Large victories are almost unheard of.
This morning I woke to a flood of emails from people all across the country. Dozens of communities out there, banded together as we have. Between them they number several thousand people, every one working as we have worked to create sustainable living spaces for meeting the needs of long-term survival.
More than forty communities have had a representative contact us since last night. I am frankly pretty blown away by this, and we have the good people at Google to thank for it. Once again, the engineers and programmers there have managed the impossible and gotten communications running across big swathes of the nation. Though, there is one very interesting point here that has huge implications.
While there are emails in my inbox from many places across the USA, one state in particular is dense with small groups of survivors--Louisiana. About half of all the contacts I had this morning were from there. The reason for this is simple--that was the place with the highest number of self-sufficient cell towers, and where the engineers were able to restore the broadest amount of function to the network. That means that once Google managed to get control of that part of the cell network, they were able to alert anyone with a compatible phone or other wireless device. Not that many had them, of course, but most communities have managed to cobble together a means to power small devices, enough to charge them should someone attempt communication.
Think about this. Louisiana has at least twenty groups of people who have survived. How many more must be out there in large areas where there is no communication at all? God, everyone here is so excited at the possibilities. There could be dozens of groups in Kentucky, right?
Google basically flooded the networks with calls and texts, trying to alert everyone that had the means to get them that others are out here. Once that basic line of communication was established, it was a short step to mentioning the groups that have already taken steps to bring in others, like us. Hence, the giant grin across my face all morning.
It's amazing. We're dealing with a lot of stress and worry here lately, and this news was just what we needed to boost our spirits. I have a lot to do, especially with so much new data to coordinate. So much potential!
This is HUGE.
Yes, this is amazing. I'm worried about the risks but excited about the possibilities. At this rate, within the next few years, we might be able to re-establish a society that goes beyond the local level.
ReplyDeleteFor both practical and political reasons, we should organize bioregionally rather than organizing according to the boundaries of the fallen states. If people are dead-set on keeping the names of the fallen states, we can redraw the boundaries in a more practical manner. Communities that share a watershed and similar species of plants and animals should unite into a bioregion-wide alliance or confederation. That way, there won't be any bickering between alliances or confederations over how to manage a water supply, food supply, lumber supply, etc. (There may still be internal bickering, but this is almost unavoidable.)
I know, I know, I'm probably getting ahead of myself here. But we need at least some people thinking that far ahead to ensure that the very fragile new society that we will hopefully be forming soon has the maximum chances of survival (and maximum chances of actually being a good society).
Honestly, I would strongly advise the ideas of states as a whole. It is partially what split up this country so horribly before the FALL. Being the history obsessed person I am, it was always the State Vs Federal right that split parties up against each other. Heck, it was that issue alone that even formed the idea of political parties in the first place(which was a horrible idea as well). I personally feel, that when and if we're able to get some semblence on non-local society going on again we should avoid setting boundries. We should avoid anything that segregates men on any level. I know it sound odd (and painfully idealistic), but I think maybe then it would be time to set up true equality? Or at least try to have a real go at it anyways. Back to my lesson plans. Thought I'd just rant for once.
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