Survivalisting

Here I sit at my current software gig, somewhere in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. My kids could explain that to you, since they graduated from Pennsylvania schools, the fine distinction between a Commonwealth and a State. In any case, I'm working late and am taking a mental health break to surf the web. I'm in survival planning mode, which is no surprise. As a child of the 50's who grew up on Florida, I carry the utlimate atomic bomb shelter in my head at all times. Posted in the corridors of my childhood schools were detailed lists of everything you should do in the event of a nuclear attack: stay away from windows, hide under your overturned desk, close your eyes, clasp your arms around your knees, and kiss your ass goodbye--seriously!

So this peak oil thing is nothing new to me. I'm down with what they predict, though for different reasons. First, the production of oil that we can get at easily is being artificially kept low. The reasons would be to facilitate the continual rape and pillaging of our willing purses, in which we are so cooperatative. The second would be the sword that defeats our rapacious democracy from the inside. We are willing victims. Even after 9/11 people still continued to patronize the storefronts of the world at the expense of our own.

My grandparents who survived the depression always taught us to keep a year's worth of food in storage, and to stay out of debt, and to have a paid for piece of land. So I've always been prepared for anything, all my life. But I've spent the years since Y2K figuring out an ultimate survival plan that takes into account the realities we will face.

It is a great idea to own land, but land and resources can be seized and taken, by the government, or by the hordes. There is no guarantee you will be able to defend against the gangs and hordes of suffering humanity. If our government implodes and society breaks down, then no amount of land will save you. You will be easily identified as the easiest pickings, and the first to go. Unless you are well hidden and have formed a group with likeminded family groups.

I don't have that luxury, and I intend to be well beyond the hordes and gangs. My strategy is to live out of my van. I expect to be able to make at least 600 miles in the van, in an attempt to flee the urban and suburban area ahead of the hordes. I'll take the pulse of the city and be well away before any government entity announces an evacuation, or the hungry reach critical mass.

Once I'm 600 miles away, I expect to be able to wait things out in a camping mode. I could stay in the van indefinitely, depending upon the mood of the crisis. If things go badly while camping, my mountain bike is outfitted with panniers and a rack, upon which I can carry everything needed to ensure survival as I go deeper into the wilderness areas. After the bike is no longer useful, my backpack contains enough to sustain me as long as I can find water and wild edibles. My dehydrated food collection was designed to sustain me without wild edibles or other food sources for at least three months of hard-scrabbled rationing, if necessary.

I think that being mobile and hostile is the best strategy. I do not see any need to invest all my resources into a place that I may not be able to keep.

On another note, this may on the surface not be a completely "popular" thought, but the the concept that our economy and our collective American "lifestyle" was never really sustainable seems to be ignored by the Peak Oil survivalists. The Nouveau Survivalists. Most will not see it, and many who do see it still do nothing about it:

"The Population Reference Bureau estimates that the average American consumes about 23 times more goods and services than the average world citizen. Americans also bum 10,000 liters (2600 gallons) of oil-equivalents per year —seven times the world average. Clearly, achieving a US standard of living is impossible for the rest of the world, based both on projections of future resource availability and on population growth. The affluent standard of living now enjoyed by Americans (made possible by our abundant supplies of fertile cropland, water and fossil energy) is projected to decline if the US population doubles during the next 63 years." http://www.mnforsustain.org/pimentel_d_natural_resources_and_optimum_population.htm

That doesn't mean that I don't understand the Peak Oil whinging and the pain that the forced realization of these home truths cause in average Americans who believe the lie, that they are somehow more deserving of the world's resources than the people whose resources we steal. My survivalist planning isn't about the problems exposed by Peak Oil. My planning is to save me and mine from the ill-prepared, starving, raging, marauding hordes. My kind will always survive YOU. I have no illusions about the coming reboot of human civilization. See, we are all survivalists--even the foreigners who inflate the oil prices--they are trying to survive YOU.

Don't take this personally. Understand what is really going on. And, of course, SURVIVE!