Peak Oil is You
Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)
Page added on January 25, 2018
Would Rural Areas Be Safer In A SHTF Situation?
In a situation where national infrastructure and life sustaining resources are suddenly cut off , population density will have a lot to do with how well you get by in the days following the crisis. When it happens, what you have on hand will likely be all you have to work with for an extended time. Those that lack supplies will seek out and take what they need in an increasingly hostile manner as time goes on. This is why being in a large city will likely be hazardous to your well being.
Very few will argue that being in a rural area when something catastrophic happens will greatly increase your chances of survival. A lower population density and more available natural resources to help you get by will make long term survival much easier. This is why so many people advocate heading for a rural area when something happens. The problem is unless you are already established in a rural area, survival will not necessarily be easier.
Leaving the city when supplies and infrastructure are shut down would work only up to a point. Rural areas are like anywhere else. They have infrastructure designed to service a certain number of people that normally live there. The housing, restaurants, roadways, water systems and grocery stores will only handle a small excess of people even in the best of times. When the city dwellers suddenly evacuate to the rural areas in mass, they will simply be taking many of their big city problems with them. They will likely find no housing, food supplies or other infrastructure they need to live.
Because of this many small towns will likely close their roads at some point and prevent entry to anyone who does not live there. They will suddenly realize their already finite resources will not be enough for themselves much less thousands of new people. This realization will likely come only after they have been inundated with strangers demanding supplies and housing. It is for this reason that rural dwellers should hope cities are locked down fairly quickly to prevent people from leaving.
When Henry Kaiser built a new shipyard in Richmond, Ca. in the 1940’s the town was suddenly overwhelmed with new workers. People lived in shoddy trailers they towed in, some slept in boarding houses in shifts and the schools ran three shifts a day. Eventually they built the new infrastructure they needed and life went on but this only happened because they were living in normal times when everything was working properly. Imagine an influx of people into a small town when supplies are already limited and likely to get worse as time goes on.
That is why it is essential that you establish yourself in a rural area before something happens. Simply hoping to show up following an event is no plan and will likely cause resentment by the locals when supplies run low.
Rural areas offer the opportunity to be much more self reliant than city spaces. This is the reason rural areas offer people a better chance to survive something like a grid down scenario. This is only true until the carrying capacity of the rural area is breached. That is when the city problems become rural problems. Simply moving a mass of unprepared people to another area with even less infrastructure will not solve the problem, it will only change the surroundings and create other problems.
There is an old saying that you never eat your seed stock. Self sufficient people know this because if they eat their seeds or butcher their breeding stock they will not have anything to raise the following year which will lead to eventual starvation or loss of future income. To an unprepared person that thinks food is produced in a factory, preserving seed stock makes no sense when they are hungry right now. They do not care about next year, they only care about today which is why they got into their situation in the first place. This is the type of situation that can doom a society if they lose the ability to produce future crops, even on a small scale.
Will rural areas be safer in a SHTF situation? Only if they can maintain order and protect the resources they have to insure long term sustainability of the community. Most communities are not prepared for this type of situation and will need a steep learning curve if they are to survive it. Many will likely not survive it.
Modern farming communities do not have the infrastructure to maintain themselves like many once did. Factory farming has moved much of the local production to central locations around the nation and few farmers produce their own seed locally. These and other modern systems will make it difficult for many farm communities to even care for their own much less thousands of new arrivals.
The only communities that are likely to survive in tact are the ones that are mostly self sufficient already and have a plan to maintain production and protect themselves from looters and overcrowding. Simply running to a rural area in a time of crisis is no cure all. Wherever you are, the key to survival will be advance preparation and a good plan.
142 Comments on "Would Rural Areas Be Safer In A SHTF Situation?"
MASTERMIND on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 5:32 pm
Davy
Empty link? I have no idea what that even means? You are not even making sense anymore. The worlds largest bank isn’t credible enough for a farmer in Missouri now? someone who posts zero hedge stories all the time! LOL
MASTERMIND on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 5:35 pm
Davy
Are you to scared to clink on a link from the world bank now? Its show the US and Wold GDP per capita! Which matches the number I quoted. Which you tried to disputing without even looking at the data.
MASTERMIND on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 5:37 pm
Davy
WTF do you think a link to world bank is going to show you? Lesbian porn?
Mad Kat on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 5:51 pm
“Your overpopulated island must have food imports or you will have riots.” Again, Davy, you are are blowing smoke out of your ass. Prove one point in your bullshit rant with references. The Ps exports about as much food as it imports.
You say you import only luxury seasonal foods. Well, they fill your belly don’t they? And how would you live without them if you had to go to totally seasonal foods grown locally? Do you know how to can or dry them? Do you have a root cellar for them? Do you know how to butcher and smoke meats? Do you even have the materials to do so or a book on how-to? I doubt it. Few, if any Americans do or will. Those are long forgotten skills in America but common here. Not that a country of about 7,600 islands (WIKI) with a year round growing season needs them often. No winter here.
You are the one with the food problem when the SHTF, not me. How much of your food preps are canned/packaged/processed foods from the factories? Most, I bet. Mine are fruit and nut trees, planted crops that can be harvested year round, chickens, and a fishing port in walking distance with useful trade goods for when money fails. You are the one living on the edge, Davy, not me.
Davy on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 5:55 pm
mad kat, the P’s are a net food importer. We have done this drill numerous times with links. Get over it. The US is the largest exporter of food in the world. Give it a rest. Your stupid overpopulated island is irrelevant. You make the place out to be like a world power. Stop polluting the board with nonsense.
Mad Kat on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 5:56 pm
MM, Davy doesn’t like anything that points out the shithole America is becoming. Even facts from the World Bank that the US controls. The US has been in a depression since at least 2007 covered up with huge debt gains and printing trillions in faux dollars. A 3rd world country.
Mad Kat on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 5:57 pm
Davy, prove it with creditable references or shut the fuck up.
Davy on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 6:03 pm
please, mad kat, like I care. The subject is old news and obviously has you upset. lol
Mad Kat on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 6:05 pm
BTW: Davy, I do not “make the place out to be like a world power” That is YOUR assertion because you have no facts to dispute what I say. I only point out that it is a better place to live than the American gulag.
“Stop polluting the board with nonsense.” And, might I add, stop protecting/supporting your child killing, plundering, murdering country. It is a, what does your prez call a 3rd world country? Oh yah! “Shithole” LMAO
Mad Kat on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 6:08 pm
BTW Davy, you are the one who started this so I am just debating your bullshit. I’m not upset. I’m just correcting your ignorance. Your posts are laughable, not stressful from my point of view. Entertainment from a 1%er clown who is delusional.
Davy on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 6:14 pm
mad kat, you are going to have a stroke calm down. You peddle agenda and I shoot it down. Sorry if that is painful.
Mad Kat on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 6:21 pm
Davy, what is the age thingy? I’m fine. I laugh at you. I do NOT get stressed out. My use of ‘shut the fuck up’ was to get your predicted Pavlovian reaction, not a stress indicator on my part, but on yours.
You are the one with problems. I’m the one who is comfortably situated with no real concerns other then the possibility of your prez pushing that YUGE red button. I am hoping he is not that stupid. I am not afraid of death. I just don’t want to see the whole world go down.
Mad Kat on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 6:23 pm
“Under the cover of the pre-Winter Olympics thaw between North and South Korea and the momentary lull in the “fire and fury” rhetoric from the Trump White House, there are growing signs that the Pentagon and the CIA are pressing ahead with preparations for a preemptive war against North Korea, including the use of nuclear weapons.”
https://www.globalresearch.ca/will-there-be-a-us-nuclear-sneak-attack-on-north-korea/5627356
“The administration and the Pentagon have also recently issued a National Security Strategy and a National Defense Strategy, which spell out a fundamental shift in US strategy, replacing the two-decade-old “global war on terror” with the preparation for “great power” conflict and world war, in which an emphasis is placed on the buildup of Washington’s nuclear arsenal.”
Nuff said.
MASTERMIND on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 6:29 pm
Madkat
Lets not hope its a nuclear winter Olympics! LOL
Davy on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 6:30 pm
“Davy, what is the age thingy? I’m fine. I laugh at you. I do NOT get stressed out. My use of ‘shut the fuck up’ was to get your predicted Pavlovian reaction, not a stress indicator on my part, but on yours.”
You are not right mad kat, why are you not at the fantasy farm yet? In December you were all talk about it. Last I heard trucks were bringing 100tons of material. See, you say its done then it isn’t. Something is wrong in your head mad kat.
“I am not afraid of death.”
Sure you are mad kat. You are always bragging about how long you are going to live. People who are afraid of death do these things. You just don’t see it because you are too stuck on yourself.
“ I just don’t want to see the whole world go down.”
Liar, you don’t want to die alone. You want everyone to go down with you.
MASTERMIND on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 6:31 pm
Madkat
I truly believe if the US can’t lead the world they will take everyone down with them. Misery loves company! That is why I am skeptical about China ever leading! You have to admit the US is very selfish!
Davy on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 6:31 pm
mad kat, global research is for nutters.
Mad Kat on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 6:58 pm
MM. we agree. I am not sure about China yet, but it is the best game in town at the present. I wish them luck. Xi seems to be a good leader for China as Putin is for Russia. As for the US clown…we shall see.
Mad Kat on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 7:00 pm
Delusional Davy needs to take his meds. His rants are getting ridiculous. He loves to make up shit about other people, but never looks in the mirror.
GregT on Fri, 26th Jan 2018 11:55 pm
“mad kat, global research is for nutters.”
There is one obvious ‘nutter’ on this board, and that ‘nutter’ would be you. You’ve been stocking, attacking, and pricking BillT, on an almost daily basis for over four years now, and it hasn’t made one iota of difference.
Give it a fucking rest already.
MASTERMIND on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 12:10 am
Greg
How is the home made organic kool aid coming? When society collapses are you and your community going to run around naked outside like wild engines? LOL
GregT on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 12:19 am
I’m not up on your lingo MM.
We don’t make organic ‘kool aid’, and nobody that I am aware of runs around naked like wild engines. Whatever that means.
MASTERMIND on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 12:21 am
Nobel Prize-winning Economist Robert Shiller, The stock market today is similar to the market in 1928
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/robert-shiller-stock-market-today-similar-stock-market-1928-204253341.html?utm_content=bufferc6431&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
MASTERMIND on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 12:27 am
Greg
Are you scared of a lot of things? Is that why you bugged out? See the reason why I can’t reason with you about why prepping is futile. Is “Sunk Cost Fallacy”.
You have invested far too much into your prepper village with your koombaya neighbors to ever admit you made an error in reasoning. See you got so focused on saving yourself and your wife..You never thought to consider all the others who didnt prepare and were not blessed with the foresight as you…
GregT on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 12:34 am
“Nobel Prize-winning Economist”?
That would be the most stupid thing that you’ve said yet MM.
GregT on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 12:38 am
MM,
You are clearly far more than just a few bricks short of a load.
MASTERMIND on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 12:45 am
Greg.. Yes they give Nobel prizes every year in economics! You half wit!
THIS IS ICE!
https://i.imgur.com/JKMxkJy.gifv
MASTERMIND on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 12:52 am
Greg
Look its you! LOL
https://i.redd.it/dljqrzfvxfc01.jpg
Your double think is straight out of 1984
Mad Kat on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 1:18 am
Greg, MM is losing it. He seems rational at times and then slips into his immature, irrational persona. Split personality?
Mad Kat on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 1:25 am
Davy, I am not afraid of death. It could have happened several times in my life, but I am still here. You just do not understand that, at some age it is not important. If you have had a good life, it is not important if today is your last. You know that when it happens, you will not even know. Just … blank.
My mom told me on a number of occasions, years before she passed, that she didn’t care if she went tomorrow. She had had a good life and was ready. She passed just short of her 90th birthday. Quick and painless, with her family around her. I have known a number if older folks and most have indicated the same, including my dad who passed at 88. You will not understand until you reach that age, if you do.
Don’t pretend to know something that you do not know. It makes you look stupid. But then, you do it all the time. lol
MASTERMIND on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 2:53 am
Madkat
An honest man is always a child.
-Socrates
Mad Kat on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 3:05 am
Bullshit MM! Where did you pull that out of? And who claims he said it? Proof.
But the assertion is pure bullshit even if he did. Admitted, few people are honest these days but there was time when it was common.
A short quote out of context is a lack of intelligence. Do your own thinking, if you can. Maybe you are a bot?
Davy on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 5:08 am
“There is one obvious ‘nutter’ on this board, and that ‘nutter’ would be you. You’ve been stocking, attacking, and pricking BillT, on an almost daily basis for over four years now, and it hasn’t made one iota of difference. Give it a fucking rest already.”
BillT’s days are numbered as are yours. I can see you petering out. Your anti-American message is dying on the vine greggieT. You are not here enough to make a difference anymore. It is amazing how much nicer the board is without your stalking and pricking BS. This board is finally moderating and stalking pricking extremist like you and BillyT are almost gone. If BillyT ever gets to his jungle old folks home we won’t hear much from him anymore.
Mad Kat on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 5:16 am
Davy, ALL of our days are numbered. Some less than others but they don’t know it yet. Age is not a prognostication of how many are left. I could be killed by a 16 wheeler tomorrow or live another 20 years. Ditto for you. That is, if you stay out of crowds and away from high hotels. Dangerous places in the US these days. lol
BTW: What “message” besides flag waving bullshit do you present? Answer: NONE! Just immature, arrogant bullshit. A 1%er wannabee that is stuck in a dying, chaotic, immoral, drugged up country.
I keep telling you that some of my posts have already come from that “jungle old folks home”. I will be here until the internet goes down permanently or the site closes. Sorry to burst your dream bubble. The internet is everywhere in the Ps and connecting only costs $20 per month. LMAO
Mad Kat on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 5:21 am
Just for you, Davy…
“The Opioid Epidemic in America – Killing One Million Workers: The Triumph of Capital”
“The ‘prescription opioid epidemic’ is ravaging American families, neighborhoods, communities, cities and states – shredding the entire fabric of US society,…Official government studies estimate almost 700,000 deaths since 1999…Between 1999-2014 pharmaceutical manufacturers were earning $10 billion dollars each year in profits from the sale and distribution of opiates….”
https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-opioid-epidemic-in-america-killing-one-million-workers-the-triumph-of-capital/5627300
“The deterioration of working conditions is accompanied by a marked decline in social conditions: family, neighborhood and community life has been torn asunder. Anxiety and insecurity are rampant among workers and employees. In real terms, life expectancy in the affected areas has dropped. Youth and worker suicides are skyrocketing. Maternal and child mortality are up. American youth are 70% more likely to die before adulthood than their counterparts in other rich countries. In 2016, death rates for millennials (ages 25-34) rose to 129/100,000, with 35/100,000 deaths due to narcotic overdose. The carnage surpasses the height of the US AIDS epidemic in the 1980’s. Rural and small town child protective services are well beyond the breaking point with the neglected and orphaned children of addicts. Neonatal intensive care units are overwhelmed by the number of infants born into life threatening acute opiate withdrawal crises due to their mothers’ addiction. Despite this grim picture, taxes for the rich are being slashed and public services decimated.”
And on and on in the slide to 3rd world America, or worse.
Davy on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 5:56 am
The “Sunk Cost Fallacy” does not apply well to legitimate dooming and prepping. We have dealt with people here for years who try to discredit legitimate preppers. We know right away these people have no preps and have not gone through the stages of grief that come from the realization we are all naked to a collapse. Instead these people trumpet how screwed everyone is and mock those who do organize and practice basic human survival risk management. Cognitive dissonance for their laziness shows when they want to avoid the tough journey by just telling themselves and others it doesn’t matter we are screwed anyway. Yea, we are all screwed maybe tomorrow but we live today.
For many of us this is a way of life and a rewarding life. There is a silent group of them who visit this forum. I see them come and go with a word here and there. I keep track of them because when they speak they give me support in a little way that I am not alone. This life is not for everyone because serious preppers are most likely semi-retired types who have some investments to allow a transition to an alternative lifestyle. It takes time and money to transition and you must collapse in place so to speak so expect to be materially less affluent but overall a more affluent wellbeing of a mix of spiritual and the physical. It is the balance of the two that gives true contentment that comes from meaning.
Many of us are at least in the vicinity of the final stage of grief which is acceptance. It is a surreal experience and a difficult one because society wants to suck you back into its insanity of a failed social narrative of unlimited growth and prosperity for those who succeed at its game. The acknowledgment of a collapse process is for everyone because this is ultimately about attitude. We are all going to die and like our own personal death civilization will die. It is the mission of myself and others to explore that process. Even those who can’t use civilization to leave it physically can do it mentally. There are basic preps and alternative behaviors that anyone can do.
My life is so much more interesting now that I have embraced this way of life. I also feel much more honest and prepared to die. I don’t expect to be much better long term than others around me if a crash is really bad. You learn this from a legitimate dooming and prepping process. I know my odds are better but that is about it. Just like gambling it is luck and skill. If this collapse process is a long emergency then I will prosper and others will fail. I am living now how we will need to live later.
It is appearing more and more likely this is a collapse process that is a long emergency. Just 3 years ago I felt differently. To caveat the belief our society may be in a long emergency I would say sudden collapse is more likely now than ever. This sudden collapse though is more likely in locations and not the whole but the whole could just as easily collapse. Collapse is likely now a long emergency with the sudden failure of failing states and regions. It will be destabilizing climate and declining ecosystems with localized failure. Techno development will likely continue along with failing infrastructure but in aggregate this is a process of macro decline and decay. It will be both with networks and infrastructure.
We right now we appear to be on an undulating plateau of both growth and decline meaning both can be argued by the binary minds of the world. Overall much of the growth is malinvestment of both development and behaviors. Well rounded individuals see both decline and growth but also see the end game because this is natural law of a cyclical planetary system that human civilization is a subset of. The real power is not human intelligence driven development but natural law. Follow natural law and it will support you. Follow civilization’s narrative and die.
Davy on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 5:59 am
“Greg, MM is losing it. He seems rational at times and then slips into his immature, irrational persona. Split personality?”
billyT, lookie how you change when your boyfriend comes online. Go get a room we get tired of your online romance.
Davy on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 6:02 am
“Admitted, few people are honest these days but there was time when it was common.”
Then you admit your assertion you have a refuge and everyone else is screwed is dishonest. Your overpopulated Island in food overshoot is also in the crosshairs of natural disasters and climate change and is one of the worst possible place to be.
Davy on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 6:06 am
“Davy, I am not afraid of death”
Sure you are billyT and the reason this is obvious is you are constantly talking about how long you are going to live. You then try to tell others how short their miserable lives are going to be because they are not like you. You are a FRAUD and in denial of death as well as a horrible personality of hate peddling and personal vengeance.
Davy on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 6:12 am
“Just for you, Davy…”
Yea, and the reason I neuter you with moderation daily. You have regurgitated that same point mad kat 100 times. It is a sign you have no real message other than a pressured proselytizing of anti-American hate. The world is going through a drug crisis in many places. The US has always had a drug and alcohol crisis and the numbers are not much worse than a few years ago but the hype is. Your P’s has a problem with methamphetamines and the reason your crazy leader is killing people in the street without a judicial process or rehab. You are FRAUD billyT.
Cloggie on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 7:13 am
Greg, MM is losing it.
You can’t lose what you don’t have.
MASTERMIND on Sat, 27th Jan 2018 10:09 am
Clogg
And what you don’t have is any evidence of the success of rewenables or major new oil discoveries to disprove peak oil..