#DOOMSDAY PREP LIST HOW TO#
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I donвЂ™t have to look far to see a horrific string of calamities that many people have not survived.

#DOOMSDAY PREP LIST SKIN#

Many of us are insulated from the worst of it by wealth, skin color, nationality or geography, but it is still here. Instead of вЂњif,вЂќ I should be saying вЂњwhen push comes to shove,вЂќ because Doomsday is already here for lots of people.

#DOOMSDAY PREP LIST HOW TO#

We have to figure out how to live together and take care of one another. We canвЂ™t survive alone, or only with our immediate families, no matter how many skills and resources we possess. If push comes to shove, will I be able to see my neighborhood squirrels as a food source? I look at the squirrels in our yard - fat from raiding our compost pile and eating the chickensвЂ™ food - and wonder if I could really do it. I mean separate the fur, skin and bones from the meat and get it ready for eating. Most of us have traded our natural heritage for comfort and convenience.вЂќ My ancestors would have no problem trapping, killing and dressing a squirrel - and by dress, I donвЂ™t mean putting it into cute little outfits and snapping pictures for Instagram.

Today our instincts are dulled and our survival knowledge has trailed off like the vapors from a steam engine. Survivalist and educator Tom Brown notes that вЂњto our ancestors, every day was an uncertain struggle. So maybe those would be better to bring! FridaвЂ™s collection of survivalist books (WNV/Frida Berrigan)Д¬all it an insurance policy, bibliotherapy or perhaps futile self-delusion, but itвЂ™s a lot cheaper than buying into the Survival Condo, which is built inside a decommissioned missile silo in Kansas. Meanwhile, the three вЂњFoxfireвЂќ books I have (thereвЂ™s 14 in the series) share lore and skills from the people of Appalachia, including entries on butter churning, making moonshine, foraging for mushrooms and dressing hogs.

The вЂњWorst CaseвЂќ book instructs you on how to survive an alligator attack and a plummeting elevator.

I imagine the sirens that signal a meltdown at the nuclear power plant down the road, or the storm surge pelting the house, while I frantically cram Tom BrownвЂ™s вЂњField Guide to City and Suburban SurvivalвЂќ into my bag beside the вЂњComplete Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook.вЂќ Seriously, I bought those two books on the same day.

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I find their pages full of still unlearned lessons comforting. They stack up like the MREs a doomsday prepper might stock their bunker with. Not reading the books, mind you - just buying them. I have been seeking to assuage my anxiety about everything from rising fascism to rising sea levels, peaks in the cost of fuel and the persistence of the pandemic by buying books. It wasnвЂ™t until I was standing in line at the used bookstore with a $1 copy of вЂњHow to Build a Covert, Off the Grid Safe House Away from the Prying Eyes of the GovernmentвЂќ that I saw my behavior clearly. Between вЂњThe PeopleвЂ™s Cookbook,вЂќ вЂњWhat Cooks in ConnecticutвЂќ and вЂњThe Tuna Cookbook,вЂќ I will be able to make pumpkin and watermelon rinds palatable, catch and cook locusts, crickets and termites and prepare canned tuna more than 100 ways.

The books store a kind of knowledge I am not quite ready to absorb. I do know just where to look when it is time: Helen NearingвЂ™s вЂњSimple Food for the Good Life: An Alternative Cook BookвЂќ has a whole section on root cellars for beets and apples and potatoes. True confessions: I expanded my garden and added six delightful feathered friends, but I havenвЂ™t dug a root cellar yet. I couldnвЂ™t control who was in the White House or how the world saw the United States, but I could grow a garden, raise chickens and dig a root cellar. I managed my discomfort and dismay - my anger and fear - by collecting books that helped me feel in control. I think I can mark the beginning of this strange coping mechanism with Donald Trump taking the highest office in the United States. Sometimes at second hand books stores I find myself with an armful of books, thinking вЂњThese will come in handy if вЂ¦ If the internet goes away, if there is no more electricity, if there arenвЂ™t grocery stories anymore.вЂќ I cling to the books, push the nightmare scenarios out of my head and make for the cashier.

Doomsday prep list