Matthew Stein - When Technology Fails

More praise for the first and revised editionsofWhen Technology Fails

A fascinating collection of concepts and skills that will satisfy everyone from the casual do-ityourself enthusiast to someone who wants to attempt self-reliance and the ultimate emergency preparedness.

Howard Backer, MD, author of Wilderness First Aid: Emergency Care forWilderness Locations and past president of the Wilderness Medical Society

If youve been wondering about how to respond to the twin dangers of peak oil and global warming, one of your best choices would be to read this book.

Greg Pahl, author of The Citizen-Powered Energy Handbook:Community Solutions to a Global Crisis

We may all need a survival reference when technology fails. Matthew provides onefact-filled, with useful tips on all aspects of survival, clothing, food, shelter, water, etc., including such vital subjects as grazing and the green pharmacy.

James A. Duke, economic botanist, USDA (ret.), and author of The Green Pharmacy

When Technology Fails is a massive project done well. First the book gives a superb presentation of WHY one should be more aware and preparedand then HOW one should go about this. The scope of this book... is thorough. Not only is the information presented well, but a solid bibliography can carry the student as far as he desires in any particular area of interest.

John McPherson, author of Primitive Wilderness Living and Survival Skills

Whether you are seeking self-reliance and a simpler life or fear the collapse of social services, this compendium of practical information for sustainable living belongs on your bookshelf.

Fred Walters, Editor of Acres U.S.A. magazine

When Technology Fails is a comprehensive guide and compendium of the tools society will require as it reaches the convergence of hyper-inflation, oil depletion, and environmental limitations; in other words, at the point where technology fails.

William Kemp, author of The Renewable Energy Handbook

Matthew Stein has written a clear, concise book on the subject of survival that, while educating, also does what few others have managed to doentertain and engage the reader.

John Egan, proprietor of http://SurvivalistBooks.com

I liked this book. Its carefully researched, comprehensive, well illustrated, and readable. It presents much-needed alternate information, for, in my opinion, technology has already failed... so replacement of polluting high technologies with non-polluting low ones is urgent, and Matthew Steins handbook systematically and accurately surveys a wide array of possible low-tech options. Much hard work, time, and talent went into the building of this basic reference survey of low-tech options.

Carla Emery, author of The Encyclopedia of Country Living: An Old-Fashioned Recipe Book

When Technology Fails is the roadmap that you want and need to navigate whatever may lie ahead.

John L. Chunta, http://PeakOilResources.com

Steins excellent guide to simplifying your life, reducing your environmental impact, and pulling yourself out of a jam is sure to gather no dust on your bookshelf.... This book is a personal and planetary empowerment tool.

Richard Heede, PhD, author of Homemade Money:How to Save Energy and Dollars in Your Home

I have no children because I read M. King Hubberts analyses on the future of oil and other fossil fuels in 1969 and Limits to Growth shortly thereafter. It was clear to me then and in every year since that our whole economy, and all of our economic principles, were based on cheap oil that would not last. The reason that economists could get away with criticizing Hubbert and LTG as well as promoting their basically absurd theories that often disregarded and even belittled natural resources was that, in fact, more oil could be pulled out of the ground to make ANY economic theory or policy work, no matter how stupid. Now that the oil spigot is sputtering, the economists theories and policies are increasingly shown to be failures. We need a whole new way to think about how we do our economies. In the spirit of the old Whole EarthCatalogues Mat Stein does a marvelous and diverse job of helping us to think about how we might go about generating an approach to our economies that can make sense. This is a great book to have on your bookshelf as we enter the post-peak second half of the age of oil.

Professor Charles A.S. Hall, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

In this age of over-consumption, truth is lost in a myriad of commercialized details. Matthew Stein picks up and assembles these shattered shards, and by examining each in the meticulous manner of a crime scene investigator, offers valuable insight and practical tools to survive in a world at the brink of chaos. In doing so, he helps maintain sanity in a time of hardening denial about the state of the worldand helps throw open the door to Platos Cave where so many of us remain uncomfortably shackled.

Peter Droege, author of The Renewable City and Urban Energy Transition

When Technology Fails... Like thats some sort of unlikely future possibility! Technology is always failing while people stand around befuddled about what to do. With Mat Steins book, when push comes to shove, you can be your own veritable MacGyver. Not only does it provide us with the information we need to plan for, and deal with, potential emergencies and disasters, it also shows us how we can live more sustainably and self-reliantly in todays world of climate change and gas prices that are going through the ceiling. This is the sort of ingenuity for which Americans have been famous. When Technology Fails is to the mechanical world what Joy ofCooking is to the world of cooking. In other words, the encyclopedia every home should have on hand. Keep it right next to the emergency flashlight and your Swiss Army knife.

David Blume, permaculturist and author of Alcohol Can Be A Gas!

WHEN TECHNOLOGY FAILS

WHEN TECHNOLOGY FAILS

A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability,and Surviving the Long Emergency

REVISED AND EXPANDED

MATTHEW STEIN

CHELSEA GREEN PUBLISHING COMPANY
White River Junction, Vermont

Copyright 2000, 2008 by Matthew Stein. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

Developmental Editor: Shay Totten
Project Manager: Bill Bokermann
Copy Editor: Helen Walden
Proofreader: Eric Raetz
Book Designer: Peter Holm

First printing, August 2008
Printed in the United States of America

Our Commitment to Green Publishing
Chelsea Green sees publishing as a tool for cultural change and ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book manufacturing practices with our editorial mission and to reduce the impact of our business enterprise in the environment. We print our books and catalogs on chlorine-free recycled paper, using soy-based inks whenever possible. This book may cost slightly more because we use recycled paper, and we hope youll agree that its worth it. Chelsea Green is a member of the Green Press Initiative (www.greenpressinitiative.org), a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the worlds endangered forests and conserve natural resources. The revised and expanded edition of When Technology Fails was printed on 60-lb. Joy White, a 30-percent postconsumer-waste recycled paper supplied by Thomson-Shore.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data