Creating a New World Starts With...

I'm not even sure how to start this post, but it's something I've been tossing around in my brain for a long time...puzzling over, considering, obsessing at times. A big shift is likely coming, and with it, the opportunity to create a new world. ​Surely anyone who's been paying even the most cursory attention to The State of Things has had at least a moment of uncertainty. I'm not interested in fear mongering, or pulling inwards - because I feel those are things that have gotten us to where we are at this point in human history. What I AM interested in, is problem solving, in positive and creative ways to move forward if/when Something Big happens, for when the SHTF, in "prepper" speak. 

Like, shit's WONKY, y'all. In SO many respects, this is definitely NOT the world we grew up in. It's more familiar to those who've been marginalized in one way or another, but also in other ways, it's completely different. Many of us didn't have personal computers/mobile phones until we were well into adulthood, for example. Social Media, too, is another way things are vastly different - we depend on our screens so much more now. Also, most of us haven't had to do without electricity for very long, usually only during a power outage or perhaps while camping. Most of us haven't lived off the grid. Most of us had also never lived through a glonal pandemic until quite recently. 

I've never been a huge conspiracy theorist or prepper. I didn't really start noticing conspiracy theories until watching The X-Files in the 90's, and then, of course, I noticed them EVERYWHERE, and gave them a little more credence - always better to be aware, right? I've also been an avid consumer of post-apocalyptic literature, movies and tv - even when I was a young, nerdy teen who read LOTS of speculative fiction - my friends and I would ruminate endlessly on how we would weather such a thing, should it come to pass. I've watched The Walking Dead. I know how horrible and violent people can potentially become. Juxtaposing these thoughts, along with, you know, WATCHING/READING THE NEWS right now and it's very easy for MY thoughts to turn towards the dark and the fear-based. 

But that's a difficult place to remain 24-7. And another, more recent piece of pop-culture is the show Paradise (I think it's on FX), which just started its second season. In the first, "all surviving humanity" (so they thought) was contained in a giant, underground bunker somewhere in Colorado. The second season has thus far focused on what happened to those NOT inside the bunker, and that has been the most fascinating part, especially for an avid TWD fan - there have been at least two instances, so far, where strangers have "invaded" our protagonists' lives, and both times, my thoughts went towards the paranoid (oh shit, stranger danger!) because nearly  every post-apocalyptic thing I've consumed in the past has the remnants of society doing horrible things to each other. Not so with Paradise - in each instance I mentioned above, the strangers ended up being helpful and benevolent, both times in a total fakeout, because the creators seemed to know the audience was expecting things to go south instead.

Turning to my own concerns about the possibility of society collapsing in some way (and good lord, there's SO MUCH to choose from these days - unclear war? a possibility. another pandemic? that, too. But there's also the possibility of an EMP attack, which would render our grid useless, or an economic collapse that might not bring down the power grid, but take us into another Great Depression. And I live in the city. I'm not out there homesteading, I don't have property out in the wilderness. So I've gotta make do with the resources I've got here. I live on a very busy street, a main arterial. And it's easy enough to stock up on shelf-stable food and water...but what about protection? What about what happens in all those episodes of Walking Dead, when some group of goons comes to take your supplies ad kill you? This has been a thing that's been causing me a little anxiety. My spouse and I are middle-aged, and don't like the idea of firearms, but we're slowly reconsidering that - but I think a greater conversation, and where I want to put more energy towards, is building community. 

And what I mean by this is getting to know my neighbors a little more. I live in a townhouse, and there are 8-12 townhouses using the same driveway, going up a bit of a hill. Mine is closest to the busy street. We have no HOA, but there is a woman who has taken it upon herself to start an email chain between all the townhouses over the past few years - mostly to deal with things that affect all of us, but it's a start. There's a HUGE house which also operates as a dance studio next door to the townhouses - we met those folks a couple years ago when a giant branch of their tree took out power to them and all our townhouses. My spouse has also been involved with a small group of locals to transform a vacant city lot about half a block away into a pea patch...and there's a small, tiny house community of formerly unhoused folks going up next to the pea patch, and the organizers of that community are already talking to the pea patch group.

Instead of allowing my thoughts to run to the negative, I've started to think about if a worst-case scenario came to pass, how we might all help each other in a small, more self-sustained community. We're very fortunately in our part of the country to have fairly temperate winters with plenty (PLENTY!) of rain, and great natural resources. Our townhouse group alone has 8-12 small plots of land. I start considering what skills people might have that might contribute to the community as a whole. My spouse is a pretty great gardener, for example, and I'm a kick-ass chef. I'm also a theatre artist (actor, playwright, graphic designer, communications/marketing professional), which at first glance seems totally useless, except I'm fully-versed in creating a LOT with a little, and also great at creative problem-solving, organization, etc. I definitely feel like I've got some useful skills in that vein. Am curious to see what others in this small, proposed community might bring to the table. This is how I stay creative and positive RIGHT NOW, working towards THIS feels constructive and helpful in a way freaking out does NOT, even though I have very little control over what happens in civilization right now. 

So I guess I posit the same to YOU, if you're reading this: who might be a part of your immediate community? Is it time to start talking to folks? Is it time to start planning things out in your head? At the very least, I suggest everyone start stocking up on survival stuff as you're able. Shelf-stable food, water (get several LifeStraws), means of preparing these things without electricity, first-aid kits, physical books that might help, and possibly, ways to defend yourself. Put together a bug-out bag, just in case. I'll put links to some of the stuff I know about down below, but they're also pretty easy to discover with a cursory online search right now. If everyone in the proposed community is at least a little prepared, think what a community could accomplish by pooling resources? As has been said before, we're stronger together. We're so used to burying our heads in our phones now, but if a day comes when we can't, how will we respond? Now is probably the time to start thinking about this. 

Er...thanks for coming to my TED talk?

Resources:

Be Prepared, Auguson Farms, purchase shelf-stable food and other survival products, there are also helpful articles with lots of good information.

The Prepared - prepping checklists and Beginner's guide - also helpful "How to" videos and articles, courses, etc

TruePrepper - Offers comprehensive checklists, gear reviews, and risk assessment guides.

List of survival/homesteading books

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