I’m not just talking water, food, hygiene, fuel and ammo. All sorts of utilitarian chemicals and materials will be
scarce, and valuable. Alcohol, hydrochloric acid, bleach, solvents, glues, lubricants, sheets of tarpaulin, fabric,
ropes, hardware, polyurethane, neoprene. Tools and manuals of all kinds to help work these into their utilities.
if you can afford it, add large powertools like arc welders and compressors and generators to power them.
You need a cache to hold your stores, it doesn’t have to be a bunker, and it could be a community depot.
It all depends on the estimated size of your community and the tentative duration and serverity of the crisis.
Things may not get to Argentina or Liberia crisis levels. Maybe just a minor depression, but you will still benefit
from the comparative advantage of having bleach-purified water, alcohol-sterilised first-aid, spare garments,
poly-tunnel greenhouses, productive farm tools and shop machinery, and useful items of trade or manufacture.
industrial quantities of lighters, batteries, stationary and hygiene are a must; as are non-trauma quotidian
medical supplies: pain killers, histamines, cough syrups, flu tablets, antacids, etc.
Ferfal writes that community is key. whether it’s a family or like-minded neighbours this will be the key to survival.
there is strength and protection in numbers. You also have gain an advantage by pooling skills and equipment.
remember that our technology has shielded us from the time and effort of labour. Anyone who’s been out camping
and has seen the entire day go by just for the activities of securing and preparing food will see the value in economy
of labour allocation. for this reason you will want to add coordinating communications like home ham and cb radios.
I didn’t used to think I needed an arsenal, but I’ve met people whose entire planning strategy is simply to hoard
weapons and survive by view of armed coercion. It’s for protection from these “good folks” that I recommend
a few serious high caliber scoped rifles, something with enough dissuasive power that can take out an engine
block from a safe distance and halt pursuit or predation. It also helps to be able to put big game on the table.
Society is a see-saw struggle between resource producers and predatory robbers since the advent of agriculture.
On one hand a cycle of collaboration, abundance, and organization, and on the otherompetition, scarcity, and restructure.
In a way the TPTB barons are the evolution of the second group, hedged up as far as possible from primary capital production.
A crisis would strip these layers and flatten the curve: we will all have to get closer to production. And what your produce you protect.
- Archduke
