With Latest Rollback, the U.S. Essentially Has No Clean-Car Rules – The New York Times
How to Get Out of New York
President Donald Trump’s recent remarks suggesting that people leave Upstate New York got me thinking about my own plans to eventually get out of New York, buy land, and have my off-grid property in 10-20 years. Not that I totally agree with Trump’s remarks — Upstate New York’s economy struggles as much as virtually any old industrial and rural area — but because I like the idea of living in a state that is lower cost and has more freedom to enjoy my life as I so wish.
Save and Invest
Money can’t buy happiness, but it can keep you from being trapped into debt and poverty. Spent not on things but on land and experience, can make your life much better. Probably my top priority for figuring out my plan to get out of New York is to have the money to live a decent life, have options, even if it means taking a lower income job going forward. I don’t want to jump until I know I have a sound landing place.
Learn
I am pretty comfortable with being in the wilderness, building fires, working with low-voltage electricity. I understand energy doesn’t come from God, it’s not unlimited. I am willing to conserve. But I still have a lot to learn. I don’t know much about building maintenance or codes. I understand the basics of batteries and solar but are no expert. I need to become a much better hunter and fisherman. I need to read, need to travel, need to read more.
Nail Down Places to Move To
I want to move out of New York State so I can have lower taxes, cheaper living, more freedom. That’s a given. But where to? The rest of the nation, except for the short time I’ve spent in parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Vermont and New Hampshire. I like Pennsylvania, but it’s still kind of cold and snowy, and the taxes are high. But Pennsylvania has good gun laws, they respect the second amendment. They allow open burning, they are pretty relaxed out in the country. There is some pretty nice country in the Pennsylvania wilds for sure, and it’s a reasonable distance. West Virigina is also beautiful but the state’s politics are a bit troubling to me, but in general it’s a wonderful state, especially out in the hills and hollers around the National Forests.
Find Work
It’s hard to relocate without a job. I have some skills from the past decade, maybe two decades by the time I leave New York, but I’m not exactly sure what kind of jobs they would directly translate into. Maybe I could go back to school or continue to learn new skills on my own. I think though doing my best at my current job and building a solid work history is key to me figuring out what I can do next when I get out of New York. Obviously, I might have to a long drive, for interviews, or even take a plane. At the same time, it’s a bit hard to judge a piece of land without going there and seeing it in person — the Internet is great — but it doesn’t give you answers overnight.
Move
When I finally get my ducks in a row, the big thing wil be the move. I will probably have a truck at that point, and I can probably buy or rent a trailer, or maybe just use something like a U-Haul. It would be quite the adventure, but fortunately I don’t have that much stuff, and i probably could move it relatively easily and inexpensively. Nothing is really tied up.
Rent a Place
As much as my goal is to eventually live off-grid, I think I’ll probably end up renting first before I buy land and a cabin. Renting gives me a place closer to where I work, and lets me have some time to find the best land and property around to buy. Try before you buy say the TV commericals. And if for some reason I don’t like the area I end up in I’m not tied down it.
Buy Land/Home
The final step is to buy land and a home. I am still thinking I like the idea of a small cabin, up in the middle of nowhere, away from the road, far away enough from neighbors so I won’t bother them and they won’t bother me on my land. I want to have as low expenses as possible, I want to have land where I can generate my own electricity, manage my own waste, minimize my consumption of natural resources. Land where I can hobby farm, hunt, and enjoy without anybody else bothering me.
It’s a Process. A Journey.
It’s important to have a vision for one’s future, and work to build for it. I am in no rush to leave New York or get on to my next step in my life. My focus is building my investments, learning, and enjoying the life I have right now. Tomorrow will come, and it will be a better life if I prepare for it appropiately.
R. F. K. Jr.
Many people are warning that R. F. K. Jr. poses a clear and present threat to public health with his use of conspiracy theories and vaccine skepticism. They are alarmed that he now oversees the federal health bureaucracy, that is going to take government in dangerous directions. He’s part of President Trump’s many initiatives to move quickly, break things, try new ideas to fix an already seriously broken system.
Lynne Jackson the other night was saying to me she can’t believe anybody voted for Donald Trump. I bit my lip and nodded along. But let’s be honest, many things have been broken for a long time in our country, people are dying prematurely from unhealthy eating, lack of exercise, while our cities get surrounded by ever growing mounds of waste, our cities smoggy, burn and flooded because of the vast amounts of energy we are dumping into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide which is changing the climate. And don’t get me started how fucked up societial institutions are with their high taxes and poor quality of services provided by government at all levels. Not to mention how blacks and others are getting the shit beat out of them by cops and robbed by the government and scammers alike.
R. F. K. Jr. is most known these days as a vaccine skeptic. But I also remember him from years ago back when he had a mid-morning progressive radio show on WPRI and other stations. Back when he was known as the crusading environmental lawyer, maybe always prone towards sueing polluters with an eye for cash but also helping to fight against some of the worse cases of dumping and abuse of the Hudson River. Our river is a lot better off because of the precedence he help set out in law.
Things are changing in America, in many ways a lot quicker then one might expect. But the old system and way of doing things was broken, and needed to change. And honestly, I think he has some interesting ideas – we should be looking more to harness the power of psychedelics both recreationally and to treat mental illness – and old thinking about fats, especially as it relates to minimally processed foods like whole milk and meats enjoyed in moderation, do need to be reconsidered based on contemporary science. Sorry Greenies, there are no healthy granola bars, even if the label says they are organic oats and cane sugar and packaging is to be recycled at least in your mind. An apple or orange is far healthier option.
A field fire, while potentially destructive and costly to a farm’s crops in a first year, usually leads to much greener fields as new grass grows into the nutrient-rich ash left by the fire. Often communities grow stronger after a fire, flood or hurricane, even if there is initially a lot of destruction and loss. Indeed, there is a lot of evidence that is what is needed.
The old way of doing things was failing. We needed a reimagination, not just an automatic rejection of all new ideas as being dangerous and foolish. Are all of the unconventional policies of the Trump administration a good idea? Probably not, but only time will tell. Yet, when an old idea fails it’s important to try a new idea, which was too often lacking in liberal society, that was too addicted to defending the status quo. If all things are failing around you, shouldn’t you try something new, even if the experts believe the new idea is risky or potentially harmful?
When you are in a hole, you really should stop digging. At least for a few minutes to see where all the digging is leading to. Even when the experts say you should continue to dig. And maybe you should reconsider the advice of the experts, as even smart, well-researched people make mistakes and get overly bought into an idea even if it turns out to be wrong. And maybe it is time to try something new.
I am always jealous of all the rednecks … 👩🌾
I am often quite jealous of rednecks, because they know so much more about the land, mechanical things, and technology then I will ever know. They seem to make so much out of life and the things they own, and are able to fix and extend broken things that I have little choice to toss or take to someone else to repair. They have such a knowledge of land and natural systems, physical systems, and the way the world works, that I will never have a chance to fully understand.