Edge Collective
21
Theses regarding the futureEnergy and material constraints will create a relocalized economy.
Our current economy is dependent on non-rewable fossil fuels and materials for the production of core technologies like steel, cement, plastic, and synthetic fertilizer, and long-distance transportation.
No plausible non-fossil approach to producing these technologies at their current scale exists.
A planned or forced severe reduction in fossil fuel and material use will require that food, energy, fiber, and potable water be sourced locally, and that any process or infrastructure that relies on steel, cement, plastic, or synthetic fertilizer be fully re-designed.
Self-provisioning by families and small communities will become the norm.
Energy constraints will preclude long-distance transport, and require a shift to manual or animal labor.
Coordinated production of food and other goods by small groups seems to be the economic arrangement most likely to be resilient and to avoid explicit, widespread organized coercion or exploitation.
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| Fig 1: Homestead on 0.1 acres / 0.04 hectares. Key: 1) vegetables; 2) fruits and nuts; 3) herbs; 4) grains; 5) poultry; 6) meat or dairy animals; 7) wild foods. (Source: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.) |
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| Fig 2: Homestead on 0.25 acres / 0.1 hectares. Key: 1) vegetables; 2) fruits and nuts; 3) herbs; 4) grains; 5) poultry; 6) meat or dairy animals; 7) wild foods. (Source: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.) |
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| Fig 3: Homestead on 0.5 acres / 0.2 hectares. Adding goats and beef steer. (Source: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.) |
A self-provisioning economy will create new degrees of political freedom.
The nature of our relationship with those who provide us with the necessities of living establishes bounds on our freedom.
Communities who discover new ways of providing for their own needs are able to de-couple from present-day institutions and political structures, opening new spaces for movement and action.
Note: this increased political freedom is an incentive for engaging in self-production before it is required by energy or material constraints or the breakdown of global supply chains.
Urban modes of living and forms of identity will mostly fade away.
Cities require too much energy, and too great a flux of material, to survive in their current form beyond an energy and material transition.
Forms of economic production that are significantly removed from direct food production will become increasingly uncommon.
Cultural identities based on urban modes of living will also fade away.