

Crab Soup - One day I would like to make my own base for this, but for now I use golden mushroom soup for my base.  Add as many kinds of vegetables as I want, typically onions, tomatoes, carrots, celery, and mushrooms.  Add crab, from a can would probably be cheapest but if you can afford it, by all means go out and buy some crabs!  Spice it up, cook, then eat!   

Stew - Soups and stews are pretty easy.  Whatever kind of vegetables you like and whatever kind of meat you like, just throw it in the pot.  Use a tomato sauce or use a soup base.  It doesn’t really matter here.  Spice to your taste and you have an all inclusive meal!  I love having stews and soups for dinner. 

Stir Fry - The same as with soups and stews, this is a very “to your own personal taste” kind of thing.  Try to avoid the soy sauce though!  If you have a wok, that’s great!  If you don’t, a large skillet will do just fine. Recently we had a shrimp stir fry with zucchini.  That is certainly something we will do again in the future!  

We like to vary up our vegetables.  Some of the more common vegetables in our diet include asparagus, broccoli, carrots, and spinach.  When we want to be “bad” or want to watch a movie with something snacky, we make artichokes with a mayonnaise dip. Artichokes are quite tasty and very fun and involved to eat.     

Fruit happens to be my salvation on Paleo.  We typically keep bananas, pears, apples, and oranges in the house.  When on sale we buy grapes and strawberries, though we actually do have a strawberry plant that bears fruit. Occasionally we’ll get a pineapple to slice up and eat, which I enjoy immensely.  We’ll do the same with watermelon in the summer. Infrequently, though it does happen, we get more exotic fruit, such as the star fruit.  On hikes during the spring and summer, we will pick blackberries when we see them.   

As long as you have enough willpower, paleo isn’t hard to stick to.  You just have to try. 

Anyhow, I hope that I’ve helped someone out there at least a little bit. Happy eating!

- Miranda Vivian  

When arguing the potentials of things like peak oil, over-population, and global warming I often have official government projections thrown at me. I have problems with most of these projections. Sometimes because I do not think they are making reasonable assumptions, like with UN population projections. Other times because I am not sure their data is adequate, like with social issues. Occasionally I just distrust the agency’s motives, like when the US government keeps claiming the US economy is “doin’ fine.” This is a new favorite of mine. They are pretty much telling everyone to go along with their business, ignore the lack of a manufacturing base, high unemployment and inadequate employment, and utterly astronomical public and private debts.

Just to offer an example as to the inadequacy of many of these projections below you can check on the progress of the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) oil price projections from 2006. The EIA is a part of the US Department of Energy and below offers a low, reference (or likely), and high projections for the future of oil prices until 2030. Enjoy!

- Benjamin Shender

This past few months oil prices have continued to increase to the point of regularly closing above 100 US dollars per barrel. The United States is entering a recession, which will likely affect the whole world. And earlier this week OPEC has once again refused to increase their production of oil.

Most legal analysts are decrying this as a bad choice on OPEC’s part that will likely cause an economic backlash. After all, OPEC nations are a part of the world and a global economic recession would necessarily effect them. Especially when you consider the reduced oil sales caused by just such a recession.

Historically, OPEC has agreed with these analysts. Whenever the world economy has seemed to be flagging, OPEC has increased production, thereby reducing oil prices, allowing cheaper energy to reinvigorate the global economy. But not this time, which has caused surprise and condemnation.

What is missing from this discourse is a basic understanding of geology. OPEC nations have peaked. They can’t increase their production. By refusing to try, rather than trying and failing, they are successfully obfuscating the issue. And as long as there is any doubt about the future of oil we will continue to rely on it, base our economy on it, and most fundamentally, we will continue to eat it.

Once the oil geologists have proof clenching enough that the economists and politicians can no longer invent reasons to continue in the oil economy, it will be time to make some tough choices. We will be called upon as a global society to examine ourselves and discover who and what we really are. Tough questions and difficult choices, and no political or economic leader has any interest in presiding over such an intensive change as would be required. After all, change will upset the current balance of power, and unless we are already in a crisis “rocking the boat” is frowned upon.

Ultimately, by not attempting to increase oil production, OPEC might be improving our economic condition by allowing us to remain blissfully ignorant of the extent of our problem, at least for now. Once the problem is fully realized, we will have no choice but to make tough decisions, unpopular choices, and ultimately change the foundation of our society. History will judge, but for now we wait.

- Benjamin Shender

It is February the First, Two Thousand Eight in the Common Era. A few weeks ago I mentioned Miranda and I would be announcing a venture soon. As promised, we are prepared to go public.

The Mountain Top School is the first step in a venture to create a model of luxurious, sustainable living. Luxurious in the sense that, taken as a whole, the way of life will be preferable to what modern civilization can offer. Sustainable in the sense that, unless our environment changes dramatically, we could continue on forever, in obvious contrast to modern civilization. The Mountain Top School will function as a way to train others in necessary skills, earn the money necessary to push the venture further, and to recruit new members. As the Mountain Top School develops the skills and knowledge our new, post-industrial society will base its livelihood on, the school will be increasingly overshadowed by the larger development of a new way of life. One that will provide for its membership all of the necessities of life, a level of luxury, social support, freedom, education, security, and more.

Currently our modern society is ill-equipped to handle the problems leading up to the Collapse. Indeed, this is why modern civilization will collapse. If such a society cannot handle the problems that caused it to collapse, it certainly cannot handle the aftermath of that collapse. In order to survive the collapse of modern civilization, and also to go beyond it in a favorable way, we need not only a new set of skills but a new kind of society. And in the final analysis, the only way to create a new society is to create it with a group of dedicated, like-minded people. Until you reach that point all the planning, figuring, and thinking in the world is only so much intellectual masturbation. And so, here begins the great project of our time. Our revolution. Our hope. Our future. Mountain Top School.

- Benjamin Shender

In the middle of the eighteenth century, Europeans went to war with a tribal group called the Ohio. This war was a part of the larger Seven Year’s War (French and Indian War). The whole affair was fairly typical of the time. The Europeans lied to the Ohio, and then tried to steal what they wanted. When the Ohio fought back they became the target of genocide. The fact you have probably never heard of it is also not atypical. To most people the American expansion west came with the Natives simply vanishing off the face of Earth. The fact this is nonsense rarely registers. The truth is the Natives were slaughtered both purposefully by acts of war and aggression, and accidentally by disease and cultural contamination.

The war was not a small one. More people died on each side than during the whole of the Spanish-American war, even though most people who never heard of the Ohio can at least dredge up a vague recollection of the Spanish-American war (”yeah, one of my teachers talked about that. I don’t remember much about it.”). The Natives offered a number of possible alternatives to the war, including the complete acculturation of the Ohio. The Europeans rejected them all and pursued the extermination of the Ohio, who naturally took exception to the European plan.

This was also typical, the more civilized a society becomes the more warlike it tends to be. Until the Europeans made contact in 1492, the Natives of the Americas had no experience with the concept of total war, and they never really embraced it like the Europeans did. And in this not unusual war, the Ohio lost, which was also not unusual. At the end of the war each side agreed to return their captives to the others. The freed Natives ran with joy back to their people. The whites had to be bound and dragged back to white society. The children were especially unhappy about it. Although this instance was one of the most dramatic, it was also not uncommon. Indeed, it became so problematic several colonies and later states, made defecting to the Natives punishable by death.

Miranda and I have agreed to write this article because we have both heard people asking, “why would people forsake modern civilization willingly?” The answer we give here is simple: because they always have. Given a simple and straightforward comparison, civilized people the world over give up everything they have been socialized to want at the drop of a hat. Why? Because they want something better, and when they see they can have it they grab for it. The only reason modern civilization still exists at all is a combination of carefully told lies. First, we are better off today, civilization is a story of constant progress from then to now. Second, it would be impossible to change anyway. And third, any attempt at something better is doomed because either “they won’t let you” or because “people are too stupid.”

To the first, this has been disproven so many times over I can no longer even seriously write a rebuttal. Read any scholarly work on native peoples in comparison to modern civilization published in the past fifty years. Seriously, any one at all. They had little illness, better health, more free time, and at least as much art, music, dance, religion, and philosophy as most modern people do.

Second, of course it is impossible. Why is it impossible? Because no one will do it because everyone knows its impossible. Its a very clever lie, no one can come up with a really successful counter example of success because few ever try. And few ever try because it is “impossible.” Except, there are examples of success to varying degrees. Everything from the circus (dead in most countries) to Dancing Rabbit (still going strong) is a success to one degree or another. What actually seems to be impossible is learning how to do better from mistakes, rather than learning from failure not to try.

To the third: if they will not let me, that is fine. I was not actually planning on asking for permission anyway. “They” can either keep up or be left behind, but I for one will not be stopped by a faceless “they” who are apparently only interested in money and power. I am not even convinced “they” exist. As far as too stupid goes, we seem to have reached a place where the rest of the human race (excepting us and those we are complaining with) are so stupid and incompetent that it really is a wonder the government is not handing out pamphlets entitled “How to Breathe and Make Fart Jokes.” Believe it or not, almost all of us are quite capable of making decisions and living a lifestyle we spent the better part of 3 million years evolving.

Beyond the examples we have at the edge of expanding civilization, we even have historical examples of people within civilization embracing nomadism and collectivism. No, I am not talking about communism, which was neither nomadic nor terribly collective.

Throughout the Middle Ages, there were caravans of traders and tinkerers who moved through Europe. Sometimes these people were genuine Gypsies, other times they were not. While generally valued as traders and tinkerers, these people were never welcome for long. Because if they stayed in one place for too long, people would begin to disappear. It did not take long for towns to figure it was the nomad’s fault. What took a while to become clear was the people who disappeared willingly left their lives to join the caravans, which they obviously saw some appeal in.

Another very common example of this same phenomena is the circus. People actually did run away to join the circus. No one runs away to join corporate America, in fact, joining corporate American is what happens if you do not run away. Of course, the circus as such is almost completely dead in the United States now. Circus performances are a corporate business like any other. You can even buy stock in Barnum and Bailey. There are some circuses as such still running around the world though, and they still strike people every year as a better way of life than the one being offered to them by modern society at large.

We wrote this in response to several people who have asked why we thought people would choose to abandon civilization given the chance. Our response is simple: because whenever given the choice, we always have.

- Benjamin Shender and Miranda Vivian

I’m writing this article in congratulations to all of those hard working folks who managed to achieve what market experts have been calling impossible for over a decade: the $100 barrel of oil. That was sarcasm, the rest of this article is not.

This so-called threshold really isn’t, of course. The idea that the number “100″ is somehow meaningful is solely based on the fact we use a base-ten numbering system. If we used base-twelve (which actually has a lot to say for it) we would either have panicked back at $72 a barrel or not until we reached $144 a barrel. But the very fact oil prices are so high means people who refuse the accept the reality of our situation will have an increasingly difficult time finding facts to back them up.

At $100 a barrel we have either surpassed our all-time inflation-adjusted high, or are really close to it. The question of whether we have reached it or not is because there really is not one single accepted method to adjust for inflation, and the differences between methods can be quite large. So all of these comparisons people keep quoting are really just economists justifying their salaries. But they do all agree that we are now at either the highest or one of the highest prices in the history of oil. And what makes this exceptional is that we cannot simply dismiss this as oil companies or OPEC messing with the prices. Or, at least we cannot do so and have the evidence back us up.

The last time oil was in this inflation-adjusted price range it was because OPEC severely cut supply in order to drive up prices and punish the United States and the western world. This time it is different. OPEC has not been reducing supply, OPEC countries have actually been struggling to meet demand. Last time the prices increased dramatically and quickly. This time they have increased with demand over the course of a decade. No, this time it is not people playing with the market. This time it is geometrically increasing demand and geometrically decreasing supply.

Ever increasing energy demand can never be met with oil, or with any known energy source. In fact, it cannot be met with any theoretical energy source either. Ultimately, by the laws of physics, it cannot be met period. No, we are in trouble. The important thing to remember is that this is not “period, end of story.” Or rather, it does not have to be. While we cannot scale up any of our solutions to meet the size of our problem, it is certainly possible, and desirable, to scale down our problem to meet the size of our solution. Over the next few weeks Aftermath will be unveiling our plan of how to accomplish the creation of a sustainable, self-sufficient, and luxurious society.

No, this article is not sarcasm. It is not defeatist. Its not the ravings of a borderline personality. Nor is it the talk of the perpetual optimist. It is the first sounding of a battle cry of a man who will not allow everything he holds dear to be destroyed by people who cannot see the forest for the trees, the masses for the people, reality for itself, or the future for its promise.

-Benjamin Shender

Parsley is a plant that creates a great deal of relaxation. Next time you see it as a garnish on your dinner plate, go ahead, have a bite. Taking a bath with parsley leaves will cause muscles to relax and stress to be relieved. Beyond that, parsley is a diuretic, alleviates the pain of menstruation, prevents bad breath when chewed, is high in vitamins A and C, and it stops excess milk production in nursing mothers. Parsley should not be used by pregnant women and may be toxic when used in high doses. When a tea of parsley is made, it can be used as a conditioner for your hair.

Sage is an astringent, antiseptic, and is good for mouth sores and sore throat. It can be used as a mouth rinse when made into tea. Sage can be used as an antiperspirant as it dries up excess moisture. It may help to lower blood sugar in diabetics. The juice of a leaf may be put on an insect bite to reduce the swelling (and pain). Put sage leaves in your bath (or make a lotion with the essential oil) and it will help with itchy skin problems.

Rosemary is a diuretic. Make it into tea to relieve stress and for headache relief. Rub the essential oil on your skin for a muscle relaxant. You may take a bath with rosemary leaves for the same effect. Do not take the essential oil of the rosemary internally. Women who are pregnant should not use rosemary medicinally, though the amount used for seasoning foods should be fine. A tea made from the leaves may also be used a conditioner to strengthen and smooth hair.

Thyme has antiseptic properties. It is known as a cure all for stomach ailments such as diarrhea , lack of appetite, and stomach worms. Thyme also has anti-fungal and anti-parasitic properties.

And in case you didn’t get the title, here is a quote for you.

“Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine” - Simon and Garfunkel

- Miranda Vivian

If you can beat the heat of summer and you can survive the cold of winter, odds are in your favor for surviving the trials that come with fall and spring.

Weather during this time will be unpredictable. From cold and rainy, to sunny and snowy, to a nice calm day. You never really know what you are going to get. It wont take long, though, to learn to decipher the signs and read the weather. Until then however, you have this!

First off, stay away from the cities. I know you saw that one coming. Unless the cities are already abandoned they will not be safe. If you really want to salvage things, do it later!

Second is water. You cannot survive without it. You’ll want to stay near it. Be prepared for others staying near it as well. Learn how to find it and purify it.

Food! You are in luck as far as spring goes. Just like summer there will be plenty of insects for the picking. If you know how to hunt, kudos to you! Bees will (hopefully) be around. Apparently they remind people that eat them of popcorn, though I’m thinking it would be incredibly time consuming to remove all stingers and wings. However, there is the honey to consider. Many plants will be growing up around this time, such as Dandelions. You may be hungry, but you wont be starving to death. In the fall before the snow hits there will still be plenty of plants around. Dandelion leaves, wood sorrel, plantain. They will all be there, but not as easily noticeable. Look to the trees during this time of the year. You know what will be there? Apples! There are no poisonous apples, except in fairy tales. Remember that the may-apple is not actually an apple. Do not eat it! Of course, there will be pine as well.

Shelter

I’ve noticed that even in the middle of spring, there are dried leaves on the forest ground. These leaves provide for excellent insulation against the cold. Debris huts are not difficult to make. Basically it is made by building a semi-sleeping bag out of sticks and leaves. Bottom line, if it keeps you warm and dry, it really is okay to be creative. Don’t underestimate the shelter of the trees above you either. If you don’t get wet and it is not too cold, the trees provide for an excellent shelter.

Warmth

You’ve probably already read “Surviving the First Week: Winter.” If so, then you probably already read some ways of keeping warm in the winter. Fire is the big one. If you can manage it, build two fires. Set yourself up between the two fires and you will stay extra warm. Remember insulation. Stuff leaves in your clothing. It may just keep you alive.

Now you’ve survived in the wild in Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. What’s next? Well, I am assuming that you want to live longer than that, so check back soon to read tips on how to survive the month.

- Miranda Vivian

I have had my stance on the rising of the ocean level challenged recently. My stance is relatively simple: yes, yes it is. However, this is not an altogether popular stance. Not because the ocean level is not rising, but rather for the general reason of it being inconvenient. This is a common problem people have with many of the current trends in our economy, climate, and energy sources. Call it media-induced ignorance; call it political maneuvering; call it mass denial; call it sticking your fingers in your ears and humming loudly. But whatever you call it, ultimately it boils down to a simple fact. While people are in fact grasping the realty of our situation, they simply deny the problem’s severity, immediacy, or existence. Its not that they do not understand how bad we are saying it is. They just do not see what they can do about it, and so find it easier to ignore it. That is one of the things this site is for: showing people what we can do. Another thing we can do is help provide the data scientists have been using for years to draw their, generally ignored, conclusions.

To start with, this is a graph of the change in average ocean level from 1992 to 2005. The scientists taking the measurements arbitrarily assigned a “zero” point in 1996. Basically, this means the scientists picked an ocean level and decided that it was typical. This does not really mean anything, just that all ocean levels are now being compared to this point. As odd as this may sound it is not an unusual practice. An easy example is Fahrenheit temperature. Zero degrees Fahrenheit does not actually mean anything. It is an arbitrary zero point someone picked centuries ago, but it has no meaning. But any temperature can now be measured compared to that zero point. Or you could pick another zero point, say the freezing point of water, and call it something really weird like Celsius. But then no one would know what you were talking about.

- Benjamin Shender