Learn and develop skilled physical labor.
Posted by weliketoparty23@reddit | collapse | View on Reddit | 44 comments
Guessing most of you here are service or white collar office workers. I've got a pretty strong conviction that when collapse happens, money will be one of the first things to go bust. Think rampant inflation, distrust in fiat, central banks collapsing, social support networks failing, new monetary systems springing up and burning out. It's already been on track to happen in a lot of the developed world for decades, COVID just accelerated it, with climate change about to really exacerbate things.
Economies will collapse. Your current set of skills will no longer be in demand and you're going to need to figure something else out. By far the most important thing you can do right now to prepare to support yourself is learning and developing critical societal skills. Home maintenance and repair, tailoring, hunting, husbandry, auto mechanics, welding and machining, electrical work, logging and milling, something. Become physically strong if you're able. These are the kinds of labor that will be in demand. You can learn a lot of these things at a community college or trade school, or through volunteering in agriculture, construction. Become good friends with your neighbors, especially if they're laborers.
Asking4urFriend@reddit
I lay tile, can build chicken coops, raise hens, landscape, grow food and am learning foraging. I still feel utterly fucked.
Sleeksnail@reddit
Can you build community?
Asking4urFriend@reddit
I actually have a strong lil community... practically family... with my band and cohorts of artists, poets, and musicians... during covid when they all started asking me for garden help, etc. I panicked... cause I can't feed ALL of them (I'm really quite ignorant). And I dont own the land I grow food on. But I've been trying to network with other gardeners, foragers, farmers, and the folks I volunteer with at food bank. They're a lot less drama and a lot more safety. But as a parent I still feel the doe in headlights of impending doom.
Sleeksnail@reddit
That's awesome. So you're figuring out what works to build community and what can get in the way of that.
I've also noticed that it's much easier to build mutual aid networks around food security. Even the apolitical easily recognize its importance.
Asking4urFriend@reddit
Yeah. I was in food not bombs as youth/young parent. I work with more apolitical ones now b/c their hours work better with my schedule.
FYATWB@reddit
Another one of those "I don't understand tipping points" posts.
weliketoparty23@reddit (OP)
Sure I do. I'm just trying to not be one of the billions that dies in the short term. My family already owns and operates farmland in the Great Lakes region and should be fairly resilient to changes in climate, at least for a few decades.
FYATWB@reddit
We're one BoE from your timeline going to literal hell, best of luck though.
LastSoldi3r@reddit
BoE?
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Turbulent_Zebra8862@reddit
Yeah, we should all definitely not try to learn any useful skills to better ourselves our our lives in the short term.
FYATWB@reddit
A lot of people imagine they will use their skills in an apocalyptic scenario to survive. Unless you already have a bunker with a power and oxygen source ready to go, your skills will take you just as far as the first cracked out redneck with a few automatic rifles.
That being said I'm not against people learning new skills to enrich their life experience, but this guy literally just replied with "I don't want to be one of the first few billion to die... my brother... by the time that first billion dies the climate will be in such a chaotic state that you are not going to be able to grow food.
Have these people seen what is happening with the jet stream? It has been teetering for years and now we're at the point where one BoE = game over.
This isn't "don't look up" where there's a bit of hopium at the end when the last guy crawls out from under the rubble, there's a reason Trump wants to steal Greenland (lol), the people at the top understand that 95% of the world will be uninhabitable in the near future.
TL;DR: Learn your skills, enjoy your life, but you aren't going to be king of the ashes.
deleted_by_reddit@reddit
[removed]
collapse-ModTeam@reddit
Rule 1: In addition to enforcing Reddit's content policy, we will also remove comments and content that is abusive or predatory in nature. You may attack each other's ideas, not each other.
TentacularSneeze@reddit
There’s king of the ashes, and then there’s surviving just a bit longer. If my skills can make that old jalopy run long enough to escape the first cracked-out redneck and die at the second, all the better.
Turbulent_Zebra8862@reddit
Someone learning some skills to prepare themselves and then dying in a wildfire or something still isn't a net negative, no matter their motivation. We should be encouraging everyone to learn valuable skills to either use or pass on, not doomershitting all over them for even wanting to try.
Airilsai@reddit
Learn how to grow food. That will be one of the most valuable skills possible.
happyladpizza@reddit
yup! and at home dentistry
Turbulent_Zebra8862@reddit
The dental crisis coming for this country scares the shit out of me. We're going to see people dropping like it's the 1800s again.
captaincrunch00@reddit
Can you elaborate? I haven't seen that specific thing on this sub before.
lavapig_love@reddit
The world eat and drinks a lot of stuff that cause cavities, like soda pop. Cavities get bigger and teeth start breaking, finally ripping to shreds and leaving a gaping hole inside a person's mouth. Without regular care and dental replacement, the holes become infected and turn from mild into severe medical problems, eventually resulting in death.
captaincrunch00@reddit
I understand that, and it's the same with obesity. Healthy food is expensive.
I was hoping there was a study or something about a dentist shortage, sudden rise in mouth disease deaths rather than common sense
lavapig_love@reddit
Oh yes, there are. Here's the CDC report on U.S dental health from May 2024.
Here's a DuckDuckGo search linking dental reports from the last five years, including PubMD and the NIH.
Turbulent_Zebra8862@reddit
Just common sense stuff - America has terrible teeth to begin with overall (dental care is expensive, the glut of sugary/carb heavy foods pushed on us fuel cavity-causing bacteria, parents don't always have the clarity of mind to keep their kids' mouths healthy and it affects the rest of their lives, etc) and that mixed with literally any jostle of the supply chain or access to modern dentistry is going to be heinous.
An abscessed tooth is excruciating as is. Having an abscessed tooth pulled by someone who may not be a dentist and may not have access to novocaine or antibiotics to follow up with is an absolute nightmare scenario for a modern person.
99borks@reddit
No thanks. I don't want to live in that world.
I'm not saying you're wrong wanting to struggle on, but as a collapse-aware person, I'm 'out' if and when we get to that point within my lifetime (I'm middle aged).
I'm collapse-aware, but not a survivalist. That's its own thing. When medical services, pharmaceuticals, dentistry, etc are widely unavailable, that's a hellscape that sounds entirely unappealing. I'm not talking temporary/localized loss of those services (in itself a collapse-related issue) but if/when we go into a dark age for those capabilities and they're not coming back, and not able to move to another region is better off.
a_dance_with_fire@reddit
Growing and preserving /storing food
rmannyconda78@reddit
I can grow things even in less than idea conditions, as well as safe and proper home canning. My grandmother has taught me well
Airilsai@reddit
Thats awesome. I am trying to teach myself, first year was the hottest summer on record and a record drought. Hope this year is a little easier.
PaPerm24@reddit
That was my first thought too. Learn permaculture and gain strength by moving dirt/woodchips/compost waste https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdIvK1MzAQWKn8UjEuGBJ4Lhu9svNs1Jc&si=L63Ot1JJ6HsFrhyU
weliketoparty23@reddit (OP)
Yep, that's husbandry
Airilsai@reddit
Its many different life skills. Gardening, husbandry, earthcare, agriculture, horticulture, permaculture. Take your pic, there's so many wonderful opportunities to learn to care for life!
CivetTrivet@reddit
you've all missed one of the most important skills - learn to brew beer or distill whiskey - a perfect trade item - remember that when times are good, people drink; when times are bad, people REALLY drink
BetterFoodNetwork@reddit
Joke's on you. I have rheumatoid arthritis. If society collapses and my medication goes bye-bye, I'm going to off myself ASAP. Have fun in Bartertown, bitches!✌🏻
lavapig_love@reddit
It looks like you made a submission which mentions suicide. We take these posts very seriously as anxiety and depression are common reactions when studying collapse. If you are considering suicide, please call a hotline, visit /r/SuicideWatch, /r/SWResources, /r/depression, or seek professional help. The best way of getting a timely response is through a hotline.
If you're looking for dialogue you may also post in r/collapsesupport. They're a dedicated place for thoughtful discussion with collapse-aware people and how we are coping. They also have a Discord if you are interested in speaking in voice.
You matter. It's important you keep fighting as long as you can. We're with you.
lavapig_love@reddit
>Guessing most of you here are service or white collar office workers.
And you'd be wrong. I have the skillset of both professional white and blue-collar workers. What really matters in our capitalist system is the managerial class and always has. Call them the gold collars, since they control the capital that our system is designed to make the rest of us depend on.
>Home maintenance and repair, tailoring, hunting, husbandry, auto mechanics, welding and machining, electrical work, logging and milling, something.
Two-thirds of this depends on modern machinery that will be rendered less useful and ultimately useless as our fossil fuels dry up. The rest is stuff that will carry on two and three hundred years from now. All of it you'll have to learn, as well as reading, writing, arithmetic, science , arts, customer service, and hand to hand combat.
Ghostwoods@reddit
Don't fret about cars or electrics. Farming is good, but it's very reliant on stable weather.
Learn how to brew booze, how to use local supplies to treat injuries and ailments, how to cobble together a primitive battery and lightbulb from scavenged scrap, and how to tell a good story.
memmolemmo@reddit
The above are all going to be useless areas to specialize in during collapse unless you learn how these fields worked pre-industrial revolution. Good luck operating machinery with no power and no industrial capacity to produce replaceable parts.
TentacularSneeze@reddit
Mechanic and machinist here. There are many people today who can’t even put the spare tire on their car or check their oil. I’m pretty sure my skills will apply after collapse, even without gasoline or electricity.
weliketoparty23@reddit (OP)
What gives you that impression? Do you really think people are going to not develop the required renewable/off-grid power systems for highly important infrastructure like machine shops, auto shops, sawmills, etc. in order to maintain some kind of local industrial capability in the face of collapse? It'd be stupid to not to. Excepting maybe another Carrington event, collapse isn't happening overnight; people (us) are going to prepare for it, and people are ingenius. Engineers will be directing communities. Honestly the biggest challenge I see is the huge fuel requirements for modern farming equipment.
memmolemmo@reddit
Approximately 91% of the energy sources in the US came from non-renewable sources in 2023. How are you going to set up any sort of localized "off grid" power infrastructure knowing this fact? If the ability for a society to generate and maintain power infra for industry is still available, then it's hard to call it "collapse".
I don't think you've thought through your homesteading fantasy all that well.
weliketoparty23@reddit (OP)
Right, and look at just how much total energy that is and to what sectors/industries it goes. The majority of it is just transportation and electricity generation. Even within industry most energy consumption is for chemical plants and oil refineries I'm pretty sure. None of that is sustainable. I'm not at all supposing that we'll be able to maintain any modicum of the industrial/logistical/power networks we currently have—rather, things will have to trend toward massive deglobalization and depopulation of cities. The example critical infrastructure I'm talking about you could power with like a couple small wind turbines or a few acres of solar panels for a single community (I'm thinking <10k pop). You don't even need 24/7 uptime. It's not unfathomable, and I genuinely believe this is the direction things will go in as people increasingly realize we're screwed and attempt to brace for impact. Not every community can/will be saved though, so climate migration will be an issue.
RacousHurricane@reddit
You first need to survive the depopulation, disease and famine part, friend.
Exiled_to_Earth@reddit
This is one of the reasons I won't survive collapse actually! I know people like to disparage the world mankind has built in the modern era but I would be dead in any other time and place. The weak, the sick, the disabled, and the old will all be left to rot once again on a global scale.
Now, I understand that these people are suffering even in first world countries right now, but in nearly every collapse scenario, they will always be worse off than they are now. I'll die as soon as my big pharma meds stop coming and I can no longer contribute intellectually because there is no way possible for me to do so physically. Good luck to the survivors!
individual_328@reddit
aka Hollywood inspired prepping