As we became a more industrialized country with large cities replacing old hunting grounds, many forgot the principle of self-sufficiency and re-purposing. It took tragedy to remind us just how important this principle was to our survival.
In 1917, shortly after joining in the fighting of World War I, the U.S. Food Administration was formed to oversee the wartime supply, distribution, and transportation of food throughout the United States. Food was rationed by the populace to be able to provide food for the soldiers fighting in Europe. Families were urged in increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables (which were difficult to ship to Europe) and asked that the consumption of meat, wheat, fats, and sugar, be kept to a minimum. The war ended in 1918.
As America's economy improved and families finally recovered from the economical impact of World War I, they were hit yet again.
In 1929, the stock market crashed, triggering the Great Depression. The 1930's were destined to become the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world.
The average family income dropped significantly from $2300 a year to $1500 per year. Families lost all they owned as banks crashed. Rent and mortgage went unpaid and many families were left homeless. If one had not experienced poverty before, they did then.
Families were expected to adapt and change their way of thinking. Women were allowed to work outside the home and self-reliance again came to the forefront. The 1930's was perhaps the darkest period in our nation's short history.
Before the decade even passed, America entered World War II. Among the things rationed during the war were meat, sugar, coffee, processed foods, cheese, meats, tires, gasoline, oil, bicycles, fabric, typewriters, and even shoes. Cook books were revised to teach housewives alternative ingredients to replace the rationed items. The government asked a lot of its citizens, who did not fail them.
The American people learned to improvise, to recycle, and to re-purpose. Many lived only on what they could grow, can, and preserve for the winter.
Those in Appalachia, already knew a life of poverty, and the practical methods needed to survive. In some way, that may have been an advantage.
Today, in 2016, we are slowly losing the generation of people who lived through two world wars, the Korean conflict, and the greatest financial depression the U.S. has ever known. Even those of us alive during Vietnam, did not experience the very personal financial effects of the previous wars.
Generations of people left largely untouched by the wartime need to ration, recycle, and re-purpose, created a throw-away society. Self-sufficient skills like sewing, canning, or cooking from scratch has been forgotten. America depends heavily on processed foods, and our health is deteriorating because of it.
We hire people to do work our parents and grandparents did themselves. Instead of cooking our own food, we prefer the drive-thru. Instead of tending our own gardens, we hire gardeners. Instead of building our own house by hand, we hire architects and contractors. It is clear that we prefer conveniences that move us away from self sufficiency and creates a generation completely dependent on technology, the government, and skilled workers.
Over the past several years, the trend of living-off-the-grid, survivalism, homesteading, and other forms of self-sufficient living has become popular. People are realizing that being uneducated about simple skills can be detrimental, not only to the individual and his/her family, but to humankind as well.
What would happen to us if technology was taken away? Would we crash and burn, or could we adapt and change? Once our parents and grandparents are gone, who will teach us?
The task of becoming self-sufficient, of recycling, re-purposing, and utilizing what we already have, can seem daunting. We can't become self-sufficient overnight and most of us may never reach the point where we need no outside help at all. However, we can take baby steps and learn the skills that were required of those that came before us.
We can learn to sew. We can learn to grow our own food. We can learn to cook from scratch.
We simply have to WANT to do it. Will it require war and tragedy to teach us that the time of learning is now? I hope not.
We have to change the way we think. We have to stop being a throw-away society. We need to look at what we already have and utilize it before buying more. We have to return to the mindset of those who found a use of every part of the animal, and stop taking our resources for granted.
Simple changes in our life can push us into the right direction. Becoming mindful of what surrounds us and considering that its use can be more than originally intended, is an excellent first step. This is re-purposing at its best.
Ideas for re-purposing and up-cycling are boundless on the internet. Turn a cracked aquarium into a planter. Make two useful desks by cutting and old table in half. Up-cycle your laundry detergent bottles into bird feeders. Create a play kitchen utilizing an old entertainment center. These are just a few ideas available.
We can't do it all, put each of us can do something.
If we can teach the next generation those principles, we will leave behind a legacy we can be proud of.
Time is ticking.
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