A lot of them aren’t planning for the end of the world, just for “something bad” of indeterminate but finite length that’s longer than a lot of people think reasonable.
It’s a spectrum, with routine “emergency preparedness” on one end, and “self sufficient lifetime bunker filled with reusable water and canned food” on the other.
It’s normal for people to have a flashlight, a few days worth of shelf stable food, a first aid kit and a couple of tarps. It doesn’t even need to be intentional, it’s just normal, but it still forms a basic emergency kit.
A rational response to a normal risk.
A lot of the more extreme peppers who aren’t radical are in more rural areas, where something like a tornado could actually knock out power for a week or more.
A rational response to an uncommon, but real risk.
Others just have a disproportionate estimation if the risk of something like Katrina or the 2003 blackout happening, that can knock utilities out for a protracted period of time, or some esoteric and unlikely beliefs about civil unrest.
A rational response to an uncommon, unlikely risk.
At the far end you have people who want to survive the literal end of the world. I don’t necessarily get why you would want to survive for a bleak and empty life either.
An irrational response to an unprecedented, infinitesimal risk.
I work in emergency management. I’m on the “keep beer in fridge” end of the scale but I know people who bury containers of goods for trade (rimfire for varmint hunting popular for this). It really is a continuum.
Best advice: keep a full tank of gas, food in a chest freezer with ice packs, and 1 gallon of water per person per day. You will be expected to make it for 3 days without assistance. Full marks if you plan for a week which includes a heat source for warmth and cooking.
A lot of them aren’t planning for the end of the world, just for “something bad” of indeterminate but finite length that’s longer than a lot of people think reasonable.
It’s a spectrum, with routine “emergency preparedness” on one end, and “self sufficient lifetime bunker filled with reusable water and canned food” on the other.
It’s normal for people to have a flashlight, a few days worth of shelf stable food, a first aid kit and a couple of tarps. It doesn’t even need to be intentional, it’s just normal, but it still forms a basic emergency kit.
A rational response to a normal risk.
A lot of the more extreme peppers who aren’t radical are in more rural areas, where something like a tornado could actually knock out power for a week or more.
A rational response to an uncommon, but real risk.
Others just have a disproportionate estimation if the risk of something like Katrina or the 2003 blackout happening, that can knock utilities out for a protracted period of time, or some esoteric and unlikely beliefs about civil unrest.
A rational response to an uncommon, unlikely risk.
At the far end you have people who want to survive the literal end of the world. I don’t necessarily get why you would want to survive for a bleak and empty life either.
An irrational response to an unprecedented, infinitesimal risk.
I work in emergency management. I’m on the “keep beer in fridge” end of the scale but I know people who bury containers of goods for trade (rimfire for varmint hunting popular for this). It really is a continuum.
Best advice: keep a full tank of gas, food in a chest freezer with ice packs, and 1 gallon of water per person per day. You will be expected to make it for 3 days without assistance. Full marks if you plan for a week which includes a heat source for warmth and cooking.
We’re lucky that our go-to emergency kit basically overlaps with our “ugh, I don’t want to cook” stock, and we enjoy camping.
Regularly rotating supply of canned chili ingredients has us covered for food for a while in case if emergency or long day at work.