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| Five fun ways to prepare for climate change |
Sixth Great Extinction got ya down? Worried about the future of humans on our planet?
You’re not alone, and even though heartbreaking climate news is everywhere these days, there is a silver lining to it all.
A miniscule but shimmering sliver of silver.
Wait for it … knowing the bad news can help us prepare for what’s coming. I did say it was a sliver.
While there is no way of knowing the full scope of changes we’ll face, educated guesses include drought, flooding, food insecurity, severe weather, unpredictable seasons, and ecosystem collapse.
Our best line of defense for a volatile future such as this is resilience, the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change. Here are five (decidedly anti-prepper) ways to prep.
Cultivate Diversity
A purple carrot is not just interesting and beautiful. As John Navazio - breeder of the Dragon Carrot - knows, genetic diversity is the best bet for life to adapt and evolve through challenging times.
Strengthen Your Real-Life Community
The original social networks really acted as nets. Neighbors lent tools to one another, helped each other raise barns, and held one another in times of loss and grief. If your Dragon Carrots don’t grow, your neighbors might have some advice to share (and maybe even a few carrots).
When you build your cob house, it’ll be a lot easier with extra hands. Sure, the times have changed, but real-life communities are as important as ever.
Learn a Skill to Trade or Share
Many of us work in professions with little value outside the mainstream economy. If we want to thrive outside of that economy, we’ll need a variety of skill sets between us.
Luckily, a lot of these things are fun to learn and we’re naturally interested in them: basic first aid, beekeeping, brewing beer, composting-toilet installation, growing food, knitting, making herbal medicines, massage, midwifery …
Practice Sharing
Share your skill. Host a seed fair. Start a community orchard. Turns out sharing is a great way to strengthen your real-life community. How convenient.
Join the Resistance
There are so many cool ways to help slow the economic momentum that’s causing climate change, from 350.org’s international climate movement to local battles against fracking, mining, clear-cutting, and general destruction in the name of profit. As psychologist Mary Pipher knows, action is a healing tonic - for ourselves and the earth.
Photo by Kevin Dooley, altered from original under the Creative Commons license.
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