When Kelly Toughill penned
"The Vanishing" for the Toronto Star in 2007 , she stated that "
Rural Canada has been in a state of decline for the past 25 years. As small towns continue to fade away, we're losing more than just old schoolhouses and quaint churches. A way of life is dying, too".
Ms. Toughill, a new summer resident in the 'vanishing' hamlet of Necum Teuch on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore, was only partially right.
Toughill almost missed the evidence of a growing swell of "back to the landers - part deux", a ripple of boomers, doomers, peakniks and neo-agrarians easing its way back to small town North America.
Like the first migration of rural self-sufficiency advocates during the 70's Cuban Missile Crisis, today's urban escapees are motivated by fear and the will to survive as the world enters an unpredictable future.
Global economic down-shifting, food and water shortages, the omnipotent threat of the war under the Bush/Harper regime, the end of oil dependency, and the devastating effects of climate change have created fear -- and the will to survive in these modern day Helen and Scott Nearings.
Motivated by a desire to be self-sufficient in uncertain times, young couples and families across the nation dream of 'five little acres' with fresh drinking water, a copse of forest for fire wood and room to grow food.
Many have already left the urban centers of Canada and the U.S. and headed back to live off the land, just as their parents did in the 70's. They've been joined by homesteaders from Europe who've discovered the real estate bargains in vanishing small towns like Necum Teuch, population 18.
Their biggest challenge in rural areas where employment is almost non-existent is to survive in the transitional society that precedes a paradigm shift to a 'back to basics' lifestyle.
Agree? Disagree? Comments?
"Powerdowners seem to view the end of industrial civilization as a good thing and are looking forward to some sort of new agrarian age..." JD, Debunking Peak Oil
"If you live on a thriving farm in an area with a huge group of active PO community members with lots of practical skills, you’ll feel more “can do” than if you live in a suburban locale and know only other techies that are planning their in-ground swimming pools..." Kathy McMahon, Energy Bulletin--------------------------------------------------------
The Eastern Shore Current is an eclectic Blog for Nova Scotia's Highway 7 Online. Visit the website!
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