Several people mentioned chickens but I think bees are also a good choice, especially if you are growing food. Honey is already an expensive item, and I feel like you could barter with it pretty easily since everyone else will have chickens. Sweet treats during a depression are hard to come by.
Community is definitely the correct answer. Realistically, the end of the world won’t be the end of the world forever. Get to know your neighbors and diversify what you can provide based on what they can provide. If they’ve got chickens, focus on something else you can provide, like veggies or woodworking. Rugged individualism isn’t all it’s cut out to be.
This is also good advice for non-end of the world stuff. Maybe a tornado leaves you without power for a week. Interconnected communities recover faster.
Wish I could upvote this five times.
OP, you have an emergency management agency of some kind for your area. They will have all kinds of info on how to prepare for any disaster (and they even know what kinds of disasters are most likely to affect your area).
If you’re in the US, try Google county name and emergency management agency or state name emergency management agency. Follow their socials! Check out their webpages! And please please sign up for whatever alerting/notification system they use to update residents on ongoing/evolving events.
I’ll also add about the radiation thing - the vast majority of the radiation from a nuclear explosion will be gone in just a few days. Even if you’re close enough to be affected, staying indoors (turn off air conditioning/heating though) and on the lowest floor possible of the building you’re in will protect you from most of the actual radiation. Again, the big issue is breathing it so sealing windows if you’re able could also help.
Media definitely overestimates the area of effect and timeline of destruction. Make sure you get a crank radio (they usually also double as flashlights and can charge your phone) and info will flow about response, even if it flows slowly and clunky at first. The good news is this applies to other disasters that are far far more likely to affect you, like severe winter weather, hurricanes, or wildfires.
I just live the little mohawk
Woah, hey now. I doubt she’s got the depth or the warmth to be called that!
That’s enough Internet for me today, thanks!
Chevy S-10. I think a 1999? Around that anyway.
Still miss that little truck. The clutch had two positions - on and off. It was a pain to drive but once I learned on it I could drive anything.
I still drive stick today.
I was wondering how far I’d have to scroll to find a The Good Place reference. Thank you for your contribution.
This is probably the “right” answer if you are morally bothered by your job but not able to just quit. That and continuing to look for something else in the meantime.
Congratulations! I hope your new job is rewarding and long lasting!
This is so real. I generally find my job morally commendable (I work in emergency management) but even working around disasters there’s improvements to be made (ugh, the recovery process! Definitely entrenched in a very biased, racist, system!) There is no morally perfect job you can land that avoids those deeper systemic issues.
As a government worker, I will say there’s a lot more than just teaching that’s morally filling work. A ton of government jobs are directly tied to keeping the public safe. Food inspectors, doctors, researchers, firefighters, even grant writers. It’s not all cops and politicians.
After college I worked a project management job for a while before going to grad school. I didn’t find it morally questionable, but I definitely found myself feeling like I was just working to make some rich guy richer. It didn’t help that the rich guy(s) (the owner and his son in law who was out CEO) worked in the same building. So I went back to school. Got my master’s. Ended up doing some contract work for the same company afterwards. Never felt more stuck in my life. Hated it. Did more grad school and when the contract work dried up I got asked to come work for another company but I still hated the bs corporate vibe, so instead I went from billing $80/hr to making $15/hr as a 911 dispatcher. Graduated and stayed in that field. I’m an emergency management professional now and while it’s not a lucrative field (thankfully I don’t want kids) I get a lot of satisfaction out of the work and I feel like my job matters.
Long story short, you choose what to prioritize in life. For some people making sure you/your family is well cared for will matter more than what you’re doing or who you’re doing it for. For others, you’ll take a pay cut to feel like the work itself matters or that you’re making a positive impact. Everyone has to balance what’s important to them.
OP, If morally aligning with your job matters to you, you’ll ultimately land somewhere you can stomach at least, because you won’t stop trying until you get there. Don’t blame yourself for having to do other work along the way to keep yourself fed and able to enjoy the ride there.
For some people it’s take that job or starve. It’s nice that you live somewhere that gives you options but for a lot of people the only places hiring are morally questionable.
Sort of. I’m a gov worker (non fed) and mine is a joke. 1% of salary per year of service. Not very significant. The old scheme was 2.5, I think, and before that it was 30 years to full salary. I still work with people on that old one, and they’re about at the full 30. In a generation it’s gone from a nice retirement to being more like a supplement. We do pay into SS now though so I guess that’s meant to replace it.
Hahaha I grew up in a very conservative house in the South. Most of what I said before college was embarrassing.
I’m better now.
Must be why she’s so good at it!
Oh wow, to be jump scared by the Destiel fanfic writer I’m obsessed with (the stories not the person lol) in the wild.
Northern Sparrow is an amazing writer and talks often about bird physiology in her fics!
I started learning violin almost 3 years ago. I take lessons. I still suck a lot but I keep going because I do enjoy learning, even if it’s often frustrating. I have absolutely no musical background and was actively encouraged not to pursue an instrument when I was young because of the expense, so I guess it’s also a way to reclaim my childhood.