| This is obviously a massive, unanswerable, difficult question. (It's also a great question, in my opinion!) I'll just throw some thoughts out there, from my US-centric point of view: The way I think about climate change and collapse is that, at least in the near-term, doesn't look like The Day After Tomorrow. It looks like more blackouts, more storms, bigger wildfires, more potholes in the street, higher food prices, etc. A bunch of small things piling up, sometimes slowly and sometimes fast. It looks like trying to convince your grandma not to move back into the house that got flooded in the last storm, or your local hardware store running out of N95s. In the very short term, it seems clear that we're likely to see continued issues with air quality, extreme weather events, and infrastructure issues. Several other people have mentioned getting to know your neighbors, and I think that's an excellent idea (plus it's nice to know your neighbors, climate aside). For myself, I also have a few things I keep around that help me stay relaxed and prepared for temporary lapses in some of the systems we rely upon. Most of this is very basic emergency preparedness stuff and doesn't get close to "prepper" sorts of things: - N95 masks and respirators (were useful in the pandemic, but I originally had them bc of the west coast wildfires... which recently blanketed the entire country in their smoke, so it's not just a west coast thing, really.) - Air purifier, similarly for air quality issues, whether from wildfires or regular ol' pollution. - Several gallons of bottled water and non-perishable snacks, for storms and blackouts. - A few big bags of rice and beans, some canned food. - A toolkit, a bike,... general useful stuff for fixing and repairing stuff for when you can't just order new parts or tools online. - Sizable first-aid kit and basic medications. Having an epi-pen and antibiotics on hand is very valuable, although both are tricky to get hold of. I also think that getting involved in mutual aid and community groups can be really rewarding and give you a sense of what things might look like when the world gets even trickier than it is today. Americans have a lot of end-of-world type fantasies that involve guns, SUVs plowing through crowds of rabble, etc. Those are self-fulfilling fantasies in some ways (if you run around being threatening or violent, you will find yourself surrounded by angry people), but even with those kinds of guys roaming around, the reality of disasters is that they bring people together. My goal is to have people I can rely upon to help me, but also to be over-prepared so that I can support people around me and be an asset to my family and neighborhood. Some links & resources I like: [David Holmgren](https://holmgren.com.au/crash-demand/) and his book RetroSuburbia; [resilience.org](https://www.resilience.org/); [Transition Towns](https://transitionnetwork.org/); Gayle Tverberg's [Our Finite World](https://ourfiniteworld.com/2021/02/03/where-energy-modeling-...) blog. |
I guess for food you can just use it as you go and just refill what you used occasionally and keeping high levels of supply. But for medication I don't see other option than throwing it away when it expires?