The Fabulous Forager

It’s hard to tell the story of Christopher McCandless without implying that anyone who tries to leave mainstream society and go back to nature is a raving lunatic who will end up getting himself killed. After all, McCandless did get himself killed. Shortly after graduating from Emory University in the early 90’s, he donated all of his money to Oxfam, burned his Social Security card, rechristened himself Alexander Supertramp, and headed out onto the open road alone without so much as a good-bye to his family. A few years later, his body was found in a old run-down bus in Alaska. He had starved to death.

Yes, it is actually happening. They warned us of it last spring, and now the time is almost upon us. The Geico caveman officially has his own television show.

I made herbal soap and shampoo for people with scaly skin or dandruff. Babies sometimes got Cradle Cap and we used herbals with Rosemary in it and healing balm to treat this condition. The oils were from goose or bear—we hardly ever used domestic animal fat for this purpose. The best was deer tallow for soap and shampoo—it makes a soft and creamy soap. Goose fat was used for rubbing compounds with plenty of pepper plants for warmth. We now can use almond oil, olive oil, and grape seed oil for this purpose. I still save my goose and deer fat for the medicinal. Sometimes I can get Bear fat for its wonderful fine oil. There is nothing better for chapped hands than Bear grease. Waynonaha Two Worlds

Men.style.com’s Fall 2007 Trend Reports includes—and I swear to God, I am not making this up—a feature called “Apocalypse Soon.” Apparently, post-apocalypticism is all the rage in New York City. Found via Penny Scout, who graces page 12 of the feature.

Is anyone else reminded of these little gems from Diesel’s Spring/Summer ‘07 collection? Of course, even Diesel was beaten by BMW, who re-imagined New York as a desert, London as a jungle, and Paris as tundra in a series of 2004 advertisements entitled “Mix your playgrounds.”

When I first read Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael trilogy (Ishmael, The Story of B, and My Ishmael), I was struck by an urgent desire to do something helpful for humanity, to stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution. In short, I had an earnest desire to save the world. And although Quinn had thoroughly convinced me that civilization was inherently unsustainable and would collapse in short order, I was glad that his solution didn’t involve doing anything drastic like running off into the woods. I could stay in civilization, in the society in which I had been born and raised, and merely start or join a tribal business. Civilization would collapse, but not in my lifetime: it was my job to live in more eco-friendly housing and start an eco-friendly tribal business and do all sorts of little things that wouldn’t change my lifestyle much at all.