Recent discussions on preparedness raised a lot of issues to consider and some good ideas.
What we have in the SW however, will likely require reconsidering some basic attitudes when planning ahead. Such as coming to terms with the fact this area is primarily desert. Higher elevations with dense forests are still subject to the demands of a desert as pics of disappearing bodies of water demonstrate.
As noted many times our water use policies are well, based on magical thinking and land use in general is basically dysfunctional. Been that way for a long time. One basic lesson for living in the arid areas is that Nature is uncompromising. Mess up too much and the desert will recycle you sooner rather than later. This has been the case for individuals and societies for as long as people have been here. I'm talking Folsom Point times onward.
Decades ago we were having discussions about integrating tried and tested design principles in building projects. Techniques useful in arid regions around the world. These days, with many folks moving to our region (understandably and aren't we all in some sense just tourists anyway?) essentially none of those design elements are in use. There are a bunch of reasons why this happens but none that seem valid.
My area is burning. Again. Air quality is bad enough that serious health warnings are a daily occurrence. Water use policy hasn't really changed except to get much worse across the board. And we still keep right on doing things we know from experience and reason cannot work.
I try to prepare as I can by stocking up and living efficiently but there is only so much that can be done when the entire region is facing ecological collapse.
I'm an old desert rat. I've run this country I love by foot, horse, motorcycle and pick up for a long time. I know the desert SW and like to think I understand it a bit. I don't know how others in different parts of the country view things but here it seems being prepped is not going to come close to enough.
Sad but true.
