Thursday, February 04, 2010

Things I Will Miss After the Peakalypse, #4

Chocolate.

Chock full of antioxidants, chocolate is an important staple in any heart-healthy diet. Okay, I may be stretching it a bit, but you have to agree that chocolate is pretty boss.

Combine ground cacao beans with milk and sugar, and you have civilized, and healthy, bliss. I prefer a 60% to 70% cacao blend, just in case you needed to know. Rich, smooth, sweet, and something that makes life just a little brighter. Plus, you don't have to get stung by bees to get it.

In the future, we'll likely have to go back to honey as an available sweetener, so long as we can dodge the bees that make it. We may also try sugar beets. In the tropics, sugar cane will still be available, depending on any climate shifts.

Cacao beans, along with coffee beans, may prove to be the impetus to move to South America after the Peakalypse.

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Fear, no. Planning, yes.

I'm not afraid, really. Actually, if I didn't have a family to worry about providing for, I'd greet a future civilization crash with enthusiasm. But, I have a mate and young children to care for, guide, and protect. So, I'm more keen on making plans now for a bad-case scenario.

In the past, we've been haphazard gardeners, but this year, we're going to take it a bit more seriously. When it comes to weeding, we'll have to be more diligent(unless we plan on eating weeds).

I'm also contemplating learning to hunt with a bow, as I'm pretty sure that the Meat Department at Supersaver will be out of meat. In addition to meat, game can provide clothing. Vegans will have to face the future naked. And cold.

All in all, I'm not too worried, as God's promised to take care of us. It may not be to the standard we're comfortable with, but we have nothing to fear if we rely on Him.

Monday, February 01, 2010

Things I Will Miss After the Peakalypse, #3

Telephone.

I live 1,500 miles from most of my kin, and so we converse regularly via telephone and e-mail. The telephone is indispensable to modern life, not to mention vital for ordering pizza delivery.

Forget cellular networks, I doubt that even land lines would continue on. The optical network that runs coast to coast will be inoperable without a dependable, national electrical grid. Sure, we may have pockets of stable, renewable power, but nothing near what it would take to power our current telecommunications infrastructure.

Well, at least we won't have to worry about people texting while driving anymore. They won't be texting at all. Or driving, for that matter. I can just see the text junkies now, sitting in rusted, immobile cars, frantically thumbing dead cell phones.

If we're lucky, we may have some short-wave base stations to relay critical info to remote locations. Or, if we can cobble together a copper-wired network, maybe get back to a usable telegraph system. Start brushing up on your Morse Code, kids.