Minimalism and energy consumption obviously go hand in hand.
Last week's post touched on the subject a bit, but I thought
perhaps to discuss it a bit further.  The following article lays
out the world wide energy situation pretty well and, although
somewhat lengthy, is worth the read:

http://tx0.org/nk

As I had mentioned, ultimately it is the energy market that is
going to drive government policy and individual consumption.
People are not likely to make radical lifestyle changes for
altruistic reasons and admittedly I have a long way to go myself.
In the end, these changes will be imposed on us and we have a
choice to scream and cry or adjust accordingly and be contented.
In the end, how much do we really need?  I find myself striving to
pare my consumption, but there is always room for improvement.
Probably for all of us, it is ultimately a spiritual journey.

In the context of energy and the environment, I am sure any
readers in Oklahoma and north Texas are all too familiar with the
increasing seismic activity obviously due to hydraulic fracking.
Out of curiosity, I went over to the United States Geological
Survey web site and pulled some stats and threw it into an ascii
charting program.  Below is just a tiny sampling of the data
regarding Oklahoma...alarming to say the least:

 Oklahoma Earthquakes (M3+) 2010 - 2015

    +-----------------------------+
    |                           o |
800-|                             |
    |                             |
    |                             |
600-|                     o       |
    |                             |
400-|                             | # Quakes
    |                             |
    |                             |
200-|                             |
    |      o         o            |
 0 -+o+----+----o-----+----+----+-+

    2010 2011 2012  2013 2014 2015
                 Year


It's not exactly pretty, but you get the idea (next time I might
try Gnuplot).  The activity really started ramping up between
2012 and 2013.  I think it is obvious that we are going to
extremes to extract the last remaining drops of petroleum.  As we
ease into the post oil era after a 300 year petroleum binge, the
cost of oil and oil dependent products is going to rise.  The
environmental costs have already been staggering.  It remains to
be seen how human kind is going to adjust, but I do have faith
that the dwindling supplies of fossil fuels is going to
usher in a new age of creative minimalism. What is painfully
clear is that our current trajectory is unsustainable. 
 
Coming back to the mundane, The rains seem to have abated for a
few days, so I will probably take the opportunity to do some
scything to keep the weeds at bay.  I think the amount of energy
required to manufacture and use a scythe is a fraction of what is
required to manufacture and use a motorized string trimmer.  The
scythe may or may not cut as fast as a motorized string trimmer,
but it does cut more efficiently.  It also does not drown out the
silence of the forest.  Besides, it is just waaaay cheaper. ;-)

We have different plans for the garden this year.  Previous years
have shown that the raised beds just have not been very
productive as far as food crops have been concerned.  The food
crops have done quite well in the black fabric bag containers,
most likely because they absorb more heat from the sun
consequently the soil temperature stays a bit higher.  Tomatoes
and chillies did quite well in the black bags.  This year we plan
to transplant the roses, which are currently in containers, in
the raised beds.  Last year's Shasta Daisies did very well in the
raised beds, so I am hopeful other flowers will do equally well.
It is still early, but I am slowly working to get things ready
for the spring planting.