[Ludi]

http://www.peakoil.com/fortopic41313.html

[SoylentGreen]

gunsmiths and blacksmiths,saddle makers,undertakers,creamation technicians.

[socrates1fan]

Well,
I'm not a doomer.
However, I think skills such as basic sewing, gardening, repairing things, etc are needed for everyone.
Economic hard times are ahead(this is just the start.).

[Ludi]

Anything positive anyone?. OUR kids will need direction, real soon.

Sorry, it just seems like we discuss this topic so much in the Planning Forum, it's kind of redundant to discuss it here too, but , here goes some ideas in no particular order:


Watershed management
Rainwater harvesting
Carpentry and other building skills
Woodcutting
Solar oven manufacture
Metalworking
Fiber arts
Gardening, especially permaculture
Sewing
Animal husbandry
First aid, medical & veterinary skills
Foraging
Horticulture
Forestry
Hunting/trapping
Small business/home business administration
Bicycle repair
Small engine repair
Woodworking with hand tools, joinery
Leather making
Shoemaking
Moonshining, cider-making
Cooking


I recommend general making things/fix-it skills, what Monte refers to as "being a McGyver type."

[cube]

What skills will be most required soon?

--> learning to live a frugal life.

[kpeavey]

every town will need a guy who can ring a bell and push a heavy cart while yelling "Bring out your dead."

[Revi]

I think there will be a need for people who can market things. Traders will do okay. People will need a little entertaining, so travelling musicians may do ok. There will still be people living in reduced circumstances, so anything that deals with what they need will do okay. Knife sharpeners, tinkers, shoemakers and tailors will all make a re-appearance.

I was at the farmer's market today. Lots of produce from all sorts of farms. We will need people to be a part of that, for sure.

[truecougarblue]

The ability to pay cash for things you need.

[pasttense]

"Cash"? Why would anybody accept cash? Won't cash be worthless after the government's massive hyperinflation?

[SchroedingersCat]

I think the skills needed during the transition to a lower energy society are often overlooked. Everyone can think of what might be needed if we return to a lower technology world. What skills are going to be needed to get us there?

Leadership
Civil engineering
Teachers
City planning
Railroad construction
Plumbers
Electricians
What else?

We know how to live in a lower tech society. We haven't done it in a while, but the knowledge is there. We have examples, memories and histories.

We don't know how to move from a society built on cheap fossil fuels to one with expensive and ever more scare energy. It's never happened before. At least not at anything approaching the current scale. What 'transition talents' might be most needed and most valuable?

[fiedag]

People Skills. Has always been, and always will be, the most important skill.

[heroineworshipper]

Being able to fit all your belongings in a 10sq ft nanostudio apartment for $4000/month is a big one. Then there's being able to squish your body enough to type in a 2ft x 2ft confined space for 12 hours a day.

[benzoil]

In a nutshell:
Adaptability.
Ingenuity.

[eXpat]

Skills in security will be much in demand soon.

[patience]

SchroedingersCat,
The need for leadership/planning skills is spot-on. The problem I see is little opportunity for that sort of thing, given TPTB who will resist change so mightily, to hold their own positions. I think that therein lies our biggest problem today.

[MonteQuest]

Patience.

[patience]

Montequest,
I scanned the link on your post for the first time, and found a lot of great info. I will pursue it.

I think the inference is to get locally active to make some changes happen. Point well taken.

What I was referring to is the resistance of politically entrenched oil interests, and the difficulty of meeting that in their own arena. That is a worthy task for those capable of it, but I'm not one of them, and I have my doubts about the ability of the young to do much in the nation's capitol.

I do think that change must come from individual efforts, be that in leadership, or personal changes in lifestyle. Is that where you were pointing?