Actions You Can Take

There are a few different categories of action.

1. Personal action to enhance the prospects of yourself and your immediate family.
2. Community-based action to build a local group and enhance the prospects of this group.
3. “Political” action to address the underlying causes of the crash.

(For examples of #3, watch the final 30 minutes of the Zeitgeist Addendum movie. In fact the whole movie is strongly recommeded if you want to understand how the economic system led us inexorably to the crash)

For some “lucky” people, the events of 2008 and 2009 were clearly foreseen. The only questions were when they would happen and what would happen first. (Lucky in this context excludes the elites whose actions were a root cause of the crash).

These “lucky” people made preparations, cashed out their investments, paid off their debts and got ready for the storm. For some, this meant starting the move towards a simpler and more resilient way of life.

Obviously, what you are able to do now depends on your circumstances, your financial situation, where you live, how many dependents you have and so on.

There is a whole range of so-called “doomer” websites. These have been forecasting various collapse scenarios for a long time. In my opinion the collapse is already happening, but it’s not going to be a single apocalyptic event.

Excluding the effects of a widespread resources war breaking out, overall it’s probable there will be a steady downward trend in the standard of living (at least for the “ordinary” person).

Modern conveniences, services and facilities that we currently take for granted will decline.

Some areas may see a sudden decline, whereas others may continue seemingly little changed for a long period.

What happens in a given area will depend on issues such as:

• the availability and condition of existing resources and infrastructure
• the attitude and make up of the population i.e. community effort and alignment vs civil unrest and self-destructive vandalism – “human entropy”
• the climate  and
• other “X” factors that are not visible yet.

Some “doomers” have spent years building themselves self-sufficient, off-the-grid- hideaways in remote areas. Whether that strategy is going to work, who knows.  It only takes a few “outlaws’ to pass through an area and the work of years can be undone in an hour or two.

All you can do is make best preparations you can. Here are some suggestions.

Some of these suggestions involve moving to a different location. The reality is we don’t know exactly how things will develop and when.

You may well have to choose between the familiar,  comfort, an income and convenience now vs potentially better prospects later. It’s not an easy choice and believe me, it’s one that gets debated regularly and vigorously within our family.

Other references:

• www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net has useful information – see the prepare section
• Chris Martenson’s crash course -What Should I do section
• The Links section (right hand column of home page) at Mike Ruppert’s blog

1.  Simplify your life.

Learn how to thrive and enjoy yourself with less – you may well be surprised how enjoyable a simpler lifestyle is.

The reality is that even compared with how we lived 30 years ago, our lives now are ridiculously complicated and dependent upon supposed necessities.

2.  If you can and haven’t already, get out of debt.

If you have traditional investments, watch them very carefully (if they haven’t already lost most of their value ). If you review the possible future and conclude renewed economic growth in the traditional sense is unlikely, work out a plan for getting out of traditional, growth-based investments – buy and hold stocks, real-estate etc.

3.  Learn how to get and stay healthy the natural way.

The pharmaceutical ‘healthcare’ era is in its last crazy, blow off phase, before it loses all credibility and dies off, but don’t let it destroy your health first.

4.  Learn how to grow your own food.

We mostly live from the top six inches of the planet i.e. the soil. Do you have access to an area where you can grow food? What is the quality of the soil?

5.  Move to a temperate location

Fuel for heating is going to get more and more difficult and expensive to get in years to come. You die from cold long before you die from heat.

6.  Move to a location with good water supplies.

7.  Move to a location close to transport that doesn’t depend on a car i.e. trains, buses, bicycle paths, waterways.

8.  Get to know your neighbours.

You are much more likely to thrive as part of a team.

9.  Have a survival kit prepared in case you have to leave quickly.

• Good walking / hiking shoes
• Warm and waterproof coat
• Backpack
• Water carrier / water purifier
• Tent
• Sleeping bag
• Warm clothes (thermal undergarments are light and effective)
• Dried food
• Wind up light