Gardening in the future

If you noticed the post on Survival Gardening it may have given you an inkling that I have a somewhat ambiguous view of what the future might have hold for us. In recent years I have developed a suspicion that it may not necessarily be as comfortable as we fortunate citizens of the industrialized countries have come to think of as our birthright. We have had it so easy for so long that we think the human race has passed some kind of permanent milestone of progress. We believe that our command of science and technology guarantees that things can only get better as time passes, in fact we can’t even imagine a world with less affluence and possibilities. We don’t really understand that our way of life is largely the result of our burning up unimaginable quantities of cheap fossil energy. As we are already past peak oil production (just as the economies of China, India and other developing nations are starting to develop a real thirst for it) it is likely that the era of cheap energy (it doesn’t even have to be scarce) is just about over and when it does everything may change.

Talk of economic collapse was once the stuff of science fiction, but when a major industrial city like Detroit starts to die before our eyes it suddenly becomes much more real (and gives you pause for thought). I could go on about how the great recession is starting to look like it may actually become permanent, about our total inability to get to grips with the reality of global warming, the concentration of wealth, a completely dysfunctional government, out of control militarism, addiction to cheap energy, loss of biodiversity and more. However I think it’s enough to say that the future doesn’t look as rosy and predictable as it once did and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take out a little insurance.

It’s difficult to know how to prepare for vague and ill-defined long term problems that may, or may not occur, but this doesn’t mean you can’t do anything. There is a lot you can do to change the way you live, to make it more independent and less vulnerable to disruption. Get a smaller car (or better yet eliminate the need to drive at all by getting a bike), get out of debt, learn how to work less and enjoy yourself without money, go solar (for hot water and electricity), find some secure land where you can plant a big food garden and learn how to maintain it. Doing all of these things isn’t just insurance for the future, they can make your life more rational, satisfying and ecologically sustainable right now. You are killing several birds with one stone and whatever the future holds you will be better off for having done them.

My special area of expertise is in gardening and I think we are going to see significant changes in the way we approach gardening and food production in the industrialized world. When the economy of the Soviet Union collapsed and there was no money around, many people were able to turn to their vegetable gardens to keep themselves fed. I see the home becoming more than just the place where we live (and keep all of our accumulated stuff), I see it becoming a place that produces food too. When suburbs spread out to cover rich farmland it was once thought to be a disaster in the making, but it may yet to prove to be a happy accident as home food gardens could make this land even more productive than it was. There are also large areas of land within declining industrial cities that could be used to make urban areas productive too.

Of course just having the space for a garden isn’t enough, you also need to know how to make it productive. Fortunately creating a food garden is a challenging, interesting and pleasurable activity an any time. It provides you with delicious food and teaches you all about growing food at the same time time.

I hasten to add that I consider myself a fairly normal individual (or at least not too far out past the edge), I’m not some survivalist sociopath waiting out on the fringes of society, cleaning my AK 47 and ticking off the days till the apocalypse. I am much more interested in developing a more sustainable way of life for living now, rather than making “preparations” for some crisis that might happen in the future. It just so happens that these interests coincide, as they both mean learning how to live on less, growing food and developing greater self reliance. I fervently hope that the human race can somehow develop enough wisdom to create a more rational and sustainable world, while we still have resources to spare and before we are forced to do so by circumstances. Of course whatever happens I will continue to enjoy the benefits of my garden and its increasing gourmet abundance.