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consider this country isn't even 300 years old yet, in this condition...worrisome!
plan: personal protection, shelter, food, clothing.
one wish: in the meltdown can we still have internet access?
Consider the different models of how societys age and their lifespan. There is Egypt, which lasted literally for over a thousand years as an integrated empire. It had fluxations in its system of gods and a small ethnic change, but mostly life to the ordinary person would have been familiar to their great grandparents. Nor would the underlying ideas of life have changed overly much.
Then there is Rome. It grew and changes and lasted a long time. Its culture changed but not radically. Politically it became an empire and the system that kept it together crumbled internally. But while it is known for its extraordinary arcitecutre and military might, it did not embrase the experiment of change.
Then consider Athens, considered the birthplace of democracy. It was a minor city state at the end. It began as a small city state which dealt mostly in trade. But in the middle for a short golden time it was a hotbed of ideas and extraordinary visions which did come to change the world. But what few people know is that golden age lasted for less than a century. Its philosophers were destroyed. Its politicians became immersed in creating and maintaining power. As the Greek area lost its power to other places, Athens became just one of the whole.
When you look at this country, who do we resemble? When you look at how life has changed for us as individuals, especially since the end of the 19th century, you have to ask if we are roaring past our promise because we have chosen to embrase change as the norm. We love new ideas, and embrase change. If you look at the fate of cultures historically as far back as you can, the ones that lasted the longest and were the most stable were the ones that changed little. We might say they stagnated. But like Athens and Egypt, which shared the same time but a different fate, those societies which have a strong inner connection are the ones today which have the most stability. Perhaps it is a trade off. You can be Egypt and last forever and embrase tradition, or Athens and be like a falling star, a flash of brightness that burns out fast.
A healthy garden doesn't grow overnight. In my part of the country, it takes a decade or more just to make decent soil. Trees take just as long to grow, and canning supplies don't appear out of thin air. If the S really HTF, most people here wouldn't even have water to irrigate with, so gardens would wither and die without alternate water sources which take years or decades to develop under the best of circumstances.
I'll grant that under optimal conditions, anybody can produce a garden the first year, but SHTF pretty much ensures that there won't be optimal conditions. While you're out with a couple thousand other people hunting coyotes, the ones who are really prepared will be busy tending the crops they had planted before it became an emergency.
LOL. When the SHTF, those wonderful farms and gardens will be seized, by one armed force or another. Take a look at Zimbabwe for a real case of the SHTF and the end result of the farms (and farmers).
LOL. When the SHTF, those wonderful farms and gardens will be seized, by one armed force or another. Take a look at Zimbabwe for a real case of the SHTF and the end result of the farms (and farmers).
Good point, and an excellent reason to find or develop hidden food sources.
Dream on! Any country that was created out of a revolution (like the U.S.)
will, naturally, become very anti-revolutionary, and will take whatever means to halt another one from happening.
We have no better chance of it happening here than in Cuba or Russia.
Americans had their guts removed long ago. And with electronic survillance and tracking today, it's hopeless.
How many CIA & FBI agents, and even local police today, are even monitoring forums?
There's a much greater opportunity for terror with a highly intelligent lone individual. And any government is well-aware of that. The untold damage that one lone individual can create. They will never forget Eric Rudolph or Timothy McVeigh or the University of Texas Tower Sniper of the mid 60's.
I don't think people spend all their time thinking of the worst scenarios and not living their lives. It's just that, if they want to do anything in the event of a bad situation, they have to have some planning before that.
I'd do the same if I hoped to survive any kind of meltdown, but I don't, as I said before.
In 1979, I lived in Maine, with this whole "if you want it done right, do it yourself," "Everyone can learn to do anything" and so on. Well, I learned that I'm deeply lousy at learning a lot of things. I fussed about the possibility of nuclear war and here I am in Maine and and... when I got to how do you replace shoes, I decided that I hope I'm in downtown Manhattan when the end comes. I just don't want to work that hard.
As I said before, in current times, I'd give my assets to neighbors who do want to come out on the other side. Car, gas, house, food, land if it would help.
I think one of the greatest assets you can possess, if there's a so-called meltdown, is having lost your fear of death. A very difficult task which I work on, year after year, day after day. I'm getting there, but I'm still not ready to sport a tee-shirt with lettering on both sides of it, saying: Shoot me! Show some mercy on this poor old dog!
Always, always, my biggest outstanding fear of all is the idea of nukes getting into the hands of rogue nations and rogue individuals. All other fears are miniscule in comparison.
This entire "meltdown" scenario being discussed here is just rather delusional. Never has a civilization collapsed in the way that is being discussed here. The financial system is NOT the economy, rather its there to support the economy. Under the situation being described here, gardening, breeding animals, etc is all irrelevant. The person with the biggest guns is the one that is going to eat.
You think for a second people are going to starve to death, while you tend to your garden? The whole thing is just nuts.
Suggestion?
Maybe at least study some of the real world collapse models of the Soviet Union and Argentina so you do not sound so ignut of the topic?
But from what I follow of the Collapse Model Gardener Club -- Many of them are likely to center-punch you (and take your gun) before you even find them.
If the meltdown is nuclear then all bets are off and all I am doing is going down to the gas station, get me a 6-pack and sit on the porch drinking that beer waiting for the fallout to kill me.
I do not want to survive a nuclear meltdown.
Now if it's economic/financial I plan to go to my place in the country (which I haven't bought yet but actively looking at properties). Older home, septic, water well, woods, pasture, at least 10 miles out of town are what I'm looking for. Septic needs to be gravity, well will get hand pump installed, older homes were positioned to capture breezes before the advent of A/C.
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