Living in a world with no electricity

Ok, so maybe country would be a more appropriate title, but it is not going to take much of a stretch of my imagination to apply this situation globally.

These thoughts are not about not being able to charge my computer and iphone (of course i would write this in pencil on paper if i had to, out getting it to your eyes would be a bit more challenging, and spell checking would be a little less automatic), this is more about attitudes to the lack of, and adaption.

What is going on in so many ways reflects what we have going on on a global scale with reaction and action to both climate change and impending ‘peak oil’.

To help better explain this i will take it back to local again.

I arrive at my abode for the next month only to be greeted by a view of clear turquoise water, soft soft white sand, and silence, ..and i mean silence, no background music, no whir of a refrigerator, nothing, just the humbled sound of a man apologising to my sincerely and informing me that there has been no power on the island for a while (like you could be in this country for more than five minutes without being made aware of this).
The look on his face suggested he thought i would be angry, annoyed, at least demand some kind of compensation for this terrible situation, and i think was most surprised to be great by my smile, shrug and exclamation of ‘hakuna matata’ (which in my very limited swahili or arabic i have always managed to convey my very non english reaction to a situation that would leave many a western tourist causing a fuss, ….inshallah seems to have the same effect but you choose your response based on the recipient).

So trying not to go off on too much of a tangent, back to the matter at hand. I can’t charge my phone or computer. Well if there is no internet who needs a phone or computer anyway :) I am in paradise, i’ll deal with it, ..I am much more concerned about the lack of wind at the current moment of standing looking out at the sea, ..which when i mention this to the gentleman at reception am responded to with a touch or sarcastic irony that i do not think was intended, but couldn’t have found a better recipient, ..’hakuna matata’. I smile.

So what are the day to day effects of no power on an island. The first and foremost is the value of the commodity known as diesel. You see power can be made, and those whose infrastructure demands it will always find a way, you see in Africa there are two very different types of person, irrelevant of race or country of origin, ..those who can afford to get themselves out of a situation, and those who cannot.
The cans right now are all running their diesel generators and bulk buying thousands of litres of diesel, which of course is leaving the cannot’s with a diesel shortage, rising prices beyond their reach and a simple choice, ..apart.
They do, this is what interests me so much and is the point i feel i should get to before i ramble to the extinction of my battery without ever reaching my conclusion.

Those who can always find a way to continue with the life of familiarity no matter what affect it has on the rest of the cannot’s around, and they will do this until every last finite resource has been used up, …and they consider the cannot’s to be a finite resource in case there was any doubt about that.

[sorry, this session of writing was interrupted for a while to engage in a very interesting conversation with a marine biologist, whom after listening to him during the first half of this post talking to (or being spoken to) by the atypical over weight sunburnt dissatisfied british single woman about how bad everything was, i felt the balance needed redressing, even at the expense of a little precious precious battery. Why do people like that travel the world alone to places like this, is it simply to go home afterwards and feel more comfortable in their mediocre lives and construct negative feedback on holiday forums, or is it just to allow persons such as myself contrasting content for our musings.]

So back again to the situation at hand, …the collection of beach huts i am living in have now acquired a generator, and how does this affect my day to day actions. Simple, there is milk with my coffee, and butter will my breakfast. Oh wait, ..i have just realised, COLD BEER!
And how has this affected me, well other than spurring forward my eco tendencies and realisation and frustration at the situation we find ourselves in globally it has given me an increased pleasure in the smaller luxuries in life such as cold beer, enough power to re-charge just a phone for a few days, the joy of existing with no light, the appreciation of trickling water from a shower as opposed to no water at all, but must importantly, the need to prepare ourselves to be able to deal with life when our various resources are removed.

were this to happen in London life would take a much much different turn, locally we cannot turn on our taps without power, heat our homes, supermarkets can’t keep the food cold, ..businesses can’t operate, ..and, ..hold, ..wait a minute, this is what is going on right here, right now, ….so what seems to be the difference, ..attitude of the masses. You see here the can’s are a minority, if it came to crunch time you would hope they would have to humanity to open up their finite resources to those around them, or help them adapt through using their prosperity to to allow the community to set itself up for survival as a community, of which regardless of wealth, they are an integral part of.
The problem we have globally, ..the numbers are reversed, the can’s may not outnumber the cannot’s in sheer numbers, but in power and influence they win hands down, and we are faced with a horrifying reality which i am a little uncomfortable ending this post on, but is something that i think is important enough to leave you with a bad taste in your mouth when usually i would replace it with a smile.

Are we the can’s unwittingly planning, or at least allowing a global holocaust to assemble into motion, one that will essentially remove the world of anyone financially unable to survive, those either below a certain geographic line, or unable to climb above a certain economic one?
Are we all knowing turning a blind eye to this or has our media left us so dumbed to the horror of reality through a campaign of desensitisation over the past few decades of reporting on our actions that we are willing to accept the extinction of potentially two thirds of the global population?
Or am i just a man on a beach with no wind and no power and too much time to think?