TWENTYSOMETHING by Ishi Dinim

Three years writing this column now and a huge nod to all those folks who have mentioned something along the way; your feedback continues to inspire and change the directions of my mind.
I really struggled to sit down and write something for this month’s issue. There were quite a few lovely distractions and my mental space didn’t give me much to write about. In my hermitting, however, there was one train of thought that kept rattling around in there. I read the Peak Oil article in Harper’s a while ago and it got me thinking more about how I might deal with catastrophic changes to my urban way of life.
Our recent local experiences with water turbidity, power outages, wind storms, falling trees, snow and ice are only a glimpse of a fraction of what could be coming to a city near you. Climate change disasters, viral epidemics or dwindling resources could easily sway people into behaving in a less than neighbourly manner.
There were men downtown in a big-box store beating each other up over bottles of water. I wonder if they knew they could boil the stuff out of the tap. I could just imagine all them Yaletown miniature dogs pulled out of their cute jackets to be tossed on the barbecue in a time of need.
The delicacy of our social fabric becomes apparent under very little duress. How might it rip apart if, say, we had limited – or none at all – running water, electricity, disposal facilities, gas or food? In a pinch, I’d trade my fancy, silk city shirt for a thick, country wool sweater.
This isn’t an ominous conspiracy column about the end of the world, but there is some merit in pondering, even a little bit, what you might do if the end were nigh.
The enormous disconnect between people and the production of what they need to survive surprises and frightens me constantly. When we start asking ourselves, “What would I do if…?” we might then be more prepared to move towards a sustainable way of life.
As you read this, I hope to be in Africa travelling to Uganda and Malawi. It is time to shake myself out of what I know and apply some of my dreams of using my art to help others again. Culture shock here I come, with a camera in each hand.

Links:
www.studsterkel.org
www.savedarfur.org

Quotes:
We turn not older with years, but newer every day. – Emily Dickinson
Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him. – Aldous Huxley, Texts and Pretexts, 1932

Ishi graduated from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 2001, with a BFA major in photography. He makes films, collects cacti and ponders many things. Currently, he is trying to figure out what to do with the rest his life. (contactishi@yahoo.ca)