There are people doing some very interesting things in the midst of all this doom and gloom with regards to sustainability. Are you familiar with the Eco-Dome Homes/buildings? They are self-sustainable, affordable homes that create their own electricity. I love these homes. You might want to take a look at this: https://calearth.org/building-designs/eco-dome.html
Yes I'm familiar with the Eco-Dome concept, as well as that of the Earthship designs - I find it very interesting, plus I am also skilled enough to construct such things on my own. I have some of my own designs too which I created in CAD a while back... However, being ready for natural calamities, or just living in a balance with nature is the easy part. Because even in the worst of times, natural disasters don't last for long. They actually go just as soon as they came. But what people end up doing to each other slightly before, during, and specially soon after a natural disaster - Is the interesting part... And since man is the most greedy and thus extremely dangerous animal out there, one is forced to look at survival and self-sustainable living from a totally different angle. As the more you'll excel in it, the more you'll be noticed by those who can't master this art... So at best you'll start attracting a lot of leaches who'll become a constant burden upon you (as in people who'll always be asking you for favors in the name of humanity). Think of it as a lifeboat that can safely carry only 10 people, but will get overloaded by a 100+, and this by the way is the best case scenario... But in the worst case however, there will be a very good chance that you'll be invaded by force by those who'll be better armed, and all your resources plus all the hard work you did for years will instantly be pillaged! So that is the actual issue, as surviving any natural calamity isn't too difficult - But coexisting peacefully with the rest of humanity in a challenging situation is... Which is why I am so interested in recording human behavior in such situations. Because just when I think I've figured out everything, in comes the news of someone who did something amazingly daring and selfless! let's now take for example the situation whenever a tornado passes through some area of the United States. On the news I always see people complaining about the looters (who scavenge through other people's belongings in search of riches at such a time). How disgusting we'd all say, right? And the Asian tsunami which devastated an area from Indonesia to the Maldives - We heard reports of a mass rape of over 5,000 women instantly taking place at the coast of Sri Lanka (and this was hours after the disaster, not days, nor weeks, but just after a few hours)... When there was flooding in New Orleans, I myself noticed one thing in particular that I found extremely interesting! Which was the caption under the pictures of that disaster... Many pictures showed people walking in chest deep water while trying to keep afloat with them some bottled water and other food items. Nothing special you'd think, right? Well, I noticed that whenever a group of black people in the picture were doing that, the caption always read: "Neighborhood gangs ravaging through flooded homes and stealing whatever food they can take with them". But when a group of white people were doing the exact same thing, the picture's caption would always say: "Struggling family luckily finds food in the some of the abandoned homes"... Don't know if anybody else noticed this particular thing or not, but that hopelessly stereotypical attitude of all the the international news agencies sure caught my eye! So all this (among other facts) lead me to believe very solidly that other people are our own worst enemies, (not nature). Specially in a challenging situation, where time and other resources are very limited - So that is where we humans (the most technologically advanced species in the known universe) start mercilessly knifing each other without any hesitation whatsoever!!! But then something even more interesting was observed, at the time when a tsunami (cause by an undersea Earthquake) devastated the coastal areas of Japan. I was expecting to see the same regular looting and other stuff which showcased the true ugliness of human nature. However I was truly astonished to learn that in all of Japan, there wasn't a single reported case of looting that day, nor was anyone anywhere mishandled by anyone else in any way... And where other people then come out to profit, and prices for otherwise ordinary commodities shoots up like a rocket - Store owners in all of Japan kept their doors open until their stocks ran out (without taking any break for themselves)! And they actually were giving away everything for free! All this that I am saying here can easily be verified online, I really am not making any of this up... So just when I thought the worst of humanity, in came these interesting stories of extreme velour from Japan! So out of curiosity I Googled up Japanese culture, to see if there was anything special in it that would clearly explain this behavior. A difference in an individual's upbringing perhaps, or something else which would pin point the difference... But I was forced to admit defeat, as at the end of the day they too are ordinary human beings (with more or less the same values as everyone else). But while I was searching, I also found some very interesting World War 2 propaganda as well! In which the Japanese people were shown to be unimaginably cruel, sneaky, and downright evil in every way! So much so that dropping only 2 atomic bombs on them near the end of the war just didn't seem enough of a punishment! Yet the stories from Japan in their recent time of need paint a totally different picture of their culture and how they all get together and work like a well oiled machine under extreme pressure... So I myself don't know exactly what to believe anymore, or how to accurately predict what other people will do in a challenging situation... 8 times out of 10 I still am sure that something bad will happen, which is also why I believe in being safe then sorry, (hence my love for firearms). And so that is why I will protect myself till the last bullet is fired, after which I'll resort to blades, and when they too will become dull, I'll fall back on stocks and stones if I have to, (should the need ever come)! However for now, I feel that more date (about human behavior in challenging situations) needs to be gathered in order to make accurate predictions. Which is why I was so interested in this cyclone. But this storm didn't hit my area - And so I was (once again) unable to record this rare data. Sigh... PS. I'm not crazy, nor secretly hoping for disasters to arrive in my locality, (just so I get to record my precious data)... Yes I may have a very bad case of misanthropy at times, but that doesn't mean I have no value for other people's life... What I mean to say is that since the cyclone would have arrived here anyway, and there wouldn't have been anything we would be able to do about it - Then why not use the opportunity to gather data which will become very useful for the future?! To me it just seemed like a very logical thing to do, (as in the long run it wold have served the greater good)...
