Well, so I’ve been reading a lot of zombie apocalypse books, as one does, and reflecting on what will happen when civilization collapses, as one does.
I live in a part of Italy that has been very poor until very recently and
people here are prepared as a matter of course for disaster. The food supply chain is not ten thousand miles long, but more like ten.

Everyone has at least a couple ofmonths’ worth of food (or at least olive oil and wine and preserves). And as I look around and think about this place through the prism of survivalism, I realize it is perfect. Plenty of water, it’s agricultural and above all it has a people still close to the land. Not like in the Midwest, with agribusiness monocrops but fields planted with everything you need.

Everyonehas a grandfather who still knows how to make olive oil, wine, dried sausages. The diet is Paleo – lots of vegetables, some legumes, a little
meat.

And I realize too that this place has already survived a catastrophe-the
fall of the Roman Empire. All the towns are hilltop towns to avoid bandits.
They are essentially fortresses. Families are extended and whole. Not
because they are better here but because poverty forces you to band
together. Divorce has only recently become a phenomenon.

You might hate your uncle Vito but he repairs your car for free and Cousin Emilio is an idiot but always passes on 100 liters of olive oil. And you hate to do it, but you prepare everyone in the extended family’s taxes for free. That kind of thing.

It’s not a modern lifestyle and people are rushing away from it, but if
catastrophe strikes-well, I want to be here. If things broke down people
would simply revert to a more brutal and limited lifestyle but they would
definitely survive. Unless we’re talking about radiation, of course.

Just thoughts.