Surviving The Global Economy Crisis: Why Home-brewing is The Way Forward

In the same way that I’m not really one for New Year’s resolutions, I’m not one for faddish radical lifestyle changes that last a matter of weeks or months, either. So many pointless gym memberships, so many items purchased at exorbitant cost only to be abandoned and left to gather dust after the first three months, so many short-lived diets that fall by the wayside after a couple of weekends of heavy social engagements… for what? Me, I try to adopt simple, small, but sustainable lifestyle features.

As the term ‘credit crunch’ falls out of favour and ‘recession’ and ‘double dip’ become the terms of the now, and one cannot help but wonder if ‘depression’ might not be in common usage before too long, it seems appropriate to reassess more than one’s finances. After all, it’s not simply an approach to monetary matters that’s brought us where we’re at now, in the midst of a very grave financial crisis: no, it’s the culture more broadly. Of course, I’m generalising when I say that everyone’s out for themselves, that no-one gives a toss about anyone or anything else beyond their own self-interest, their own comfort, their own material gain, their own pleasure.

And don’t get me wrong, I think pleasure’s important. But in our culture of greed and self-interest, it seems that many pleasures, and many material gains are made at someone or something else’s expense. Arguably, it was ever thus, and I’m not for a second about to suggest that feudalism was based on egalitarian principles that gave the serfs a great deal, but it seems to me that capitalism is very much founded on the principal of the survival of the shittest, a nepotistic model in which privilege breeds privilege and those at the top are there because they’ve trampled all over those at the bottom to get there and continue to do so at every opportunity in order to widen the gap and maintain their own position in the upper echelons.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that recent events mark the beginning of the end of capitalism, although I would like to think it’s been dealt a blow that will force some very serious reappraisal. And I think the ‘age of austerity’ that’s being touted is similarly bollocks. However, given this week’s news that the average price of a loaf of bread looks set to rise by ten pence due to Russia’s ban on grain export following a failed harvest,  everyone is going to feel the pinch. Will the majority cut back on extravagances? Probably not, just as he banks haven’t stopped handing out mega-bonuses (and following a return to profit for some of the big name banks here in the UK, boomtime bonuses look likely to be on the cards once more as the hard times following the crash are quickly forgotten. Will big businesses – or individuals, for that matter – ever learn from history?

It’s a complete lack of restraint and an inability to resist temptation and greed-driven cravings that have driven not only the western, nay, global economy, but the culture of the last thirty years. Somehow I doubt that any changes that do come about as a result of this mess will be early as radical as all that though, because I really don’t think you can change human nature, which is predisposed to greed and all the rest. History shows us that much, however steadfast our refusal to learn from it. And yet… and yet, I still feel the urge to try my best to educate.

Now, I know for many that home-brewing is something that has some terrible and unpleasant connotations. Recollections of their dads or certain friends presenting them with some foul-smelling murky fluid with the consistency and flavour of the silt dredged from the bottom of the river. As someone who’s been brewing since I started at university, there are some for whom I will be that friend. To those, I can of course only apologise. But practice makes a lot better, if not actually perfect, and fifteen years on, I have a lot more hits than misses when it comes to beer. And wine, and cider, and mead…

But what has homebrewing got to do with the trashed economy? Well, for starters, it’s cheap, while bought alcohol isn’t – not even in the supermarkets, not really, despite what the media say. Ok, so some piss-weak lager might still be 60p a can, but at 2.2%ABV, the argument for increasing taxes etc., in order to curb alcohol-fuelled violence and all the rest in this basis is almost as weak as the booze. Nothing you’d actually want to drink is actually cheap. But what about the dirt-cheap white ciders favoured by tramps and street-drinkers? Yes, it cheap and very very nasty and for addicts only. Life must be bad for anyone to drink this stuff anyway: do we really want to drive these poor sods to meths?

Given that the vast majority live in urban areas, living a ‘Good Life’ type existence of self-sufficiency is out of reach for most of us, to suggest that it’s even something to aspire to would be ridiculous. No-one has the time or the space. But anyone with a small back yard can grow tomatoes or peppers or runner beans in a tub, cut and come again lettuce in a window-box or a range of fresh herbs and even chillies on the kitchen windowsill. It doesn’t take too much space – or effort, in real terms – to home-brew half-decent booze. If everyone produced something, essentially enough for personal use and perhaps a little over, it would go some way to alleviate the pressure of rising prices.

Of course, it’s illegal to sell homebrew, unless you’ve got a licence, which essentially defeats the object anyway. But you can give it away. And swap it for stuff. I’m not suggesting a bartering revolution or bringing about the demise of capitalism. I am, however, suggesting that entering barter-based micro-economies, we could make life easier and the world a slightly better place.

And if you’re loving my work, there’s more of the same (only different) at Christophernosnibor.co.uk.