getting independent.
so, I have been thinking: preppers often learn how to live independent of industrial production. Maybe the solarpunk movement can learn something from them?
The diversification of prepping was clear last weekend at the Survival & Prepper show at the fairgrounds in Boulder County, a liberal district which President Joe Biden won in 2020 by nearly 57 percentage points over Trump. Over 2,700 people paid $10 each to attend the show, organizers said, and attendees were varied.
Bearded white men with closely cropped hair and heavily tattooed arms were there. But so were hippy moms carrying babies in rainbow colored slings and chatting about canning methods, Latino families looking over greenhouses and water filtration systems, and members of the local Mountain View Fire Rescue team, who in 2021 battled a devastating fire in the region, giving CPR demonstrations and encouraging citizens to be more prepared for extreme events.
“People want to regain their agency, their sense of control, and do something to match their fears to their actions,” said Ellis, who underscored that he did not speak on behalf of the Department of Defense.
People motivated by climate change, Ellis said, tend to be homesteaders who grow their own food and move to more “climate proof” locations, such as the mild summer haven of Duluth, Minnesota.
Depends on your model. If you believe in the movies, yeah, but that’s not how the end of the world works. We’ve seen it with COVID, countless revolutions and wars, you’ll probably still get up and go to work during the apocalypse, it will just suck more. Being able to help yourself and your community get through it will be extremely helpful.
Realistically you don’t need a years worth of bucket food and a million rounds of ammo, this isn’t Oregon trail. Having knowledge and experience is far more valuable. Learn how to properly clean and store water, how to live/travel day to day without a car (you have a bike right?), go backpacking and camping, potentially learn how to avoid surveillance if you think things are getting kinda judgemental.
Make friends with your neighbors, people don’t actually become psychotic marauders when the power goes out. There are countless stories from hurricane Katrina where the police just assumed everyone would murder each other and ultimately got in the way of people just trying to help each other survive and rebuild.