Will it come whether we want it or not? And, how will you adjust?
As usual, I was at one of the local Borders tonight looking at possible books to buy. One of the books I have been looking at is Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization by Jeff Rubin. The premise of his book is that oil is going to get consistently more costly due to it dwindling supply and we are going to have to look more locally for our needs.
While I agree that energy, especially oil, is going to get more expensive, I do not agree it will be because of dwindling supply. There are too many alternatives, albeit more expense, alternative sources of oil that is being developed that will more than replace the supply of oil. However, I digress.
There are many more reasons then just “oil” that may force localization whether people want it or not. More and more, we are hearing in the news about tainted products from overseas where quality standards are lacking or non-existent. This I have discussed before.
Secondly, are economic factors that are coming into play now due to the downturn in the economic health of the country? How much longer are people going to let jobs be shipped overseas while people are losing their jobs?
However, there is another economic factor that may come into play, and that is the falling value of the dollar. With the drop, imports become more expensive. At some point, it will (and probably has in some cases) become cheaper to produce goods in the country rather than importing them. This is going to become more of a factor if the drop in the dollar continues.
The third is more of a psychological than a real factor. And that is the constant reports of new diseases or new strains of existing diseases. Yes there is a threat there, but it may force a consideration of the risk factors of importing goods from the far reaches of the world. Is it really worth importing goods that are more of a luxury than a necessity?
Finally, there are geo-political factors. Many parts of the world are becoming very unstable. This has always been an issue, however, where the geo-political problems are now could adversely affect the supply of oil, which, of course, will dramatically increase the price of energy. This, in turn, will increase the costs of shipping and, ultimately, the final costs of goods that are imported.
There are other factors, but these are the major ones. However, all of these will probably force people to look locally more and more for the goods needed to survive.
With this shift, many changes in lifestyles will have to be made.
We will have to look for local alternatives to goods like coffee, tea, and many fruits and vegetables that have become commonplace all year round. Yes, some of these will be available fresh when they are in season. However, when out of season, one will have to look for alternatives, use in preserved forms (i.e. frozen or cured), or do without.
We will also have to make changes in our leisure activities. Traveling to exotic places whenever we want to will not be an option if travel becomes too expensive. We will have to look locally for recreation. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It may promote a greater sense of community.
Distributism, which I am an advocate of, looks to place the means of production of all goods at the most local level as possible. However, it does not stop there, it promote the self-sufficiency of the family as much as possible while not promoting individualism.
An additional benefit, in my opinion, is that Distributism, in its purest form, is rooted in Catholic Moral and Social teachings. Because of that, it can be used to rebuild a moral foundation to a society whose foundation has been rotting away from the ravages of the plagues of Relativism, Globalism (in the form of Global Capitalism), Materialism, Socialism, and Liberalism.
“Going Local” is not a bad thing. In fact, it is a good thing since Global Capitalism is proving to be, like it opposite Socialism is proving to be a dismal failure.