Preparedness for when

greenbee

Not sure the RV would appreciate you having one of those grabbers Mar... could be considered and offensive weapon in the wrong hands

thriftwizard

small folding stool. £7.59

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Small-Folding-Step-Stool-Capacity/dp/B00AQX4SUO/

Can vouch for these - I use one to get my mother in & out of my van! Would also be used to get people in & out of the elevating roof, if anyone ever needed to sleep up there.

grandma247

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I was rather planning on raised beds anyway - but even they will get sodden if this is going to keep happening - and am now looking into covers for them.

Google raised bed hoop house for covering.

moneyistooshorttomention

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

If it is mankind's destiny, to become extinct, in the same way previous species (eg. the dinosaurs) did, should we really be trying to prevent it?

Well - I sit there in total puzzlement at science fiction type scenarios of "We MUST save the Human Race - so we will send off a million of them to settle on another planet" and suchlike. The word "Why?" must be written on huge letters across my face.

There is no reason to preserve the Human Race per se or virtue in it. Our School for Learning (ie Planet Earth) - would be gone as far as we are concerned. But even those of us (like myself) who believe in reincarnation and that we are "at School" whilst we are on Earth are likely to shrug our shoulders about that.

But, having said that on the other hand - most individual people will try and live their own lives out as best as they can and that's understandable and they do have the right to do so. It's one thing if you think your life will be Normal one second and gone (ie snuffed out like a light) literally the next second. Personally, I couldn't give a darn about being Snuffed Out in One Second literally. It wouldn't matter to me one iota if I was getting on with my life as normal one second and realised I had died 5 seconds later. However, I would object strongly to having an interim period of Struggle in between Normal and dead.

I very much doubt any of us fight in order to "keep the Human Race" going. We are just fighting for ourselves personally - and in the process all those little individual fights add up to the Human Race as a whole fighting to keep itself going.

fuddle

I think that's the issue though. Life in this period is about as much ease, comfort and capitalising on anything and everything. Our 'fight' through this life is collectively a very wasteful and self centred one while abusing the resources available.

I don't know anyone who actively 'fights' to keep mankind alive but I'm pleased to say I know a number of people who go about their daily lives trying to lessen their impact on the planet we live on.

Life is much easier and comfortable without a care in the world dontcha think? I am of the thinking that we are more likely to be in a period where all the carefree 'fights' to keep oneself in an acceptable lifestyle is what is happening and not necessarily about collectively keeping the human race going.

Personally I feel 'we' are too bliddy selfish and comfortable to think about survival, let alone mankind.

[Deleted User]

I use similar for reaching up frugalsod. I needed two hands and a shoulder to get my batteries/chargers box down yesterday but only two hands to get it up. Batteries are bloomin heavy but an essential for me at the moment

I have to say that your post resonates greatly with me mitstm. tbh death is not at all scary to me, naturally the method of death is scary, the quicker the better

I was looking at my dehydrated stores yesterday, all dark and cool. Amazingly good condition, all bone dry with good colouring. Just thinking how useful they could be, soaked and cooked on top of one of my outdoor cooking facilities, ozpig or cobb, that and one of my many tins of beans chucked in. Takes up far less room and gets more variety in, even the dehydrated kale looked dark green and dry. Good shtf food and not taking up excess space for the actual hydrated amounts

Dd is naturally very happy to be getting all the shtf excess, big virtual smiles all round. Hope my headtorch comes today, the shed/wooden outbuilding is very dark at the far end. Oh yes and I got in lots of shtf for the birds but there are buzzards over the field and hardly any small birds, also the ground is soft and there are insects. I am getting on an as needed basis next year, takes up far too much room in the shed. I think I am one of those that gets a buzz from buying, even if just bird food

GreyQueen

:T Wise words, fuddle, wise words.

I've often been astonished at the mental disconnection between what so many of us say we believe in, and how we actually live. And I am not pure in this respect, either!

People with children, and thus a very personal stake in the continuation of their personal genetic line via their descendants should, it seems to me, be very much more concerned about the future than the childfree like myself.

Astonishingly, from my point of view, this often seems not be the case. Such as I will give my kids the plastic tat they're campaigning for now, because I love them and want them to be happy (and I want a quiet life) but I'll conveniently not imagine all this in landfill for near-eternity, polluting their future. And my grandkids' future, and so on.

Or, I will walk my child to school, rather than chauffeur them, because we are both able-bodied and there is no reason, other than idleness, not to do so and I care about congestion and air-pollution and not wasting irreplacable natural resources.

I've heard posited the scientific argument that the human race could survive perfectly well with numbers as low as 10,000 'breeding pairs' in the whole world. We have been as few as that in the past. The argument for responsible use of resources isn't the survival of the species per se, it's the survival of us in numbers which would be acceptable to most of us - such as not losing millions of people. Once the population drops below a certain level, you lose the ability to have division of labour and specialisms in trade and advanced mass education, and we slip backwards culturally.

And of having sufficient numbers of us, and sufficient resources, to have something of the nature of an advanced society, rather than live like the bleakest peasant farmers, scrabbling from dawn to dusk and nearly starving several times a year.

moneyistooshorttomention

I think we think a lot along the same lines Kittie.

I wouldn't go so far as to say I don't find the thought of death itself in the slightest bit scary. I've read a LOT of after-life accounts transmitted through to us on This Side one way or another - including seeing a few people (courtesy of YouTube) that have had "near death" experiences and got a negative experience "afterwards".

In the vast vast majority of cases I think people will have the experience you and I expect (ie happy transition and greeting old friends and relatives in beautiful countryside etc etc). I confess to feeling slightly nervous in case my initial experience was of the negative variety (the "Oh heck...summat like this does exist and I've landed up here somehow:eek:"). But I have read/heard enough of these experiences that I've got a SHTF plan for "just in case I took a wrong turning to start with somehow" - that being to ask for Help darn fast from a dead friend/angels/the Universe/etc and expect to be rescued and being pointed towards the right turning (ie the Light) iyswim.

But - yes - the process of dying itself needs to be as quick/painless/trouble-free as possible. There are a LOT of heart attacks in my family and I'm bearing in mind the one about the relative who was out dancing on the dance floor one second and hit the floor dead literally the next second. That will do me....:)

[Deleted User]

I wonder if anyone has actually done research on the optimum number of humans this ecosystem can support that would not only mean survival of the species but also allow a sustainable non subsistence lifestyle and also allow our fellow species to remain with us and not face extinction? I'm aware that there are more humans in existence now than there have ever been before and whilst each one has a right to life and a 'life' I've often wondered of late if some of the problem isn't just sheer weight of numbers in a finite resource situation.

moneyistooshorttomention

Very valid point GQ re optimum population levels for those remaining to have a reasonable Life. It's certainly something that has struck me quite forcibly over the last couple of years that there is very much a Happy Medium size for individual places. Its the Goldilocks Factor - not too big and not too small. With that there is enough variation/facilities and services/chance for specialism/chance to be an "Individual" with own personal tastes, ideas, etc.

Some people might be prepared to accept (maybe even actively apparently relish) a bare subsistence peasant farmer lifestyle. Imo there has be "roses as well as bread" and I would think that's the viewpoint of vast majority of us.