Painting by James Howard Kunstler, peak oil prognosticator.

A writer — who says “[his] dim view of our car-crazed culture really resonates with me” — recently interviewed him (via Eating Liberally):

KT: You recently wrote “there’s no way we can continue the petro-agriculture system of farming and the Cheez Doodle and Pepsi Cola diet that it services. The public is absolutely zombified in the face of this problem — perhaps a result of the diet itself.” OK, so how will we stock our post-peak oil pantries? Do we really need to start hoarding rice and beans?

JHK: Get some kind of a hand-cranked home grain mill. Personally, I think it is indeed a good idea to lay in a supply of beans, lentils, rice, oats, other grains and don’t forget salt, boullion (soups can sustain us with any number of ingredients), dried onion flakes, spices (chilies and curries especially). Our just-in-time, three-day’s-worth-of-inventory supermarket system is very susceptible to disruption. And we’re very far from establishing workable local food networks in this country. The fragility of Petro-Ag is being aggravated by the collapse of bank lending now. Farmers need borrowed money desperately. Capital is as important an “input” as methane-based fertilizers. I think we could see problems with food production and distribution anytime from here on.