Patrick Holden

Partrick Holden Chairman of the Soil Association http://www.soilassociation.org/ provided a large gathering at the town hall last night with food for thought.

His assertion is that over a single lifetime we have used up half of the capital resources this earth has accumulated in the last millenia. 50% of all fossilised fuel, natural gas, water, etc have all gone in a growing constant stream of consumption. We are using it at such a rate of knots that the point when it has all gone is considerably closer than first imagined.

A notional date of between 2050/70 is predicted by the best scientific minds available.

So what do we do? The first point is to consider how far we have come without any real substance. We have lost so many simple skills along the way that we would find is so difficult to cope. His provocation was to think about how long you can survive if all the power is suddenly switched off? In his case 12 hours. As a Dairy farmer his herd would need milking and with no power to do it life would become extremely physical. We would be driven back to the land to fend for ourselves. It paints a pretty bleak picture but at least we have some time to sort things out.

His suggestion is to get organised and spread the word. To build in resilience to our lifestyles. To reduce where possible our dependency on fuels of all sorts and to get back to basics re-learning those lost skills of forebears. Create a sustainable lifestyle.

Rod.