Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I am changing my perspective on life alltogether. Now that the dreaded Millenium is here, it is time to start a new chapter in the history of HUMAN KIND.

I have been focused on the Y2K problem for the past year and a half of my life (it seemed much longer). I went through the fear, anxiety, and uncertaintly just like many of you did. Luckily for me, I decided to let it impact my bank account to the tune of about 3 months worth of supplies. ALL of which will be used, and will make the first quarter of 2000 a cheap one for groceries:)I have several friends that went for a years worth of supplies, and there is no reason not to use that as an advantage this year (while still remembering and using everything you have learned!)

I fully understand "preparedness" now. I understand that mother nature is in a bad mood these days, and we should all be prepared for adverse conditions. I consider this to be one of the most important things I have learned in my short 28 years of life. From this day forward, my family will have *some* degree of protection, and my child will grow up with this philosophy ingrained in her mind.

Now that I have learned to prepare myself and my family for emergencies as best I can, it is time to look forward with a positive eye. After reading a really neat story in a recent Wired magazine about the future of "ecotecture", i have at last found a positive subject to focus on. I have so far learned that Bamboo is one of the most important resources we have on this planet, and it has been largely ignored in the US because of big business.

examples:

Startlingly beautiful, bamboo is stronger than steel in tension, stronger than concrete in compression, and more stable than red oak, produces 35% more oxygen than deciduous trees, and can be used as a SUPERIOR raw meterial in things like food, beverages, cloth, paper, lumber, and medicines. As research continues, new applications include engineered lumber, veneer, strand- and particle-boards, plywood and other laminates, and the emergent technologies of high-strength bio-composites.

I am researching bamboo as a positve part of our future, and I am planning to transform my home into a more environmentally friendly place to live. As we kill off the worlds rainforests, you will here more about bamboo in the future. Right now, big business is squashing sort of like the way Hemp is being squashed.....

Anyway.. the point is...its time to move forward. Enough of the dreaded year 2000. I am making changes that will benefit this planet somehow. Each of you can do the same in your own way. Prepare your families for adversity, but move on after you do so. Take all of that hard work and dedication you were planning to use to survive Y2K, and put it to work making the earth a better planet. Lets move more toward our spiritual side (whatever that may be), and leave the negativity to the history books.

thanks for reading....

-- C. Hill. (pinionsmachine@hotmail.com), January 06, 2000

Answers

Good luck.

My girlfriend is quite familiar with bamboo but it is not something one should cultivate at home unless your neighbors are far far away and you are planting far far from your property line ;-)

-- H.H. (dontscrewme_2000@yahoo.com), January 06, 2000.

Thanks for the post Cory. I've always been a tree hugger.

-- (I'm@pol.ly), January 06, 2000.

Good For You Mr. Hill!

In my short 29 years of life I've come to a remarkably similar conclusion (my post the millennial man below).

All the best to you and your family. You will remain on my mind and in my prayers friend.

-- (Kurt.Borzel@gems8.gov.bc.ca), January 06, 2000.

I assume young sir that you have also provided yourself with a weapon with which to protect your loved ones and yourself, thus cutting down on the crime statistics, pain and sorrow. You see thieves are nortorious cowards, they will most likely not come near your home if they ascertain that you are armed.

-- Notforlong (Fsur439@aol.com), January 06, 2000.

Actually, Bamboo is also an interest of mine... For our purposes, bamboos can be classigied in two categories, running bamboos, and clumping bamboos. As was mentioned in a post above, running bamboo is quite invasive, and needs to be monitored (or else all your neighbors will be overrun with bamboo!). Clumping bamboos, on the other hand, stay mostly in one area. Interestingly, most of the tropical timber bamboos are clumping bamboos. (I am currently experimenting with growing two tropical timber bamboos...and plan to add many more to my collection.) There are those who consider it a replacement crop for sugar in Hawaii.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), January 06, 2000.

C. Hill,

Just as the threads in this site often wander all over the map, so researching Y2k often takes one to unexpected places. One such place that I am very excited about is permaculture. If you're curious, try http://csf.colorado.edu/perma/.

Vaya Con Dios,

-- Michael (mhgentry@prodigy.net), January 06, 2000.

HH: I will be growing some at home, but I will chose a species that I can control (there are over 1000 bamboo species :)

Imapolly: I don't really consider myself a treehugger (wich is an old warn out classification anyway), but rather a citizen of the future. The days of being anti-treehuger are coming to a close as the global population is growing up and realizing the damage we are doing, and that the way we are living is not the "best" (in both environmental responsibility and comfort). A new model of the "home" must be drawn, and will incorporate both technology, and "ecotecture". (actually ecotecture is the combining of technology and the "green" home.)

Kurt: I read your post, it was very inspiring. Thank you for your well wishes, and I wish you and yours the best :)

Notforlong: I own a Mossberg 590 12 Guage shotgun and a Ruger P- 90T .45 ACP. While I wish we lived in a world where we don't need such "protection", we do, and I will own the weapons only as long as I feel I have to. Hopefully I will live to see the day when I can destroy them myself. It is ok to strive for peace, and a better planet, and to protect you and yours.

Mad Monk: Bamboo is a replacement for all kinds of things, but big business is hiding it just like they are hiding hemp. I am most interested in its use as an living Oxygen pump/air filter, and for industrial materials (for building green homes).

-- C. Hill (pinionsmachine@hotmail.com), January 06, 2000.

Micheal:

That is very interesting reading. I think some ares of permaculture cross over into what I am learning...

THANKS FOR THE LINK!!

-- C. Hill (pinionsmachine@hotmail.com), January 06, 2000.