A bad, bad feeling

As I was walking to work yesterday (listening to the iPod, thank you honey!) I had to undo the buttons of my coat - it was too warm outside to wear it closed. In January. In Germany.

Walking along and trying to keep myself in the here and now, I went looking at the trees I passed - with every one showing signs of awakening from their wintery slumber.
In January. In Germany.

No snow. Only windy, windy days with constant slummy rain.

No real cold, either. Every once in awhile in December and January it acted like it wanted to turn into winter, but then changed its mind.

And you can't call this climate change?

We are running out of oil, developing too slowly alternative energy sources, and still barrelling along at an abusive pace! This scares me now more than it did when I was ignoring the inner part of myself. What will we do?

Germany, it must be said, is very strict about waste. Everything has a container, and you get fined for not using the correct ones. Brown, green and white glass are separate. Paper is picked up and recycled from a gigantic container in every street block. But what about America, a gigantic creator of waste, gigantic user of electricity, everything?

I'm afraid the changes will come too fast there, and too harsh. There was complaining when the gas prices went up! (So loud we heard it over here.)

One would hope that many would settle back into their small neighborhood of houses, growing their own foods and trading for needed supplies. I would do it now, if we had enough to purchase the land (after looking at potential weather and water changes worldwide, that is).

I have long been a fan of the Archdruid Report, who, in the last months of 2006, wrote a series of reports - calling it "deindustrial age" writings.

He had a recent entry I really liked. In it, he recommended 10 key points for helping to slow down (but not staunch) the deindustrial flow.

1. Replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents

2. Retrofit your home for energy conservation

3. Cut back on your gasoline consumption

4. Plant an organic vegetable garden

5. Compost your food waste

6. Take up a handicraft

7. Adopt an “obsolete” technology

8. Take charge of your own health care

9. Help build your local community

10. Explore your spirituality

Even here in ole Germany I plan on initiating some of these changes....we don't have a car as we go everywhere by train. We'll continue to do this, once I am there in Leipzig. A balcony or garden (gardens are more expensive) is one of the key factors of any potential dwelling. Once there, I plan to buy plant hangers for the balcony and grow what all I can...definitely lettuce, spinach, beans, onions...root crops are a little difficult but he had a good idea in getting a large planter and maybe just putting one or two plants in there.

I have to go on a hard--core "stuff" spree and clean this house out before we go. My husband is of the packrat mentality and likes to keep everything. I'm a little (well, a lot) more zen and want to throw it all out. We'll do it on the weekends these next couple months and really *think* about what is staying and what is going.

As for handicrafts, this year I am doing my first two Reiki levels and I'd love to do acupuncture, but I think I'd need a lot of schooling for that, so I dunno. It's on the list to look into, though.

Even talking about it helps the really bad gut feeling begin to fade, although it's still there. I want to be optimistic! but the stomach (intuition??) says not.