KUNSTLER'S CALL TO ACTION: REDUX
(Posted 2007-02-05 16:32:48 by Ray Lopez)

In his latest blog post [
http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/clusterfuck_nation/2007/02/the_agenda_rest.html
], James Howard Kunstler, author of _The Long Emergency_, challenges his
critics who cast him as a "doom and gloom" soothsayer with no concrete
solutions to his pessimistic scenarios of life in the post-peak-oil era. 
If any of these critics had ever taken the time to read his books and
articles, they would know how wrong they are.  

Nevertheless, Kunstler has put forth a concrete set of goals in his latest
blog posting.  What I'd like to do here is to go one step further and use
Kunstler's goals to generate a set of specific tasks.  I hope that these
tasks are ones that you can incorporate into your own to-do lists, and help
yourself and others prepare for the end of the age of oil.

* Visit the website for your local transit authority and learn how to ride
the trains and busses

* Find one local organization to support public transportation, or check
out http://www.publictransportation.org

* Write a letter to your congressional representative and senators asking
them to start funding the rebuilding of our railroad infrastructure

* Find your local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group and buy your
food from them.

* Start a garden, preferably with other neighbors.

* Learn a new cooking skill, such as how to bake bread, grind wheat into
flour, making beer.  

* Find one local organization or other people who would support changes to
local zoning laws to allow mixed-use neighborhoods.

* Write a letter to your city government representative asking them to
fight against urban sprawl by allowing mixed use zoning laws

* Support local businesses by patronizing them and avoiding the big box
stores and chain restaurants.

* Start a new hobby by learning how to build a simple structure like a
small home.  

* Learn how to play a musical instrument

* Volunteer to work for a local theatre group

* Read and learn about poetry

* Learn how to teach the new skills and knowledge you are acquiring

* Attend a meeting of a local home-schooling group and begin to help them
out and network

* Learn basic first aid, how to use basic medicines, and the use of
medicinal herbs.

* Get a copy of Horses for Dummies and learn about horses

* Join a church or other local civic organization to expand your support
network.



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