| Online: | |
| Visits: | |
| Stories: |
| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
Ruppert's Suicide & Roadside Chickens
Michael C. Ruppert, a former cop and outside-the-box journalist and futurist, known for being a 9-11 Truther, but most especially known for his warnings about Peak Oil in such films as Collapse and The End of Suburbia, killed himself a couple of days ago. Very close friends assure everyone that this well-known pessimist has been suicidal on and off for well over a decade, and that the evidence he left behind assures them that he did indeed kill himself, as opposed to being killed in some conspiracy.
Greer, among others, lamented the loss of this man– because his cogent reasoning about the dark future ahead of us was a needed voice to balance out the crazy optimists who currently hold sway and keep everyone preferring to believe in fluffy dreams. However, everyone is also disappointed that he didn't “stick around to see what happens next” because the future is always surprising, and not always in negative ways.
Its funny that what occurred to me when I saw the news about Ruppert was that I wished I could have shared an observation that I think lends us all a little hope. A small thing that nonetheless indicates a profound change on some fundamental level that people ARE starting to “get it” and shift how they deal with their own life.
Chickens.
Bear with me here. I have my own flock of rascals and I've sung the praises of chickens and organic egg production before plenty of times. What I find intriguing is how many people are beginning to agree with me, and not just in wish-fulfillment fantasies, but in reality.
I'm noticing more and more chickens grazing in yards and fields by the side of the road whenever I drive around somewhere. On nice days, out in the rural areas right next to suburbia, chickens are becoming par and parcel of the country scene. Granted, I live in the rural areas- but only just barely, and it wasn't so long ago (less than 10 years) that one could drive for hundreds of miles through all kinds of rural landscapes and rarely see chickens. I think I saw chickens in a normal coop on a farm less than 4 times as a child, and I lived in the country or next to it for at least a portion of my childhood. No one seemed to “do” chickens. Contrast the first 10 years of my life with the last 10 and the change is STARK.
Even at my birthday party, the cage of rapidly growing chicks in our kitchen were the partial stars of the show. Several friends wanted to know more about them, and I talked about various breeds and what it took to raise them and at least 2 households are seriously thinking about getting their own. Chicken ownership, I've noticed, is contagious. Not just the tasty organic, pastured or free-range eggs, but the birds themselves and their winsome personalities. Its like every chicken owner becomes a walking, talking advertisement for owning chickens!
On the news, small livestock ownership, especially for chickens and goats, has become more and more common, even in urban cities like Portland and Seattle. Communities are figuring out how to deal with roosters and their crowing, goats and their escaping, and how to police all these new small farms that seem to be springing up everywhere. In the last 10 years, for the first time in over a century, the number of farms is increasing rather than decreasing.
On a deeper level, what that means is that people CAN adapt, and will change, to meet the challenges of the tomorrows to come. Of course they will, and of course we are. Gardens and chickens are one small piece of this that can and will go much further. Of course not everyone can make such changes, but if even 1 out of 10 of those who could did, it would revolutionize food for everyone. And I feel like I'm seeing the beginnings of such a change, just one or 2 small steps towards needed changes
I understand Ruppert's nihilism and lack of faith in humanity. I've shared it often enough myself. The problem with extreme views, however, whether too negative OR positive, is that they can close off our ability to view information that goes against our particular bias. I am naturally inclined to expect the worse, yet by striving to remain open, I can actually see signs that mean my first assessments about things were wrong.
Which is VERY good news!
Source: http://lucretiasheart.livejournal.com/1030734.html
