Where Has All the Pig Iron Gone, Long Time Mama?

As one might have gathered from some of the posts here so far, I'm something of an adherent to self reliance, if not an outright primitivist. My leaning in this direction comes from several different personal viewpoints. Firstly, I'm just plain fascinated with the ingenuity of our forbears. I can pore for hours over diagrams of medieval and early modern mechanical devices. Secondly, I operate under a basic lack of trust that anyone besides myself can act impartially and in my own best interest. Thirdly, after seeing the massive bungling of the meteorological pile-up between New Orleans and hurricane Katrina, I have essentially no confidence in the ability of my municipal, county, state, or federal governments to adequately safeguard my interests, or even my basic survival. It seems to me that many of us are truly on our own.

One of the looming features that peak oil pandits (I can't resist the proper Hindi spelling of that word) often bring to our attention is that much of the US's manufacturing capability has been exported to overseas sweatshops. The ethical and karmic issues surrounding this aside, there is a very serious practical side to it that cannot be overlooked. As the price of energy and transport rises, so too will the price and ready availibility of all those imported neccessities. Many of our consumer goods are made to break or wear out quickly, and are cheaper to throw away than to fix. On top of that, an increasingly dwindling portion of our society actually knows how to make or fix something. Where once we had a nation of craftsmen, mechanics, and toolmakers, we now have a nation of marketing experts, retail sales clerks, and luxury service providers. To get around the possibility of a shortage of crucial tools and long-lasting implements of everyday life, I have begun replacing as much of the extraneous and disposable items around me as I can. For instance, I am replacing the plastic storage containers and ziploc bags in my kitchen with longer lasting stainless steel boxes and canisters. To me this is as much a wise investment of my money as it is an effort at conservation. I have every intention of passing these precious artifacts along to my grandkids when the time comes for them to set up house (I'd also like to rid myself of the microwave and the Xbox, but Mrs. Druid hasn't quite come that way in her thinking yet).

With all this in mind, I decided a short while ago to order my very own copy of the Lehman's Non-Electric Catalog. For those of you not familiar with http://www.lehmans.com/ , they are a family owned business in Ohio that specialize in (funnily enough) non-electric farm implements. Non-electric in this sense also includes non-internal combustion engines. The implied their sales blurb they supply a good many devices and sundries to Amish and Mennonite communities that those good folks can not necessarily produce for themselves, and they also sell Amish-made farm implements. Recieving my paper catalog, I set about doing my paper window shopping. My Hoosier go-to-it-ness was quickly replaced by realization and reflection. Aside from the Amish-made wooden implements, nearly everything else in the catalog is imported. The traditional American cast iron pots and pans are imported from South Africa and China. The traditional American steel milk cans are imported from India. Most of the hand tools such as planes, chisels, and axes are imported from Germany. The oil and kerosene lamps are imported from parts unspecified. Now, I'm not in any way incensed about buying foriegn goods, nor was I even particularly surprised. What I did experience, though, was a certain leaden appreciation of the reality of the dwindling US manufacturing base, and a quiet resolution in the pursuit of my own food and energy independence.

Naoi Beannachtai,
Eremon