Tonight I stumbled upon an old post of mine on Tudiabetes, where I said:
Ever heard of an older diabetic with complications saying they wished they'd look after themselves better? I've seen that a lot. I'd like to be the one that says 'I'm glad I looked after myself' while I'm sitting out on my rocking chair, enjoying the sun on my feet, on my 99th birthday.I'd love to think that I will be sitting out in the sun on my 99th birthday, having done a good job of looking after myself, and surviving with all my body intact. I'm still in one piece so far. Only another 66 years to go! I'll report back then!
I never once heard a diabetic say "I wish I let it all go and didn't worry about complications, carbs are better than keeping my feet/kidneys/eyes"
What I'm wondering now is, what kind of life will there be in 66 years?
In 10 years, even?
What's happening with the price of gas, and the gas putting up the price of food and other things?
How is this going to affect our futures?
Will we, as diabetics, be damaged by all this?
In these circles (diabetes blogs & forums that I follow) I haven't seen any mention of what's happening to the world at the moment, and what's going to happen. The whole Peak Oil thing. Are you familiar with the idea? Putting it simply in my own words: We all need to re-learn those old-fashioned ideas - become more self sufficient, grow our own vegetables, learn a survival craft and live off goods from our own communities, etc, because the lack of available oil and the sheer price of what we have left is going to make even the basics hard to afford, if we can get them at all.
It's depressing, really, but it seems to be a plain fact. Unless someone comes up with a really great replacement for oil - one that not only can run vehicles of all shapes & sizes but can also be used in all the other ways oil & petroleum are used, then we're a fair bit stuffed.
Who'd have known we rely on oil for so much in our every day lives? I didn't. What I don't know is how this will effect me as a diabetic. Will my insulin double in price since it has to travel from another country? Same with my test strips / meter / glucagon / pens & needles? I might be safe from this regardless, seeing as the government pay for my medical supplies (ah, how I love New Zealand). But I may not be.
What if the world went truly belly-up? What if I couldn't get insulin at all? What if only the strong will survive? I'd be pooped. However, this is extreme thinking and I don't believe this is going to happen - it's just a paranoid thought. I'd be one of the fastest to fall off the planet if it ever came down to survival of the fittest.
So I'm putting this out there and wondering what you all think. Are you aware of 'Peak Oil'? Where do you see yourself in 5 years - and have you considered the lack of gas, the price of gas, the availability of all things that aren't made locally, and the outrageous prices we might see in anything that needs to travel to get to you? Do you worry about the availability of your insulin and other things necessary to our survival?
I don't plan to spend the rest of my days worrying, (hell no - live for today!) but I do think it's worthwhile considering options and perhaps stocking up a little, just in case. If I'm prepared, then I have little to fret over.
Then again, knowing me (Procrastination is my middle name) I wont do much about this until it's a little too late.
*sigh*
2 comments:
At our current rate of use there is enough oil to last about fifty years, but I think usage will increase, so we have much less time than that.
And I have a suspicion that, whilst some of us will have found alternatives at a personal level, I think that humanity as a whole will be in for some VERY hard decisions and changes.
I've read that too - 50 years or so. But we don't have 50 years of plain sailing ahead. It's already changing the economy. It'll only be a few years before the price of gas is too much for some people. Imagine the price of it in 20 years... oil really will be black gold some day!
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