The End of Prepping: When Does Collapse Become Impossible to Survive?

Prepping has gone mainstream.

It feels like everyone’s into prepping now, and I get it. Prepping is good for you. It’s even better to prep for others—whether it’s a community or just your family. But part of prepping means answering an essential question.

When does prepping end?

In my book, prepping means a lot more than just gathering supplies and packing a bugout bag. It means more than growing your own food or learning how to use a police scanner. It means more than rain harvesters and dew catchers. All of this falls into the category of necessary and beneficial.

It’s still not sufficient.

It’s not enough.

So, I’m prefacing this article. I’m into prepping. But if you’re going to prep, you also need a clear head about the future. That means reading the grimmest climate studies and understanding the future.

I mean really understanding it.

Over the last few years, more climate scientists and more studies have made it clear that we’re going to see 2C or even 3C of global warming by the 2050s. The original climate models we were fed ten or 20 years ago were overly optimistic and wildly inaccurate. In fact, according to one model, my daughter could see 4C of warming on this planet before she’s old enough to retire (by today’s standards). And yet, it’s still hard to envision.

It’s still fuzzy.