[roccman]

"and holing up in a mountain bunker with guns, MREs and a few dried out seeds ain't it."

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

and why not?

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Chaparral', 'F')unny you should mention this. I just spent all last weekend scouting out real estate with about a dozen such people, a few of whom lurk or post here. Trust me, this group is smart. Some are wise. most are extremely capable in many more ways than one: the skill sets are all over the map and more than a few seem to be successful small business owners. We are all pretty much in agreement on where the world's going and how best to try and survive it, and holing up in a mountain bunker with guns, MREs and a few dried out seeds ain't it.

[mmasters]

My plan, I would give it a 7/10

Stay out of debt, limit attachments (done and done)

Get a better job, make more money, be in a valued position (working on it)

be flexible/adaptable, keep learning/reacessing things (done and continually doing)

profit off the market crazyness - gold/silver/oil runups (part done and waiting)

keep a rotating surplus of essentials - food, water, gas, cash (haven't started yet)

keep extended family together (in progress)

Help manage immediete family preperations (part done)

network with local peak oilers (working on it)

party, travel, live it up (doing from time to time)

Find a good woman to settle down with for the future (actively searching)

Decide location as things progress (stay in NYC, move in with family, move near amish country, etc...)

[Ayoob]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('zensui', 'I') don't really have a plan...

But I made 2 decisions: don't have debt and don't have offsprings.

I am buying "pre-PO tech memories", if technology get more expensive or scarce after PO. This started ironically with a zippo

...yes, I'm late for this planning.

[MattSavinar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', 'P')lan...

Trust no one.

Buy everything imaginable with worthless dollars on credit...then BK.

[Chaparral]

My plan is twofold: plan A addresses a hard landing caused by peakoil only: buy a going agricultural concern in a reasonably well-watered area close to several different modes of transportation. No debt of any sort is needed: I'll make an all-cash offer when I smell the blood in the water. My targeted property is a producing orchard within cycling distance of a medium sized town served by both interstates and rail and even a link to a deepwater shipping channel. It is outside the blast radii of any neargy nuclear targets up into the multi-megaton range. Nut tree orchards are preferred given the fact that the trees themselves have roots that go deep enough to tap into the water table without needing irrigation all summer long and the land doesn't need to be plowed or converted to organic prod'n so there's less of that need for massive fossil fuel inputs. Products such as almonds, walnuts, pistachios etc don't need refrigeration, keep a long time and have a high value relative to their weight and volume and the understory could be used to graze all sorts of protein and egg producing livestock. My identified parcel is out of sight from any major highways and is partially obscured from most main county roads. It is within 300 horizontal feet and 50 vertical feet of a significant perennial watercourse. So long as the world holds together I should still be able to achieve relative economic and food security while using those season tix to the opera, ballet and symphony orch.
The chief problem is defensibility from organized zombie hordes although I'll be having perhaps a dozen neighbors, the majority possibly of my own choosing at some time, that could work together for our mutual benefit. Perimeter security and some concealment is also very doable with my identified parcel(s).

Plan B applies to catastrophic climate change. CC could turn much of the continent into a desert that is just too hot to support reliable agriculture. If that happens, water will become far more of a problem than it already is and both drought and the number of zombie refugees could increase to the point where it's time to fall back into the mountains of Cascadia. That is where I'm working with other like-minded individuals on some sort of "intentional community". It's worth mentioning that it ain't no stupidly idealistic hippie-commune where we all get to share and fuck-up each other's extremely expensive machine tools. It is not neccessarily a cohousing arrangement either. Homes may be individually owned and occupied while the land, earthmoving equipment, stables, fuel depots, photovoltaic arrays etc is owned by the collective: one could think of it more as a gated community that has its own utilities and sustainable food and water security than an actual collective. It will not be insular however: the community will be engaged in showing others how to grow what they need for food, fiber and medicines, conflict resolution, defense etc. It is worth noting as pstarr did, that there are really very few ways in or out of many parts of Cascadia and i'm sure that both Mother Nature herself and more than a few of them crazy pot-growin' anarchists (Gaia love their lil' hearts) would see to it that there is NO survivable way in should the need arise.

It also goes without saying that preparations also include stockpiling the requisite inflation hedges, hardware, tools, protective devices etc as well as diversification of the old investment portfolio in such a fashion so as to maintain as much liquidity as possible until such things no longer matter (if the world ever gets to that point) and retrofitting of any residences or other facilities for an energy and water-impoverished world. Any processes such as transportation, animal husbandry, vegetable gardening, harvesting, shipping and packing would also be redesigned to work on little or no fossil fuel input and a little water as possible. The family that matters is already on board and will go where i take them. The family that doesn't get on board cannot be allowed to matter: it'll be all we can do to take care of the willing.

I give my combined plans a 9.5 out of 10 if the global temps don't increase by much more than 2.5-3.5 deg C. If they go to 6 deg, then i'd provisionally give plan B a 7 out of 10 while A = maybe a 2.

[Chaparral]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', '"')and holing up in a mountain bunker with guns, MREs and a few dried out seeds ain't it."

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

and why not?

[spear]

I lived in the city,moved to the country 50 kms out to a rural village in the Greek countryside which dosent look like much to passersby,built a house here,sold one of the two which I had in the city to have some liquid on hand for emergencies.
I wont go into detail about the rural house built from scratch solo as I have already mentioned that on other threads.I plan to keep the city house vacant at some future point to I can have access to the city , depending on my needs when the time arives. I also have a fishing shack by the sea on the backside of a mountain off the beaten path for an overnight fishing trip to procure seafood.
The rural house will be totally self sustainable within the next five years.

Im a tradesman,and my wife is a teacher,so unless the school system goes bust over here she is guaranteed for a paycheck.
I always find a way.
Other than that,when the firewood runs out in the hills around here,(I will be an old man by then),I plan on a little bootlegging a little goatherding,cheese making,pellet and briquet pressing,solarizing,trading,and generalizing.
Probably loading up a bagfull of stuff and going down to the city and sell my wares kind of situation.

Not much, but who is going to have much but a select few anyway.

The only way this plan changes is if the govt confiscates my rural house for some reason like its the perfect setup or something.
Then that will suck as it forces me into a position that there will be no going back from as someone has crossed my line.

As far as getting my son prepared Im doing pretty much the same as Seahorse ,with the addition of skill learning on the ranch here.

But in the final analysis ,this is the Balkans here,so one never knows how things will evolve.

At least Im not bored.

[Fredrik]

My plan is not definitive yet, but I will try to:

- take no debt
- get some money saved
- raise my children responsibly, and gradually teach them to accept to live on much less
- keep having lots of friends in vicinity
- acquire practical skills and stuff probably needed in post-PO times
- work out on some plan to have a future employment in some critical trade
- generally act wisely while trusting in God

I'm not planning to go rural, at least yet, because it's too big a change of life for us at this point and people living away from population centers may initially get hit harder by the depression (unless they immediately get subsidies for producing food from the government).

[basil_hayden]

I'm putting together the things and attitude I need to outlast 75% of the local (within 3 days ride on horseback, maybe 100 miles?) populace. Two tough winters ought to thin the herd.

I figure things will be fine after 18 months of fansplatter.

If nothing precipitates, and things go on as they are, most of the stuff will be perfect to sustain me in old age (maybe not true retirement, but at least not working for the man).

I just need to find a way to pay 10 more years of mortgage in 3, then get off the grid. So basically I'm screwed, but not for trying, just poor timing.

[eastbay]

I'm putting together the things and attitude I need to outlast 75% of the local (within 3 days ride on horseback, maybe 100 miles?) populace. Two tough winters ought to thin the herd.

basil_hayden, I think you added another step to mine. Set up a personal/ family scenario whereby one can outlast 75% of the local populace. Excellent. That's what it will eventually come down to.

[roccman]

"I'll answer your question with a few hypotheticals of my own:

How long you plannin' to hole up?
Have you ever grown your own food? Too bad the cabbage worms ate all your cabbages and the grasshoppers chewed up the broccoli.

Can you stay awake 24 hours a day for an indefinite time period? Is that the muzzle of a rifle sticking out of the shadows? Is someone watching you from that line of trees? What was that noise behind the outhouse? Why did your dogs all die last night?

How's that twisted ankle healing? Is it easy to chop wood and carry water with your twisted ankle? I'll bet you really have to walk a long way to get water since the drought began four years ago and the stream by your cabin dried up.

Kinda sucks that the landslide blocked your only way out doesn't it?

Really sucks that a 40 foot wall of flame is approaching your cabin from that lightning-caused forest fire don't it?"

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

ok

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Chaparral', 'T')hat is where I'm working with other like-minded individuals on some sort of "intentional community". It's worth mentioning that it ain't no stupidly idealistic hippie-commune where we all get to share and fuck-up each other's extremely expensive machine tools. It is not neccessarily a cohousing arrangement either. Homes may be individually owned and occupied while the land, earthmoving equipment, stables, fuel depots, photovoltaic arrays etc is owned by the collective: one could think of it more as a gated community that has its own utilities and sustainable food and water security than an actual collective. It will not be insular however: the community will be engaged in showing others how to grow what they need for food, fiber and medicines, conflict resolution, defense etc. It is worth noting as pstarr did, that there are really very few ways in or out of many parts of Cascadia and i'm sure that both Mother Nature herself and more than a few of them crazy pot-growin' anarchists (Gaia love their lil' hearts) would see to it that there is NO survivable way in should the need arise.

[Chaparral]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lore', 'N')ice dream sounds expensive, tentative and a bit idealistic. Most of the problem with communities like this is the "enemy" within that you bring with you, not the so called crazies without.

[Baldwin]

Let's see. I am 17 and looking off the edge of a cliff living in what someone else coined as the "World's largest strip mall". That would be nassau county, on long island. It is a suburb of New York City.

Since farming on soil that is covered by concrete is not feasible, I am left with a small amount of soil whose nutrients have been wasted on the lawn. Oh Joy.

Since farming is out of the question, that leaves me with two other time tested professions:prostitution and the Catholic priesthood. Ironic isn't it?

I do have some gold and silver coins. I have 12 eagles, a sovereign, a 20 franc napoleon, and a hodgepodge of WWII era silver.

I do wish to study to become a Catholic priest, for various reasons (faith is one of them). The benefit is that my tuition is 75% paid for (in addition to any scholarships I will receive), room and board are free. That leaves me with 60k of my grandfather's gift of stock untouched. Did I mention that diocesan priests do not have a vow of poverty? I am going to spend atleast 5/6 on bulk 90% silver and smaller sized, low premium gold like 20 franc pieces and the odd sovereign if I can get a good price.

I was even toying with the idea of being a military chaplain.

[Jenab]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Eli', 'I') think Aaron has a valid point.

The water rich North West cost will be over run with people when PO hits full steam. When the LA basin starts to return to a desert the people that live there are not going to head south. They will head north.

By moving North you may end up heavily investing in an area and setting up a nice sustainable place, only to find that you are still trampled by the herd.

I think the best thing to do is to wait and see how things shake out. See which way the wind is blowing then react. By waiting you might save yourself from making a mistake.

[eastbay]

I was even toying with the idea of being a military chaplain.

Baldwin, that may not be a bad plan. Remember, in times of war and severe strife, soldiers are always fed even if the general population starves (Prisoners, however, are last in the food line, in case anyone's thinking of a life of crime... ) History shows this is almost a universal. Those of you who are 'young' may give this some thought if things start to crumble sooner than later.

[Baldwin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', '[')i]I was even toying with the idea of being a military chaplain.

Baldwin, that may not be a bad plan. Remember, in times of war and severe strife, soldiers are always fed even if the general population starves (Prisoners, however, are last in the food line, in case anyone's thinking of a life of crime... ) History shows this is almost a universal. Those of you who are 'young' may give this some thought if things start to crumble sooner than later.

[MattSavinar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lore', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Chaparral', 'T')hat is where I'm working with other like-minded individuals on some sort of "intentional community". It's worth mentioning that it ain't no stupidly idealistic hippie-commune where we all get to share and fuck-up each other's extremely expensive machine tools. It is not neccessarily a cohousing arrangement either. Homes may be individually owned and occupied while the land, earthmoving equipment, stables, fuel depots, photovoltaic arrays etc is owned by the collective: one could think of it more as a gated community that has its own utilities and sustainable food and water security than an actual collective. It will not be insular however: the community will be engaged in showing others how to grow what they need for food, fiber and medicines, conflict resolution, defense etc. It is worth noting as pstarr did, that there are really very few ways in or out of many parts of Cascadia and i'm sure that both Mother Nature herself and more than a few of them crazy pot-growin' anarchists (Gaia love their lil' hearts) would see to it that there is NO survivable way in should the need arise.