Doomsday Preppers (TV show on National Geographic)

[Loki]

Surprised there hasn't been any comment on the Doomsday Preppers show, so figured I'd start a thread. I don't have TV, but as far as I can tell it's been running on a cable channel (Nat Geo) for a month or so. I've watched 3 episodes on Youtube.

The show's getting some pretty harsh responses on other preparedness forums, but I have to say I really like it. I have some quibbles, of course. I particularly don't like that the producers pushed the participants to pretend they're prepping for a single event (EMP, New Madrid earthquake, etc.), but that's a minor part of the show.

I've been impressed with most of the participants' preps so far, makes me want to step my own activities up a notch.

More broadly speaking it seems to be an indicator of the uneasiness of our times. Enough of the public is worried enough about our future that the television world figures it can make a buck from peddling doom porn. Which is fine with me, I like doom porn

[Shaved Monkey]

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/vid ... -suburbia/
just saw this one about aquaponics looks great

[vtsnowedin]

Remember how shows like "Flip this house" sprang up all over the airwaves just prior to the housing crash. If the Hollywood producer types have found doomer preps maybe the time is short!

[SeaGypsy]

Aquaponics looks like being the way of the world in about 100 years, if any of our species are left. Seems to be the only developing agriculture system with closed loop potential and mass application possibility.

[Beery1]

I think the obvious problem with the video in the link is that this nutter has created an aquaponics garden in an area that is a desert. If there's any leakage of water after 'the apocalypse', this family is destined to starve to death. I wonder how much water this supposedly self-contained garden needs every day. Plus, he talks about eating "tilapia lasagna, tilapia tacos" - where is he growing the wheat? I don't see any. It seems what he has there is a fish and salad garden that needs a lot of support from the outside.

In short, like many doomsday nuts, this guy is simply playing at 'Post-Apocalypse Life' like kids play at 'Cowboys and Indians'. That's fine - at least he's not enlisting followers with the idea of mass suicide on December 21st, 2012.

[basil_hayden]

8) Remember how shows like "Flip this house" sprang up all over the airwaves just prior to the housing crash. If the Hollywood producer types have found doomer preps maybe the time is short!

I was thinking just the opposite - if Doom's on TV, it's already jumped the shark, hence doom is a long way off.

I fell asleep during the first episode, haven't caught any more episodes.

[vision-master]

Doom - promoted by TPTB to spread fear and keep us operating within a low vibrational frequency (dumbed down).

[Loki]

there are boards talking about lots of what we talked about back when and they aren't any people there poking fun at them for being doomers.
a-new-attitude-at-peakoil-com-t64305-45.html

Your statement in the "New Attitude" thread about the Planning forum makes even more sense now....

Anyhoo, re. the aquaponics set up, I thought that was quite clever. It's about folks doing what they can with what they've got, not being 100% self-sufficient off the grid for eternity.

[careinke]

Well, I watched the one with the aquaponics, and thought it was a great show. Sure they were not perfect, but who is. They are certainly farther ahead than the other 99% of the population, and probably 85% of this board.

The guy with the aquaponics system is producing a great deal of food on a very small space. I mean he is producing eggs, meat, vegetables, fish food, and chicken food in his back yard! He is also addressing his water problem with a future rain catchment system, that properly managed, may meet his needs. If not, he has a buffer that gives him time to expand the collection system while everyone else is dying off.

I really liked the guy who converted the old pickup to run on wood gas and act as a power generator as needed.

It does not take a lot of effort to sit on your butt and criticize other peoples effort. It takes a lot more effort to get off that butt, and actually try and do something. These people should be applauded, not condemned.

I hope they keep putting the shows on You Tube, (don't use cable), there will probably be a lot of good ideas I can borrow.

[pstarr]

Aquaponics looks like being the way of the world in about 100 years, if any of our species are left. Seems to be the only developing agriculture system with closed loop potential and mass application possibility.

Hydroponics driven by solar technology does seem to be an interesting if vulnerable (to pvc-UV, circuitry-dirty power, circuitry-industrial decline, artificial environment-pests/infection) paradigm. I studied Living Machines (see New Alchemy) for my degree and appreciate the spiritual/design challenges of closed systems. but without MASSIVE government intervention (reclaimed ag lands, walkable communities/agriculture interface, mass transit, de-paving, infil redesign) in our dispersed suburban living arrangement there is no way that the 99% will ever feed themselves. not even fractionally

[Fishman]

Wow, I agree with pstarr. But that gov intervention won't happen, and most folks won't do it anyway. They don't perceive the need. And then you get someone discussing "low vibrational frequency" and enlightenment. Most likely damage neurons. In really bad times, fertilizer as their point of "pure consciousness"

[vtsnowedin]

. I studied Living Machines (see New Alchemy) for my degree and appreciate the spiritual/design challenges of closed systems. but without MASSIVE government intervention (reclaimed ag lands, walkable communities/agriculture interface, mass transit, de-paving, infil redesign) in our dispersed suburban living arrangement there is no way that the 99% will ever feed themselves. not even fractionally

Reclaiming ag lands into what?? Parking lots? De-paving ?? into rutted impassable mud whenever it rains. You really think that would actually help? Have to doubt it.

[pstarr]

but the 1% will feed themselves. and us, because;

---they need an intact infrastructure/workers to prepare and deliver their food (that delivery includes systems for transport and processing) and,
--they own the land. all of it, including mortgages on large industrial farms.

They have no desire to see us independent or self-sufficient because that is not their self-interest. that's why we have suburbia. that's how the system is designed.

[pstarr]

the most efficient way to feed us is with low-cost carbohydrates and hydrogenated vegetable oils. they ship/store very well. they render us corpulent, passive, ill and fit to be tied. And scanned. and probed in the most technologically advanced medical system in the entire world.

[pstarr]

. I studied Living Machines (see New Alchemy) for my degree and appreciate the spiritual/design challenges of closed systems. but without MASSIVE government intervention (reclaimed ag lands, walkable communities/agriculture interface, mass transit, de-paving, infil redesign) in our dispersed suburban living arrangement there is no way that the 99% will ever feed themselves. not even fractionally

Reclaiming ag lands into what?? Parking lots? De-paving ?? into rutted impassable mud whenever it rains. You really think that would actually help? Have to doubt it.

you seem to have misinterpreted my comments. What I meant to say is suburban sprawl has virtually always covered the most productive ag lands in the world. that is where people originally settled. these lands need to be reclaimed as ag lands and so roads, driveways, parking lots, strip malls, median strips, lane dividers will eventually be returned to farm, garden, and pasture. right of ways created for trolleys and trains. dispersed, unheatable, unlivable suburban sprawl will be sliced/diced for the new millenium.

[Fishman]

Pstarr, now you went off the deep end. Why is it industrialized farming's fault? Don't most folk choose what they buy at the store? Buy organic, grow your own, what ever. Who's stopping folks but themselves. Organic is expensive, growing your own is hard work. General human nature chooses not to follow that route. I can only assume you recommend subsidized organic. Yes, I would agree we should stop ag subsidies, but expect food, particularly for the poor, to get MUCH more expensive.

[pstarr]

Pstarr, now you went off the deep end. Why is it industrialized farming's fault? Don't most folk choose what they buy at the store? Buy organic, grow your own, what ever. Who's stopping folks but themselves. Organic is expensive, growing your own is hard work. General human nature chooses not to follow that route. I can only assume you recommend subsidized organic. Yes, I would agree we should stop ag subsidies, but expect food, particularly for the poor, to get MUCH more expensive.

We had cheap oil and now we don't. I don't expect folks who are strapped by injustice or bad luck to solve my problems and choose the more environmental "solution." While it's true that organic ag. will always be more benign to wildlife, farm workers, and that is good, industrial organic ag. probably uses as much or more oil than "conventional." It depends on shipping poultry poop from factory farm to field. Plus a lot of organic fast-food yuppie green-washing processed foods are a joke, also.

I guess my latest rant is that agriculture of all kinds is now centralized and industrial, because suburbia has covered up the best local farm lands. And that has benefited the super wealthy.

[SeaGypsy]

I spent a few years living in central Australia, in the desert. The concerns about aquaponic dependence on solar are misconceived. If you have a source of clean groundwater and a header tank, you could conceivably use pedal power to head the tank, if there is no sun or wind or grid power. Also there is merit in choosing an extremely desolate place for a doomstead IMO. If and when it gets to zombie stage, the zombies will be scavenging farmlands first, after they have cleaned out what food remains in suburbia. If you have 100 miles of drylands between you and the nearest agriculture, the chances of surviving past this stage are pretty good IMO.

[vtsnowedin]

If and when it gets to zombie stage, the zombies will be scavenging farmlands first, after they have cleaned out what food remains in suburbia. If you have 100 miles of drylands between you and the nearest agriculture, the chances of surviving past this stage are pretty good IMO.

Good point but will the Zombies know what to do with a grain bin full of wheat of shelled corn? For that matter how many check dependant people out there have any clue about how to take a walking :chicken,pig,cow or sheep from walking ,to their dinner plate? Most people today have never even caught a trout and fried it up.
I expect a lot of senseless violence and death over food while surrounded by plentiful supplies that the people nearby don't recognise as food or know how to eat it.

[Loki]

SeaGypsy, they were actually in suburban Phoenix, but your point is well taken. No idea why they live in Phoenix, presumably because of a job, but like I said, I think they are doing an admirable job of doing what they can with what they have. They moved into a house with an old swimming pool and instead of doing what most folks do in AZ, fill it and go swimming, they created a greenhouse and aquaponics system.

The show has featured a wide range of preppers, from apartment dwelling urbanites to suburbanites to doomsteaders. One of my favs was the "Doris Day of Doom" (there's a Youtube vid by that name)---she's a poster over at Sustainable Country, nice lady.

There are a lot of good ideas in the show, and it's cool to be able to see everyone's preps and different styles of prepping. Hard to get a good idea of what other folks are doing just reading about it on an internet board. Don't agree with everyone's approach (the bomb shelter guy comes to mind), but to each their own.