continuum, quoting the article:

Jack Spirko owns a media company, is married to a nurse and has a son in college. He has two dogs and lives in a nice house with a pool in a diversified neighborhood in Arlington.

Spirko, 36, considers himself an average guy with a normal life.

But for the past few years, Spirko has been stockpiling food, water, gas, guns and ammunition. He also has a load of red wine, Starbucks coffee and deodorant stashed away.

I’ve noticed an increase in articles on survivalists. Another article in the same vein (coupled with a small book review) is Survivalists No Longer On The Fringe. As someone who lives in an area historically abused by wildfires, mudslides, and earthquakes, I’ve become a bit of a survivalist. In recent memory, Santa Barbara had freeway closures due to both mudslides and fires, which can have huge impacts due to our geographic restrictions. There are three chokepoints out of Santa Barbara, all of which could be subject to mudslide or fire closure. It only takes about three days for grocery store shelves to go bare, but it can take a week for emergency freeway construction to allow trucks to return. As another data point, when I went to Big Bear (California ski resort) over Christmas this year, the roads became impassible for trucks, and the local grocery store ran out of bottled water, quite a few fruits and vegetables, most types of bread, and tequila. This is despite the fact that they were prepared for a seasonal increase in demand.

I’m far more concerned about a serious natural disaster than I am about the collapse of social order. Every time there’s an earthquake or fire, public service announcements appear telling people to buy food and water. This is really an insufficient message. Many people buy and forget, and let their emergency food get well past the expiration date. This is counter-productive. Instead, it’s better to buy more of the things you use, and remember to rotate your “emergency store” into your “current use” supply when you go grocery shopping. I live in a small apartment, but I have an extra bag of rice, an extra bag of dried beans, and an extra Costco box of canned refried beans. All of these are staples in my diet, so they never risk going bad.

I enjoy motorcycle camping. Due to space restrictions on a motorcycle, it’s somewhat closer to backpacking (something I also enjoy, but do less frequently) than it is to car camping. As with my normal food supplies, I have an emergency store that gets rotated to the front when I go shopping. It helps if you actually develop a taste for MREs or backpacking food. If not, you’re probably better off buying something you’d actually want to eat. I also have a rather impressive first aid kit for my motorcycle. I have two ways to treat water. It’s nice to have hobbies that are complementary to preparedness.

I am not well prepared for a complete collapse of society. I could, however, tolerate a period of infrastructure failure longer than most natural events. It required a small up-front investment; I bought extra groceries in the initial purchase. But, it has no sustained impact on my cash flow; I consume and restock at the same rate as before. It’s a small thing to get some peace of mind.