Economic Collapse

The Current Situation

1 Consumerism – a higher standard of living Unsustainable, The Diderot Effect – Why we want things we don’t need and Planned Obsolescence – Products are made to fail and break
2 Urbanisation – lost skills, just in time logistics, oil based
3 Overpopulation – need to industrialise food supply
4 Factory Farming – Disease incubators risks,
5 Economics – globalisation means everything is inter dependent
6 Energy – based on finite resources
7 Multinationals – Oligopolies, shareholder comes first,
8 Superbugs – antibiotic over-usage
9 Superweeds – herbicides resistance develops, sperm counts drop
10 Superfungus – antifungal resistance develops, like Wheat rust
11 Monoculture – biodiversity is better, not enough genetic variation
12 Nutrient Deficient Food – More calories but less nutrients, all breadth and no depth
13 Soil erosion – Less nutrients in soil
14 Climate Change – Heat & Droughts increasing and dropping of food production
15 Water shortages – availability of fresh water reducing
16 Aquifers – are being depleted, they are not renewable
17 Overfishing – fish farming, rising ocean temperatures
18 Land overuse – forests being depleted and conversion to farmland
19 Honey Bees – populations being depleted by pesticides

Solutions –

  • grow your own food,
  • reuse and
  • repurpose manufactured goods,
  • make things last longer

When it happens it will happen quickly, no one will see it coming.

  • Banks will close or restrict the cash you can withdraw (like Greece in 2015) from ATMs.
  • Demand for food, petrol, medicine would outstrip supply.
  • If local and state governments are effected this could stop the supply of communications (internet), water and electricity.
  • There will not be a smart phone app for flushing a toilet, supply of fresh water or call for help for your normal requirements.
  • People would panic and revert to survival and self defence modes. Forming close-knit communities.
  • The economy would revert to black market and traditional ways like growing food to barter for various services.
  • Inflation and hyperinflation would kick in.

What to do now?

Similar to other disaster events people will get through it by:

  • Using their knowledge
  • Using their skills and experience
  • and helping each other.

Learn some:

  • Farming
  • Cooking
  • or repairing things.

Practice camping and survival skills like:

  • Self Defence
  • foraging for foods that you can live on
  • hunting and trapping – providing no else is doing it as well.
  • starting a fire to cook over
  • finding and purifying water

It will not be comfortable but it will get you through the tough times.