[Artemisia] Side Discussion - was SCA Skills in a Modern Plague

Mon Sep 20 10:45:36 CDT 2010

So this brings up a corollary discussion on the same subject.  Is anyone
else watching "The Colony" on Discovery hannel this season?  Tuesday
nights at 8pm/11pm MST.  

This season is survival based following a post-viral disaster.  They
dropped totally unrelated people in a section of the Katrina disaster
area with "what was left there" and the skills and what they could
individually carry. Only canal water (which was later poisoned in a
rainstorm from runoff so they lost it), and the bayous nearby. They are
also having to do viral protocols to prevent infection from a "viral
outbreak". It's been interesting. Especially interactions with other
groups, people, and sanitation.   

While I think the people involved are concentrating too much on modern
thinking (they want their resources and amenities..they want their
coffee and canned goods, and electricity) they are doing OK. But, they
literally had to start with what they could find and build up from
there. 

Their biggest thing that's kicking their butts and something that would
play into the scenario Alan brought up....SECURITY and DEFENSE.  If you
have something, people are going to try and take it because they don't
have it. And the producers of the Colony have added scavengers and
extortionists hitting the project regularly to test them and their
psychological state. 

Just having resources is one thing...keeping them another. 
Something to add to the discussion. 

Juliana

-----Original Message-----
From: artemisia-bounces at lists.gallowglass.org
[mailto:artemisia-bounces at lists.gallowglass.org] On Behalf Of Allen Hall
Sent: Friday, September 17, 2010 10:59 PM
To: Kingdom of Artemisia mailing list
Subject: Re: [Artemisia] A New Discussion - SCA Skills in a Modern
Plague

Padruig,

Very thoughtful reply, and overall, pretty on-line.  Thanks for taking
the time to share your thoughts.

To all, so now, what things grow in "your area"?  Do you have any
experience in gardening?  What skills can you share?  Do you have the
tools to garden, how could you make them?

I know we have folks on this list who are quite expert in animal
husbandry.  What breed of sheep is best for wool?  Who can tell us about
going from "sheep to shawl"?  What's the best chickens...with
broodiness?

Who knows how to drive a team, and has the harness to plow, plant, and
harvest?  Or even the "stuff" to do it by hand.  How do you make sure it
gets water in our arid mountain climate?

I expect with all the people that sew, keeping clothed won't be too
difficult, but how about shoes?

Herbalists...what herbs, etc would you grow for such a time?

Thanks to all for sharing their thoughts and skills!

Alan

> To: artemisia at lists.gallowglass.org
> Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:36:39 -0400
> From: rayzentz at aim.com
> Subject: Re: [Artemisia] A New Discussion - SCA Skills in a Modern
Plague
> 
> 
> This is something my wife and I have discussed, and part of the reason
we are doing our Yurt project.
> 
> Plague, disease, flu, weather, loss of oil, whatever. Our civilization
depends on infrastructure. If we lose 40 - 50 %, or more, of our
population, even temporarily, because of illness, everything will come
to a screeching halt. People who are otherwise healthy will stay home,
to avoid catching something, making the civil shutdown even more severe.
We have seen inklings of this already, with bird flu, swine flu, and
SARs scares.
> 
> The first thing that will happen, in my opinion, is that
transportation will stop. Dead. Planes, trains, and automobiles, and
especially trucks, will effectively stop. Stores will empty in a day, or
two, three at the most, and people will be left to survive on what they
have on hand. That is the wrong time to prepare for such a thing.
> 
> There is a big buzz toward having 72 hour emergency kits. Those are
great, if you are involved in a localized emergency, but we are talking
about a general, national or worldwide disaster here, and that piddly
little 72 hour kit will merely prolong the misery for some, by a few
days.
> 
> Most people are simply unprepared for such an event as you describe.
Our society as we know it will end, and we will have a major die off,
not due to any disease itself, but the resultant starvation that will
occur.
> 
> There will be three types of people in this situation. 
> 
> 1) the desperate mob, who will be seeking food, fuel, and other
necessities of life, and won't care what they have to do to get them.
These people will become embroiled in a great deal of desparate
violence, for a time, anyway. The more vicious people will prey on the
weaker, will survive, and we could see a repeat of what happened in
Northern Europe when the Romans left, and the supply ships and caravans
ended. One difference is that at least most people then had least some
idea of how to farm, primitive as it may have been. Most people today
don't even have that little bit of knowledge.
> 
> 2) the survivalist types, who will boogie off into the wilderness, and
just stay away from anyone, assuming that anyone they encounter, at
least at the beginning stages of this kind of collapse, would be after
their stuff and supplies. And of course, they would be absolutely
correct. Those types will be as far away from population centers as
possible, and will likely have a tendancy to be a bit trigger happy,
also being violent. there also are not very many of these.
> 
> Then there will be others who have prepared, and will band together
for mutual support and protection. I have a feeling that many SCAdians
will be of this type. There are skills that can be shared, and taught,
that will be essential in this type of collapse. However, even most of
these will be unprepared for the almost immediate lack of availability
of foodstuffs. Those who have stockpiled large amounts of food storage
will be important to know in this time   ;-)
> 
> Some of the difficulty will also depend on the time of year such a
meltdown occurs. if it is in early spring, the food situation may be
solved by harvest, if there are those who have gardening skills and seed
stocks, of which there may be quite a few, and if they managed to avoid
or defend themselves from the desperate horde from earlier in the
collapse. After several months, though, many of them will be dead, the
population will be MUCH smaller, and the food that grows will be much
more likely to be sufficient for the survivors.
> 
> If the collapse comes in the autumn... well, very few will make it to
the next possibility for a harvest.
> 
> My suggestion is this, and this is what we are involved in doing.
Stockpile basic supplies... those necessary for life. Learn how to live
without everything else. Along with foodstuffs, and clothing supplies,
and shelter, obtain and learn how to use defensive weapons and skills.
One will most likely need those often in the earlier days. Be prepared
to leave, at a moments notice. Have prepared arrangements, in advance,
with like minded people, who are also prepared, and be ready to band
together, wherever it may be necessary. Of course in order to do this,
one must have extra fuel available at all times. Keep your vehicles
fully fueled at all times. If the power goes, gas pumps will not work
> 
> Allegretza's e-mail byline amuses me, but she is right. "If you
prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse, everything else is taken care of."
> 
> Picture the worst case scenario you can possible imagine, and prepare
for all of the situations and extrapolations that may occur under that
scenario. Perhaps the Disaster never occurs, and you prepared for
nothing. Gosh, how awful. You are overprepared.
> 
> Just because you are paranoid, doesn't mean the world isn't really out
to get you...
> 
> It is my opinion that one can NEVER be overprepared...
> 
> Padruig
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dr. Raymond Zentz
>  
> It is better to die a free man, than to live, a slave.
> 
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