Point of views on the new president of the United States.

[fomenter]

group survival and solo survival  are the primary difference, he thought he had enough food with him (stored up) to make the transition to living off the land  and it proved harder and he was far less prepared than he thought he was, the same transition will be difficult (not as easy as it seems ) for groups in a city, the advantage of the group is its ability to share resources and the work load to necessary to exploit resources.

water in a city environment is the big concern, but after a time (sooner than you might expect)  all the food stores in the city are going to be gone and the same transition to providing your own comes up, i feel less prepared for it than i should.. 

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I'll take survival with a small group over independent or urban survival any day of the week. Also, if one doesn't have some sort of training in some kind of weapon, why the fuck not?! Barring the fact that an urban disaster would likely lead to situations where personal safety might be threatened... what the heck are people gonna do to get food?

Raiding the grocery store only works for so long...

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

It depends.

Urban farming can only provide so much food, and not enough to support the full population of a city. Unless there were a lot of deaths to thin out the population, growing and protecting food in the city could be really difficult. Transitioning *everyone* to urban farming would be a challenge, and it would  take at least a year. For a while, until chicken, rabbit, and guinea pig populations increased enough for everyone to have a breeding colony, you could supplement your food stores with squirrels, pigeons, rats, and cats. Of course, I'm picturing Pacific North West cities here... I forget that a lot of cities don't HAVE the greenspace and large yards we have here. Those areas would be fucked... you'd have to leave the city to survive long-term.

Heating in winter would be a huge problem. Even if every household had a wood stove, there isn't enough wood in the city to keep them all burning for one winter. At least the new wood stoves don't pollute very much, but that much carbon monoxide can't be good. Basically, even here, long-term urban survival could only work if the population was dramatically reduced, either through plague or evacuation.

But if you're just talking about making it through a few months of upheaval following a natural disaster, with adequate preparation you should be able to do it, unless the natural disaster takes the form of fire of flood, in which case you're hosed.

The main issue is always going to be water. I have two 50-gallon rainbarrels and 7 gallons of drinking water, but that's only enough for about three weeks, for all five of us, and less if I help neighbors.

[Elder Iptuous]

lookie here.
i think i might get a couple of these for fun:
http://www.waterbob.com
turn your extra bathtub into a hygienic water storage in emergencies.  kinda like the wine in a box deal....

Also.  I love how a thread on Obama has morphed into the Crazy Prepared thread! 
It makes me laugh.

Also, also.  all the suckers that said Obama isn't going to push the gun control thing can suck it.  His new AG is already pushing reinstating the AWB in the media.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

It depends.

Urban farming can only provide so much food, and not enough to support the full population of a city. Unless there were a lot of deaths to thin out the population, growing and protecting food in the city could be really difficult. Transitioning *everyone* to urban farming would be a challenge, and it would  take at least a year. For a while, until chicken, rabbit, and guinea pig populations increased enough for everyone to have a breeding colony, you could supplement your food stores with squirrels, pigeons, rats, and cats. Of course, I'm picturing Pacific North West cities here... I forget that a lot of cities don't HAVE the greenspace and large yards we have here. Those areas would be fucked... you'd have to leave the city to survive long-term.

Heating in winter would be a huge problem. Even if every household had a wood stove, there isn't enough wood in the city to keep them all burning for one winter. At least the new wood stoves don't pollute very much, but that much carbon monoxide can't be good. Basically, even here, long-term urban survival could only work if the population was dramatically reduced, either through plague or evacuation.

But if you're just talking about making it through a few months of upheaval following a natural disaster, with adequate preparation you should be able to do it, unless the natural disaster takes the form of fire of flood, in which case you're hosed.

The main issue is always going to be water. I have two 50-gallon rainbarrels and 7 gallons of drinking water, but that's only enough for about three weeks, for all five of us, and less if I help neighbors.

I agree. The cats/squirrels/rats etc are the reason I said people need to learn to use some sort of weapon... or at least how to make a snare/trap.

A few months maybe, depends on the kind of disaster, I don't even want to think about a serious for serious volcano disaster... I don't think anyone is prepared for that sort of shit.

Taking some time to learn the basic edible plants in the area, how to catch some local fauna and how to COOK should be basics that smart people have covered, just in case.... its not like you have to spend 30 years and pretend to be Grilled Bear Bear Gills.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

A good air rifle is perfectly adequate for small game hunting, plus cheap and legal, and you can easily buy enough BBs and pellets to last decades for next to nothing.

Technically, it's illegal to fire an air rifle in the city, but a few summers ago when Portland had a bad rat problem me and my friend Gwyn would sit out on her back porch sipping tea and shooting rats with our BB guns. Good times.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

A good air rifle is perfectly adequate for small game hunting, plus cheap and legal, and you can easily buy enough BBs and pellets to last decades for next to nothing.

Technically, it's illegal to fire an air rifle in the city, but a few summers ago when Portland had a bad rat problem me and my friend Gwyn would sit out on her back porch sipping tea and shooting rats with our BB guns. Good times.

Yes... Of course, a good slingshot works fine too

I accidentally whacked a rabbit two summers ago with a sling. I intended to scare him away from the garden, but shot him in the brain and killed him instantly.

kosmik~smock had the poor thing cleaned and in the fridge in about 15 mins. Roast Rabbit in Ale was yummy.

[Requia ☣]

The seagulls here are dumb as rocks, could live off them for a year before they stopped walking right up to me to grab a piece of bait.

Also, also.  all the suckers that said Obama isn't going to push the gun control thing can suck it.  His new AG is already pushing reinstating the AWB in the media.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

If everything collapses, I plan to only live long enough to dance on civilization's festering corpse, eat a few senators, and go out like Wes in Road Warrior.

Survival skills < Lulz.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

<-- will cook senators.


(also eat)

fight ya for the hams

[Thurnez Isa]

rob a beer store
then sell the beer for worthless, worthless money

[The Good Reverend Roger]

<-- will cook senators.


(also eat)

fight ya for the hams

Yours.

TGRR,
Dibs on their heads.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

The seagulls here are dumb as rocks, could live off them for a year before they stopped walking right up to me to grab a piece of bait.

Just be forewarned,  they taste TERRIBLE.

[fomenter]

senators or seagulls?

[Vene]

senators or seagulls?

Mmmm, seagulls with senator gravy.