The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook - Albert Bates

Over the coming years we will need to move from a global culture addicted to cheap, abundant petroleum to a culture of compelled conservation, whether through government directive or market forces. The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook provides useful practical advice for preparing your family and community to make the transition.

This book takes a positive, upbeat, and optimistic view of "the Great Change," promoting the idea that it can be an opportunity to redeem our essential interconnectedness with nature and with each other. The many rifts that have grown up since oil became the world's prime commodity can be mended: between cities and their food sources; the design of the suburban-built environment and its car-oriented sprawl; runaway greenhouse warming, and the clearing of forests and toxification of rivers, oceans, and land. Topics covered include:


Rebuilding civilization

Changing your needs

Water and waste disposal

Energy and transportation

Equipment and tools

Food storage and first aid

Also including lighthearted, playful recipes-some using basic, wholesome foods, some illustrating food growing or preservation, and all emphasizing organic, flavorful, and locally grown produce that can readily substitute one for another-this book is about having your catastrophe and eating it too.