COMMUNAL LIVING
Now, relax, Birkenstock wearing Volvo driving, tree hugging Hippies. I'm going to describe post collapse communal living, so don't get overly excited. This won't be like the good old days, smoking dope, waiting for the Food Stamps to come in so you can buy a five cent candy bar and get change for a dollar and go pay off your supplier, flirting with all the girls as they braid their armpit hair and talk about taking a vacation on some other astral plain, as if you need any more escape from reality than you already enjoy. No, this is going to be more along the lines of communal cooking so the one rabbit you caught will stretch out the stew for everyone and sharing a collective fire to make the captured shipping pallet warm everyone.
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I think most of us are envisioning a pioneer existence after the collapse. We farm and enjoy our land and band together for common defense as Super Ninja Motorcycle Hoodlums threaten our tranquil and idyllic universe. Our model seems to be our own propaganda model of the savage redmen threatening us as we try to force them off the land. This could very well happen, criminals will evolve to fit circumstances. But I don't know if the solitary homestead model is all that realistic. We are so blind to distance anymore since we are spoiled rotten by the pervasive automobile. And think nothing of energy use, having it in abundance all our lives. But, this will not be the case in the near future. Wood will become scarce, building supplies will be in short supply. Wood will be needed for cooking and heating as oil becomes unavailable and almost all buildings are unsuitable for post-oil habitation. Rebuilding dwellings suitable for limited wood heat will lead to shortages in populated areas. Salvaging existing building might not be sufficient. Also, for a time, horses and mules will not be available. As the cars run out of fuel, and bicycles mostly prove to be unusable after being stored in the garage for several years, other transportation will be needed. But horses need food. And to get a local farming community going quick enough to feed everyone as trade collapses with the outside, food for animals will need to wait for the time being.
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For most people transportation and warmth will be problems. So it follows that banding together will solve these problems. Help is right there, for work and for defense. Communal living will be a viable solution. We all turn our nose up at it, envisioning the above Hippy or a house stuffed to the rafters with Third World immigrants and their extended family, coping with insane rental costs the only way they know how. So, to help you out, here's a much more pleasing mental picture. Viking or Indian long houses. Several families live together. Each building uses less material and requires less fuel to warm than if each family had separate places. Work, chores and defense are shared to lessen the burden. Also, the shared resources are an insurance policy against one family going without. I'm not saying this shared living arrangement is preferable over individual homesteads, only that we might not have a lot of choice in the matter.
END
Original: http://bisonsurvivalblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/communal-living.html
Now, relax, Birkenstock wearing Volvo driving, tree hugging Hippies. I'm going to describe post collapse communal living, so don't get overly excited. This won't be like the good old days, smoking dope, waiting for the Food Stamps to come in so you can buy a five cent candy bar and get change for a dollar and go pay off your supplier, flirting with all the girls as they braid their armpit hair and talk about taking a vacation on some other astral plain, as if you need any more escape from reality than you already enjoy. No, this is going to be more along the lines of communal cooking so the one rabbit you caught will stretch out the stew for everyone and sharing a collective fire to make the captured shipping pallet warm everyone.
*
I think most of us are envisioning a pioneer existence after the collapse. We farm and enjoy our land and band together for common defense as Super Ninja Motorcycle Hoodlums threaten our tranquil and idyllic universe. Our model seems to be our own propaganda model of the savage redmen threatening us as we try to force them off the land. This could very well happen, criminals will evolve to fit circumstances. But I don't know if the solitary homestead model is all that realistic. We are so blind to distance anymore since we are spoiled rotten by the pervasive automobile. And think nothing of energy use, having it in abundance all our lives. But, this will not be the case in the near future. Wood will become scarce, building supplies will be in short supply. Wood will be needed for cooking and heating as oil becomes unavailable and almost all buildings are unsuitable for post-oil habitation. Rebuilding dwellings suitable for limited wood heat will lead to shortages in populated areas. Salvaging existing building might not be sufficient. Also, for a time, horses and mules will not be available. As the cars run out of fuel, and bicycles mostly prove to be unusable after being stored in the garage for several years, other transportation will be needed. But horses need food. And to get a local farming community going quick enough to feed everyone as trade collapses with the outside, food for animals will need to wait for the time being.
*
For most people transportation and warmth will be problems. So it follows that banding together will solve these problems. Help is right there, for work and for defense. Communal living will be a viable solution. We all turn our nose up at it, envisioning the above Hippy or a house stuffed to the rafters with Third World immigrants and their extended family, coping with insane rental costs the only way they know how. So, to help you out, here's a much more pleasing mental picture. Viking or Indian long houses. Several families live together. Each building uses less material and requires less fuel to warm than if each family had separate places. Work, chores and defense are shared to lessen the burden. Also, the shared resources are an insurance policy against one family going without. I'm not saying this shared living arrangement is preferable over individual homesteads, only that we might not have a lot of choice in the matter.
END
Original: http://bisonsurvivalblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/communal-living.html
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