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What have we learned?

© Bob Ewing

The snow has finally stopped. It snowed almost everyday for the past two week, not much each day, but enough to make it look like Winter and the cold, sunny weather of the past two days, feels right. It has been so cold that, if for no other reason, I am certainly glad y2k was pretty much a no show. We were well prepared for most scenarios, but minus 40 temperatures are hard to take when your heating system consists of candles and a few cans of sterno. What I've been thinking about since the clocked rolled past midnight was what have we discovered about our selves and our society? Did we miss a golden opportunity to create a new world one were our dependence upon the grid and the mega food system was ended and we became free and self-reliant?

I have learned much in the past eight months, since I first realized that regardless of what was going to happen, y2k-wise, I had a chance to increase my family's self-reliance and learn about community-building and I grabbed this opportunity. The most important knowledge that I gained during this period was the various alternative energy systems that are available. It doesn't much matter how we get our food, from the supermarket or our backyard, we still require energy to prepare it for consumption.

There are a number of options available for people who are developing their own homestead. If you are fortunate enough to have a property with a creek, stream or river running through it, then microhydro may be the answer to all your power needs. I'm shopping for a second piece of land now and, if I can afford it, will buy one that has the possibility of being a free, almost , all year round, power source.

You may not want to rely on one alternative system alone. Windpower makes an ideal backup system, or can be used to power the pump for your well. Windmills have a long history and can also be a good business for an intentional community. A wind farm could light up the whole community.

Or you can consider solar power and take davantage of the sun's awesome energy. You can even build your own solar cooker or solar generator. There are options and now is the time to give them some serious thought. Lets not get so complacent, because we survived y2k, that we allow ourselves to sink deeper and deeper into our dependence upon systems that we do not understand or control, let us use this time to walk into a new era where energy flows freely and the future is belongs to all Life.