I’ve got quite a lot of rice and beans saved up, and some canned goods and I’m a mechanic by trade, 2nd least likely to die in an Apocalypse scenario, 1st being Doctors, of course.
I’m rural and have running water just a short walk from the property if the well stops pumping and I’ve got an old revolver with a few rounds in case I feel like checking-out early.
You guys?
I don’t have much to add except this highly relevant post made by Dee Xtrovert in 2009 on MetaFilter about their experience in the siege of Sarajevo:
Well, unlike the majority of you (I assume), I actually lived several years in a period of savagery and killing, during which nothing - food, water, electricity, phone, clothing, sense of safety, school, the ability to go out in public, etc - was available, except during totally unpredictable, brief and sporadic occasions.
Of those who couldn’t leave my city, Sarajevo:
Some people (very few) were prepared for what they thought would be the “long haul” - this tended to be a couple of months. These people were widely seen as lunatics and dangerously pessimistic ones at that.
Most people were not at all prepared. This included my family. Many of those - like my family - considered the idea of “preparation” to be an affront to the decency we felt most people possessed. Were we wrong? Well, I don’t know. We suffered greatly; my parents were killed. But speaking only for myself, I never felt I cheapened my soul by betting on calamity. Today, that still feels like it’s worth something.
But here’s the main point: “Preparing” for the disaster really didn’t do anyone much good. Those who “prepared” ate a little better for a while. They stayed warmer for a few extra days. They enjoyed the radio for a while longer (via batteries.) But in the end, they ended up hungry, cold and bored too, just like the rest of us. Guns and weapons helped no one directly and were even of little to no use in the defense of Sarajevo, since they were toys compared to the shells, bombs and high-powered armaments of the attacking forces. The worst parts of war were psychological - the fear, anxiety, boredom, loneliness, paranoia, bad dreams. Respite from those things came with sharing food with a neighbor, finding a piece of clothing that would fit someone you knew, commiserating with others in your position, figuring out how to make make-up from brick or french fries from wheat paste and spreading this newly-acquired war knowledge around the mahala.
We knew who had extra food and supplies. For the most part, they weren’t attacked or hassled or bothered. Contrary to what these survivalists say, those in dire times generally hold on to their personal sense of pride even more than they do in normal times. I’d take a bite of a friend’s salad without bothering to ask in normal times. I’d never have done that in wartime, no matter how hungry I was.
Within the domain of those trapped in the city, civility greatly increased.
You often hear how Holocaust survivors felt guilt at surviving. Well, during war, that was a feeling everyone was aware of - people started dying right away (my parents were killed near the start of the siege, for instance) - and there was a palpable enough common sense of karma to make everyone into good Samaritans. None of us understood why we survived while others didn’t. I shared food when I had it, even though I often knew I wouldn’t have a crumb the next day. Which was no big achievement, because nearly everyone did the same.
Those who’d prepared, well, the majority of them shared their food and whatever else they had as soon as someone else was clearly in need. I can’t swear it, but I think they felt a little foolish to have been so self-obsessed, and giving away that stuff might have lessened that feeling. There were a few people who hoarded things until they ran out of stuff - eventually everybody ran out of anything worth hoarding - and they soon became wishful beggars like the rest of us. Again, I can’t swear it, but I hear stories, and it seems that these people suffer from post-war trauma, guilt and nightmares more than the rest of us.
Those survivalists, I feel sorry for them. It’s no way to live.
Added emphasis is mine. I’ve had this bookmarked for about a decade or more now.
In short, stop stocking up, start building community. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This right here. It is almost impossible for the average citizen to prepare in the sense of stocking up on supplies in a way that will last longer than a few weeks, months at best.
Without community… you are fucked. You may well be fucked even with community.
Meh, agreed and disagreed. A few 50lb. bags of corn and rice go a long way. A 5lb. bag of potatoes can go forever. Well, corn too I guess.
But the main catch is that you have to have land to grow it on. My wife and I are tiny and our yard is pretty big, but I doubt we could feed ourselves off it. We’re fortunate to have a couple of acres of part swamp, put “uplands” in Florida. It would be a daily chore to boil and process water though.
Here’s something survivalists haven’t clued in on. They figure .22 rifle and 20-gauge shotgun can get all the small game they like. Add in an AR-15, or better yet, a real hunting rifle, and game like deer seems abundant.
I spend more time in the wilds than any 20 random lemmings put together. There ain’t that much game to be had folks, and what little there is would be 100% wiped within a week of locals facing food shortages, let alone starvation. Yes, even the coyotes would be food, not a single water moccasin would survive. We’d be straining the swamp water for minnows.
Since I was born we’ve lost 74% of the animals on this planet. I’ve seen it, lived it. The best prepared are going vegan in a fucking hurry.
Hoarding and not sharing is the real shame in times of need.
There is nothing wrong in with being prepared for any contingency; especially when you feel you can see it coming. Even if the extra food, batteries, or water only lasts for a short time, that’s a short time you didn’t have to worry about those things. When you can extend someone else’s peace of mind, even just a bit, then all the more better.
It is a tragedy that it takes such travesty for people to be human with each other.
This was an interesting read, thank you for sharing. I’m not sure that I find the advice completely applicable to the threats I perceive though. She is describing a situation of open warfare and siege. Our family has tried to prepare a bit for upcoming unrest but I don’t think we foresee it as open siege on a city. In the USA, military might is so advanced that I think any sort of siege/operation is likely to be catastrophic and quick.
The scenario I think is more likely is a more extreme version of the mass supply chain disruptions we experienced during Covid. Longer periods where multiple items just aren’t available. In such a situation it would be good to have extra rice and beans on hand to get you through gaps in availability. Also feel like I should mention that you can get a cheap bidet that you can install yourself from hardware stores for like $100 USD - in case toilet paper disappears again.
I think this is likely. An outside attack is possible but I reckon it’s more likely to be slow burn shit which would mess up food supply. Rice, pasta, lentils, tinned/frozen veg and beans are your friend. A portable stove also wouldn’t hurt incase electric is messed up
That’s an incredible post. Thank you for sharing it!
If Lemmy has a best of, this should be submitted. Or maybe we just need to create a new one called hardest life lesson.
https://lemmy.world/c/bestoflemmy
Worth paying to support MetaFilter too, we’re gonna need Web 1.0 like never before
I am screaming into a pillow at the image of Americans prepping for the apocalypse while doing zero things to avoid it.
Look, I’ve said this a bunch of times around here this week and it seems like I’m trolling, but I’m not. I’ve been spooked for years at finding out that my US friends were absolutely unwilling to engage in any political action but were also consistently sure that a violent revolution or uprising was both inevitable and imminent. The idea that this is a widespread societal thing and that not only has it not been altered by another wave of trumpism but has in fact been reinforced is absolutely wild.
I don’t know who convinced Americans that they are simultaneously the sole main characters of life but also absolutely absent of any agency or responsibility over what happens, but holy crap, they did an amazing job.
As an American, I’m glad others have noticed this, too. We could be building community and supporting one another, but it’s not even on anyone’s roadmap. Our hyper-individualistic society has turned into pure toxicity and inability to organize in any meaningful or helpful way. It’s pretty maddening that I know a bunch of people that want to buy guns, but almost nobody that wants to start a community garden.
Also see my comment here for more context.
Yeah, I grew up in an area of survival agriculture, removed from actual famine by say twenty, thirty years, depending on how you count it ending. Living memory in any case. To this day people here will pester you to take food when they have a fruit tree yielding, or when they are picking potatoes. People get together to go pick grapes across all of their small properties and then roughly split the yield based on plot size, even if the yields were somewhat uneven. Friends would show up with fish when they went fishing and you’d do the same.
You want to prep for the apocalypse, start giving away food and insisting that neighbors come over to visit, then force feed them aggressively, even under protest. Then do that to such an extent it becomes deeply culturally ingrained.
Will you have a culture where your adult children can’t bear to throw anything away and will perpetually eat leftovers but never stop overcooking? Yes, you will. But you will have learned to survive scarcity.
But in the meantime, holy shit, get out of the house and start protesting. Have you seen what your government is doing? At least have the decency to lose whatever conflict leads into the apocalyse instead of just sitting there complaining about it on social media.
The thing about protesting is that the government needs to give a shit for it to have any effect, unless we’re talking about actually forcefully changing who is running that government. We’ve been screaming at concrete buildings for decades and yet none of the issues we care about are dealt with. In good times we have propagandists to placate the masses even if we had a government who was afraid of losing voters, and in “bad” times well we still have propagandists, but we also have a government that couldn’t possibly care less about what we think. I still protest, have gone to many rallies and such, and while the feeling of community is nice at the end of the day all I feel like I ever accomplished was yelling at a building with a bunch of other people.
The only way this administration is changing direction is when the wealthy go after them :(
Yeah, this would be the “lacking any agency or responsibility” part of the bafflement about Americans’ views.
Get a few million people out on the streets (and/or refusing to work) and it turns out it is remarkably hard to run a country at all.
Americans think of protesting as a small circle of people in front of some building chanting corny slogans. It is not. Look at France. Look at Serbia. Look at Turkey right now, FFS.
I’m not saying go be a weirdo chanting in a circle, I’m saying block out the streets with masses of people, shut down the country, close down the shops, picket official businesses, cordon off vulnerable targets, blot out the goddamn sun.
You have done nothing as a country yet. The dumbass MAGA morons did more direct political action on Jan 6th than anybody else in the US since, what? BLM? I am astounded at the sense of dejection and powerlessness in the face of fascist ascendancy paired with some weird deliberate economic self-immolation. You guys are SO. WEIRD. I don’t get it.
we could be building a community
Homie, I live in North Carolina.
Any worry whatsoever about the future is met with “God will take care of me.”
well, okay…
That’s the wild thing. My friend has space for a community garden, and I spent a couple months after the election trying to plan out one large enough for our queer family. But no one besides her wanted to put the work in. One of the younger people said they didn’t think this presidency would be that bad. I’m in the middle of moving to a new city, but I’ve transitioned to having a wall of garden plants so I can share what little I can grow that way.
The denial is so strong among some people
living outside the country good buddy
That’s not really an option for me. I have torn feelings with my family. My cousins are all my age and like brothers to me, but were taken in by the Trump bullshit like everyone else around me.
Die or lose my family and eventually die? I dunno, man. I might toss a quarter over it.
If they’re all still Trumpers you’ve already lost them, you just haven’t realized it yet.
Hell, I disowned my dad for making a racist act, pretty much, pointing to a black child at a golf course and making subtle monkey actions. Later that day I said fuck it, came out to him as trans. The following weeks that he contacted my partner and I proved my decision to banish him was correct, and so I did. A zero tolerance policy for intolerant people is a must imo
Parents have no hold over you, not really. If they don’t deserve your presence, don’t allow it. I hope, however, that your cousins would accept your choice and stay in contact with you, because sibling love is so much more valuable.
Families shouldn’t be torn over political garbage anyway, priorities are all out of wack
You can’t choose your relatives. But you can choose your family.
Some people get lucky, relatives and family are the same thing. I’m sorry you weren’t so fortunate, friend.
Thanks! I’m okay. Like you say, I have friends who are my family :) we support each other. It’s good to know that relatives aren’t the only potential source of such care, despite what they might teach aha
Holy shit, that’s awful. Sorry your dad is awful, but good on you for cutting ties.
You can rebuild elsewhere. It’s not easy, but you can build community in another country, if you’re willing to integrate in the host culture.
Looking into purchasing a firearm. Too many stupids in this country. Have to protect myself.
I’m just gonna kill myself
Yep, who wants to survive teotwawki
Im watching humanity going full moron, forgetting all the lessons from the world wars. For the people who died in them, must feel like a complete waste.
Prepping certainly is a fun and worthwhile exercise if you prep for things that will most likely happen. As someone who likes making lists and thinking through things this is a fun question.
For food I have a box in my pantry with canned beans, fruit, vegetables, salt, pepper, and rice. I also learned recently it’s best to keep a couple bags of cat food just in case!
Your point on water is good. I honestly don’t know what I would do since I rely on the city.
I also don’t know what I would do for my child’s milk but they could eat see same food as us.
My work in academia would be instantly worthless if the country fails. It is still worthwhile to me though. I’ve considered printing out my notes and papers. You have made me think I should do it this month.
Edit:
For more end of the country preparedness I do have tools to defend my family. I have our documents printed out and in a fireproof container. I also keep maps of the nearby states in my car.
I honestly don’t know what I would do since I rely on the city.
You need some bottles of water.
Something to consider: How do you cook your rice without electricity?
You’ve heard of fire, right?
With fire?
How long does bottled water last? Can I do it myself and just rotate it once a week or so?
Good point. I have no method other than fire. I am good at cooking it without a rice cooker. Thanks for the suggestion! That is our main source of carbs.
Bottled water doesn’t go bad, but the bottles can leak harmful plastic contaminants into the water over long term.
Glass bottles don’t have that problem.
for things that will most likely happen.
When I took the First-aid/CPR course, the red cross trainer spent like 30 minutes doing a list of what can realistically happen where we are. An interesting exercise.
Full blown apocalypse is unlikely, but doing stuff like checking the flood-risk map before renting/buying a home (Especially ground floor apartment and single-floor house) does wonder at not having to evacuate. Knowing the kind of dangerous factory/goods in your area also helps a lot planning for the right thing.
Realizing that each human life encompasses a time-space span of generally double digit years and miles. Further that a good life is good but a good death is superior to a bad life. Death is inevitable but it is a choice to “experience” the apocalypse.
I just bought 20 pound bags of bread flour, sugar, and all purpose flour. Plus what I have in my chest freezers I’m good for a few months…
Not joking
Be sure to keep the flour as cold and dry as possible. Refrigerate or freeze if possible. You can sift out grain beetles and larva, but they’re very allergenic and the more exposure you get to them the higher the chance you’ll develop a severe allergy.
Solar power with battery storage, hunting and fishing for meat, gardening for vegetables, rain barrels for water.
apocalypse has happened before it’s bound to happen again, no preparation will help
just ask any Native American
The same way we prepared for Y2K!
