TNL Movie Club - Collapse

[Josh]

I only grow peppers.
I want to get deeper in the growing food game, but my backyard is a joke.

[MechDeus]

My grandparents taught me how to garden so I could probably start growing a ton of shit no problem real quick. I simply have no real desire to put in the effort, and I'm currently at a rental that doesn't have the space for one.

I've recycled for my entire life, barring a couple year stretch when I was first living on my own. It's not even something I think about or consciously do because of the environment, I was simply raised on it.

Pet peeve: When people come over and throw all their garbage into the recycling bin just because it doesn't have a lid. Foot pedals are hard, I guess.

[Mzo]

We just need to reach the singularity before we run out of oil. Then it will be our robot overlords' problem.

[Diff-chan]

But, peak oil is a thing. We are entirely too dependent on a resource that won't last forever.

This always struck me as obvious. We (by "we" I mean, humanity) are already at a point where we are moving towards ridiculously inefficient extraction like "oil shale" simply because the easy stuff is gone. Oil shale, IIRC, takes more energy to refine than it outputs. But it just happens to output the black stuff so there you go. And deepwater drilling, we know what happens there.

Official gubment projections have been revised downward. Back in the 1990s, they said that we would have abundant oil to meet demand for the entire 21st century. Now.. not so much. They say we can meet demand, barely. This is with the oil shale, deepwater drilling, etc. Just barely meet demand. But what if another country industrializes like the BRICs?

Now really is the time for folks to step up and build a system not dependent on oil. But obviously that's not gonna happen. I don't know how to fix this.

I like eating strawberries in December, but it's not important enough that we need to be wasting resources shipping them here from Timbuktu.

I actually like the idea of seasonal food. When we start to ge those awesome blueberry pies made from New Jersey blueberries in the summer... it's great. It's a treat. I don't want blueberry pies any other time of year.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

Most of the time, the shit we get in off season tastes exactly like that. Shit.
I didn't start my garden because I want to be eco friendly and want to save money on produce.
I started it because I'm fat and I like food. I was noticed the watermelons tasted like juicy nothing.
Years ago, I started telling restaurants to hold the tomato, because I thought I no longer liked tomatoes. I used to love tomatoes. I'd eat tomato sandwiches all the time.
Then a neighbor gave us some tomatoes from his garden. THEY WERE AWESOME!
I didn't stop liking tomatoes. Tomatoes just stopped tasting like tomatoes.

My mother has wild asparagus that grows right in the middle of her yard. It's phenomenal.

If you like food at all, I'd suggest anyone who has even a small 2'x4' area they can grow some stuff in to give it a try. It's not that hard. Weeding is a pain, but it's good physical exercise and you'll truly love the fruits of your labor.

[Diff-chan]

It's why farmer's markets are popular. The food is that much better. More expensive - yes. And I wish there was some way that we can deliver that food rather than Burger King and bodega cereal to poor people in urban areas. But it is just better. A good use of money IMO.

[FirstBlood]

We get seasonal local produce at whole foods delivered all the time. It's ridiculous how much better it is and also ridiculous how outraged certain people become when you try to explain to them why the out of season stuff sucks.

It's really such a shame. So much effort spent trying to make fresh produce simply look good and none what-so-ever spent on making it taste good.

[Dunlap]

I've got some chickens in my backyard. It was a pain getting a spot set up for them, but they're pretty low maintenance and the eggs are so worth it.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

A family friend works at a chicken farm. He gave us 5 dozen just-laid-that-morning brown eggs a week ago. They're grrrreeeatttt!

[Doc Holliday]

I watched this. The guy's a loon, but you can't ignore the statistics. I hope we find a real alternative to oil before we run out.