I believe it was George Orwell that once said: “The best books are those that tell you what you know already” (or something along those lines).

Well I was certainly nodding along in agreement when I recently read the Post Carbon Institute’s latest blog post entitled Resilience: Personal Preperation where an essay of the same name by Chris Martenson (also author of the most excellent/terrifying* The Crash Course) is linked as a 13 page PDF.

I say this because in terms of concepts, nothing is new in there for me. My own family has been on a similar (if not with a bit more moving around the country) journey of discovery over the past 4 years and it seems that most if not all of the drivers for Chris’ downshift-come-reskill are identical to ours.

The timing of finding this essay is pretty good for us. After the roller coaster of the past 18 months we’ve spent the last few months here in our new homes settling and regrouping. One of things I think we’ve all felt is an urgent need to get on and dig/plant/build/mend/learn/meet/network but in equal measure we’ve also felt the need to chill and reassess.

Which why it’s heartening when reading Chris’ essay to be reminded of the  ’small steps’ approach as it’s hard sometimes to think over longer timescales especially if you’re urgent to get things done NOW (like I tend to be).

I’ll leave Chris to end, with the final paragraph from his essay:

Personal preparation is prudent, rational, liberating,and necessary. Remember the airplane emergency rule: Put on your oxygen mask first before assisting others. Start with small steps. Your community needs you.

* delete as applicable

I’ve been watching with a great deal of interest the build-up to the upcoming Dark Mountain Project festival Uncivilisation in Llangollen over the May bank holiday weekend.

When I first read it their project’s description it really made me sit up as I’ve not seen such a level of pragmatism, or do I mean realism, voiced in such a clear and focussed way about the subjects that have been troubling me for some time now. For example I’ve been particularly uneasy about this blog’s title and the implications of it. I’ve come to the conclusion that Self Sufficiency in itself is a myth and whilst I’ll continue to learn how to grow food, rear animals and build or mend things it’s still about a million miles away from some idealistic ideal of being able to provide for all of one’s own needs.

I found their manifesto to be particularly interesting although I’ll admit that it totally loses me in the third section when the power of writing and art is invoked. I’ve read about the power of stories in this context previously and I don’t really get it, but then I’m not an artist, writer or, musician.

I’m still not sure whether I can make it to the main event yet due to a huge clash on the same weekend. To make matters worse the week leading up to it I’m on my own at the office which is when the Dark Mountain Camp is planned to be on which sounds much more up my street with its practical focus. If the planets align and I can arrange for things to be relatively quiet at the office then the plan is to just shut up shop and head up the road with some tools and firewood to see what’s occurring.

Regardless, it’s extremely heartening to see a well organised and focussed group of people discussing things in a realistic manner rather than either denying there’s a problem, or alternatively, only talking about the future with an almost religious positivity.