Bygone Skills for Our Collective Future

"What is elegance? Soap and water!"                                                                                  -Cecil Beaton  

The Transition Discussion Group met December 22nd to learn how to make soap and to discuss Chapters 3 and 4 in the Transition Handbook. A recurring sentiment is that many of us have been indoctrinated with a fear of making things ourselves—even simple items like soap. The skills we are learning were once common, basic knowledge, but corporations have constructed a world in which many of us feel disempowered to do-it-ourselves; we feel most comfortable purchasing products and services.

We made soap with tallow made from rendered beef suet. As a vegetarian I wasn’t too keen on making soap from meat products, but after hearing the demonstrator’s reasoning behind their choice I felt that it really was the more resilient decision. They chose to use tallow because it is more local and less expensive than making soap with imported vegetable oils. 

Making soap took a couple of hours (it takes a couple of weeks before you can lather up with it), but the ingredients and process are simple. Besides tallow or a vegetable oil, the other ingredients in soap are distilled water and sodium hydroxide. In the past, potassium hydroxide was used instead of sodium hydroxide. Potassium hydroxide was traditionally made by pouring water through hard wood ashes and then boiling the solution to make lye water. Potassium hydroxide results in a softer soap.The soap-making process is outlined on several websites and there are some books at the public library.

Our discussion focused primarily on resilience and its three components: modularity, diversity and tightness of feedback loops. We examined possibilities for resilience in three different communities: Cleveland as a whole, a neighborhood street and a household. 

The breakout groups examined behaviors and skills that add to resilience and those that do not. For example, using compact fluorescent light bulbs provides many benefits including efficiency and lower emissions. However, in order to use them, you still have to rely on the national power grid. The power grid is not diverse, not modular and has loose feedback loops. 

The recent water main break was a reminder of my own dependence on the City Water Department. I have no diversity--no resilience--when it comes to my water source, which is yet another reason to have a couple of rain barrels in my yard. 

We generated ideas for our next two meetings based on resiliency. In a couple of weeks, we’ll be talking about facilitating a community-wide skill sharing network as well as learning how to make rain barrels and creating a simple gray water system in the home. The following meeting, we’ll be learning about non-violent communication and discussing chapters 5 and 6 in the book.