[Quinny]

It upset's me to hear things sound so bad. Like I've said before we've moved to village as strangers, but they've welcomed us and we've had no significant problems. This is despite us not being able to speak the language. I really do think the macho pro-gun society in the US is likely to make things more difficult post PO.

[Withnail]

I'm hardly going to move out of the city just when Burger King have started trialling home delivery.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Revi', ' ') Some people see opportunity in rural areas, and our local farmer's market has breathed new life into rural areas close to this town. All of the farmers are young, and they are having kids, so it's not all bad around here.

[jesus_of_suburbia]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'Y')ou only have to consider that most urbanites and farmers too go to a grocery store that, if it wern't for daily deliveries from markets thousands of miles away, would have empty shelves in just a couple of days. That should comfort no one living on the fifth floor of some apartment complex.

[Whitefang]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'I')'d say we are not displaced from home as much as disconnected from the idea of home. A sweeping generality might be to say most of us who are not in our ancestral homes, are where we are because of a job - either our job, our spouse's or our parents..

The key is not to simply run away from the city, but to have a destination in mind - a plan. But also a clear idea of the opportunity cost.

[dinopello]

I think the answer here, is that if YOUR city is going to collapse then YES, by all means, get out BEFORE it happens !

If you have lived in a place long enough, then you should know it better than pontificators on the internet that live somewhere else, and sometimes even have no experience with the type of place you live (city, town, village, hamlet, suburb, rural, wilderness).

My city is no where near collapse, I am pretty darn sure of that*. I'm not sure what collapse would look like anyway as the vast majority of people here are much much wealthier than me. Will they all pick up and head to their islands ? Will they hire private armies to protect their houses from...me ? !

* not so sure that I don't have a backup plan though

[Whitefang]

Hi Dino,

This collapse is a worldwide affair, no escape....worldwide web/economy..
South might go first but abrupt CC will effect all life, if it were only that worldwide war of terror....no worries.
Trick is to head out before getting stuck in the dark, panic and the unthinkable.
The first civil world war in history, a dead end.
Abrupt CC gives abrupt collapse, no electro, no gas, no food, no water.......hell and high water for me.

Good luck!

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Whitefang', 'T')his collapse is a worldwide affair

[Lore]

I'm not so sure all cities will collapse suddenly and all at once. It will require an event in some cases. I can see New York City getting hit with a CAT5 in the future and essentially at that point putting it permanently out of business. Same for Miami. A lot of places like Las Vegas and Phoenix though will simply dry up and fade away.

[Newfie]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', 'C')ities are largely chicken coops for excess humanity.

[Whitefang]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') like your positive attitude ! We're all in this together !

[Loki]

The most likely "collapse" is economic. And like all all previous economic spasms, there will be no geographic or social uniformity. The #1 goal during an economic collapse is to maintain employment. For most folks, that means staying in or near a city.

The Great Recession was a nice little taste of what's to come. The largest metro area in my state has basically fully recovered, while some rural parts of the state are still enjoying double digit unemployment.

The zombie apocalypse version of "collapse" makes for fun movies, but it's the least likely scenario in the real world.

My personal preference would be to live as deeply rural as possible, but the job market in these places tends to be highly limited / non-existent. Small towns near larger cities can offer the best of both worlds, but it really depends on where you are and what the economy in your locality is like.

[Ibon]

Those of you who may be planning to run from where you are........before you give up on your current location take a good and long look in the mirror and honestly ask yourself how effective have you been in integrating into your current existing community. Once you assess this acknowledge that any deficiencies in this department are ones you will carry as you pioneer a new place.

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ibon', 'T')hose of you who may be planning to run from where you are........before you give up on your current location take a good and long look in the mirror and honestly ask yourself how effective have you been in integrating into your current existing community. Once you assess this acknowledge that any deficiencies in this department are ones you will carry as you pioneer a new place.

[Newfie]

Yet another lost post.

Pops wrote......
"I'd say we are not displaced from home as much as disconnected from the idea of home. A sweeping generality might be to say most of us who are not in our ancestral homes, are where we are because of a job - either our job, our spouse's or our parents.. "

I feel this acutely. I grew up in a small town in southern NJ. Very rural. Each town was built up around a creek. The creeks cut across the salt marshes and were lined with summer homes, very modest, and docks where local watermen kept their boats to Hugo clamming or to run gunning parties. I was on the gun squad at school and took my guns on the bus, just like the kids in band took their instruments. When I got home from school I pitched the books and was out the back door hunting.

It's all gone now. Its a huge suburb of NYC and North Jersey. I know no one there. There are no watermen with their own dialect. The docks are abandoned. There are only suburbs, Walmarts, malls. I hate going there, I want to cry.

Mom was from Newfoundland and even though we only traveled there twice as a youngster I have a deep affinity for the place. The towns have shrunk but are recognizable. The fishing is dismissed. But the geography is the same, the sur names are the same, I am related to most everyone.

My Wife shares this affinity even though she is from Bavaria. She sees Alpine foothills in the water. Outside of kids neither of us has any family in the USA. In Newfoundland my Wife bought a cabin adjacent to my Great Grandfathers house, and we watch humpback whales breach from the porch.

For us the difference is palpable.

image.jpg

[Newfie]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lore', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ibon', 'T')hose of you who may be planning to run from where you are........before you give up on your current location take a good and long look in the mirror and honestly ask yourself how effective have you been in integrating into your current existing community. Once you assess this acknowledge that any deficiencies in this department are ones you will carry as you pioneer a new place.

[vtsnowedin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ibon', 'T')hose of you who may be planning to run from where you are........before you give up on your current location take a good and long look in the mirror and honestly ask yourself how effective have you been in integrating into your current existing community. Once you assess this acknowledge that any deficiencies in this department are ones you will carry as you pioneer a new place.

[PieceOfMine]

Timewise, humans have been 99 % nomads, hunter-gatherers or pastoralists. A big part of your hometown feelings is sentimentality. That's a feeling you americans like to revel in.

[Newfie]

Actually a big part of is encoded in our DNA as highly social animals that require a well developed culture for the tribe to be sucessful. It is contained in all humans, across the globe.

I see much more effort being put into restoring past culture, retaining that home town feel, in Bavaria.

Of corse Germans were the most populous immigrant group into the USA for a long time. So maybe you are just really talking about Germans?

[Revi]

I am thinking of different bug-out options, but I think the place we love the best is the best option, although it's an island and they might become difficult. Hard to tell. Getting food on the island is a problem now, but it would be really tricky when there is no ferry.

That's why we are thinking of getting the smallest house in the nearby big town to the island, as we'll have to be on and off and will need a place to stay if we're there for extended periods. We haven't found any place in our price range yet, but we are looking.

[PieceOfMine]

Germans? I'm no historian, but IIRC, a few from England were crossing the pond as well. Here they are busy building a new "medieval castle using the same tools, techniques and materials available in the 13th century." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5IMeODLND8

The teutonic tribes as a whole, vielleicht? No, no.

Some of the current cultural trends are backward-looking. In my opinion it is a postmodern phenomenon. Postmodernism is what's happening where and when the great plans of modernism collapses. A little bit like Peak Oil: The great technological optimism and political ideologies of the last century have lost their appeal, they have been depleted.

I really think that the american culture has sentimentalism as an important trait, perhaps because emigration gives you that double cultural identity, the before and after.