Survive- The Economic Collapse
Page 30
To complement the bibliography and links you find in the appendices, a good source of information is the site of the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, whose address is www.eceee.org.
*
Pierre has installed his SAB in the Jura mountains.
He bought an old 9,000-square-meter farmstead with its own spring. The farm is kept by a friend of Pierre’s, Lucas, who lives there full time. Lucas is a veteran of the French foreign legion and has a passion for the six horses he is raising. He also manages the defense of the farm. It seems he has “kept” a fair amount of equipment from his time at the legion base in the south of France. Around the farm, there is a 1,000-square-foot garden, a chicken coop, and several Icelandic sheep (which are good at enduring the winter cold). Pierre and Lucas have stocked enough food to feed 10 adults for a year. They have reached an agreement with two other friends—Yassine, who is a doctor, and Marc, who is a mechanic—whereby these two and their families will join them in a crisis. So that the SAB can have energy autonomy, photovoltaic solar panels have been installed to generate 40 kWh. But this will not be enough for complete autonomy. Thanks to the help and counsel of a Canadian specialist, the heating-oil system has been replaced by a cogeneration boiler with wood heating (pellets and shavings) as its principal source, as well as a miniature hydroelectric turbine (5 kWh) at the spring. As a result, the boiler works on wood (easily available in the region), hydroelectricity and solar power, furnishing at once heating, hot water, and electricity. The SAB is at 800 meters above sea level, and Pierre insulated his farmhouse so it’s nice and warm during the winter months.
*
Pavel has installed a large SAB in the eastern Ukrainian steppe close to Lugansk.
Since he has made a fortune in the computer business, he is able to spend whatever it takes to make everything perfect. He has bought immense grounds and employed two farming families to take care of the fields, cattle, and horses. He has laid in a great stock of diesel fuel to make the heating work, as well as electrical generators and agricultural machines. He has several fresh-water wells from which he pumps water with the help of energy generated by a large wind turbine. Surplus electricity, to which one may add the energy produced by photovoltaic solar panels, helps bring in enough kilowatts for the main house. But the farmers’ houses are not autonomous for the moment. To heat all of them, Pavel has installed a system of wells, supplemented by a classic fuel-burning heater. Each house is also equipped with an old-fashioned stove in which wood or coal can be burned. In case of emergency, Pavel thinks he and his family will be energy-independent and that his SAB will be in good shape, no matter what happens.
*
Let’s get back to Henry, still with his grandfather’s M1 rifle. He was able to escape the city through the subway. He was frightened amid the darkness and the rats, but he pulled through. For a week he has been feeding himself with soft drinks and chocolate bars he got from a machine he broke open. He’s tired but has to keep going. He hiked into the country without any precise goal, avoiding the congested highways which seem to be at the mercy of bands of looters. From a distance he has witness scenes of unheard-of violence... Yesterday he came to a farm where they greeted him in. This farm, a great place, is kept by a community of old hippies and their children. They have everything they need: water, solar panels for heating and electricity, a large garden, goats—the works. They welcomed 20 or so people, all in pretty good shape before the crisis, judging by the cars parked outside in the lot. The leader and patriarch of the community explains to Henry that the place is organized like a commune: everyone works together and shares the fruits of their work—organic food and the rest. He explains that violence does not solve anything, and that the mind is more powerful than weapons. If he wants to stay, he must get rid of his rifle. Henry says he will think about it. After a night’s rest—and after devouring a large plate of vegetables and salad—Henry decides to leave.
Just in time. The next day, the farm is stormed and occupied by a motorcycle gang. All the inhabitants are tortured and then killed, the women raped and enslaved, the stocks looted, and the farm eventually burned down before the gang decided to leave for another target.
Point 5: Knowledge
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berber proverb
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laozi
philosopher
//6th century bce//
The global economy has collapsed, the world has descended into bloodshed and fire, and you, your family, and, perhaps, your friends’ families have taken shelter in your SAB: you have abundant water and food, you are taking good care of your garden and livestock, and you have a fairly good supply of medications. You also have hot water and electricity. You now have a lot of free time. But you can’t get in the car and go to the movies, or vacation on the Côte d’Azur, or fly away for “spring break,” or go party on Mykonos or Cancun! What are you going to do with your time? What knowledge will you start to develop now for the day when you will be in your SAB? Besides, what trade can be useful to you in this kind of future?
There are three categories to consider:
PROFESSIONS—the know-how you will need—and which you must be able to teach and transmit to others.
CULTURE—the essential cultural heritage, which is the basis of your identity, which can be taught, and which stimulates you intellectually.
ENTERTAINMENT—game activities necessary to avoid boredom and keep your family and comrades from killing each other!
Knowledge is the fifth fundamental principle of an SAB.
Professions
By now you have a good idea of the skills required in your SAB: botany, herbalism, gardening, cabinet making, carpentry, shoemaking, mechanics, emergency medicine, etc. If these are important to acquire quickly, at least at a basic level, it would be useful to divide their study among the members of your SAB in order to obtain specialists in each. Some of these abilities will be tomorrow’s best professions; they can become your profession starting today.
In any case, if your SAB project is serious, you must now begin preparing yourself and developing a hobby which can become your profession. One might imagine that, in a family, the husband can become a woodworker and the wife, a gardener (or vice versa). The children, too, in accordance with their age and strength, can contribute, learning (as a form of play or amusement) how to take care of little animals (rabbits, chickens, etc.) or performing simple tasks (collecting wood or dead leaves, removing snow, etc.). Be careful not to make such tasks too dull for children (or for yourself!). The aim should be to learn while playing, so why not make a fun family activity of it? It beats playing video games!
Be careful not to attribute too much importance to technology or gadgets. Among my clients, I have persons who eagerly equip themselves with everything that can make their lives easier: chainsaws and many other rechargeable electrical devices, 4x4s, tractors with massive stocks of fuel, all kinds of firearms. They stock everything necessary for a rural operating room, installing wind turbines, solar panels with batteries and alternators... but they never have the time to learn to use them. (Having a chainsaw is fine, but have you ever cut down a tree!?) Dependence on technology can play tricks on you: what will you do if your wind turbine breaks down? How do you repair an alternator? How do you use all the tools you have bought?
When I began my preparations, I often injured myself, especially the first time I used an axe. It was easy for me to run to the medical center down the street to be disinfected and have my finger stitched by a professional physician. It is better to have these experiences now, and not when you might be isolated or alone in your SAB. The same goes for a generator or a car that breaks down. As the American survivalist James Rawles says: “Skills beat gadgets, practicality beats style, and if your hands are not callous, it is because you don’t work hard enough.”
In practice, this means tha
t right now, you can begin to learn one or more professions besides the one you have now. To get started, why not consider some of the trades that existed in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, and see what suits you? There is no sense forcing yourself to do something you hate. Try out several activities to find out which give you the most satisfaction. Perhaps you will even rediscover one of the professions you dreamed of pursuing as a child, before the economic machine forced you to choose a more remunerative career.
Culture
We must also choose which pieces of culture we want to take with us: which books, which artworks, what music, what movies we want to keep and transmit. The idea is to imagine that you are like Noah with his ark, but instead of preserving animal species, you must choose which cultural products you want to safeguard: if literature is your passion, fill boxes with books and create for yourself a good library; if you are a music fiend, furnish your SAB with the music you love; if you collect stamps or Lego, take your collections with you.
Thanks to electronic support, it is easy and cheap to digitize a huge amount of material; but this poses the question of whether such support will last, and whether computers will be able to read the data over the long term. I would advise a mix of support systems and multiple electronic copies, which you should renew regularly. Consider putting your hard disks and computers in a metallic cage (a Faraday cage) in order to protect them from electromagnetic impulses of solar or other origin.
But do not only consider what pleases you. Reflect on what defines your culture. If, for example, you think, like General de Gaulle, that France can be defined as “a European people of the white race, Greco-Latin in civilization and Christian in religion,” take with you the New Testament and the great Classics (Homer, Plato, Socrates, Seneca, etc.). Think what it means to be, say, an American, a Brit, a Scot, an Australian, an Israeli, a Swede, etc., and consider storing in your SAB what you believe to be the key founding cultural texts, books, songs, movies, music, etc. of your culture. If you think that a culture is defined by its history, and this history in relation to that of the world, take loads of history books concerning the cultures of the world and ethnography. Or do both: it’s up to you.
To cite my own modest example, I took a large number of history books (as that is my passion), a lot of French, Swiss, Italian, American, Russian, and German literature classics, and added to them a good number of dictionaries and foreign-language manuals (German, Russian, Chinese—you never know who will inva. . . er . . . save you. . .), scholarly manuals for grammar, mathematics, physics. I hope to transmit the maximum amount of knowledge to my children, beginning with reading, writing, math, and physics. Finally, I took care to take books with the foundational stories of Western civilization: Greek, Egyptian, Celtic, and Nordic mythology, as well as more recent and regional stories and legends (from Iceland to Central Africa, including those of the Geneva region).
You will understand that learning about a culture is much more than a pastime. Knowledge and wisdom will help you, your SAB, and your extended community distinguish truth from error and make good collective choices. Literacy, general education, learning math and physics are all basic for not plunging into barbarism or regressing too far into “pre-literacy,” which, in my opinion, would mark the end of humanity. I believe it is our responsibility as heirs to some of the most glorious and advanced cultures and civilizations in history, to preserve them and act as witnesses for this knowledge, wisdom, and experience. I hope that the world of tomorrow might arise from the ashes better, stronger, and wiser.
Entertainment
Since there is more to life than reading Plato or Nietzsche, you should also give some time over to amusements. Long winter evenings can be dull if you have nothing with which to entertain yourself. What you choose to put in your SAB will depend on your tastes and areas of interest. For some, it will be still more reading: adventure stories, romance, fantasy, or detective fiction. For others it will be music: classical, jazz, rock, etc., stored in CD format, digitized on your computer, or on vinyl. Be sure to have enough energy for your stereo or portable music player. For others, entertainment will be synonymous with board games, cards, puzzles, etc. I think that, since it is possible to become bored with one’s fondest passions, it is good to mix and match somewhat, and take various things with you. I encourage board games and cards, because they allow a change of social roles, which serves as an escape valve for the frustrations inevitable in a family or community. Role-playing can also be useful to this end.
The important thing is to take with you some of your passions and some of the luxury you used to enjoy. This will serve both as a connection to today’s world and as a bridge to help you build the new one.
*
Oliver has transformed his villa into an SAB.
He likes to say he has “bunkerized” it. His villa is a house in a nice residential suburb. It is situated on the top of a small hill and is the last house on his street. There is a large lake three miles away, a sizeable river a thousand feet away, and a forest with considerable game on the other side of the hill. His wife loves to garden, and they have worked for several years on a small garden of 1,500 square feet. They also grow mushrooms (champignons de Paris) in their basement. They have stocked six months worth of food and various supplies that could be useful in an emergency. Now that the crisis has come, they remain at home. Oliver is a former drill instructor, and he was able to keep a few firearms—assault rifles, sniper rifles, pistols—and several thousand rounds of ammunition. His wife Simonetta, a secretary in normal times, trains dogs for a hobby, and they now have several very good guard dogs. As soon as the riots began, they took in Simonetta’s parents, Oliver’s mother, father, and sister, and their respective spouses. Space is tight inside; but since they expanded the garden, they do have enough food. Oliver quickly contacted all his neighbors and took note of who was armed. He organized 20 panicked persons into a disciplined militia and rapidly taught them the concepts of an SAB. He helped them create vegetable gardens and store their food. He organized guard shifts and established a roadblock at the end of the street. Simonetta also helped train local dogs as guard dogs. With their knowledge and know-how, they have transformed their SAB: from just one villa, an autonomous community has emerged.
Point 6: Defense
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publius flavius vegetius
_de re militari
/5th century ce /
<
napoléon bonaparte
warrior & emperor
//1769-1821//
<
george s. patton
warrior
//1885-1945//
<
thomas jefferson
land owner, philosopher, politician
//1743-1826//
<
michel audiard
filmmaker
//1920-1985//
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Here you are, ready for anything. You’ve got your drinking water. Your garden, which you have developed with great care and devotion, is finally productive. You’ve stocked a lot of food and acquired useful know-how that lets you work under all sorts of circumstances. You have installed a well-equipped SAB, sustainable in every way including electrical energy and heating. You are happy and satisfied with the result of so much labor.
Soon others will know about it. Soon other people, those taken by surprise, who did not prepare, who lost everything, who have nothing left to lose, those without any scruples and who are capable of anything . . . well, suffice it to say, some people will think that it’d be much easier to take your SAB (eliminating you and your family in the process) rather than work hard for survival.
With this in mind, the sixth
fundamental principle of an SAB has to be defense.
This is the great problem with the “back to the earth” agrarian communities that have come into fashion over the years. These communities are founded on philosophies close to those of the Pennsylvania Amish, who chose to live in the United States, a new promised land, solely with the tools and know-how that existed in the 18th century. True, in the event of a crisis, these groups can live very well off their extremely productive organic agriculture, and they have no need for electricity and mechanization. Yet they will not last long—being unarmed, non-violent, and pacifist, in the face of the violent armed gangs that will specialize in pillaging. These gangs, motorized with stolen gas, will carry out raids ever deeper into the countryside and with violence not so different from the Einsatzgruppen of the eastern front. Before these desperate criminals die of hunger or attrition, or are neutralized by honest citizens, they will cause great damage, destruction, and suffering.
Might you be their next target?
Yes, especially if you are not ready.
Since the beginning of time, human beings have had to protect themselves from wild animals, harsh weather, and enemies. Man possesses survival instincts and self-protective reflexes, and his need for security, as we have mentioned, is the second level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The need for security is primordial for man, and he tries to protect himself, those dear to him, and his property from any danger of death, damage, or theft. In the case of an emergency or serious economic collapse, this need will quickly become an imperative. Limits imposed by law will quickly give way to the law of the strongest, the most cunning, or the most ruthless. You must do everything possible not to become a victim. It is not enough to surround your property with barbed wire and arm yourself with an old rifle in order to feel secure. You must take important measures to be able to assume as effective a defense as possible, whatever scenario occurs. We are going to try to become invincible!