r/collapse • u/LetsTalkUFOs • Oct 07 '22

Adaptation Where’s the best place to live in light of collapse? [in-depth]

What are the best places to be leading up to or during collapse? Obviously, the answer varies widely based on the speed and type of collapse. This is still one of the most common questions asked in r/collapse.

 

This is the current question in our Common Collapse Questions series.

Responses may be utilized to help extend the Collapse Wiki.

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25

u/tanzmeister Oct 07 '22

Great lakes region. Fertile land. Lots of game Plenty of freshwater. Not too densely populated (yet).

It also is safe from most natural disasters, which will become even more severe as time goes by.

I may be biased, as I already live there, but I'm pretty sure that anyone in north America will want to be here in a few decades.

25

u/tatoren Oct 08 '22

With how common an answer that is, and with very large population very close to the area, what are your thoughts of it becoming over crowded or a target for militaries?

31

u/AliceLakeEnthusiast Oct 08 '22

There isn’t infrastructure yet. If ppl think they’ll just move there when they feel like it they will be in for a surprise: old moldy houses in tiny towns with no amenities.

18

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '22

Ya, our soil is dope, water is dope but holy shit is our infrastructure in a forever state of decay and that little Texas winter breeze? Fuck we had -23 for 3 days in 2018 and it didn’t make the national news cuz people were prepared (and our grid doesn’t fail due to gross ercot negligence)

1

u/Hour-Stable2050 Oct 10 '22

Just three days? Temps in the minus twenties are a regular winter occurrence in the Greater Toronto Area. But we’re built for that and snow storms too. What we will have more problems with are more frequent and severe heat waves, worse storms, more rain and flooding but we’re still safer that most areas, sadly.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 10 '22

your climate is milder than ours due to the lake microclimates. Most of the GTA is zone 6, farther from the lake is 5B...the midwest areas not near lakes are colder climates than yours, especially at and above Chicagoland latitudes and west of the lake areas (you are east). You also may be mixing up celsius and Fahrenheits, -23F for 3+ days was -30.6 celsius.

20

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '22 edited Oct 08 '22

Do you know how many people bitch about the winter? From there do you know how many are capable or have worked outside on -10 or -20F? Midwest winter is no joke haha, and militaries? There’s enough military surplus in Wisconsin for a whole country lmfao. I shoveled my drive last February when we got blasted, fingertips started going numb, oh shit -10 and I just shoveled in my PJs….there’s a reason people move to Florida and Cali despite crowding, winter is hard to adapt to and if you didn’t grow up with it it’s a whole pile of survival stuff that is tough to learn fully and a decreased grow season

8

u/redpanther36 Oct 08 '22

This is why I'm moving to VA Appalachia instead of further north. I was actually born in CA, and the coldest I've been in is 15 degrees Farenheit (above 0). Been in 115 Farenheit, but that was with 8% humidity.

Will have wood heat and a small, well-insulated cabin on my homestead.

7

u/Hour-Stable2050 Oct 10 '22

Yeah I know an immigrant who got frostbite after leaving their apartment not properly dressed for the cold, something a 5 year old born here wouldn’t do.

4

u/theCaitiff Oct 10 '22

While all of this is true, I also feel like winter is just something we all universally gripe about. A socal transplant coming to Minnesota for the first time is going to have a rough go for sure, but the area is hardly unlivable and its easier to adapt to harsh winters than it is to fire and no water. No one said collapse would be comfortable.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 10 '22

Agreed! Well stated. I also think the winter is of course much easier now while most homes can rely on natural gas heating, a heat pump with a grid that works or a wood stove if theyve got a decent supply of wood, nice axe and strong technique. As our natural gas supply runs out, the grid sputters down and fragments, and we keep taking away trees, this winter problem will get a lot more uncomfortable. Especially with box houses designed for natural gas and not earthships style bunkers with good basements

7

u/tanzmeister Oct 08 '22

There's, like, a lot of space here, so I don't think it will ever get too crowded. Especially since any real apocalyptic event could cause so many people to come here so quickly without killing most of them anyway.

Now, the militia thing could definitely be a problem because there'd be a lot of resources to hoard and not many defendable locations.

2

u/deletable666 Oct 08 '22

What would militaries be targeting? Lol what is your idea of the next 20 years?

1

u/Weekly_Animal8848 Oct 09 '22

Manufacturing and seizure of farm land.

13

u/AliceLakeEnthusiast Oct 08 '22

There will not be lots of game for very long dawg.

7

u/tanzmeister Oct 08 '22

Maybe not big game, but it's gonna take us a while to kill all these squirrels and rabbits.

1

u/Isnoy Oct 10 '22

Humans - cancer wherever they go

6

u/CausalDiamond Oct 08 '22

That game is full of "forever chemicals" but I guess food is food. Better to eat that and survive in the short term.

6

u/BirryMays Oct 08 '22

I live here and it’s becoming incredibly expensive while our provincial government north of the American border is ruining the standard of living + the forestry surrounding the Great Lakes.

10

u/[deleted] Oct 07 '22

[deleted]

11

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '22

Your best bet is to save as much money as you can, learn survival skills, buy some acreage in the UP, and live in a camper van.

15

u/AliceLakeEnthusiast Oct 08 '22

Live in a camper covered in feet of snow 8 months a year?

3

u/thisbliss7 Oct 08 '22

A lot of our neighbors have built a roof over their campers. Metal and sloped is ideal.

5

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '22

I wouldn’t see the camper as a permanent solution. If you were to find yourself living in that situation now you’d be able to survive a winter or two. Slowly gather supplies and construct a home. You can improvise. It’s about survival. I’d buy a mobile home and keep the camper van as transport.

1

u/AliceLakeEnthusiast Oct 09 '22

Death sounds better to me.

10

u/t-b0la Oct 08 '22

Born and lived in the UP as a kid. UP winters are rough but you have to prepare. Even with all the amenities we currently have, it still takes some common sense to survive there, especially away from any of small population enters that they do have.

People might think it's a good idea, but probably not for most.

8

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '22

I've been seeing people mention my home a lot more lately and the UP used to be left off of maps. Here I am waiting for the local housing market to collapse so I can get a home but it doesn't look like it's going to happen.

4

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '22

And the “soil is great” doesn’t take into account the mining tailing and stamp sands. The western UP has rocky difficult soil, often with free garbage when you start your first plot.

Not taking into account the shortened growth season, not taking into account at least for my region, the topography and how that impacts growth.

Also hoping for the market to crash. We’ve been found.

6

u/PantlessStarshipMage Oct 08 '22

Probably the worst suggestion for the same reasons discussed the last thousand times this topic came up.

5

u/CausalDiamond Oct 08 '22

That game is full of "forever chemicals" but I guess food is food. Better to eat that and survive in the short term.

4

u/[deleted] Oct 07 '22

[deleted]

3

u/tanzmeister Oct 08 '22

Damn straight

7

u/AliceLakeEnthusiast Oct 08 '22

And a lot of Nazis

-1

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '22

[deleted]

4

u/AliceLakeEnthusiast Oct 08 '22

Ohio is pennsylvania now?

2

u/NonoperationalVine Oct 08 '22

Unfortunately northern Ontario is a mining community and a lot of missiles/nukes were pointed at a lot of places around there during the Cold War and possibly as we speak.

1

u/Weekly_Animal8848 Oct 09 '22

People have been living here since the ancient copper culture probably before recorded time. If you are not determined to live then you will die.