Toolshed

The time is December 2011, less than a year away from an election whose outcome could transform life as we’ve known it in America or destroy it. Transformation seemed a poor weak cousin as late as September and then the young people woke up in mass and came to the rescue by moving into a park near Wall Street and beginning an occupation movement, Occupy Wall Street, that with phenomenal speed swept the nation.

These are the same young people for the most part who went to college as they were told, got their degrees, funded in great part by student loans, massive debt, only to end up with little hope of ever finding work even remotely related to their course of studies let alone with income that would allow them to repay their debts.

It is quite possible those jobs will never return because the contract that allowed the job culture to flourish has been broken, perhaps beyond repair, due mostly to corruption and greed. If this is the case, then what’s left? America may be beyond jobs – too many robots, too much automation, too much labor worldwide to exploit. So now what? How will we survive if this is the case, and it may well be so?!

I suggest a new subsistence model. What if, with climate change front and center, we devoted ourself to solving the basic problems of subsistence. I’m not suggesting wearing animal skins and carrying clubs, but what if we all spent our days providing for ourselves in a direct dialogue with the natural world immediately around us. “Heresy!” you cry. “Why, work is what defines us, provides us with identity, demonstrates our true grit,  determination and character!”

But, at the time of Jefferson, that’s pretty much what people did for a living. It is precisely what the Native Americans did before we got here. Well, if the early settlers and the Native Americans managed such a life, why couldn’t we take a step forward into such a world. Certainly, if all our knowledge, science, technology and innovation that brought us the twentieth century was applied to solving the problems of subsistence for all, it just might turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to us. Remember Independence? That’s what we were in the beginning. What if we returned to that?

Given all the wonders of the world we live in, why does subsistence seem so insurmountable? We must be frightened to the core over this, if we’ve been so willing to sell ourselves into slavery and dependence. Or is that what those who reap the benefits of our labor want us to believe. The Nearings demonstrated that subsistence was not only achievable, but if carefully planned, could leave us with time for other activities and involvements.

To do that we need tools. Tools allow us to work efficiently and efficiency is the hallmark of subsistence living. Whole new models for growing food and providing energy are being investigated and explored right now. As those technologies evolve, so won’t the tools needed to accomplish specific tasks associated with those advancements, particularly if the focus is on hand power vs machine power.

New generations of cleaner and more efficient tools will be needed in order to meet the needs of subsistence living. Do I see some connection between the abandoned generation and a new model for subsistence living. Difficult? Challenging? Hard work? You bet your ass it is! But what job isn’t?