What Is The Post Apocalyptic World?

I have seen this phrase often in this forum. Who will initiate the apocalypse? What is it exactly? As far as I know, this can only refer to the rapture after Christ returns and the subsequent upheaval and terror from the forces of darkness on those left behind. At the case minimum, it should be the state of the world after a nuclear war, or is it?

 

A hundred years ago the Spanish flu killed a goodly percentage of the population but not enough to crash civilization
A similar flu today would kill so many more and civilization may just crash as it is so much more fragile than 100yrs ago!

60% seems to be the agreed threshold for collapse!

 

The list of possible things that could cause an "apocalypse" is HUGE. The most frightening thing about a lot of it is that it is a certainty that it WILL happen sooner or later. The problem is that our world is now massively populated and totally dependent on a smooth and continued very technological infrastructure. This infrastructure is incredibly complex and VERY fragile.

Take for a simple example the current situation in Puerto Rico. What do you think would have happened there is after the hurricane had blasted that little island NOBODY from ANYWHERE else had come to their aid?? They have no power and that means no fuel for their trucks. Food rots where it is instead of getting moves and delivered to the people all over the place. Without outside help they would NEVER get their power back on. Most of the people would starve to death because their small island is dependent already on food from other than their ability to grow it on their island because the population is greater than that land area can support. No power also means no clean water and NO SEWER system so people will start drinking unclean water and quickly disease will hit them. They are already, even with all the help that they are getting , having problems with bad people doing things like robbing and killing people. When there is no cell phone service there is no way to call the cops so you are on your own!!! Within a couple of years 90% of the people on that island would be dead because their system couldn't recover without help from places that still had the power and ability to come and help.

Now, imagine if something happened that did that same basic thing to the ENTIRE world! OK, what could cause that? Every few hundred thousand years our planet gets hit by a rock big enough to do it. I'm not even talking about a dinosaur killer sized rock either. That happens less often but all it will take is something that interrupts our fragile system and our house of cards will all fall down. A hundred years ago one of these smaller rocks would have been bad but not apocalyptic. Back then most people lived in rural places and there were millions of little small one family farms. Now less than 3% of people are involved in farming and that just isn't enough to feed 7 billion people if they don't have powered farming equipment. We can't fall back to old style farming. The animals don't exist in the numbers needed and there are no people left that would know what to do with them even if they had the animals.

The sun periodically has a coronal mass ejection that hits our planet dead on. They happen all the time but most are not aimed at us. The last one that hit was in the 1860s. It killed a few telegraph operators and messed up a few things but back then electricity wasn't a big part of our worlds infrastructure. If we got hit or rather WHEN we get hit again it will pretty much blow out the power on whatever part of the world is facing it at that moment and if it is a BIG one the entire planet will be plunged into darkness for YEARS at least and maybe forever.

The super volcano blow up periodically. If for example the one that is under Yellow Stone were to blow it would pretty much gut the middle of the USA and then the clouds of ash would block out the sun for years possibly causing a small ice age like period. That means no food!! Weather patterns that you can't imagine and total chaos.

Now we get down to a more human look at things that effect US. Plague used to hit and wipe out a substantial part of our population periodically. The world was a lot bigger place back then. If you were on the other side of the earth you might never hear about it. A lot of the plagues had rather rapid mortality rates and the distance that a carrier could travel before he died was limited. Now in less than 24 hours it can spread ALL OVER THE WORLD!! The problem would be like the problem I mentioned earlier. If the ENTIRE world is sick and dying there will be no help and the system collapses.

Let us not forget that mankind is fully capable of now creating bio-weapons that are much more lethal than most natural made diseases. One nut working in a lab somewhere could make a mistake and let the genie out of the bottle!! Pandora's Box may be a test tube. War is always a possibility that mankind is good at. Since WW2 our ability to make war has grown exponentially. If we get to tossing nukes around who knows if anyone will survive?

The problem could start out as simple as a riot in a big American city that gets totally out of hand. Violence is like a fire and the sparks can spread it far and wide. The current problem with various religious radicals could start something that would go across all borders. The world population at the start of WW2 was 2.3 billion. The population today is 7.6 billion. A world war today would mean that BILLIONS would starve to death not even counting the casualties directly related to the war. Just the disruption of shipping would mean places like Bangladesh would starve even if they weren't involved in the war.

I don't believe in a mean angry sadistic god that likes to kill people just for laughs so I would place none of these at his or her feet. I'm sorry folks but Life's a Bi+$h and then you die. Eventually a bunch of us are going to die together but in the end does it really matter whether you die as one person alone of old age or in mass as part of a huge disaster?

No mater what I doubt that people will be wiped out. We are smarter than the dinosaurs and more adaptable. TEOTWAWKI may just be the way a new and better world is born. Live free, laugh often and love as many as possible and let tomorrow come what may!

 

re: Post-Apocalypse

I just had a thought. So it hits the fan, however there is no nuclear war. Hard to imagine, yet let's just say that no nuclear war(s) occur. Even if some real viral plague occurs, the cities will be looted-out and most assuredly, no food will be left.

Would there be anything left in the cities worth scavenging?

One's first answer would be, "No, plus I'd not want to even go near the horrid mess!" Me too, my first thought. However ...

Think about how much useful metals will be there! Some cars and machinery wouldn't be burned out. Furniture, clothing still on the rack, building materials (unburned, some will be left). We in the Heartland have plenty of foundries and all manner of welding supplies. Power generation plants will be left. Even if the nukes go off and everything gets EMP-ed, generators can be repaired. Cities would have useful wiring to be used in the repairs.

Glass, insulation, medical equipment, ... . Without people, what will be left of the cities may just come in handy for the rebuild.
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This thread brings two things to mind. There was a book and film from the late 70's called Meteor. It was about a meteor striking the Earth, and the resulting mayhem it caused. That was way before I even thought about prepping, and I would like to read it again. I'm sure it would take a whole ne perspective. One of the things I remember was that the survivors first tried to re-establish electrical power. IMHO that would hold true today. I agree with Texdanm. I don't think mankind will be wiped out. There will be survivors, and those survivors will have skills. Scavenging, and trying to bring back the necessities will be a top priority. Again. JMHO, electrical power, and medical facilities will be at the top of the list.

The second thing it reminded me of was the History Channel series Life After People. If the cities aren't destroyed or vaporized there would be a vast amount of materials that could be salvaged. For a small group, the remains of a city wouldn't be such a bad place. There would be existing structures, roads, bridges. Nature would reclaim things quicker than we would realize. If you had food and water it might be better than trying to rough it out in the woods.

 

Couldn’t agree more. However, Lonewolf will disagree as ( according to him) there will be zero mechanicals or power generation when SHTF.

 

"Waterwheel Homemade generator all from scraps."







The following generator is turned by a gas motor; however the generator could be turned just as easily by a water-wheel. I really like the following fellow's design. He shows step-by-step how to attach magnets to the armature, plus a novel way to encase the armature/w-magnets assembly.



If generators get fried due to EMP attacks, then new ones can be made out of readily available scrap.



Here's another DIY electric generator video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWRlLYsBi0Y



Add capacitors to the above circuit (in parallel to ground) to take out the ripple on the D.C.. You can use a zener diode for a cheap Voltage regulator.




You can buy generators for water-wheels

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1747870759...1291&msclkid=f5fe0efedc431a3054b46e19bcf057ca

Here is a tiny generator

https://www.amazon.com/Hydroelectri...ter+wheel+generator+kit&qid=1625776506&sr=8-6

600W

https://www.amazon.com/Generator-Tu...er+wheel+generator+kit&qid=1625776579&sr=8-16
.

 

The issue that I have with making my own power is simple. First understand, I am an electrician and know how to do it. The problem that I have is that in a dark world it is amazing how any artificial light shows up. Most people have never experianced any long-term total darkness. After a little while even a flashlight makes you easy to spot. When/If the power goes down and stays down, I do NOT want to bring attention on myself or my place.

An amazing number of people don't have any supplies or much of anything set aside and after a few days when they get hungry you don't want them coming to see you. I am well armed but in Texas almost everyone has at least a couple or three guns. If you turn them away, they may well show back up and kill you for what you have. There is no real defense against someone sniping you from cover.

I will be a dark place and then will kill anyone that comes over the fence. We have dogs do there will be no chance of anyone sneaking up on us. If a fire fight starts I will drop under the house through a trap door in my master closet. I have raised flower beds that will provide protection and cover while I pick them off.

If you have a sign that warns them that trespassers will be shot and survivors will be finished off you had better be prepared to kill them because that is what they plan for you. You also need a plan for disposal of their carcasses.

 

Talk about defunding the police, an economic collapse sure will do that.

On the upside of that, one probably will not get dragged off to jail for eliminating those "people" who would impose "sharing" on you.

Those who have put back lots of ammo will be able to retain the items they stocked and the machines they improvise. Those who wish to redistribute will become lead absorption meat puppets.
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