Astyk - Depletion and abundance life on the new home front

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR

Depletion and Abundance

Depletion and Abundance offers a vivid portrayal of where resource and
energy scarcity is taking us, and with calm, incisive logic disassembles
the too-easy answers and the panicked proposals offered on all sides
of the energy debate. Whats more, the author gives us a path having
both heart and reason toward a sustainable and appealing future.

Toby Hemenway, author of
Gaias Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture

This thoughtful, passionate book breaks away from the conventional
wisdom of doomsayers and cornucopians alike to offer a deeply
practical vision of survival through family, community, and personal
responsibility in the age of peak oil. Highly recommended.

John Michael Greer, author of
The Long Descent and The Archdruid Report

Sharon Astyk has given us an exquisite roadmap describing where
we are now, where we are likely to find ourselves in the next
few years, and how to prepare on myriad levels for the journey.
This book is both brilliant and beautiful, reverberating with her
insight, wisdom, and compassion. At the same time that
she pours a tall glass of hard reality for the reader, she sits beside
us with her hand on our shoulders while we drink it.
I will enthusiastically use this book in every college class I teach.

Carolyn Baker, Ph.D., author of U.S. History Uncensored:
What Your High School Textbook Didnt Tell You, and blogger,
Speaking Truth To Power, www.CarolynBaker.net

You come out of an Inconvenient Truth and youre lost.
You can hope that technology will figure it out. Or, like Sharon Astyk,
you can take the situation into your own hands. You can lead
your family away from dependence on fossil fuels and stuff and towards
a joyful vision of simplicity, self-reliance, planetary stewardship and
strong local community. If that is your bent, this is your handbook.

Colin Beavan, author and blogger at NoImpactMan.com

A smart book that will get you thinking about what the world might
look like if it changed which seems altogether likely.
Sharon Astyk has all kinds of suggestions for individuals and families,
but never forgets that real resilience lies in working communities.

Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy

This is a wonderful book about a terrible subject; situation
were screwed. If it doesnt kill us, the coming depression
could be the best thing to happen to Americans in a long time.
A marvelously funny, compelling, passionate and practical book
about how to survive the hard times ahead, written by
a farmer and a mother of four for anyone who loves their family.
More common sense than anyone deserves to find between
the covers of a book. Buying it would be a good use of your last $25.

Peter Bane, publisher of Permaculture Activist,
www.PermacultureActivist.net

Many of us can see the ruins of our society for what they are, and
understand that we have to make some other arrangements if we
are to survive. Fewer of us seem able to make the switch to serving
best those who matter to us most: the people in our lives.
Sharon lifts the curse of the lost and lonely individual by pointing us
toward family and community and giving us all work to do.

Dmitry Orlov, author of Reinventing Collapse:
The Soviet Experience and American Prospects

Without Sharon Astyks courage and style, the converging crises
that headline the daily news would indeed seem ominous.
But Sharon has ventured off into our worst dystopian
nightmare and experienced it, personally, and then come back
to report to the rest of us, Hey, it isnt all that bad!
She has seeded abundance
from scarcity and happiness from despair, and is willing to share that secret.

Albert Bates, author of Climate in Crisis:
The Greenhouse Effect and What You Can Do and The
Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook

Depletion and Abundance

Depletion and Abundance

LIFE ON THE NEW HOME FRONT

Sharon Astyk

NEW SOCIETY PUBLISHERS

C ATALOGING IN P UBLICATION D ATA:
A catalog record for this publication is available from the
National Library of Canada.

Copyright 2008 by Sharon Astyk.
All rights reserved.

Cover photos: iStock/Wael Hamdan
iStock/Sam Sefton

Printed in Canada. First printing June 2008.

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-86571-614-8

Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of Depletion & Abundance
should be addressed to New Society Publishers at the address below.

To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America)
1-800-567-6772, or order online at www.newsociety.com

Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to:

New Society Publishers
P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V R 1X , Canada
(250) 247-9737

New Society Publishers mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment, in a manner that models this vision. We are committed to doing this not just through education, but through action. This book is one step toward ending global deforestation and climate change. It is printed on Forest Stewardship Council-certified acid-free paper that is 100% post-consumerrecycled (100% old growth forest-free), processed chlorine free, and printed with vegetable-based, low-VOC inks, with covers produced using FSC-certified stock. Additionally, New Society purchases carbon offsets based on an annual audit, operating with a carbon-neutral footprint. For further information, or to browse our full list of books and purchase securely, visit our website at: www.newsociety.com

To Eric,
undepletable.

Contents

Acknowledgments

THIS BOOK IS A PRODUCT OF ABUNDANT INTELLECTUAL GENEROSITY, KINDNESS and support from a host of people. I couldnt possibly name them all, nor could I ever thank them enough.

First of all, the seeds of this book grew up as I was training for an entirely different career, in English Literature. The critical thinking skills and work I did on population and disaster helped both make me a writer and prepare me to think about the same issues in the present context. Thanks to all of those who so patiently read and critiqued material that they never imagined would appear in this particular form. Thomas Brennan, John Burt,Mary Campbell (who I owe special thanks to for first introducing me to the concept of Hubberts Peak),William Flesch, Thomas King, Jennifer Lewin, Rebecca Potter, Laura Quinney, Judith Wilt and Laura Yim all contributed to this text.

Navigating Peak Oil and Climate Change requires knowledge of a host of fields not covered in the education of a Shakespearean. Im grateful to Richard Heinberg, Dmitry Orlov, Stuart Staniford, Robert Waldrop, Jeffrey Brown, Peter Bane, Keith Johnson, Colin Beavan, Albert Bates, Thomas Princen, Rob Hopkins, Gail Tverberg, Matt Savinar, Julian Darley, Linda Wigington, Dale Pfeiffer, George Monbiot, Tom Philpott and a host of others who got there first and helped me understand where I was going.