Practical Question and Answer series
For more questions and answers see the
Q&A Index.
6) How do I live if my work
skills are too specialised and high-tech dependent?
First of all, consider how your current skills and specialization
apply to a collapse context. If you are an electrical engineer
you can scavenge parts and build windmills, bicycle generators,
high-efficiency lights, and other tools that will be invaluable
to many communities. If you are a mechanic you can dismantle cars
and repurpose their components to make useful devices. If you
are a microbiologist you can focus on water filtration, building
the health of the soil and its organisms, and using bioremediation
to deal with toxins and polluted land. If you are a librarian
you can archive relevant information and books and make them accessible
for use in your community.
Once you've identified how current specialization applies you
can work on further developing those particular areas, by learning
more and practicing those skills. So if you know about electronics
in general, but don't know how to make a small low RPM generator,
learn now and practice.
However, it's still a good idea to diversify your skill set to
include skills like gardening, purifying
water, preserving and storing food,
building community, raising chickens, building
a composting toilet, cooking without
gas or electricity, making decisions as a group, foraging
for food, getting around without cars,
and first aid and wound care. Those kinds of non-industrial skills
are useful for everyone in a collapse context.
So build on your current specialized skills while developing
new and generalized ones. But remember that whatever skills you
learn should be part of the broader context of your community.
Look at the skills that the other people in your community have
and try to develop skills that are complementary to them.
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