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By Root 503 0

”? I can’t tell you what’s coming but I can say this: scenario A is that you muddle through and your daily life doesn’t change that much in twenty-five years. The rich get richer and the poor poorer, but life goes on. Scenario B is that catastrophes (and “benestrophes”) do come. Your weather does change, the seas do rise, energy shortages do occur, and the dollar isn’t what it used to be. Select what you want for either case. If it’s A, well, you’ll have the things you need and have shed of a lot of excess baggage. If B, you’ll have the things you need—and will need them. Here are some categories to consider:

Seeds: heirloom, open pollinated

Books: reference, how-to, and inspirational

Tools: to build things, fix things, make things, study things, kill things (a rifle, butcher knife, and fishing pole), roll things (wheels save your back and feet)

Clothes: warm and durable layers, good shoes, glitter for parties

Furniture: durable, comfortable, multi-purpose

Household: durable. Really useful things with electrical cords are okay (we’ve never been without that blender), but hand tools will be needed … like wire whisks and wooden spoons and good chopping knives.

Health care: stock up on and freeze must-have prescription drugs, buy basic medical books. You’ll be surprised at how little those things that you pop in your mouth are still needed. Remember what Norman Cousins said: “85 percent of all illness is self-limiting,” and for the rest, I’d say that painkillers and antibiotics are heaven’s gift to the creaky.

Beauty: brushes and combs and creams. Keep all those scarves and earrings (and a coupla lipsticks) to feel pretty, which is water for the soul.

Energy: batteries, yes—but everyone should have one back-up solar panel and/or hand-cranked generator for communications technology. Get a solar cooker. Insulate whatever you live in. Install double-pane windows. Use the last hours of ancient sunlight (Thom Hartmann’s name for oil) to create a low-energy environment for the future.

You get the drift. Buy and keep what will last. Buy and keep what has multiple uses (like a knife and pot rather than a Cuisinart and electric rice cooker). You’re not packing a real Conestoga wagon, so you can keep everything you have now if you want. Remember your old Your Money or Your Life idea of enoughness? Not just survival. Not just adequate. Truly rich in everything from basics to luxuries, but nothing in excess. Shed the surplus early and often. Scenarios A and B both favor living lightly.

Hint Six: Make Yourself Useful

Heads up. A local future belongs to the person who makes herself truly useful to real people, not to the one who can market some useless gadget to unsuspecting consumers. You’ll find it hard to trade your knack for inspiring others for bicycle repair, but don’t worry. If you can make people laugh, you’ll always be taken care of. Hone all people skills (see Hint Four above). The future needs facilitators, negotiators, re-framers, therapists, counselors—anyone with patience in the face of human suffering. The future also needs handymen, emergency management specialists, nurses, gardeners, inventors, record keepers, geeks and techies of every ilk, musicians, athletes, mechanics, engineers, cooks, team players, canning experts, teachers, midwives, writers, body workers, artists, project managers, story tellers, hunters and fishermen, builders, designers of every sort imaginable, healers of every sort imaginable. There’s no lack of good work here in the future.

I do hope this all gets through. The censors may zap anything I say that gives you too much information. But here’s what I can tell you about now. The birds are singing. The children are healthy. They don’t blame us for our mistakes—we now know for certain that our generation did our best with what we had and what we knew. This new generation understands that blame is toxic and they simply don’t do it. It makes them seem like angels, really. They know they are making the future—and that’s what gives meaning to life. They are actually watching