Life Without the Fridge?

It seems some folks out there are going gangbusters. They're chucking the fridge. Even for those of us who live in the city, within seconds or minutes of dozens of groceries or eating establishments, I don't see this catching on. I work evenings/nights. I make four nights dinners on Monday morning and in the fridge they go till the day they are to be eaten. But why take my example as a reason to keep the ol' Frigidaire. The Times article that covers this story did a decent job of telling it like it is.

But of course we previously lived without the fridge. We had root cellars and other storage for food, no? Imagine dairy cellars and meat cellars. I worked in Maine where there was an old farmhouse that had a white-washed dairy cellar underneath that was "see your breath" cool in the depths of summer. Meats were dried, smoked, and salted. But rodents, insects, and mold were always a problem before the electric fridge. It was a big job keeping the family fed and thats largely what certain members of the family did. Life without the fridge? The fridge is liberation, baby. Or will some new technology liberate us from the fridge?

"FOR the last two years, Rachel Muston, a 32-year-old information-technology worker for the Canadian government in Ottawa, has been taking steps to reduce her carbon footprint — composting, line-drying clothes, installing an efficient furnace in her three-story house downtown." She tossed the fridge.

The writer really didn't have to mention the three story house, did he? Not unless he wanted to point to a larger "footprint" concern without making it too obvious. Her-three-story-house. Of course multiple story houses are more efficient than say, one level ranch types. So she's got that going for her.

Some kind of footprint arms race going on these days. Homes with angel wings.

If You Were At All Thinking of BioFuels...

I've long held negative opinions about the "biofuel" boom. The only answer to our energy problems is efficiency, not changing "forms" from one fuel to another. Some forms are more efficient, yes -but what we really need to tackle is how much we use. This, in my opinion, is the only place we can make real progress. Taking energy from one form and converting it to another on a large scale always creates unwelcome by-products . We need to focus on using less energy, or on creating tools (cars, appliances, trains) that require less energy and do more. This is the one sure way of reducing pollution. I often think of the old farmstead with its water-pumping windmill. What of locally-produced electricity? If our home-systems required less energy to do the same work, we could generate locally with much greater success.

Check out this post from the Organic Consumer Association on the Ethanol Scam. It can't possibly say it all, but its a nudge.

Sowing the Seeds of Change

Recently there was a post on GardenRant by one of the ranters, Michelle Owens, about the cost of seeds for vegetables going up. It got me thinking. I have just nearly completed a book called The Future of Capitalism by Lester C. Thurow. It was written in the middle nineties, but has been to me still pertinent. The long to short of it is simple, the times they are a changin'. And we're not prepared.

I wonder how long will it be before low skill industries like seed production move away from high wage areas like North America. In our age, isn't it likely we should be getting our seeds from Asia, not North America? It appears less likely that nursery plants would ship around the world profitably because of their health during shipping. But seeds, in their dry state with their low weight and all the handy work necessary for their production and packaging?

Let us not make too little of our desire for cheap seeds. An American low skilled worker costs a lot more than a comparably low skilled worker in other parts of the world. We could keep seeds at eighty five cents a package if we submit to this capitalistic reality. How does a seed company like Johnnies compete with an international conglomerate that produces seeds in far away lands for less than pennies? Johnnies got it somewhat right- in America they produce seeds in an area that is relatively wealth poor and has an abundance of low skilled workers. But in this age, that exact description fits a hell of a lot more places than Maine and those come much cheaper than Maine.

We see two markets developing. Not unlike the organic foods markets. Educated, highly skilled, maybe wealthy individuals will be marketed to with locally (meaning U.S.) grown seeds of ever expanding varieties and heirlooms and so on. This attracts the set who believe they are playing a part in saving the world and eating healthy. And you know, they are right. At least partially.

The other market is what I can only call the Walmart market. This is a much larger group of customers who really cannot afford $5 seed packets. They will be attracted to campaigns emphasizing low cost, reliability, and accessibility. Huge suppliers from around the world will produce Roma and Early Girl tomato seeds for this market, sold at big box stores for low prices. At least for a while.

The people in between these two markets will probably split the difference, sometimes Walmart, sometimes Johnnies.

The truth of our American lives is that real wages have been falling for years. We are more productive than the rest of the world, yet we do not grow in personal wealth, if anything we are in debt. There are all sorts of reasons for this. But as those seed packets go up in price to accommodate for oil's influence, we must also consider that these seed packets are supporting our local neighbors. Without help or further price jumps, I can only see a hard road ahead for the local seed producer. Inevitably, the market that buys expensive seeds is much smaller than the market that buys at Walmart.

The economic divide has most people on the wealth poor side, but there will always be room for a few local producers who charge accordingly for their seeds. But the motivation of capitalism is to find the cheapest resources and seeds will, if they haven't already, be produced far away for very little money. This will keep seeds at low prices as long as customers accept their seeds coming from distant lands.

This is not xenophobia. This is strictly a discussion about economics, the price of seeds, and our quality of life. We know our choices have far reaching effects, but so many of us are hamstrung by our falling real wages when it comes time to make these choices. We find ourselves in quite a pickle.

Just a quick internet glance for medium size tomato seeds:

Johnnies: packet of 50 seeds is $8.20
Burpee: packet of 30 seeds is $2.65
Park: packet of 30 seeds is $1.95

Big difference, but it probably could be a greater difference.