Leaving the States for Good?

Today was another tree planting day and I worked mostly with Topher. He is a yoga instructor at Ipe and he moved to Costa Rica in 2006 because he badly wanted to leave the states. He may be buying property at Fuente Verde but he is not completely sure yet. He thinks that as early as this year the US is going to begin its collapse. He advises that someone with my intelligence and talent shojuld leave and look elsewhere for work/school/life/etc.

I also recently finished reading The Party's Over by Richard Heinberg. The book projects that global peak oil will soon be reached and after that there will be a global collapose of economy and industrial nations like the US will be hit very hard (after, of course, some crazy wars to see if the US can grasp whatever drops of oil it can from other nations. Also, there is some hope in the book if we can change ourselves in time but it seems almost too late according to him). So I will now try and look for reasons why I should not seek life in another nations.

• Family and friends
• "Security" of American life
• Familiarity
• Responsibility

Family and Friends
In terms of family, I am not very rooted in the states. My mother, father and brother live there in different areas. Outside of that I have no extended family permanently residing in that country. My father probably wants to move to India at some point whereas my mom will probably stay. I have no idea with my brother but I am not sure family ties are enough to keep me there. I have much more extensive family ties in Colombia and India.

I am close with some friends but there are amazing people everywhere. I have no girlfriend and there are maybe a handful of people that I would even consider close enough to worry about leaving behind. Perhaps I could even convince a few to come with me.

"Security" of American Life
Life is seemingly more secure in America. Jobs seem easily found and we seem to be told from a young age that we are extremely privelaged to live in such an amazing country. Well I am fairly convinced that all of that will change in the near future. Our "great" standard of life will crumble since it is so unsustainable. I also fear the rest of the world may decide to turn against us and for good reason. Therefore life may be not as secure in America as it appears. Also, there are plenty of other places where it is easy to find work and a decent life.

Familiarity
The country is what I am used. However, since everything is about to change, wehther it be this year, Dec. 21, 2012, or whenever, it will be soon. Also, I am not sure familiarity is even that appealing to me. My trips abroad have been some of the happiest months of my life.

Responsibility
Here is an interesting one. I have yet to write about my opinion on gringos coming here and buying up everything. That entry will come soon. Is it oay for me to leave the area that raised me and set off for better pastures? If all this dommsday USA stuff is true, do I have a responisbility to help my family in their time of need (or will I, in turn, need their help?)? Do I have some patriotic duty to the country that I need to stick it out?

Well both my parents emigrated from their countries so I wasn't really brought up with that mentality. Plus if this shit really does go down, what is that responsibility going to get me? Killed, starved, etc.? I don't think it is worth it.

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There are plenty of reasons to leave the states. Go see a new country, meet new people, more real "security", hatred of US foreign policy, the list is endless. On paper it seems the choice is clear. Find a grad school or job in some place like New Zealand, Europe or some developing nation where alternative energy and sustainability research is real and happening now. Obviously the reality isn't that simple. There are emotional ties that can be stronger than rational ones, but that may be a dangerous path to follow.


In other news, Topher gave me some resources about alternative energy companies. I have wanted to make a resource for WPI students that have a list of sustainable technology companies so that people with good heads on their shoulders (like a lot of the WPI community I have met) don't just get sucked into the normal engineering and technology world and end up being cogs in the machine (my greatest fear that stopped me from going to grad school). Let's see what happens when I get home.

-Ravi