Energy Matters: Neighbors to help neighbors through winter of high prices

[phantom power]

"The best security you have is a prepared neighbor," said Paloma O'Riley a decade ago, when she was rallying people to prepare for an emergency of unknown proportions.

The comment still rings true, as we prepare for a hard winter in the short term and, in the medium term, what James Howard Kunstler calls the "long emergency" of declining fossil fuels and other challenges that lie ahead.

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080720/FEATURES05/807200301/

[barbtries]

1. i know i dont' want to live in VT (too cold), and

probably i'll never even visit VT. but VT sure sounds like a great place in this article!

[MonteLukast]

2. I'm... well, I'm touched, but really it goes much deep than that.

:cry: :)

I'm so glad these people are rediscovering each other, making plans to outlast not just the coming winter, but hopefully for years down the road. It's too bad it took economic ruin to get people in this frame of mind, but it's the best way to solve the problems of alienation from our community, being easy prey to rightwing ideas, wasting food, anemic local and small businesses, and environmental degradation all in one.

Now, the challenge is, how to keep this up after the economy recovers. :think:

[The2ndWheel]

5. By making sure energy continues to be expensive?

The cheaper energy is, the less you need other people.

[liberalmuse]

3. I used to work with a guy...

who was pretty cool for a Mormon. Mormon's are supposed to stockpile food, etc. in case of an emergency. He and his family made it a point to not only save enough food/water/blankets, etc. for themselves, but to stockpile enough to ensure they could help the entire neighborhood if the need arose.

It's so important these days to get to know your neighbors, and to form a social network. If you have elderly persons in your neighborhood, look in on them to make sure they're okay, especially during the cold winter months.

[billyoc]

4. Heating oil will be double this winter. Hope it's a mild one...