Let us assume for a moment, for the sake of arguement, that your thread is factual. I don't see where being "high and dry" in a city center is a
smart move. I mean, it might preserve your life for a flash of time, but what then?
I think gravitating toward a minimalist, self-sufficient lifestyle is a smart move -- growing your own mini-crops, moving towards living simply. You
can still have your job and trappings of culture until that time, but why wait until the unknown event -- whatever it is -- descends before changing
your lifestyle? The way I see it, the simpler and more self-sustaining I become, the very worst case is nothing happens and I merely save buckets
of money.
If there comes a time -- and I believe I will see it -- where money has no value, then those who have stockpiled goods have an edge, but that won't
keep them alive long-term either. Your stockpiled goods might keep your belly full while you are raising and protecting your garden.
Most places I've lived in the world (and there have been many places), there are foods that the indiginous people know about and can survive on.
Often these foods are traded. Skills are bartered. I have learned how to stay alive where I lived, and have done so nearly every place I've
lived.
In a survival situation, I believe that people are the greatest threat, after the causation of the situation itself. Thus protection and a
like-minded group can elevate odds of survival. In the final analysis, (in my opinion), there is first survival of the event(s), and then comes the
business of living..... not just surviving, but reforming a new life. What skills can you acquire or polish that will have value for a changing
society?
As previous posters noted, it's somewhat of a crapshoot who will live and who will not. Cities are often targets, and the denser the population,
the greater the hazard.
I don't, for example, see any value in storing fuel in mass quantities. We store enough gasoline and oil to run a chainsaw, perhaps a generator.
These are short-term enhancements, and in some ways, holding on to the old ways. If TSHTF, we have to be ready to transition into a different
existance, and different modes of accomplishing things. I believe that those that are already partway to that lifestyle will have an easier
transition, and can play a vital role in helping a group.
But, worst case........ I don't have to buy gas-ripened, slack-skinned, pale juiceless tomatoes ever again, as long as I keep the system going. I
don't have to buy calleloo, or coconuts, or citrus fruits, or peppers, onions, cucumbers, beans. There will be more. The best thing we've done
in this context is carry the system to the point where it is continuous. Then, and ONLY then, do we occasionally add new fruits/vegetables.
I hope it doesn't happen, this 2012 or other cataclysmic events. Hoping won't feed me or mine. Fishing will.
Sorry for the novella..... it's been a long day of hurricane repairs, and I'm a tad punchy.