But, let's face it, all-out Mad Max level end of the world stuff is compelling stuff, and while any single scenario might be extremely low probability, you add them all together and things get more frightening. If you're a T-Blog reader, surviving a long term, world wide collapse is something you're probably interested in, and we're going to try to focus on it more on it over the coming months. Don't worry, we'll keep the practical stuff going too--nothing is going away.
Now to frame our discussion, by long term, we mean surviving beyond 6 months after a global-level collapse. Governments collapsed, economies functioning only at the very local level, if at all. Grids are down, supply chains are broken and travel is limited. Rule of law is not in effect on a wide scale.
This level of collapse will be associated with a major die-off--potentially in the initial event (nuclear war, Yellowstone caldera), or more gradual (pandemic, starvation). Survivors will band together into groups--good, bad and in between, formal and informal. If there's a measure of stability post-collapse, you'll see some consolidation of groups--alliances, mergers and takeovers--and hopefully eventual rebuilding.
I don't personally subscribe to any kind of single philosophy as a "best" way to survive this scope of collapse. For example, a retreat in the middle o' nowhere is not the magic solution, though it can be a pretty good one given the right circumstances. Being a part of a larger resilient (mostly self sufficient) community is another, in many ways, better solution--especially if you can back that community up with some military hardware. We'll talk through a variety of options.
There's the obvious survivalist problems of hordes of cannibals/zombies/raiders, but there's also the problems of sustaining life a year, two years and on-wards after a worldwide collapse. Stuff will run out, wear out and break and there's no more mega-mart to drop by. Lots of associated problems.
We'll also talk through some of the rebuilding process--ideas on how to organize a community defense force, restart and participate in a local barter-based economy, community leadership and so on.
A lot of this will be theoretical, idea-based, though we'll try to look back at history when we can. We may even delve into some of the ideas presented in some of the better post-apocalypse fiction out there--some smart writers with smart ideas to pull from.
Anyways, should be some fun stuff. I'm going to try to get one post per week out along these discussion lines--so stay tuned!
