[Loki]

An interesting article from Reuters, not unrelated to many of the city vs. country discussions we've had here over the years.

(Reuters) - Thirteen years after abandoning rural Greece for a career in graphic design, Spiridoula Lakka finds herself in the last place she expected to end up - watering a patch of lettuce and herbs in her sleepy village.

As Greece sank into its worst economic crisis since World War Two, Lakka had already given up her dream of becoming a web designer. Even waitressing seemed impossible. She faced a simple choice: be stranded without money in Athens, or return to the geriatric village where she grew up plotting to escape.

At age 32, Lakka, an office clerk who also juggled odd jobs, joined a growing number of Greeks returning to the countryside in the hope of living off the land. It's a reversal of the journey their parents and grandparents made in the 1960s and '70s.

Data is scarce on how many people have made the trek, but as people angered by austerity head to the polls on June 17, anecdotal evidence and interviews with officials suggest the trend is gaining momentum. In a survey of nearly 1,300 Greeks by Kapa Research in March, over 68 percent said they had considered moving to the countryside, with most citing cheaper and higher quality life. Most expected to move permanently.

"A year ago, I couldn't imagine myself holding a garden hoe, or doing any farming," said Lakka, as she watered the herbs she grows in the village of Konitsa, which nestles among snow-capped peaks near the Albanian border.

"I've always wanted to leave the village. I never imagined I would actually spend my whole life here."

Her experience has been far from idyllic. The arrival of young, city-dwelling Greeks is being watched with a mix of pity and hope by those who never left.

"Those who have returned are desperate. They aren't coming back because they wanted to," said Stefanou Vaggelis, a 50-year-old distillery owner....

link

[cephalotus]

this is the path to a 3. world country if your skilled people become "small farmers". What's the productivity with producing herbs in a garden?

[dsula]

this is the path to a 3. world country if your skilled people become "small farmers". What's the productivity with producing herbs in a garden?

Yeah I thought so too, but then I thought about all the 3rd world countries I've visited, and there, it's the opposite. People are leaving to the city, even if it means you have to live in slums.

[ohanian]

Sex and the country anyone? That is if you can't have "Sex and the City".

I have always wondered why there are so many greek people in Melbourne. Now I know, Greek people go where the money is.

[SeaGypsy]

EU rules won't permit slum development as an option, planning regulators around the developed world are going to find out if these laws work. Not everyone has folks to move back to in the country.

[Loki]

this is the path to a 3. world country if your skilled people become "small farmers". What's the productivity with producing herbs in a garden?

Uh, I think that's kind of the point. Don't know if you've noticed, but Greece has been having some "difficulties" lately.

I wouldn't feel too high and mighty if I were you, Germany won't be unaffected by the collapse of the Eurozone. I'd bone up on my weeding skills if I were you. Based on your attitude towards farming, though, I suspect you'd be a terrible worker. No work, no food.

As for the productivity (yield per acre) of small-scale herb farming, I'm sure it's far higher than large extensive operations. It's not likely to pay the bills, though.

[SeaGypsy]

Isn't the point of going back to the village to avoid bills? Cost of living must be pretty tiny in many of these places. Besides, can the entire world be employed in tech and service industries? Is everyone with an education for something entitled to a career in that field? Is there a day goes by Loki when you regret your life change? Even with the 50%+ pay cut? Do you feel insulted working alongside illiterates? Feel you are letting society down by not using your education to maximize your capacity to pump dollars through the system? Terrible situation isn't it?

[dolanbaker]

One of the biggest advantages for many of moving back to the homeplace is simply the cost of accommoodation will be minimal as most villagers (parents) are mortgage free.

That alone will accellorate the decline in the cities as rental/mortgage incomes dry up.

[Pops]

I was reading "Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas" By Tom Robbins, another of his goofy/great books, this one about a stock broker was written and set way back in the early nineties before Wall Street really went nuts. His character laid it out: between AI and robotics, most regular jobs are going to go by the way.

When I first started doing graphic design on a computer - in the early nineties - I could do it faster and better than anyone in my market, I could do stuff digitally that was simply not possible using galley cameras, negatives and glue and razor. I made good money and helped put a lot of skilled workers in the printing arts out of work, its called Creative Destruction and it's the key to capitalism.

The IRS now lists "desktop publishing" as one of the occupations in decline. It's only been an occupation for 20 years, LOL! It is going down to a general lowering of expectations (read Wallmartization) – (of which desktop publishing itself was a part), and more and more information and marketing money going from print to digital. So the ad that took the people I replaced days and weeks to create and included designers, custom shot photographers, paste-up gurus, darkroom/camera/masking/etc, took me a few hours using a Mac and some stock photography I bought online for $20... and now I can whip out in a few minutes. It's creative destruction, Always the Lower Price, Mostly.

Point is not to whine about my turn on the block but to point out the end stage of Walmartization is that everyone who works, works at WalMart, except the Waltons of course and the Waltons goal is to employ as few as possible for as little expense as possible. Kind of the inverse of Ford's idea that his cars should be so cheap that everyone who builds a Ford chould own one, the Waltons idea is that everyone who works there should earn so little they must shop there.

OK, so the bottom line for this rant is: fewer jobs due to automation and less income due to Walmartization equals fewer people with jobs. Kind of a reinforcing loop.

Oh yeah, then there is the problem with oil. Oil equals surplus, surplus equals consumption, consumption equals employment: less oil= less surplus = fewer "jobs".

[Corella]

Hi Pops,
it´s all a matter of organization. Even if technical optimism will show some points it would need stable environment and society to develop. System will therefore need both and the regulation part, esp. on an international level, could potentially feed people. What do you think all the productivity come from all that people just sitting in front of a screen all day? Okay, if you are an extreme believer of AI, this won´t convince much...

cheers

[Pops]

What do you think all the productivity come from all that people just sitting in front of a screen all day? Okay, if you are an extreme believer of AI, this won´t convince much...

cheers

Hi Corella,
The basis of the productivity is that the average earthling employs 5 fossil fueled energy slaves, the average American - 25. And don't get me started on the statistical BS that is modern GDP & "productivity" measurement to begin with. LOL! We are so joined at the hip to our slaves, we "consume" daily several times the energy equivalent of our output of "productivity" -

Rich worlders digest hydrocarbons and "produce" bad breath and gutwater.

I like that so well I'm gonna keep it.

[Corella]

...well, much of that digest hardly earns to be called a product...
If we don´t want a change, we need to change everything

[Serial_Worrier]

Sex and the country anyone? That is if you can't have "Sex and the City".

I have always wondered why there are so many greek people in Melbourne. Now I know, Greek people go where the money is.

Well aren't you a racist? Doesn't everyone go where the jobs are?

[SeaGypsy]

I'm living in Melbourne, said to be the second biggest Greek city in the world; in reality it's extremely multi cultural. A few years back the Greeks were lobbying the government here to follow Greece and acquire new buses, trams, trains, etc. on credit. Our average PT service is probably 25 years old. They aren't saying that now, just how the gov should let in a few hundred thousand Greek taxi and bus drivers.

[Loki]

Isn't the point of going back to the village to avoid bills? Cost of living must be pretty tiny in many of these places. Besides, can the entire world be employed in tech and service industries? Is everyone with an education for something entitled to a career in that field? Is there a day goes by Loki when you regret your life change? Even with the 50%+ pay cut? Do you feel insulted working alongside illiterates? Feel you are letting society down by not using your education to maximize your capacity to pump dollars through the system? Terrible situation isn't it?

Sorry for the late reply, my internet access has been spotty lately. I don’t regret my decision to bug out of the city and work on a farm at all. Farming/horticulture was my Plan B for many years, long before I heard of peak oil. I have an old Word file titled “How I can become a farmer” that I wrote back in 2002 as a second year PhD student. My only regret is that I didn’t operationalize that plan back then.

Most of the people I work with are far more down to earth, and educated in practical skills, than the academics I used to know, many of whom were useless twits who happened to have a few letters after their name. As for society, I think it needs organic farmers more than it needs historical geographers.

That said, farming is not for everyone. If one’s concept of “work” is pecking at a keyboard and showing your face at meetings, farm work will come as a serious shock. Rural life is also not for everyone.

[dolanbaker]

http://vimeo.com/44068450

Another video about people on the breadline who never expected to be there.