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The quest for self-sufficiency isn’t exactly new, but it used to be different than it is now. When our parents and grandparents were growing up, almost everyone had a backyard garden. A few other things have changed, too. We’ll go through a few of them here.
It used to be patriotic
These days, when you talk about becoming more self-sufficient, most people will look at you funny at least, and call you crazy at worst. They seem to think that taking care of yourself and your family instead of supporting the growing consumer economy is a bad thing. Like you have some responsibility to buy what you can grow or make so that someone else can make ends meet.
During World War II, articles and ads in magazines encouraged self-sufficient activities. If you had a garden that could support your whole family, it was lovingly called a “Victory Garden” – a reference to doing your part, however small, to not lean on the economy or the government for what you needed. That enabled the country’s economic resources to be dedicated to winning the war instead of filling each person’s belly. Now, it seems, we’re more interested in getting what we can out of the economy than taking care of our own needs so the economy and government can focus elsewhere.
Needs vs Wants
Much of what we call needs in the 21st century would have been dreams or “wants” even 40 years ago. In the 40’s, not every household had a phone, let alone a TV. Fast-forward to the 80’s and nearly every home has both, but TV channels are limited to what you can receive with an antenna and the phone is firmly affixed to the wall. If someone was on the phone, you had to wait your turn and there wasn’t voicemail. Now, even elementary school kids have phones in their pockets that double as TV’s. We “need” more than we did – at least one car per driver instead of one per household, individual cell phones, internet service in our homes, multiple TV’s in the home, multiple streaming services for music and shows…the list goes on and on.
Increased Demand
All these “needs” coupled with our wants create an increased demand…on our time and on our supply of electricity in particular. There are more things that need power, so we need more power. I was surprised to find that an electrically-cheap day at my house still consumes just about a whole kilowatt. That power has to come from somewhere, and it gets more complicated when you try to supply it off-grid.
Batteries
There were very few battery-powered items 40 or more years ago. Radios, the occasional toy, and that was most of it. Now, there’s a version of just about everything that takes batteries. From battery-powered tools to toys to our cell phones, a lot of our lives are surrounded by batteries. Thank goodness the technology is there now to have rechargeable batteries. Rechargeables weren’t around then, either.
Solar and Wind
Solar power generation didn’t exist to speak of 40 years ago, and wind power wasn’t as advanced as it is now. Wind is still troublesome, just like it was then. We still have a ways to go, but solar is becoming an increasingly attractive method to b
