Green (Living) Review: surviving the collapse

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

When we look at the world today we can see that preparedness, being prepared and equipped to deal with any kind of crisis, is very important. The world in which we live today, being overly dependent on technology, especially the electronic kind, can easily be brought out of its equilibrium.

The next financial crash is only around the corner especially considering the way that many banks are back playing the same ponzy schemes that they played last time round and there are many economists and others who predict that the next crash is already on its way – probably just a year or a couple away – and that it will be worse than the last and probably worse than the Great Depression even.

But, unlike when the Great Depression hit, the majority of the people today live a life that is so far removed from reality that they do not have the skills and also not the mental frame to do things for themselves. They have to learn this from scratch and while today we have all the knowledge we – the majority at least – do not have the practical skills. Some cannot even cook from scratch let alone be capable of growing their own food, know where to get wild food, or now to make this or that they need or want for themselves.

Many people who are more or less self-appointed and self-acclaimed experts in the field of preparedness always suggest that people should have gold and silver coins as means of cash/currency. That is utter baloney as nowadays gold and silver, unlike in the days of the Great Depression and even still after WW2 are not recognized (as currency) and thus are absolutely useless. They offer no means of and for barter whatsoever. Gold and silver in whatever kind of coins are just a way for you to waste your money. In addition to that if those coins are not old currency coins how can you be sure, if they come from some “wild” mints, that they actually have the gold or silver content that is being claimed?

Your best bet is not gold and silver coins but skills and tools to perform jobs or produce goods that other want and need. Knowledge and skills are the key here. And knowledge must be more than just theory.

In times gone by people always prepared for the unexpected and for lean times and that not just by having some cash under the mattress or such place. They canned, the preserved food in other ways, and they knew how to make things from almost nothing. Today most do neither and do not have the skills either.

Cash under the mattress is not going to be an option anymore today where the coins and notes are changed in design every five minutes – well, almost – and the old version being no longer legal tender within a short space of time. All done in order to make us dependent on the state and its agencies. Therefore it will have to be other supplies – and especially skills – that you have to make it possible for your to live well enough after such an event and which also provide a means of barter with other, perhaps.

Theoretically, properly prepared there is no reason to fear a crisis nor is there any need to get into a panic and tiswas, when it happens. I did say theoretically, for the world today is not the world of the 1920s and 30s when people still had proper community and also knew how to do things.

Books on the various subjects of preparedness, homesteading, gardening, survival, and the many crafts and whatever, are good to have as a reference library but they are not something that you would want to go to when the proverbial already has hit the air moving device but you want to learn from them, and ideally also from live teachers, and acquire the knowledge and especially the practical skills well before well before any such event.

In the event of a crisis, which, more than likely will be a global one, you cannot rely of the state or other body for help. You have to know how to help yourself and you can only rely on yourself.

You may have the skills, the knowledge, and the provisions. Others that don't, however, are the danger; a danger to you, your loved ones and your survival. In a crisis you also cannot rely on the state and its agencies to protect you from any marauders; in fact the state and its agencies themselves will become a threat to you and your freedom.

So, thus, when it comes to protection from marauders it would appear that you will be, in the event, more or less on your own. The agencies of the state, as I have just said, will not (be able to) protect you and therefore you will have to do that yourself and you may also need to protect yourself and your loved ones from the very agencies of the state.

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Silver and gold, especially in the form of so-called trade rounds, are often advocated by people in the survivalist community – who also have a vested interest in doing so – as the currency after the event of an economic collapse or such like.

However, silver and gold coins, and even less so bullion, will not be accepted as a means of exchange, that is to say as currency, by anyone after such an event and the reason for this is first and foremost that no one has the faintest idea as to how to value such coins nowadays.

There may come a time, long after the initial collapse, that such coins will become the coin of the realm, so to speak, again but even that is questionable. Thus acquiring and hoarding such – and investing money in them – would be more than foolish.

Mean of exchange after an economic collapse or other such or similar event will not be silver and gold coins or bullion, unlike it was the case after the two world wars and during the Great Depression but skills and products and, yes, the original currency of the country, in cash. Anyone who thinks and believes otherwise will be in for a very rude awakening.

The skills that will enable you to barter for things you want and need and cannot produce yourself will also not be academic or high-tech but will be skills of the hand and of working the land. Anyone not possessing such skills will do well to learn them and, in addition to that, it will be advisable to keep money, in the form of the currency of the realm, in cash somewhere safely stashed.

Look at the sites that advocate silver and gold coins and also bullion and think laterally when you see all the adverts for the vendors of such coins and bullion advertising on the site (or in the magazines). It should give you some idea as to why they are advocating such as means of economic exchange. They pander to their advertisers or, alternatively, they are very naïve and believe that people really will accept silver and gold coins and precious metal in other forms as means of payment for goods and services.

This, as said, while that worked after the two world wars will not in the modern world when the economy collapses or the political structure as we know it today, and it will. The reason is a simple one. After World War One and World War Two people still understood the value of silver and gold, having not so long ago had such coins in their currencies, very much in the way that the Pound notes in Britain did state “I promise to pay the bearer one, five, or whatever Pounds Sterling” and the Sterling here referred too Sterling Silver. It was directly valued against the value of such silver. Not any longer and thus the belief that such coins will be accepted are total hogwash.

The means of economic exchange after a collapse will be barter, and that means skills or products, and cash, and, maybe, much later, when the current cash no longer circulates, in the form of tokens, alternative currencies, and, maybe, later still, once again in silver and gold. Though I cannot see going any further than the alternative currency part, to be very honest. “Money” issued by regions, towns, villages, and such like, similar to today's Ithaca Hours, Mountain Hours, LETS (local exchange trading systems) or such like.

So, invest in skills and lay by cash, and don't waste money and time on acquiring silver or gold. Be wise not foolish.