How Could We Prepare to Face Total Climate Collapse?

Is there anything that we can do?

When a family sets out to prepare for a disaster, there is always the idea that it will be possible to come out the other side.

Before an economic collapse, one could buy some gold. The usual beans and bullets, plus the gold, might get you through.

In the case of nuclear war, a shelter, beans and bullets, perhaps even a way for you to grow food in your basement, might be just the thing.

The same would be true for societal collapse. All these collapse scenarios leave the silver lining intact.

There lies the rub, a world still exists after the collapse. What about climate collapse?

Let’s look at what the science says about this scenario. First and foremost it is important to consider the melting of the arctic ice. Why? Well, if the arctic melts, especially the ice on Greenland, sea level would be as high as it was during the time of the dinosaurs. That would leave millions, perhaps more, without a home. People would then have to migrate to higher ground, and they would. What then? Well, think of the Syrian refugees and use your imagination. Any time there have been masses on the move, the record has been abysmal. War, famine, disease and lots of suffering.

The arctic is very important, the canary in the coalmine, as scientist have called it. The shit that is frozen there really needs to stay frozen. Mother earth has a system for storing the earth’s waste. Billions of tons of greenhouse gases are stored in deep freezers under the ocean and in the permafrost on land. It’s earths way. Melt that and all that gas, methane and carbon dioxide, is released into the atmosphere. We would feel the warming effects on earth in just a few years what would normally take millions of years to accomplish. Nothing would be able to adapt, including us.

If we think a hurricane is bad now, think hurricanes on steroids, everywhere. Systems are becoming more violent according to the latest understanding. The more the water melts in the arctic, the less salty the ocean becomes. This, in addition to the warming of the ocean’s water, causes the currents to slow to a crawl. Heck, it’s possible for the currents to stop altogether. When this happens, and it is happening, weather patterns stay in an area way longer. If that weather is dumping rain or baking the ground, well, you get the picture. Japan knows all to well about what it’s like when a heatwave stalls over an area. India and Africa have experienced the same with rainfall.

It is not about how well we will be able to outsmart what’s going on. Sure we could perhaps outfit all humans with some kind of cooling vest. Will we also figure out how to outfit every plant and animal? What about bees? Can you see them with their tiny little vests doing their important work of pollinating the plants? If the bees go, and the butterflies, and every other pollinator, will we set up a system where humans, with their Q-tips, pollinate every blossom? That’s just silly.

The bees are dying, right now. Heck, it’s been estimated that over 100–200 species of insects, plants, and animals go extinct every day. The earth now hosts only 1 percent of all the once known lifeforms that ever lived. One. That’s still a lot of critters but some scientist say that we are nearing a critically low number.

It really is all about habitat. We, together with all other forms of life, need a place to grow and multiply. We need a food source. We need a place to shelter in, a place to sleep. These are needs, as opposed to wants. We may want the new iPhone but we need fertile soil. We may want to go on a cruise but we need the temperature outside to be cool enough to be able to work that soil.

No doubt engineers will be able to figure out how to build bio-domes and other science fictiony habitats for us. Wait, 7.6 billion people. That’s a lot of domes. If they do I know that I am not important enough to warrant a place in one of these “habitats”. These will be reserved for the brain trust folks, and the very rich.

When grains cannot be produced to scale, millions will die. Grocery stores will go extinct. For a time people will set up gardens on the tops of every highrise. Because most people live in cities, every available space will be used for gardening. Huge indoor grow operations are going up in places like New York city as we speak. Try to imagine all the farm fields that exist now as barren stretches of blowing sand. Now imagine how many indoor grow operations would be needed to replace the farms worldwide.

In addition, the world is already experiencing a water crisis. The fresh melt water that flows from the Himalayas supplies over a billion people with their water needs. It has been said that the water coming from “the third pole” is more finite than what was first thought. Faster melt is actually worse because this water cannot be stored at the volume that would be necessary for the future. Once it flows into the ocean, it is gone. Furthermore, because it is too warm to refreeze on the mountain peaks and in the arctic, it is left to wreak havoc as it falls as torrential rain, only to flow, evaporate and pour down once again.

There is no coming out the other side of total climate collapse. We have this one life and much of it will be a struggle. How much of a struggle we have some control over. Many are “prepping” with this in mind. Gone are the days of prepping for survival. Now we must prep to keep ourselves comfortable until we too are claimed by the climate gods. I, for one, am preparing so that I can keep the suffering to a minimum for my family. I certainly do not want to look back and wish that I had done something more.

My prepping is a lot like hospice. Hospice is set up to maximize comfort and when suffering reaches an intolerable level, the e-kit or hospice comfort pack is used. My “kit” is not to alleviate pain however. My kit is to end it. This is not the time nor the place for me to get into the how, but the why is important.

I sometimes imagine myself slowly becoming paralyzed. The paralysis of my musings starts at my feet and slowly ascends. If I wait until I can no longer communicate my desires, I am now completely trapped. In my minds worst case scenario, I imagine seeing horrible suffering on the horizon. I have done all this prepping to buy some time. I need time to gather everyone dear to me. I need some time to set up my plan. That is what the beans and bullets will do for me.

When the perfect time presents itself, I want to drink the elixir of death holding the hand of my loved ones, perhaps by the light of a bonfire during a beautiful evening, or perhaps lying on a bed of leaves next to someone I love, staring up at the clouds in the sky. Or maybe…I have lots of these. Death always follows life, there is no escaping that. How we prepare for our own death is up to each one of us.

Buddhist Reflections on Death by V.F. Gunaratna says, “Thus it will be seen that mindfulness of death not only purifies and refines the mind but also has the effect of robbing death of its fears and terrors, and helps one at that solemn moment when he is gasping for his last breath, to face that situation with fortitude and calm. He is never unnerved at the thought of death but is always prepared for it.

When that time comes, I hope I will be able to say, “O death, where is thy sting?”

***T. A. Fave lives in North Central Wisconsin and besides writing, enjoys working on her small permaculture homestead. She and her family raise their own food and endeavor to live a very low carbon lifestyle. She is a defender of Earth and a fighter of Climate Change. You may contact her on Twitter at @432frequency or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/tooshay2018