The Collapse is Here. It's Just Not Evenly Distributed.

There was an interesting story in The Independent a few weeks ago. It quotes a number of climate scientists saying something we've talked about on here pretty frequently over the last couple of years. As Samantha Burgess of the Copernicus Climate Change Service said, "We are seeing the types of events that scientists didn't consider would impact us in 2025 or this decade," but instead was "forecast in climate models for the 2050s, 2060s, and 2070s." So that would be another official announcement.

Those of us who've been paying attention, that's why we started freaking out a little a few years ago. We had a very good reason.

The timetable moved up on us.

By 30-40 years...

That's why so many of us have been so diligently preparing, altering life plans, researching, and trying to form "units of survival."

Imagine going to bed one night and waking up 30 years in the future, except the world hasn't done anything to address the climate crisis on any substantive level. Imagine everyone's distracted by scandals and politics as usual.

That's now.

Another piece in Futurism cites a number of climate scientists telling us the world is heating up faster, with more severe consequences than previous models had anticipated. Since rejoining X a few weeks ago, I've noticed something. Almost everyone who cares about the climate crisis stayed there. That's where the conversation is happening. Elsewhere? It's all about... something else.

And it's not that the Epstein files don't matter. They do. But the Epstein files represent one snapshot of a much darker reality. The billionaires and politicians in those files are the same ones who've been poisoning the planet, not only stealing the lives of girls and young women, but burning the future for everyone.

It's not about fear.

It's validation that if you're alarmed, if you're making big changes to your life, if you're expediting your plans, you're doing the right thing. Intelligence is about adapting to new information and new realities.

On that note...

I'm about to start my training on electrical wiring. I've spent the last couple of days organizing and cleaning out the garage, remnants of my old office and old life that I took with me from my old job. It was finally time to remove them. I also went ahead and applied to a few jobs in my area, ones where the folks assured me that "no experience" was necessary. So, we'll see how it goes. And, of course, I've been reading back through my foraging and growing guides, adding more information.

You know that William Gibson quote:

The future is here; it's just not evenly distributed.

Well, the collapse is here in the same way. It's hitting some of us harder than others. But eventually, it's going to hit us all.

So you're not wrong if you're prepping harder, with what you have. I'm doing the same thing. It's time to let go of our inhibitions.

Strangely enough, now that my family and I are making the big necessary decisions, our anxiety has gone way down. So much of that anxiety circled around a feeling of hesitation and paralysis, of not knowing exactly what to do.

Since my last post, a lot of people have come forward with similar plans. They're signing up to be EMTs, paramedics, electricians, you name it. They're moving forward with plans to grow their own food. They're learning to mend clothes.

They're not waiting anymore.

Once you know what to do, it feels better. Life is still going to be hard and dangerous. But it's going to be a little easier to manage. This kind of prepping, where you build skills and systems, feels way better than the other kind.

It's a good thing.

Survival Illustrated is a reader-supported project. It also receives funding from organizations like the Alfred Kobacker and Elizabeth Trimbach Fund, which focuses on individuals driving meaningful change.