Gas is about to hit 20 dollars a gallon in my Alaskan village
Posted by rutilatus@reddit | collapse | View on Reddit | 29 comments
Posted by rutilatus@reddit | collapse | View on Reddit | 29 comments
lowrads@reddit
Sailboats still work fine. At some intersection of cost curves, the labor becomes cheaper than the fuel.
Planning a settlement that isn't at least partly self-sufficient is planning to fail. The permafrost isn't stopping people from engineering better hobbit holes. It's not like Anchorage or Fairbanks get a lot of precipitation every month.
Alaskans have just become inured to a way of living that is unsustainable without external support.
PrairieFire_withwind@reddit
This is gonna make running the chainsaw to cut wood for heat a painful choice.
A very painful choice. Heat vs food not to me tion transportation.
J-A-S-08@reddit
This is going to be a real hot take that I understand isn't feasible with our current system, but maybe we should be having conversations about NOT permanently inhabiting places where we need to expend massive amounts of energy and resources to not freeze to death? Like I know we CAN do it, but SHOULD we be doing it? We were nomadic in the beginning for a reason. All this talk about wood boilers now, or nuclear, or whatever just feels like using a different kind of shovel to keep digging the hole we're in. Maybe we should consider just stop digging?
Dalearev@reddit
You can also chop wood - no chainsaw required
PrairieFire_withwind@reddit
Indeed you can. Have you ever bucked and split a cord or 4 of wood? How long did it take you? Did you do a spare 4 or 6 cord for grandma and your aunt who cannot because they are old or have an injury?
Did you do that and hold down a day job?
Let me tell ya. I grew up on solely wood heat and still use wood partially to heat. It is hard work and i would save every last penny to be able to have gas for the saw than do that shit without. but it is a hardship, a huge hardship that extends widely thru life is my point.
If you have never dealt with obtaining wood for your winter heat then you cannot fathom.
Dalearev@reddit
I agree with you
rutilatus@reddit (OP)
OOP also mentions that while houses have the option to use firewood, the schools don’t. They will simply have to bundle or do remote learning, which is more likely. But internet access may be an issue. Just a bad situation all around.
Icy-Medicine-495@reddit
So I realize they don't currently have that ability but it would be possible to do so. You get an outdoor wood boiler system. My old boss had one and used it to heat is 2000sq ft house and his 4000sq ft barn that he ran his business out of. The barn was nice and toasty in February in WI. He sawed all the wood himself.
Of course getting the boiler shipped up to northern rural Alaska would cost a ton.
PrairieFire_withwind@reddit
I wonder if wood boiler run underground would be difficult to i stall or keep safely running re: permafrost/soil type.
These are typically run under the soil, we have them all over here in the upper midwest.
Icy-Medicine-495@reddit
Hmm I am sure you can account for that but I did not think about that factor. I know there are lots of people that use wood boilers in Alaska.
AlwayInForwardMotion@reddit
I wonder if regulations are part of the issue also. I expect boiler demand to skyrocket towards fall and winter. Sure wish I had one!
PrairieFire_withwind@reddit
Absolutely a shit sandwich.
stop_talking_you@reddit
alaska has oil reserves no need to import from iran
Tonsilith_Salsa@reddit
Seems high
Icy-Medicine-495@reddit
Almost everything in rural Alaska cost double what it would in Juneo or Anchorage and those two places has a 25-50% increase from what it cost in the 48 states. Extra shipping cost and limited competition for the providers.
TenderLA@reddit
It’s not, it’s reality. Heating the schools next winter will be a challenge if fuel prices don’t come down.
Tonsilith_Salsa@reddit
I mean like, that's a lot.
ven-dake@reddit
You should vote better
AlwayInForwardMotion@reddit
Was surprised to see this on Wikipedia “Compared to his 2020 electoral performance, in which he carried the state by 10 percentage points, Trump improved in virtually all of the state, particularly areas in the north and west with large Alaska Nativepopulations.”
feo_sucio@reddit
And just like that I stopped feeling bad for them
jutlanduk@reddit
OP who wrote this is 16. A kid.
ScarletCarsonRose@reddit
My partner worked on the north slope in the 80s. The village was already experiencing climate change. They had to move their graveyard, one of the oldest in the ‘new world’ because of rising sea level and beach erosion reaching its edges. There are canaries in the mine. Ain’t nobody listening.
jbot14@reddit
Probably unwise to start war with Iran....
PowerandSignal@reddit
It really makes you think about why no one ever did it before. But I guess this happens when the president is a genius 🤷🏼♂️
No-Papaya-9289@reddit
I guess there's a downside to living in a state with no taxes.
StatementBot@reddit
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The following submission statement was provided by /u/rutilatus:
Collapse related because OOP is rightfully deeply concerned about the sustainability of rural living in their Alaskan hometown when the price of food is expected to sky rocket along with gas, and they can’t even heat their homes. These are remote, indigenous communities only accessible by boat or plane. My heart goes out to these vulnerable communities. They are the first to suffer.
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1tn8aby/gas_is_about_to_hit_20_dollars_a_gallon_in_my/ons2lg8/
Own_Appointment_8410@reddit
To give you an idea, here in Brazil it costs R$ 6.40 per liter, while the minimum wage is R$ 1500. And it's always been like that. We used to envy the Americans. Another example, here the iPhone 17 Pro costs R$ 16,000, while the basic 16 costs around R$ 6,500.
Nathan-Stubblefield@reddit
Are folks there going to vote Republican?
rutilatus@reddit (OP)
Collapse related because OOP is rightfully deeply concerned about the sustainability of rural living in their Alaskan hometown when the price of food is expected to sky rocket along with gas, and they can’t even heat their homes. These are remote, indigenous communities only accessible by boat or plane. My heart goes out to these vulnerable communities. They are the first to suffer.