End Times Survival

lunamoth said:
Imagine the world enters a cataclysm of End Times proportions (no one has been raptured). A large meteor has struck the side of the earth opposite of you, essentially destroying 1/3 of the planet and throwing up a dust cloud that threatens sustained food production for the next 100 years or more. Financial markets are in disarray, there's a small amount of energy resource left in gas, oil, and electricity, but it's also not sustainable and running out. Hospitals are running out of resources to help the sick and new medicines and surgical supplies are dwindling fast.

Your town, being on the opposite side of the globe, has not been destroyed but the air is getting hazardous. The only type of broadcast communication is ham radio and reports are so sporadic it's hard to tell what exactly is going on elsewhere. So far violence and crime have been sporadic in your town, but it's getting worse daily. It's obvious that the police are going to have to use ever more force and even then it will be a losing battle.

What do you do? Will you stay or will you go? If you go, what will you take with you?

If something like this were to happen today, how prepared are you to deal with it?

Just a fun thread for discussion on a Friday. :)
Click to expand...


Heh, I think that's one reason why I moved to the Scottish Highlands. :)

High ground against flooding, low population density so less competition for resources. Just need land now, so we can grow our own food. :)


Faithfulservant said:
Theres a series called earths children by Jean M Auel.. I must have read these books a million times since I was a child. She did extensive research on herbs and plants for food and medicinal purposes. The book was placed back in the time of neanderthals but she was as acurate as she could be by placing it in Europe and what plant life would be like in that region. Its amazing how much Ive learned as far as what to use for what illness.. Some are easy like willowbark tea for aches and pains and foxglove for heart problems. It teaches how to start a fire without a lighter or matches.. how to cure hides and dress wounds. How to smoke meat and what to use if you dont have soap and shampoo.. I know Im going on about this but this is what I loved about this series. What if the world ended would I be ok?
Click to expand...

My girlfriend has been trying to get me to read this for ages. :)

Will make time for it, though, as she's leant out "Clan of the Cave Bear" and just got another copy, so I have no excuse now. :)
 
I said:
Heh, I think that's one reason why I moved to the Scottish Highlands. :)

High ground against flooding, low population density so less competition for resources. Just need land now, so we can grow our own food. :)




My girlfriend has been trying to get me to read this for ages. :)

Will make time for it, though, as she's leant out "Clan of the Cave Bear" and just got another copy, so I have no excuse now. :)
Click to expand...

I suggest a couple of field guides and a fishing rod will be of much more practical merit than Auels caveman romances. A guide to the fauna of Scotland and how to track it reveals a particularly rich source of protein, though baked small rodents are an acquired taste. Living off the land in the highlands is at best a marginal possibility without first gaining all the skills. Of course if there is a nuclear showdown...Scotland will be finished anyway. Just the megatons they will drop to destroy the missile dump near Helensborough will see to that.


tao
 
End Times Survival


seek seek and seek
zepheniah 2;2-3:) perhaps we will ,or perhaps we wont.
its up to us as individuals
 
what would i do? i'd put mah head 'tween muh legs and kiss muh butt, buh bye. how's that for a solution? no fear, baby!
 
Anyone have the Foxfire books on their shelves?

Tis a series of seven books, interviews with appalacian hill folks, before the oldsters died off.

How to build, do everything by hand, start from scratch in the wildnerness and start building. Forges, log homes, stills, cleaning animals, cutting shingles, herbal remedies, making soap, candles, tanning hides, cuttin shingles...

quite a starter set.
 
Tao_Equus said:
I suggest a couple of field guides and a fishing rod will be of much more practical merit than Auels caveman romances. A guide to the fauna of Scotland and how to track it reveals a particularly rich source of protein, though baked small rodents are an acquired taste.
Click to expand...

But I'm vegetarian! :D
 
wil said:
Anyone have the Foxfire books on their shelves?

Tis a series of seven books, interviews with appalacian hill folks, before the oldsters died off.

How to build, do everything by hand, start from scratch in the wildnerness and start building. Forges, log homes, stills, cleaning animals, cutting shingles, herbal remedies, making soap, candles, tanning hides, cuttin shingles...

quite a starter set.
Click to expand...

Excellent suggestion. :)
 
lunamoth said:
Imagine the world enters a cataclysm of End Times proportions (no one has been raptured). A large meteor has struck the side of the earth opposite of you, essentially destroying 1/3 of the planet and throwing up a dust cloud that threatens sustained food production for the next 100 years or more. Financial markets are in disarray, there's a small amount of energy resource left in gas, oil, and electricity, but it's also not sustainable and running out. Hospitals are running out of resources to help the sick and new medicines and surgical supplies are dwindling fast.

Your town, being on the opposite side of the globe, has not been destroyed but the air is getting hazardous. The only type of broadcast communication is ham radio and reports are so sporadic it's hard to tell what exactly is going on elsewhere. So far violence and crime have been sporadic in your town, but it's getting worse daily. It's obvious that the police are going to have to use ever more force and even then it will be a losing battle.

What do you do? Will you stay or will you go? If you go, what will you take with you?

If something like this were to happen today, how prepared are you to deal with it?

Just a fun thread for discussion on a Friday. :)
Click to expand...
1. I live on a river that leads directly to the sea, so I'd stay. I'm also 357 feet above sea level so fairly safe from flooding.

2. Get a Bow, arrows and a good knife. Forget guns, they require bullets and gun powder.

3. Get a wood burning stove.(keeps you warm and you can cook on it)

4. Keep a year round garden going, with fruits and vegetables that can be constantly harvested.

5. Learn to hunt and fish, and trap. (learn to eat any kind of meat, it is all protein). Learn to tan and sew (your Levis won't last forever).

6. Learn to improvise. (a bicycle can provide charging power for electricity, and improve one's health at the same time). A river or creek can provide energy to the innovative ones.

7. Stock up on bulk foods that can last for years (rice, dried beans, canned goods).

8. Stock up on basic first aid gear and medicines. (learn about herbs and spices for healing properties). Design a means to maintain hygene to body and teeth. Pray like hell.

9. Teach your neighbors to do the same things.

10. Share what you have with your neighbors (a full stomach and warm body listens to reason, and instructions, better than an empty and cold one).

Last resort: If angry strangers come into your community enmasse, give no quarter if violence begins. Either it is your community, or it becomes theirs, and you are dead.

oh, I already do most of that... ;-)
 
Last edited:
Tao_Equus said:
I suggest a couple of field guides and a fishing rod will be of much more practical merit than Auels caveman romances. A guide to the fauna of Scotland and how to track it reveals a particularly rich source of protein, though baked small rodents are an acquired taste. Living off the land in the highlands is at best a marginal possibility without first gaining all the skills. Of course if there is a nuclear showdown...Scotland will be finished anyway. Just the megatons they will drop to destroy the missile dump near Helensborough will see to that.
Click to expand...
I'm with you Tao. I have my field guides and go through them periodically. I'm always on the lookout for new "weeds" and trying to identify them.

As for missile dumps in the states, that is pretty much in a north-south line through the middle of the country, last I checked. Of course, a lot of them old silos have been decommissioned.

Nuclear power plants are another thing to get away from...not so much the "boom" effect, as the slow leak... Unfortunately, there is one about 30 miles to one side, and another about 35 miles in another direction. (And they are talking about building more, :rolleyes: )
 
wil said:
Anyone have the Foxfire books on their shelves?

Tis a series of seven books, interviews with appalacian hill folks, before the oldsters died off.

How to build, do everything by hand, start from scratch in the wildnerness and start building. Forges, log homes, stills, cleaning animals, cutting shingles, herbal remedies, making soap, candles, tanning hides, cuttin shingles...
Click to expand...
Volumes 1 and 2, sure do, and just finished reading them a couple of months back. The rest of the series I didn't see as quite as necessary, but skinning and gutting (field dressing) a deer or bear, *that* I see as necessary.
 
I said:
But I'm vegetarian! :D
Click to expand...

They make field guides for wild edible plants and medicinal herbs as well, I've got several (geared to my part of the states, wouldn't help much in Scotland...sorry). Peterson's field guides are indispensible in the states, but I don't know if they make them for parts of Europe. :confused:
 
Somehow California would come out unscathed but with more regulation and higher taxes.
 
Excellent, Q!

Quahom1 said:
1. I live on a river that leads directly to the sea, so I'd stay. I'm also 357 feet above sea level so fairly safe from flooding.
Click to expand...
Not a bad selection, but tactically challenging. "Back against the wall" kind of thing. I also see concerns about heavy storms.

Quahom1 said:
2. Get a Bow, arrows and a good knife. Forget guns, they require bullets and gun powder.
Click to expand...
Crossbows are especially accurate...and silent. No report to draw attention.

Quahom1 said:
3. Get a wood burning stove.(keeps you warm and you can cook on it)
Click to expand...
Takes some practice, but you can even bake in a wood stove. Also has the advantage of not having an open flame to draw attention at night, an advantage nullified by heat sensing vision.

Quahom1 said:
4. Keep a year round garden going, with fruits and vegetables that can be constantly harvested.
Click to expand...
Cold frames and greenhouses are good for this, but are additional expenses and maintenance in themselves. Floating row covers help extend the growing season as well, presuming one has access to hundreds of yards of clear plastic. Extending the growing season in areas where winters are typically cold is problematic at best.

Quahom1 said:
5. Learn to hunt and fish, and trap. (learn to eat any kind of meat, it is all protein). Learn to tan and sew (your Levis won't last forever).
Click to expand...
Fishing can be done with minimal tackle (trot line is one example, cane pole is another). Tanning requires tannic acid...one source is the brains of the animal whose pelt is being tanned...another source is acorns and oak leaves, or a hollowed out oak stump for the purpose.

Quahom1 said:
6. Learn to improvise. (a bicycle can provide charging power for electricity, and improve one's health at the same time). A river or creek can provide energy to the innovative ones.
Click to expand...
Undershot or overshot waterwheel, or hydraulic ram. The hydraulic ram can be used to pump water uphill.

Quahom1 said:
7. Stock up on bulk foods that can last for years (rice, dried beans, canned goods).
Click to expand...
Learn also to dry foods, particularly fruits in season for later use, and to jerk meat. Pemmican is another alternative.

Quahom1 said:
8. Stock up on basic first aid gear and medicines. (learn about herbs and spices for healing properties). Design a means to maintain hygene to body and teeth. Pray like hell.
Click to expand...
Yep, especially the last part. I'm a firm believer there are no atheists in a foxhole under fire.

Quahom1 said:
9. Teach your neighbors to do the same things.
Click to expand...
Any who will listen.

Quahom1 said:
10. Share what you have with your neighbors (a full stomach and warm body listens to reason, and instructions, better than an empty and cold one).
Click to expand...
;)

Quahom1 said:
Last resort: If angry strangers come into your community enmasse, give no quarter if violence begins. Either it is your community, or it becomes theirs, and you are dead.
Click to expand...
Yep.

Sanitation presents its own challenges...particularly if the goal is to hide the evidence. It doesn't take much sense to soon realize one doesn't pee or poop in one's drinking water... :D
 
individual survival is not viable
it simply does not pay
all existent infrastructure would be gone, several days of 5-10 richter scale earthquakes would see to that
large percentage of human population would choke to death on toxic vapours and dye from temperature shock both cold and hot
the blast itself would be equivalent to an all out nuclear war, all concentrated on an area the size of say... texas, meaning there would be a big crater, no survivors in it
if it hits the oceans, wich it probably would, he tidal waves would be higher than the empire state building
so much dust and smoke would go into the atmosphere there might not be a sunrise in years
then years of winter would follow, then years of autum, it might be decades before the seasons start coming back
any kind of individualist "robinson crusoe im a surwivor" atitude would be useles
it would work untill you come across the first pack of wolves, dogs, humans, or other meat eating animal, starved to delirium
olnly the colective would survive, individuals are in such radical situation reduced to use value

realy what is to be done in such a situation is find a cozy place underground, so as to heat more easily, get some surviving technology experts together and set up some kind of sustainable powersource, then set up food production, mushrooms are a good choice as they dont need sunlight, get all the guns and ammo you can find, there would be more than you can carry left ower, and breed, as much as possible, or as much as resources alov, as manny kids as you can force out of yourselves, because now individuals do not last, and the colective needs constant replacements
find the most efficiet way to build up a cohesive tribe, without unecesary loss of material and human values, and keep warlike behaviour on a leash, losing members in useles fighting canot be aforded

once this is set up and sustainable survival is viable, all you can do is wait out the climate changes, in a couple of dozen generations the atmosphere might become clear enough that there might even be short springs every other year or so
 
Welcome to Interfaith, Mirko!

Glad to have your input!
Mirko said:
individual survival is not viable
it simply does not pay
all existent infrastructure would be gone, several days of 5-10 richter scale earthquakes would see to that
large percentage of human population would choke to death on toxic vapours and dye from temperature shock both cold and hot
the blast itself would be equivalent to an all out nuclear war, all concentrated on an area the size of say... texas, meaning there would be a big crater, no survivors in it
if it hits the oceans, wich it probably would, he tidal waves would be higher than the empire state building
so much dust and smoke would go into the atmosphere there might not be a sunrise in years
then years of winter would follow, then years of autum, it might be decades before the seasons start coming back
any kind of individualist "robinson crusoe im a surwivor" atitude would be useles
it would work untill you come across the first pack of wolves, dogs, humans, or other meat eating animal, starved to delirium
olnly the colective would survive, individuals are in such radical situation reduced to use value

realy what is to be done in such a situation is find a cozy place underground, so as to heat more easily, get some surviving technology experts together and set up some kind of sustainable powersource, then set up food production, mushrooms are a good choice as they dont need sunlight, get all the guns and ammo you can find, there would be more than you can carry left ower, and breed, as much as possible, or as much as resources alov, as manny kids as you can force out of yourselves, because now individuals do not last, and the colective needs constant replacements
find the most efficiet way to build up a cohesive tribe, without unecesary loss of material and human values, and keep warlike behaviour on a leash, losing members in useles fighting canot be aforded

once this is set up and sustainable survival is viable, all you can do is wait out the climate changes, in a couple of dozen generations the atmosphere might become clear enough that there might even be short springs every other year or so
Click to expand...
For a "planet killer" meteor scenario, you are probably pretty darn close. One teensy thing I see is that "white" mushrooms, while they do grow in the dark and would seem an excellent choice for a cave environment, also require dung from herbivores...cow poop. Without cow poop, no mushrooms either.

IOW, no matter how you slice it, getting food in such a scenario is a difficult process, so much so that it would likely be the extinction of humans and all large and most small mammals.

OTOH, there are other, far less all-encompassing scenarios that are even more likely to threaten the survival of the human species. While I agree survival is better effected in a group environment, it is also easy to lose sight of the fact that a mob must exist before a mob mentality can hold sway. Group-think insanity is an unfortunate trait of the human race, as any vigilante posse more than adequately demonstrates, and can overcome even the most well-intentioned society. The French revolution comes to mind, where the heroes and the villains can become interchangeable...depending on which side one is standing.

So there is some degree of benefit to being self-sufficient, although it is a huge undertaking. Using the example of an early American pioneer or Mountain man, one would have to be at least nominally proficient across a variety of skills, not least procuring and preparing food stocks for long term storage, shelter and fire making, and at least rudimentary first aid. And that is just to get through the first winter. Ideally one should be able to do these things without being noticed by others...the art of not drawing attention to oneself.
 
juantoo3 said:
Welcome to Interfaith, Mirko!

Glad to have your input!

For a "planet killer" meteor scenario, you are probably pretty darn close. One teensy thing I see is that "white" mushrooms, while they do grow in the dark and would seem an excellent choice for a cave environment, also require dung from herbivores...cow poop. Without cow poop, no mushrooms either.

IOW, no matter how you slice it, getting food in such a scenario is a difficult process, so much so that it would likely be the extinction of humans and all large and most small mammals.

OTOH, there are other, far less all-encompassing scenarios that are even more likely to threaten the survival of the human species. While I agree survival is better effected in a group environment, it is also easy to lose sight of the fact that a mob must exist before a mob mentality can hold sway. Group-think insanity is an unfortunate trait of the human race, as any vigilante posse more than adequately demonstrates, and can overcome even the most well-intentioned society. The French revolution comes to mind, where the heroes and the villains can become interchangeable...depending on which side one is standing.

So there is some degree of benefit to being self-sufficient, although it is a huge undertaking. Using the example of an early American pioneer or Mountain man, one would have to be at least nominally proficient across a variety of skills, not least procuring and preparing food stocks for long term storage, shelter and fire making, and at least rudimentary first aid. And that is just to get through the first winter. Ideally one should be able to do these things without being noticed by others...the art of not drawing attention to oneself.
Click to expand...

obviously survival skills are useful, in fact really useful, critical even
thats why they are called survival skills
but one human surviving isolated, or even a dozen, has no point
eventually they just die

a population, even a small one, if sustainable, does not die
at least not of itself
individuals last decades, species endure eons

really, that is how it works, we have been there done that, imagine how many events of varying magnitude and devastating effect humans have survived in the last 2 000 000 years

if you cant imagine just google it

individualism is a silly luxury when you think about it really
 
Mirko said:
individualism is a silly luxury when you think about it really
Click to expand...
Agreed in the long term...in the short term it depends which witch hunts you are dodging in order to prolong your specific branch of the species...calamity, catastrophe, end times, armeggedon; in the end its pretty much the same thing. Just trying to survive. Bottleneck with founder effect... :D
 
Ok I just gotta say this... :eek:

There is no romance in Clan of the Cave Bear... none zero zilch...

That comes in Valley of the Horses. ;)

You can read the Clan of the cave bear on its own and enjoy it very much even to appreciate the research she did.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top