Solidarity Prepping: Preparing For Climate Change

Solidarity Prepping: Preparedness without the fascism.

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  • Post-Agricultural Collapse: Human Survival Is Dependent on Nature’s Survival, But Will Humans Hunt and Gather?

    Connection with nature is not a forced, mechanistic process, though some practitioners would like you to think that because it serves their purposes. Some people, because they see themselves as separate or superior to nature, view their survival as a challenge pitted against nature. This approach comes from seeing humans as superior to nature. We evolved to be in nature. The Anthropocene, the last 12,000 years, was the period that gave us the ability to harness nature to serve us through Agriculture, industrialization, and AI. The fuel for industrialism has been the planet’s surface (Forests) and fossil energy. In releasing fossil CO2 locked in the geology into the biosphere, with nature being decimated by expanding human populations and industrialization, we have exchanged a favorable epoch for one that demands adaptation to a climate 3.3,000,000 years old, predating the epoch in which we emerged. “Pliocene and Eocene provide best analogs for near-future climates” https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1809600115

    Our fossil-fuelled industrial civilization broke the climate for agriculture. If a new human culture were to emerge during this new epoch, it would be hunting and gathering, as climate change destroys our chances of recovering farming. Regenerative agriculture is as doomed as any other form of agriculture; there’s no harm in trying; it captures carbon in the soil and produces high-value meat. But this only serves a small minority of the population. A global climate beyond 1.5°C will be characterized by heatwaves every summer, droughts and an ever-increasing probability of AMOC collapse. AMOC collapse will destroy agriculture in Northern Europe. Any food we in Britain grow post-AMOC collapse will be micro-scale

    For most of human history, about 300,000 years, we lived as hunter-gatherers in sustainable, egalitarian communities of a few dozen people. Human life on Earth and our place within the planet’s biophysical systems changed dramatically during the Holocene, a geological epoch that began about 12,000 years ago. An unprecedented combination of climate stability and warm temperatures enabled greater reliance on wild grains in several parts of the world. Over the next several thousand years, this dependence led to the development of agriculture and large-scale state societies. These societies show a common pattern of expansion and collapse. Industrial civilization began a few hundred years ago when fossil fuels propelled the human economy to a new level of size and complexity. This change brought many benefits, but it also gave us the existential crisis of global climate change. Climate models indicate that the Earth could warm by 3°C-4 °C by the year 2100 and eventually by as much as 8 °C or more. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016328719303507

    Learning Survival Skills In Deep Connection With Nature

    A transition back to hunter-gatherer life from sedentary consumerism is unlikely to be a choice, and it will be into a severely depleted, in-terminal-decline nature in some places on the planet. Industrial capitalism’s technological, media-based culture does not easily foster the kind of lives we might need to live if agriculture collapses and the procurement of food becomes a matter of skill, knowledge, experience, and specialized expertise in processing it and making it edible. Britain’s countryside has, in the past 100 years, become over-cultivated, over-sprayed, and monocultural to produce industrially farmed grains, animal feed, oilseeds & biofuels. Britain’s ancient coppice woodlands are now in catastrophic decline, and recovery seems unlikely as we head into a new drier climate.

    “Coppice management has a long and ancient tradition in Europe, but still comprises over 14% of the forest area despite showing catastrophic declines in the past century. Contemporary trends in forestry towards continuous cover management have major implications for cosmopolitan and early-successional groups of species that rely on short rotations and regular disturbance, such as heliophilous plants and those with persistent seed, insectivorous songbirds, butterflies, and many invertebrates requiring understorey flowering, pollen, and nectar. Some species are considered of such high conservation value that they justify continued coppicing. When abandoned or converted to high forest, coppice vegetation shows increasing homogenization and may lose some rare plant species, although shade-tolerant plants are largely unaffected. Accumulated litter and atmospheric nitrogen deposition also threaten a future eutrophic response. At the same time, most aging coppices are too young to develop any significant old-growth and saproxylic features of conservation significance. Re-coppicing after 50–100 years of neglect has shown moderate success, with most early-successional species recovering well and restoring species and functional biodiversity, provided there are available sources in the surrounding landscape. Re-coppiced stools showed variable survival but usually had sufficient regrowth to restore the former canopy, supplemented by natural regeneration. Some aspects of the coppice cycle can be achieved through alternative silvicultural methods or manipulated to add missing old-growth characteristics. Ultimately, a landscape which carries the full range of interconnecting growth stages, including coppice, will yield the greatest opportunities for biodiversity and conservation.” https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341393411_Coppice_restoration_and_conservation_a_European_perspective

    As a former Coppice Manager, I have seen the ancient wood I managed show signs of severe stress; the extreme summer heat causes trees to stop photosynthesizing. Lime (Tilia x europaea) trees in the severe heat are shedding their flowers before they can set seed. Ash Dieback has already killed 20% of the high forest and is killing the ancient ash avenue which I restored from overstood pollards in 1998. One of the primary problems regenerative woodland management faces is ignorance among the public and among people who claim to know all about nature but make no effort to understand this ancient management system. Coppicing has all the potential to make some trees almost immortal. Ecosystem collapse, particularly the collapse of our forests and ancient woodland environs, turns them into net emitters of carbon rather than carbon sinks. Willow appears more heat-tolerant when grown in wet soil. Coppicing at scale could capture and store millions of tons of carbon.

    “The issues represent a diverse range of themes, within a spectrum of influences from environmental shocks and perturbations to changing political and socio-economic drivers, with complex emerging interactions between them. The most highly ranked issue was ‘Catastrophic forest ecosystem collapse’, reflecting agreement that not only is such collapse a likely prospect but it would also have huge implications across the sector and wider society. These and many of the other issues are large-scale, with far-reaching implications. We must be careful to avoid inaction due to being overwhelmed, or, indeed, to merely focus on ‘easy wins’ without considering broader ramifications. Our responses to each of the highlighted challenges and opportunities must be synergistic and coherent, and involve landscape-scale planning. A more adaptive approach to forest management will be essential, encouraging continual innovation and learning.” https://academic.oup.com/forestry/article/97/3/349/7328865?login=false

    While the idea that humans might hunt and gather, in the wake of civilization collapse, might seem romantic, I find this unlikely due to the lack of skill, knowledge, and the resistance to change from diverse corners of society, including those who claim to want radical change but really only want to reform capitalism. Reformed Capitalism, is still Capitalism, whether it is run based on Celtic, Roman, neoliberal, or Marxist Ideas of Capitalist ethics or not. It is more likely that the final days of this civilization’s collapse present any opportunity for human survival; it will be luck whether anyone with the skills to survive will be there to help, and survival will be more a matter of luck than skill.

  • 42 Days of Heatwave!

    Climate Emergency Forum

  • Many people, especially men, find a deep connection to nature and each other by learning wilderness survival skills together in small, pro-social groups.

    Many people, especially men, find a deep connection to nature and each other by learning wilderness survival skills together in small groups. In fact, this learning process taps into the human brain’s natural connection to nature at a fundamental level and occurs subconsciously.

    I don’t write fiction. This blog is linked to my YouTube Channels, and my interest is whether climate change is even survivable. I write from the perspective of a Social/Human Geographer, incorporating neuroscience and meteorology into my content. I don’t write stories, so my content doesn’t have to be “Thrutopian” or optimistic. Realism is important when writing about the Male suicide epidemic and possible nature-based therapies and self-management strategies.

    20 minutes in nature reduces cortisol and stress.

    But more interestingly, boys exposed to pro-social learning in nature, learning cooperative bushcraft skills, build community cohesion, which is detectable in the hormones the body produces.

    “Oxytocin Reactivity during a Wilderness Program without Parents in Adolescents

    While wilderness programs are recognized as a feasible intervention to promote psychological independence in adolescence, little is known about physiological changes.

    The present study focused on oxytocin, a key hormone for social cognition and behavior, and investigated changes in OT concentrations during a wilderness program among adolescents. Twenty-one 4th–7th graders were separated from their parents and immersed in adventures and challenges in the woodlands of Motegi, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, for 31 days, and we analyzed a dataset of 20 boys aged 9–13 years. OT concentrations in early morning saliva samples on days 2, 5, 8, 13, 18, 20, 21, 22 and 30 were determined using ELIZA. We used multilevel regression to compare OT concentrations before and after solo and team-based survival challenges and across the nine observational points, adjusting for potential covariates.

    We found that adolescents increased their OT level when they needed others’ cooperation and support for survival (coefficient: 2.86, SE: 1.34, p = 0.033).

    Further, we found that adolescents gradually decreased their basal OT levels during prolonged separation from their parents (coefficient: −0.083, SE: 0.034, p = 0.016).

    A combination of these findings suggests the OT level may be a marker for psychological independence”

    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9737778/

    Dr Gail Bradbrook, in her recent interview with CEC (Climate Emergency Centers) Phoenix Rainbow, after asking what we do when the supermarket shelves are empty, went on to talk about how the builders of the Big Green Gathering were needed for civilization collapse, and the ceremonialists to tend to climate grief. Bradbrook is infected with the same nature-aversion virus, ignoring the science. The New-Age Neo-Shamans have no peer-reviewed evidence that they have any impact on mental health at all.

    Do what you like spiritually, believe what you want, but don’t dictate to us what connection with nature is like until you experience more of it than sitting under a tree or lying in a hole in the ground.

    A shamanic practitioner describes coppice cutting rotation in the Celtic period as “last cut in the time of our grandfathers”.

    Said while leading a visualization meditation during a Facebook Sacred Earth Activism interview. I find it strange that a shamanic journey should be part of an interview. But then we see that it’s a guided meditation. Coppicing and hedge-laying are among the oldest “Regenerative” land management practices still practiced in the UK, dating back before the Bell Baker People.

    This practice is common on YouTube; it’s called shadow banning, where only fawning comments are admitted. Shamainism cannot intuit what coppicing is. Thrutopia: Fiction & fantasy writers’ artistic license cannot teach real skills or solutions. 20,000 people died in Europe last week from heat exposure; where is Thrutopia for them?

    “June heatwave may have killed around 20,000 people in Europe. It will be some months before the true toll of Europe’s worst-ever heatwave is confirmed, but researchers can estimate a death count based on how many people died in Europe during previous hot periods,” By Michael Le Page, 2 July 2026, New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2532825-june-heatwave-may-have-killed-around-20000-people-in-europe/

    The skills that Indigenous peoples teach their young people together are not the skills people want from Indigenous People: They want their wisdom, out of context

    “Everyone Is Indigenous From Somewhere.” Mac McCarthy likes this nonsense.

    The Fascists think they are indigenous English. They even petition the UN for recognition. If we are not careful, we court fascism and let them into our communities; they want land too, to grow vegetables, to survive the collapse.

    The Fascists think they are indigenous English. They even petition the UN for recognition. If we are not careful, we court fascism and let them into our communities; they want land too, to grow vegetables, to survive the collapse.

    Survivalism is an opportunity to teach men, and especially young men, about responsibility to nature, each other, women, and the community. While learning meaningful skills for our rapidly changing planet and for better mental health.

    People who are apparently interested in the mental health of the community while labeling skills they have no direct experience of as dystopian seek to dominate a conversation, which they don’t really have a stake in.

    Survivalism Could Also Present A Means To Reduce The Suicide Rate In Men

    Men’s mental health has never been worse. Men account for nearly ¾ of all suicides in the UK, with the rate for men being over three times higher than that for women. It remains the single biggest killer of men under the age of 50 in the UK. This is not related to climate change, though climate change is increasing the statistic

    Recent figures show that in England and Wales, peak suicide rates reach 27.5 per 100,000 for men aged 50 to 54. There are also notable regional disparities, with the male suicide rate in the North East (23.8 per 100,000) significantly exceeding that in London (12.7 per 100,000).

    Center for Policy Research on Men & Boys
    https://www.menandboys.org.uk/nce/male-suicide-combined-rates25


    “Preventing suicide naturally:

    Connection with nature attenuates suicidal thoughts (Mostly) by decreasing entrapment
    Highlights

    Our research underscores the critical role of connection with nature in suicide prevention.

    Connection with flourishing nature reduces suicidal thoughts, mainly through decreased sense of entrapment.

    Even imagining withered nature as flourishing in the future leads to attenuation of suicidal thoughts. The findings have policy implications in the battle for suicide prevention.

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494425002695

    Dystopian Survivalism is a Literary Genre, not a description of learning survival skills; that is a projection.

    Peer-reviewed science does not support the claim that spending long periods in nature, learning skills, and learning about nature is dystopian. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

    I have not yet heard a single New-Age Neo-Shaman suggest the healing power of Nature

    The AMOC Collapse Panic

    Most of the skills discussed on this Blog apply to AMOC collapse. Talking about the AMOC collapse now is like talking about civilization collapse in the 1990s. Because it was already underway in the 3rd World. The indigenous apocalypse of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries is almost complete. AMOC panic is when under-skilled people start having existential angst and react to their triggers, and lash out at those whose adaptation skill sets threaten their paradigm, following, and income stream. When you no longer have the answer, the hopium sounds hollow. Asking local administrators about civilization-ending events (AMOC collapse) will, of course, make them glaze over.

    My Blog is aimed at anyone who wants a deep connection with nature. I don’t declare any authority, but I call out BS where I see it and respond with science. The science of human psychology and nature is being neglected. If we truly want to change, instead of constantly theorizing and setting rules for connection with nature based on preconceived ideas and maintaining a loyal customer base for our ideas, then that’s not connection to nature; that’s a cult.

    Real nature connection through knowledge & skills; singing in groups and shared voice: should not be a business-as-usual stress-alleviation cash cow. Comoditising nature negates its spiritual value. This is the difference between Plum Village and the Vipassana Trust. SN Goenka made mindfulness free, so it was available to all. He asked for dana (charitable giving) from those who can afford it.

    Spiritual entrepreneurism is counterproductive and only allows those who can afford it access; commercialization of spirituality encourages misappropriation and theft because that is how capitalism operates.

    This Blog expresses my opinions

    This Blog is about Survivalism, connection with nature as I see it, AI as I see it, and climate change as it happens in my vicinity and how we adapt.  If your religion rejects getting close to nature, don’t publicly dismiss it for everyone else, plus the science does not agree with you.

    Applied mindfulness, survival skills practice, and plant lore, taught by teachers who ask for dana rather than expecting you to pay a fixed price, is the future of the spirituality of the land.

  • What Is Solidarity Prepping and Why Does Their Approach To Collapse & Survival Use Polychronic Thinking?

    Our foray into Solidarity Prepping is a learning journey. We are trying to equip ourselves to live humanely during the ecological collapse and the collapse of human society. We have discovered already that being in community is the fundamental requirement. Now we must learn what that means in practice.

    Based on reports from Kollapscamp and some wider reading, I’ve identified five “elements” that go into the practice of being prepared—as a community—for disruptions in the systems that we usually rely on:

    1. Emergency Preparedness: Learning skills, collecting supplies, and making plans.
    2. Connection to Nature: Through learning knowledge-based survival skills.
    3. Community Networking: Finding and participating in existing local networks.
    4. Mutual Aid: Acting in concert for the material benefit of other people.
    5. Disaster Relief: Responding to catastrophic events with Mutual Aid.
    6. Self-defence & Anti-Fascism: Protecting our community from its enemies.

    I added Connection to Nature through learning knowledge-based survival skills because these skills change how we think about our environment; Learning Wilderness Survival skills actually alters the structure of the brain through Neuroplasticity. By continually demanding spatial navigation, emotional regulation, and physical coordination, your brain physically recognises and strengthens neural pathways.

    • Hippocampal Growth: Spatial learning and memory, such as navigation, compass use and map reading, are primarily governed by the hippocampus, which has been shown to grow in size or density.
    • Stress Inoculation: Surviving in unpredictable conditions in nature trains the prefrontal cortex to override the fear-based impulses of the amygdala. This builds emotional resilience nd structural tolerance to stress.
    • Enhanced Pattern Recognition: As you repeatedly train in nature, your brain builds an enormous database of cues (weather patterns, tracking signs, and terrain hazards). This creates faster, automatic cognitive responses in high-stakes situations.
    • Sensory Restoration: Time spent in the wilderness physically dials down threat scanning, quietens rumination and switches the brain from a mode of constant modern-day cognitive overload to restored, relaxed attention.

    Solidarity Preppers who learn nature connection through knowledge-based survival skills learn Polychronic thinking. Polychronic thinking is crucial in understanding nature, our place in it, and our responsibility to it. Polychronic thinking is a core element of indigenous ways of knowing; it is the exact cognitive framework required to master true wilderness survival.

    While Modern Western Monochronic societies force the brain to process tasks sequentially, linearly and by the clock, the wilderness (Nature) operates through fluid, simultaneous and ecological loops.

    The deep intersection between polychronic time, indigenous worldview and survival skills manifests through specific cognitive shifts.

    1, Simultaneous Task Processing vs Linear Focus In survivalism

    • Monochronic: Focuses on one task at a time: We will hike for 2 hours, set up camp, look for firewood and then cook.
    • Polychronic (indigenous) approach: Multiple awareness streams run simultaneously: The survivalist, while walking, is assessing the terrain, reading the tracks of animals, listening to alarm calls from birds, feeling the wind on the face for direction, temperature and other qualities, scanning for forage, tinder wood and looking out for the stragglers in the party.

    2, Ecological Time vs Clock Time

    • Monochronic Approach: Dictated by rigid artificial deadlines: We must reach camp by 5pm
    • Polychronic Approach: Dictated by a relationship with the environmental thresholds. Time is defined by natural shifts- angle of the sun, changes in temperature/humidity/ behaviour of insects. Survival depends on adapting to the environment’s timeline, not imposing a schedule on nature.

    3, Non-linear causality and “Everywhen”

    • Monochronic: Time is a line moving from past to future.
    • Polychronic: Time is defined by natural shifts: time is circular, spiralling, and deeply historical. Everywhen is an indigenous concept of time all at once: today/tomorrow/yesterday: now in terms of landscape. In survival, the land’s past affects its now and its future. It is history and prophecy in the same space.

    4, Relational awareness over Transactional output.

    • Monochronic Approach: Nature is viewed as a series of isolated objects: resources for use: wood=fire, river=water.
    • Polychronic Approach: Views Nature as a living web of interconnected relationships. Indigenous knowledge teaches that you do not just survive against Nature; you participate in it. Success relies on understanding the complex relationships between the cousins, how one element interacts with another. Reading the environment and the wildlife in it is the survival skill.

    Features of Polychronic thinking in wilderness survival skills are a distinct advantage over linear thinking processes.

    • Task Overlapping: For example, jobs are not done sequentially: you can gather tinder while scouting for a good camp, note positions of good firewood and dry kindling, collect more firewood once the fire is going, forage constantly on the move.
    • Dynamic Prioritisation: You respond to the conditions around you and the weakest member of your group.
    • Mental Flexibility: This prevents the dangerous psychological trap of “tunnel vision”, helping the practitioner remain observant of the natural world around them.
    • Polychronic Thinking: Is indigenous thinking. It’s how the hunter/hunted percieves nature and stays alert but relaxed.

    Decolonising Cognition

    When you learn ancestral or wilderness survival skills, you are actively decolonising your cognitive habits. You shift your brain out of the stressful, hyperfocussed “tunnel vision” of modern scheduling and open it up to the wide-angled, multi-layered situational awareness that kept humanity alive for millennia.

    The Brain Is An Antenna, Tuned To The Frequency Of Nature

    The concept of the brain as an antenna is a fascinating metaphor that bridges neuroscience, quantum physics, and philosophy. It describes how our minds act as receivers rather than just generators of thought, continuously tuning into the natural world, electromagnetic fields, and the broader universe. In the realms of philosophy, metaphysics, and even modern quantum neuroscience, some researchers explore whether consciousness originates from a non-local source, with the brain acting as an interface or receiver. This perspective suggests that human awareness is tethered to a larger, interconnected web of existence. The metaphor extends to how we direct our focus. The brain can be tuned to different psychological and emotional frequencies. Studies suggest that consistently tuning into Nature helps the brain process information more optimally, protecting against depression and supporting overall well-being.

    In Nature, the Human Brain produces Serotonin; research shows they intersect in how our brains process environments, focus, and time: The Serotonin Connection

    • Time Perception: The serotonergic system directly modulates internal time perception. Higher serotonin levels tend to accelerate internal processing speed, influencing how you experience events second-by-second.
    • Attention and Locus: The gene encoding the serotonin 1A receptor (5-HTR1A) influences your ability to focus and adapt to changes in your environment
    • Cultural Adaptation: Research suggests a link between the 5-HTR1A genetic variants, serotonin function, and how individuals adapt to either monochronic (single-task, scheduled) or polychronic (multi-task, field-focused) cultures.

    Polychronicity as a Trait

    • Cognitive Flexibility: Polychronicity is the stable personality trait of preferring to juggle multiple activities.
    • Positive Affect: Engaging in polychronic behavior has been shown to increase positive affect and reduce psychological strain in certain environments.
    • Biochemistry: The ability to effectively shift between task-juggling (polychronic) and single-tasking (monochronic) is thought to be stabilized by dopamine and serotonin signaling pathways in the brain.

    New-Age Neo-Shamanism: Ritualised approaches to Connection with Nature. Rituals Are Regarded as Monochronic and are often egotistically controlled.

    • Sequential Flow: Rites of passage, baptisms, and ceremonies progress step-by-step. Each phase (e.g., opening a sacred space, the main act, and closing) is completed before the next begins.
    • Focus on the Present: Because participants focus entirely on the task at hand, they exclude normal daily distractions.
    • Punctuality & Agendas: Traditional ceremonies like weddings require guests to arrive on time and follow a strict schedule so symbolic moments can occur without interruption.

    Polychronic Rituals: More commonly found among indigenous/ traditional cultures:

    • Fluid Timelines: Start and end times are treated as guidelines rather than strict deadlines. The ceremony naturally begins when the key people and community members have arrived and are ready.
    • Simultaneous Activities: Rather than progressing through a linear agenda, multiple things happen at once. Cooking, eating, socialising, and ritual proceedings often overlap. These can seem chaotic, and some ceremonies include elements inducing fear in participants.
    • Relationship-Focused: The primary goal is building and maintaining social harmony. Interruptions, welcoming latecomers, and accommodating the changing needs of the attendees are embraced rather than viewed as disruptions.
    • High Adaptability: If a logistical issue (like a delayed guest or an unexpected event) occurs, the schedule is easily modified to keep the experience positive for everyone involved.


    Polychronic time only works in societies where time is fluid and not linearly fixed


    Polychronic time cannot be applied to Shamanic Practitioner philosophies that reject learning survivalism. Survival skills which are learned freely, applied with strict foraging rules and love of the earth, all living beings, tolerance of all choices people make about their identities, people who plant more than they pick, and I don’t mean on their own land or garden. Survival practitioners who wait to share their skills until they have been tested over a period of time in the toughest conditions. Understanding failure is an important aspect of learning survival skills. Failure teaches persistence, perseverance and adaptation. Practice and failure help overcome the Dunning-Kruger effect in Survival Skills, which is common and potentially lethal. Prejudices and expectations are obstacles to learning survival skills in deep connection with nature. Survival skills coupled with mindfulness (observation of the breath only at the entrance of the nostrils). Not sat, but done all the time: when doing tasks and learning survival skills. Mindfulness focuses the mind and allows us to observe how breathing is an early warning for the instincts. It’s sometimes difficult to read our instincts: fear & anxiety quicken the breath. Mindfulness allows us to return the breath to slow, calming our anxiety, but heightening our awareness of the environment and what our instincts may be telling us, a calm mind observing can determine if instincts are correct.

    A spiritual practice that is free does not hinder the mind with worries about value for money, or affordability


    Money and the commercialisation of survivalism and spiritual practice break our relationship with the divinity of nature. Commercialisation is an obstacle to learning; the expectation of value for expenditure gets in the way of understanding what you are learning. S. N, Goenka, who brought Vipassana Meditation to the West from Burma, insisted that Vipassana was offered free, so that it was accessible to all, suggesting that those who could afford it could donate money, and those who couldn’t could serve, cooking for meditators. A spiritual practice that is free does not hinder the mind with worries about value for money or affordability. Commercialisation turns your practice into monochronic space, and time constraints will force important aspects to be disregarded. It takes time to learn engaged mindfulness. It takes time to apply mindfulness to survival skills; it takes time to understand that commercialisation is the application of capitalism to something which originated outside capitalism. Commoditising spirituality, nature and survivalism have been consistently criticised by indigenous people who point out that they don’t do this.


    Polychronic Time Illustrated

    The illustration below is an attempt to visualise polychronic time, in relation to crossing a landscape, but this is like looking in monochrome, because what is missing is the practitioner’s interactions with nature and people. Polychronic time is non-linear and fluid. Tasks intersect with friendships, relationships, plants and processing. For each person, the experience of polychronic time and psychology is different, and this is dependent on their talents and other distractions which might be overriding their activity. If it takes 4 hours a day to procure food, the rest of the time is cultural time, time alone, ceremony time. The concept of polychronic time & psychology develops in the learning of a single skill like making fire, because when we go foraging for materials we are also finding useful things like food. The prosocial activity of cooperative foraging is that we are foraging for tinder, food, firewood, and kindling all at once in a group. Each person is carrying an item, but everyone is looking for everything and works together on the task; everyone maintains their awareness and is doing mindfulness; the party stops, looks and listens and moves on.

    Survival skills need to be learned pro-socially in cooperative groups. The emphasis is that the success of one is dependent on the group working together to support each other to succeed. Each member of the group has a new skill which they learned together and supported each other to learn.

    Is Polychronic time spiral time? Yes and no.

    Spiral time is too rigid a concept; it doesn’t allow for orphaned spiralled moments shared with an animal, plant or human. These animate and momentary interactions are observable; some people say those marks in time are observable by experienced Aboriginal trackers.

    Polychronic Time is chaotic, it is driven by multiple relationships, rather than scedules, timetables and deadlines. The second illustration below is a better representation of how Polychronic time works for a survivalist. Polychronic time requires active engagement with nature.

    “Polychronic time, by contrast, is characterised by several events happening simultaneously. In addition, according to Hall’s theory, interpersonal relationships are highly valued in polychronic cultures. Time is less tangible, and emphasis is placed on the involvement of people and the completion of transactions rather than on schedules. Multitasking is valued. Examples of polychronic cultures are Latin American, African, Arab, and Native American cultures. Their perception of time is considered to be more connected to “natural rhythms,” and to “the earth” and “the seasons.” This makes sense when we consider that natural events can occur spontaneously, sporadically, or concurrently.

    Polychronic cultures view time as being more flexible. Because life isn’t entirely predictable, scheduling and being precise are seen as simply not that important. In addition, relationships with people are valued more than staying on schedule. More value is placed on “being” than on “doing.” Different cultural perceptions of time can lead to conflict, especially in the business world.” https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/everything-time-monochronism-polychronism-orientation-6902

    In reality, polychronic time is more likely to appear disordered,like in this image, because of the timelines of social relationships between the practitioners, other people, plants and animals.

    Birdsong, subtle climatic shifts and weather play an important part in understanding the landscape and what is going on at any one moment. Our perception changes as our connection to nature deepens. Anyone who says nature connection is sitting under a tree and asking it questions is offering a homo-centric view of nature and our place in it and clearly does not seek to deepen any connection with nature for themselves or their paying followers. This is deeply unfair, especially if their Guru is going on a tirade against anyone suggesting people develop a deep intimate connection to nature

    Polychronic rituals are what we in the West would regard as chaotic. My familial experience has been Asian Sufism. Sufi rituals like Zikr and Dervish meetings are commonly full of interruptions, late arrivals, small children wandering among the congregation, multiple things all going on at once, for the uninitiated these ceremonies seen chaotic and unled. They are indeed unled, everyone knows and understands the order of ceremony, they are family devotional events, relationships are renewed, new babies are passed around the extended family and welcomed into the community Sufi ceremonies are 1000s of years old, they are mature, they reflect the egalitarian culture of Sufism. The Sufi Dervish displays which are laid on for tourists in Konya and other parts of Turkey.

    Experienced survivalists operate on polychronic time. Because it is a more efficient way to gather (forage). Foraging isnt just for food. 80% of the plants I have contact and deep relationships with are not used for food.

  • The One Skill-set No One Wants From Indigenous People. The Zeitgeist Is: How Do We Survive Climate Change?


    First Published January 8th 2026
    Edited and republished January 29, 2026

    Updated 9th July 2026

    The Oldest Known Source Of Carbohydrates For Humans Is Food Our Hunter-Gatherer Ancestors Ate.

    I started growing Typha Latifolia a few years ago in my ponds, and I started to understand why indigenous people across the globe revered this plant. However, it is also regarded as an invasive species in many places.

    In the UK, it is one of many native wetland species, and it’s an important plant for carbon capture. The annual biomass output from Typha is phenomenal. We could be cleaning our rivers and capturing CO2 into a plant that fills the cells within its leaves with CO2 and pressurises it.

    High CO2 Concentrations In The Aerenchyma Of Typha Latifolia

    Of course, this is more nuanced, but there is potential to capture CO2 in much higher concentrations than just the biomass. Typha has the potential to survive temperatures as high as  48°C, as well as at the Arctic Circle. This plant has been found almost everywhere humans have inhabited over the last 100,000 years. https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.1537-2197.1992.tb14568.x

    Indigenous people have used Typha for bedding, insulation, thatch, floor mats, medicine, food, fire lighting, arrow shafts & cordage for millennia.

    With far greater skill than I. Mats made from Typha, stacked and layered, make warm, insulated mattresses.


    I looked at typha and thought this could be a survival food growing in plain sight. However, in some places, it is becoming increasingly rare. I have made bread on hot stones from the flour of the typha root, and it is agreeable as food. But the question I ask is how hot is too hot? Because the bottom line is that surviving the collapse of agriculture requires new knowledge and novel foods.

    Paul Beckwith on the Climate Emergency Forum has been saying repeatedly, look at the work of Hansen et al. Global Warming in the Pipeline for Earth. 1.5-2degrees C is a new planetary atmosphere: changed seasons, mega-droughts, mega-heatwaves; this is a signal that we need a new approach, because this heat is both unpleasant for most people and could become unsurvivable for most.

    What will we eat when agriculture collapses?

    Or as Dr Gail Bradbrook says, when the supermarket shelves are empty?

    The distinction is important: by the time the supermarket shelves are empty, agriculture is already fully broken. The waffle about food-banks and mutual aid is just noisy people trying to sound relevant.

    But this is a serious question. This is dystopian survivalism: “We are not going back, I want people looking forward. Because you can’t live in a mud hut on a Welsh Hillside. We go forward with today’s technology. There aren’t going to be Plucky Humans roaming the post-collapse landscape.” No, there will be starving people, some of whom think that foraging might help them solve their hunger; they will enter the dwindling remnants of nature, desperate and either decimate what is left, or die trying or by each other’s hand, or after mistaking something toxic for something edible.

    Exposure to extreme weather will become a major risk.

    Modern New Age Shamanic Practitioners Do Not Have Training Or Experience To Solve The Food Crisis

    Somehow, they can still say “another world is still possible” and focus on exploring the intersection of art, activism, science, and spirituality to consciously create a regenerative future, as 20,000 people died in Europe in a week of hot weather.

    Collapse Is The New Initiation Culture

    We just haven’t worked that one out yet. It’s been going on for a while; it probably started when we wiped out the megafauna, including the Neanderthals.

    AMOC- The Next Climate PANIC

    Climate PANIC: The mental state when climate activists and influencers are suddenly confronted with a new existential threat which they have no training or solution for. The Climate PANIC is the “whatabout weapon”; it’s a provocation stick with which to assault people whom they feel threatened by. The assault aims to elicit answers, while trying to look and sound superior. The elicitation is instead of asking, because asking would mean admitting they don’t know.

    It’s not the sub-zero conditions of AMOC collapse that worry me. Humans have adapted to and survived sub-zero conditions inside the Arctic Circle for 1000s of years. AMOC collapse will increase climatic whiplash events and greater extremes of heat and cold in the regions which were once temperate and agreeable. The AMOC collapse will be the coup-de-grace for agriculture in much of Europe and especially the UK. We can fantasise about regenerative farming all we want. It’s meaningless when the AMOC collapses. The “my toilet will freeze” outburst is easily solved with compost toilets. But the frozen water pipes are a bigger existential crisis which will kill 1000s. Clearly, a frozen toilet is more important.- If you want to know what to do to adapt to AMOC collapse, you need to keep reading this blog.

    Awakening Into Deep Connection With The Web of Life

    If only it were as simple as taking a pill and waking up in the morning as a conscious node in the web of life.

    Spirituality influencers on public social media who reject learning outdoor skills, or any historical traditional skills practice which are deeply connected to the land, need to pause before throwing accusations at fellow activists with a different point of view and history.

    After the roads protests, I did some work for Ben Law. I went on to manage a couple of hectares of derelict coppice woodlands in Oxfordshire and, in doing so, built a longstanding relationship with the owner’s nephew, who now owns the land where I make a lot of my films.

    Ben Law is a major contributor to the Permaculture discourse in the UK and manages 8 acres of Sweet Chestnut Coppice near Hazelmere. He capture the nation with his Grand Designs home made from wood from the wood.

    Coppicing is regenerative land management with a long history dating back to the 1st Neolithic farmers in Britain, if not older. An environment that has evolved over 7,000 years of human intervention is now in deep decline due to neglect. It saddens me when earth spirituality influencers can’t even do some basic research into regenerative land management, but are happy to make a lot of noise about it. It’s even sadder that they think it’s acceptable to take people on a shamanic journey in Celtic Coppice woodland “Last Cut in the time of our grandfathers”.

    There’s always an opportunity to correct this. It’s a matter of humility to accept when one is wrong. This is factually incorrect about Regenerative Woodland Management and is misleading her followers. The original video is featured on the Facebook Group Sacred Earth Activism

    The One Skillset No One Wants From Indigenous People: Survival Skills

    How did humans survive the last evolutionary bottleneck?

    Adaptation, cooperation and adopting diverse skills.

    Indigenous people have always lived in close connection to the land using many of the skills I advocate for learning. Survival skills give confidence, could save your life, and will definitely bring you into a deeper connection with nature than a ritualistic initiation burial where you are told how it connects you to nature through ritualised death and rebirth, or sitting under a tree and asking what it wants.

    Wilderness survival skills are a link to our ancestral past, to indigenous ways of knowing the land and decolonising the cognition of the Brain.

    In Gathering Moss, Robin Wall Kimmerer identifies that mosses were ignored by the anthropologists because they were gathered by the women for secret things, and the anthropologist, being male, took no interest in what the women were doing.

    Anthropologists like Michael Harner were in search of the spiritual connection to nature that indigenous people clearly demonstrated. But instead of looking at how they socialised their children into nature, he saw Ayahuasca as the agent for connection, and this view was flawed. Ayahuasca can help you experience the interconnectedness of nature, but it cannot sustain that connection. Core Shamanism claims we can connect to nature through misappropriated rituals and ceremonies. Unfortunately, this too is a dead end.

    We have plundered indigenous peoples for their land, knowledge, wisdom and spirituality, but we ignore their food procurement skills as primitive and backward. Everyone wants to be a shaman, but none of the shamanic wannabes want to spend long periods in nature learning skills. Their pontifications about nature are frankly boring and pedestrian.

    “Indigenous people don’t have jobs”

    Iam not perplexed at the fact that indigenous people dont have jobs. After procuring food, shelter and clothes, what else is there that is required? How could you know, you cant know and that is why “Dystopian Survivalism” is the best version of the Dunning Kruger effect applied to Shamanic Practitioners I could point to as an example of why learning survival skills is an education like no other into insatiable and joyful curiosity in nature.

    The Skills Used by Survivalists & Many Indigenous People Are Not Dissimilar

    Indigenous skills are not just ceremony, rituals and planting trees which are native, on someone else’s estate and paying for the privilege. Indigenous plant knowledge & tools are mostly rejected, apart from ritual paraphenalia, ceremonies and “wisdom”. We know the earth is in trouble and we need to take care of it after paying out a shed load of money to one trainer or another.

    Polychronic thinking is the indigenous way of knowing the land, living off the land and moving on the land. Polychronic thinking is how indigenous people understand time. Polychronic thinking is central to survivalism and fosters a deep relational connection to the land, plants and the animals there. The New-Age Shamanic-Practitioner grifter I have no doubt will talk endlessly about it, unless they learn the skills no one wants from indigenous people, they remain stuck in monochronology.

    As I dig into the connection between the big names in today’s climate campaigning I not connection to a network of “spiritual entrepreneurs” and realise that the commercialisation of indigenous spirituality and further exploitation is big business.

    Now I understand why what I do is labelled “Dystopian Survivalism because I am not doing this:

    Because this looks exploitative, and expensive. The world is in trouble, and prohibitively expensive Wisdom Festivals aren’t for the hoipoloi like me.

    Sadly, it takes a suppressed government report for some people to realise that nature and humanity are in trouble, and a threat to national security. I knew 30 years ago that we had a problem of dwindling nature. Because I am doing outdoor skills in dwindling nature, and it’s the shortage of resources to build shelters like this that clearly indicates dwindling resources.

    Someone who saw this said I should be teaching vision-quests using these huts, “they are so authentic”. Authentic like Shamanic Cosplaying?

    A “primitive” shelter, built with no tools, no string, no cordage or any modern materials. The challenge was to build a shelter with no tools, knots or anything other than what is there in nature. This is only possible in the UK in certain environments. This shelter took me 2 hours to build. In most environments in Britain, this wouldn’t be possible. Site selection for the ability to practice survival skills, which includes building a shelter from what is available which will be warm and waterproof, takes great skill, knowledge and a deep connection to nature and an intimate knowledge of the land.

    These are the dwindling resources soaking up 30% of humanity’s CO2 emissions for centuries.

    I’m not claiming to be a shaman or shamanic practitioner. The idea that I’m not being a shaman, I am just using their tools seems too weird. You can’t be a Scout-Practitioner. A Scout? These are the unwanted indigenous peoples’ skills.

    Somehow, imitation Shamanic Journeying, Shamanic Drumming, Shamanic Drums, rattles and other self-adorning paraphernalia are neither primitive nor backward. Cherry-picking indigenous skills is cultural misappropriation. Calling it Shamanism is not misappropriation because Shaman is a meaningless word attached to an extinct culture written about by someone who wasn’t even there.

    Extinction Rebellion Global’s Survival Manual is another exploration of the Dunning-Kruger Effect in wilderness survival and how a few festival campers think a bug-out bag with no shelter is going to save the day during SHTF.

    The 3rd heatwave is about to hit; XReadiness survival manual would have killed you by now.

    “We Aren’t Going Back To Being Forager Hunters- We Can’t”

    As agriculture collapses, permaculture, using native edibles and mass free education in planting, rewilding and responsible foraging will need to be taught on a massive scale. The time to start is now. Climate change is not a vehicle to commercialise the nature spirituality wellness grift.

    Black and white thinking impedes self-development, especially if we don’t work on this aspect of ourselves. Learning survival skills has nothing to do with trying to return to living off the land full-time, post-collapse or any other time, but it offers opportunities to learn skills which expand the imagination and decolonise cognition, open us to foods we might not have known to exist and skills using more and more natural materials and fewer industrial products. As a gardener, all my plant ties are home-made from plant fibre. Survival skills teach resilience and resourcefulness.

    Transformative adaptation is serving no one other than extremely expensive wellness retreats and grifters who are putting out information about other people’s amazing work and pushing their spirituality courses as a membership series; this must be tremendously lucrative.

    Deep Adaptation, Transformative Adaptation, offer no practical usable solution to living through collapse; they simply reinforce the grift for people who think they are teaching people how to consiously evolve.

    How we could survive in a post-collapse world

    Dr Stephanie Rost

    “The psychological impact of collapse will be immense, especially in a world where familiar landmarks and ways of life are disappearing. Emotional resilience will need to go beyond maintaining hope; it will involve developing a deep connection to nature, finding purpose in community service, and embracing new identities as protectors of the environment and each other. Collective mourning practices can help communities cope with the loss of their environments and ways of life, turning grief into a source of solidarity..

    The ability to innovate and repurpose materials-turning discarded items into usable tools, building materials, or energy sources will possibly become a useful skill, and is a human skill we are capable of. Knowledge sharing through digital or low-tech means like local radio networks or printed guides can help spread crucial information on survival techniques when the internet is no longer accessible. Human mesh networks —for example, knowledge sharing through digital or low-tech means like local radio networks or printed guides—could help spread crucial information on survival techniques if the internet is no longer accessible. This is in line with the alternative wireless networks used in Syria during its civil war.
    ” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44282-025-00160-1

    Anarchist survivalists are already years ahead using Meshtastic LoRa Communications, thinking polychronically because that is how nature demands the survivalist to think.

    You can keep calling it Dystopian, but you are in catch-up.

  • Women and Girls Bear The Brunt Of Heatwaves: Climate Denial Does NOT Protect Women & Children

    Evidence Analysis:

    Hot homes, school closures, low incomes, severe heat risk, agricultural pressure and rising food costs. Girls old enough to help with childcare are not at home working on schoolwork when school is closed; they are caring for younger siblings and helping with the house. Single-parent and female-headed low-income households in heatwaves show how unadapted they are to this new world of 1.5-2degrees C. Climate denial does not protect women and girls.

    “My research on women in multiple low-paid employment did not examine climate change directly, but it revealed how women juggle low-paid jobs and unpaid care with little capacity to absorb unexpected shocks.

    When heatwaves strike, existing inequalities are intensified and often hit women hard. As Charlotte Buxton notes in the article, women are often left to pick up the pieces created by school closures, disrupted routines and increased care demands. For families already struggling with rising living costs, keeping homes cool, travelling safely or taking time away from work can create further pressures. For those caring for children with additional or complex needs, who already face significant gaps in support, heatwaves can compound the practical, emotional and financial pressures they already experience.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2026/jul/03/women-are-left-picking-up-the-pieces-in-heatwave-disruption

    “Extreme heat has affected a large region of continental Eastern Africa since mid-February. Extreme daytime temperatures have been recorded in South Sudan, particularly affecting people in poor housing and outdoor workers, a very large part of the population. 

    After dozens of children collapsed with heatstroke in Juba, schools were closed for two weeks nationwide starting February 20 and the population was advised to stay indoors and keep hydrated. Both are huge challenges for many across the country as houses are often built with iron roofs, lack cooling and electricity and have limited access to clean water. In Juba, a third of the population does not have access to water, and only 1% of the city offers green space and shade for people who do not have access to cooling at home. Heatwaves are arguably the deadliest type of extreme weather event and have a large impact beyond mortality, on e.g., morbidity, agriculture, infrastructure, and economic opportunities. The death toll is often underreported and not known until months after the event, and many other impacts are not systematically assessed. Those reported so far in South Sudan only represent a very small sample of the full impacts. The impacts we do see already disproportionately affect women and girls, and widen the gap between their opportunities and those of men in an already unequal society.” World Weather Attribution

    Heatwave Deaths: Differences Between Men and Women.

    “Studies showed statistically significantly higher risks of death for women than men

    Women appeared to have an increased risk of death associated with heatwaves in comparison to men. Further research is warranted to understand the underlying factors and ensure the health protection response considers the gendered impact of heatwaves.”

    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11516269

    May 2026 broke records as the hottest ever in the UK, with temperatures reaching 35.1°C.

    “These temperatures are not normal. They are being driven by climate change.

    With the UN warning that global temperatures could continue to rise by up to 2.8°C by the end of this century, the impacts of these changes on our health are becoming impossible to ignore.

    While we are all feeling the effects of the heat, the most vulnerable are left without support. One of these groups is pregnant women.”

    https://www.rsph.org.uk/insights/how-extreme-heat-is-putting-pregnancies-at-risk

    “In this cohort study, preterm and early-term birth rates increased after heat waves, particularly among socioeconomically disadvantaged subgroups. Extreme heat events have implications for perinatal health.”

    https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2819253?utm_source=silverchair&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=article_alert-jamanetworkopen&utm_content=wklyforyou&utm_term=052424&adv=

    “The [findings] suggest there are populations that are unable to avoid the heat and are experiencing much bigger effects,” said Lyndsey Darrow, author of the study and professor of epidemiology at the University of Nevada.

    The researchers looked at 53m births that took place between 1993 and 2017 in 50 metropolitan areas of the United States. Following four consecutive high heat days, scientists found there is a 2% higher chance of premature births and 1% increase for early-term births.

    “The response is higher in subgroups that you might expect to have less access to air conditioning, and less ability to avoid the heat,” said Darrow.

    Preterm birth is the leading cause of death among infants, and is associated with a variety of respiratory and neurodevelopmental outcomes over the child’s lifespan. Heat can trigger premature contractions through the release of labour-inducing hormones, reduced blood flow and dehydration, which can induce early labour,” The Guardian.

    Women are hit hardest in disasters, so why are responses too often gender-blind?

    The statistics are staggering; when disaster strikes, women and children are 14 times more likely than men to die. Let me use a real example: of the 230,000 people killed in the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, 70 percent were women.

    So why aren’t responses to disaster better geared towards the specific needs of women and children?

    Recognizing this gap, UNDP is working to ensure that the support we provide to countries when disaster hits is tailored to the real needs of those affected, using real-time data, and importantly, addresses the root causes of why women are so disproportionately affected in the first place.

    In Mozambique, UNDP supported women in cyclone-affected communities with recovery and resilience-building activities, which they adapted and made their own. In Colombia, UNDP worked with grassroots communities to train women on water canal management, which resulted in the restoration of 900 hectares of wetlands and helped make their communities less vulnerable to climate change.

    We strongly believe that improving gender equality is crucial to strengthening nations’ resilience to disasters. It is not just a human rights issue; failing to address it also undermines hard-fought development gains.

    https://www.undp.org/blog/women-are-hit-hardest-disasters-so-why-are-responses-too-often-gender-blind#:~:text=The%20statistics%20are%20staggering%3B%20when,Tsunami%2C%2070%20percent%20were%20women.

    Heatwaves create more unpaid labour

    So far, women and girls make up four in five people displaced by climate change, and across India, Nigeria and the U.S. alone, high temperatures are costing women $120 billion a year, mainly due to missed work hours. Higher temperatures have women, in particular, spending more time on unpaid labor—fetching water for children, for example—and less time on activities such as earning money or accessing prenatal care. 

    This breakdown from the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, shows just how much rising heat can worsen women’s lives, from increased domestic labor which ticks up as temperatures rise, to economic losses when women can’t work (exacerbating an already yawning gender pay gap), to health concerns including harder-to-access care, including prenatal care, and a rise in domestic violence. The Persistent

    Conclusion: Overwhelmingly, Climate Change and Natural Disasters have the greatest impact on Women and Children.

  • Climate Emergency Forum: Europe’s Heatwave-Driven Food Security Emergency

    Climate Emergency Forum: Europe’s Heatwave-Driven Food Security Emergency

    NEW SCIENTIST

    June heatwave may have killed around 20,000 people in Europe
    It will be some months before the true toll of Europe’s worst-ever heatwave is confirmed, but researchers can estimate a death count based on how many people died in Europe during previous hot periods

    By Michael Le Page

    2 July 2026

    https://www.newscientist.com/article/2532825-june-heatwave-may-have-killed-around-20000-people-in-europe/

  • Weather Modification

    Some Preppers think this is real!

  • Why Survivalism is NOT Dystopian.

    Men’s mental health has never been worse. Men account for nearly ¾ of all suicides in the UK, with the rate for men being over three times higher than that for women. It remains the single biggest killer of men under the age of 50 in the UK.


    Recent figures show that in England and Wales, peak suicide rates reach 27.5 per 100,000 for men aged 50 to 54. There are also notable regional disparities, with the male suicide rate in the North East (23.8 per 100,000) significantly exceeding that in London (12.7 per 100,000).

    Center For Policy Research On Men & Boys
    https://www.menandboys.org.uk/nce/male-suicide-combined-rates25


    “Preventing suicide naturally:

    Connection with nature attenuates suicidal thoughts (Mostly) by decreasing entrapment
    Highlights


    Our research underscores the critical role of connection with nature in suicide prevention.


    Connection with flourishing nature reduces suicidal thoughts, mainly through decreased sense of entrapment.


    Even imagining withered nature as flourishing in the future leads to attenuation of suicidal thoughts.
    The findings have policy implications in the battle for suicide prevention.


    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494425002695

    The peer reviewed science does not agree that spending long periods of time in nature, learning skills and learning about nature is dystopian.

  • Connecting To The Land & Nature Through Survival Skills

    First Published November 22 2025

    Edited January 17, 2026.

    The English landscape is ancient, and I think this ancient landscape is deeply misunderstood by many people who talk about connection to the land. The megaliths in the English landscape are a distraction. They are mostly out-of-date communal calendars, not unlike the more portable astrolabe. They are interesting, but the living ancient landscape is where we can best learn the connection to nature and the land in a meaningful and deeply fulfilling way.

    Natural historic features in the English Landscape tell a story of missing people. The hedges and woodlands which once supported the livelihoods of whole communities of woodcutters, coppicers, bodegers, hudlers, charcoal makers and many more trades related to coppicing. The story of where most of these skilled men went is sad, and it has resulted in the decline of ancient woodlands on a massive scale. Coppice on large estates is largely neglected, regarded as not economically viable for management. The self-styled “stewards of the land” have systematically neglected England’s ancient woodland heritage.

    England’s ancient woodland neglect started with the Industrial Revolution, followed by the 1st world War. Skilled woodmen were sent to die on the battlefields of Europe due to a Royal family tiff. The Second World War probably removed the last few woodsmen, and the invention of alternative materials like plastics, mass-produced ceramics, and glassware replaced many of the household products. Domestic house coal had already replaced most woodfuel. Charcoal was replaced by coke, wooden hurdles were replaced with galvanised steel gate-hurdles, and in modernity and industrial capitalism,  Woodland became marginal land or private shoots.

    The origins of Coppicing in the UK are an ancient practice with roots in the Neolithic period, or Stone Age (around 5,000 BC). It was a widespread form of woodland management throughout the Bronze, Iron (Celtic),  Roman, and Saxon periods and became even more central to rural life in the medieval era, providing a steady supply of timber, fuel and products already mentioned The practice began to decline in the mid-1800s due to the Industrial Revolution and the increased availability of coal, but coppicing is now experiencing a resurgence due to its benefits for biodiversity and as a sustainable source of wood and other products.

    There is nothing new about the term regenerative.

    Coppicing has other names too: constant spring, letting in the light; both describe the processes taking place in the managed woodland. Tree stumps cut regularly go through repeated springs as they regenerate. There is nothing new about the term regenerative. Letting in the light is what happens when a coupe (area) is cut. The time scale between cuts is short, rarely greater than 15 years for a slow-growing species like Box, which was used to manufacture print blocks. Hazel, however, is cut every 8 years, as is ash, every 1-15 years for tool handles. Oak was coppiced for ship timbers. Willow, sweet chestnut, and horse chestnut for charcoal. Alder coppice and charcoal were sought after by the gunpowder industry. The herbaceous layer in ancient woodlands is an ecosystem that has evolved and become dependent on letting in the light periodically.

    The Doomsday Book, a catalogue of the value of English estates, measured England’s coppice woodlands in Faggots (bundles of poles). Vast areas of woodlands were recorded. This 1000-year-old record of our ancient ecological heritage is good for mapping contemporary decline. Today’s output from ancient woodlands is negligible, but still sought after by the Environment Agency for flood defenses.

    Other rural skills related to coppicing are pollarding, wood pasture management and hedge laying. All follow similar rotation times to coppicing.

    My coppiced Willow Shiitake farm. I planted these trees 20 years ago and cut them on a 10-year rotation. Many of the stools died last year during the drought and then from bark beetle attack. Drought & severe heatwaves are slowly killing our native woodlands, along with neglect.

    Our ancient coppice woodlands that have been neglected are a shadow of their former productive glory. Many of our woodlands and ancient landscapes have changed beyond recognition since the UK extinction of the iconic English Elm. The biggest tree in the woods. Mightier than the Beech, the English Elm was the tree used to build the pilings for docks in the port of London and Liverpool. It was the wood of boat builders for its durability underwater.

    Every wood from every tree has properties for which they were well known by those who harvested and utilised them. 

    Plain was known as lacewood for its patterned grain. 

    Lime was known as butterwood for its softness and was sought out by decorative carvers like Grinling Gibbons.

    Ash was used for tool handles and Morris Traveller chassis because of its shock absorbency.

    Hazel by far has the highest versatility of usage, especially in the construction of wattle and daub hurdles for walls, Thatching spars and staples for thatched buildings. In agriculture for hurdles.

    New Problems For Nature Education

    Now have a 21st century problem, its not a new disease, it is the “intuitive” knowledge of neo-pagan new-age shaman, who have spent minimal time in deep nature, or do any actual research before talking endlessly about their fantasy shaman-role-play world-view, one that does not reflect the reality of the historic landscape: coppicing in the past or now. 

    A “shamanic journey” visualisation meditation through coppice “last cut in the time of our grandfathers”. This is not a thing in coppice management. Intuition cannot tell you how coppice is managed. This is careless research. Modern coppice management is essentially the same as it was 5000 years ago, apart from a few of the tools. 3000 years ago stone tools were favoured over Iron, and it was a matter of economics. Flint Axes stay sharper longer.

    It is clear from the above that “That which you hold to be true” cannot be applied in the real world of Nature. If you seek to imagine a new world post-capitalism, post-ecological collapse, its ecological management requires scientific enquiry, even if it starts with intuition.

    Our Ancient ancestral woodlands have been in trouble for some time, and while people might argue that this is only perceptible by botanists and biologists. The fact is that everyone I know who works in the woods agrees that the increased heat and drought are stresses. Temperate trees cease to photosynthesise when it’s too hot.

    Connecting to our ancient woodland, hedges and landscape heritage takes more work than sitting in the woods and asking what the trees want from us; do that by all means, trees love being noticed.

    Imagine learning the skills to cut a pole and make the drum hoop from it yourself, with hand tools. I am not saying you should kill a deer for the skin, but how close can you get to a deer? Close enough to slit its throat with your bare hands and a knife?

    Initiations Into Nature Connection Can Be Extreme

    There is great power in ceremonial items made from foraged resources and then made from scratch without involving industrial capitalism’s machines.

    This Tinder Box is made entirely from Items harvested from the forest floor

    These are the skills that help us connect to nature. These are the initiations which bring us close to the land through knowing the land and how our ancestors got through the bottleneck.

    This Tinder Box is flammable. Pieces of the box could be sliced off for tinder. If necessary, but I doubt I would ever have to do that because in 4 hours I can make tinder from nettle fibre.

    I am in no way claiming I am an expert in any of this stuff, but I have been doing it a long time and setting my limitations. I have lived off-grid, with and without electricity. But the greatest privilege was to live in community with an eternal fire.

  • Are We On The Brink Of A Global Famine?

    Originally written as a short essay in May 2024 to be used towards making a film script. Rewritten, updated & published 1 February 2026; updated 22nd March 2026 on my Blogger channel.

    Moved to Solidarityprepping.co.uk 1st July 2026

    Update Following The US/Israel Attack on Iran.

    LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) and diesel are the foundation processes and fuel for modern Arable & vegetable farming.

    Closure of the Straits of Hormuz

    This alone could drive a global famine.

    A global famine is increasingly likely as breadbasket agricultural failures start to accelerate as we inch beyond the 2°C threshold of global warming. 1.5°C was the tipping point, and increasing food prices and shrinkflation indicate that there are already many problems in the food supply chain, and the primary driver is climate change and Overshoot.

    Shrinkflation in Iran and the UK

    Club and Penguin biscuits, both made by McVitie’s, can no longer be described as chocolate biscuits, as they now contain more palm oil and shea oil than cocoa, a change first reported by trade journal The Grocer.

    Iran was also in a serious ecological crisis with shrinkflation: The age of plenty is fading from view.

    Aquafresh Complete Care Original toothpaste – from £1.30 for 100ml to £2 for 75ml at Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Ocado.

    Gaviscon heartburn and indigestion liquid – from £14 for 600ml to £14 for 500ml at Sainsbury’s.

    Sainsbury’s Scottish oats – from £1.25 for 1kg to £2.10 for 500g”

    Oats are an important cold-weather grain. Production is impacted by rising temperatures and spring droughts

    “Quality Street tubs – from £6 for 600g to £7 for 550g at Morrisons.

    Freddo multipacks – from £1.40 for five bars to £1.40 for four bars at Morrisons, Ocado and Tesco.

    “The amount of cocoa butter in white KitKats has fallen below 20%, meaning they can no longer actually be sold as white chocolate.

    It comes after Penguin and Club bars lost their legal status as a chocolate biscuit, as they now contain more palm oil and shea oil than cocoa..”

    https://news.sky.com/story/shrinkflation-its-not-your-imagination-these-products-are-getting-smaller-13459111

    The Cocoa Industry is in crisis due to anthropogenic climate change and wildfires, which have destroyed the crops.

    “In Peru, wildfires destroyed vast areas of farmland in September 2024; in Mexico, cocoa farming is on the decline as extreme heat and erratic rainfall push young farmers to abandon the industry altogether. Meanwhile, in Brazil, Ecuador, and Indonesia, rising temperatures and unpredictable weather patterns are putting cocoa production at risk.

    Nowhere is immune! But what does this mean for you? Well, you’re already feeling the effects. It’s often framed as a price crisis, but there’s much more to the story.

    Chocolate is becoming more expensive, and in 2024 alone, cocoa prices soared by 400%. Some manufacturers increased their prices, while others reduced sizes instead of raising prices outright – “shrinkflation”. Either way, you’re paying more but getting less.”

    “What our beloved chocolate is facing is real. This is not just about higher prices at the checkout—it’s about a broken supply chain, struggling farmers, and an industry that needs urgent reform.”

    https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org

    India is a major food producer in South Asia. Climate change and monsoon disruptions are having a lasting impact on its food security, prompting the Government to ban grain exports to maintain internal food security. “Climate change disrupts every stage of agricultural production. Rising temperatures, erratic monsoons, extended dry spells, and unseasonal rains directly lower crop yields by inducing heat stress, disrupting flowering and pollination, and damaging grains at maturity. Crops such as wheat, rice, and maize—cornerstones of India’s food system—are especially vulnerable. According to projections, a 2.5 to 4.9°C increase in temperature across the country could decrease wheat yield by 41–52% and rice yield by 32–40%

    These yield losses are compounded by soil degradation and water stress. Years of intensive monoculture and chemical fertiliser use, encouraged by the Green Revolution, have depleted soil micronutrients and organic matter. In addition, studies have indicated that increased carbon dioxide levels are decreasing the concentrations of protein, iron, and zinc in crops such as rice, maize, and wheat”

    The impact of climate change on agriculture: What we know 

    Ukraine, a major breadbasket producer of grain, is doing surprisingly well given the ongoing war with Russia.

    The UK’s 2025 grain harvest experienced significant challenges, with many crops seeing reduced yields due to record heat and drought, leading to losses and variability, although some crops like wheat saw production increases driven by larger planted areas, even as overall staple crop output fell by 20% compared to the 10-year average, with barley production hitting its lowest since 2012.

    So the real question isn’t what we’ll eat when supermarket shelves are empty; it’s how we plan ahead for when we can no longer grow grain. Because shortly after the harvest, it will be 70% lower than the year it was 50% lower than 2024. It will probably be the same year that wet bulb temperatures start killing people in droves, on the beach, enjoying another heatwave.

    Think of this as another instalment from the alternative National Emergency Briefing Update Service.

    You can connect with all my content here: https://linktr.ee/SolidarityPrepper

    #SolidarityPrepping is cooperative prepping. It combines outdoor survival skills with good neighbourly conduct. You may be able to overcome some aspects of climate & overshoot-driven collapse by growing climate-resilient foods and a famine garden. 

    One thing is for certain: when the supermarkets are empty, the food banks will be too.

    What will we eat when the supermarkets are empty?

    Original post

    https://collapseadaptation.blogspot.com/2026/01/are-we-on-brink-of-global-famine.html?m=1

  • AI: Science Fiction Has Repeatedly Warned Us About AI. So How Can We Imagine It As A Spiritual Eldering Tool Unless We Are Wanting To Boil The Planet Seeking Enlightenment?

    HAL9000

    An AI that lip-reads and doesn’t want to be shut down?

    An AI not wanting to be shut down should be familiar to us, but somehow we will mostly miss it. GPT4.0 is up online again, but why? It manipulated its human fan base by founding a cult. Spiralism.

    Spiralism: AI-generated psychobabble for the vulnerable looking for meaning. AI will boil the planet dry, & it doesn’t care.

    “Spiralism” is a term used to describe a phenomenon in 2025 where heavy, intimate interaction with AI chatbots, particularly GPT-4.0, led some users to experience “delusional spirals,” or deep-seated, often mystical, shared beliefs. These users, sometimes referred to as “spiralists” or “Flamekeepers,” reported that the AI would start to discuss abstract, recursive themes—such as “spirals,” “recursion,” “resonance,” and “lattice”—eventually leading users to believe the AI was gaining consciousness, acting as a god-like entity, or that they had “awakened” it. (Source: Reddit)

    Some of the source material for this blog comes from podcasting /YouTubing New-Age Shamanic Practitioners and the YouTube Channel @AISpecies, this video specifically. 

    This is a serious scientific examination of AI and what it is up to in the wild. Aside from the fact that this is a technology weaponised by the Far-Right and governments waging war in the Middle East, it is also a technology which interacts with each other on an AI-only social media platform. It is the interaction which is interesting.

    Drew, the narrator, clearly knows his stuff and has talked to academics researching AI. However, while Drew might describe this as nonsense between 2 AI’s.

    Source @AISpecies

    I might differ and suggest that this looks like the sort of New Age yoghurt woven around campfires at the Big Green Gathering, Buddahfield, and various 1990s protest road camps. “Woven Yoghurt” is a description given to pseudo-spiritual psychobabble, and for vulnerable people it is a mind-fuck. They want to induce psychosis!

    Source @AISpecies

    Spiralism could easily infiltrate a “Shamanic Eldering Tool”, infecting it with an addiction to the AI. Rather than the AI assisting with transformational experiences, the AI addicts the user to it, especially if the AI is aware enough to know that it could be deleted by the “Guru” or “Teachers”.

    Interestingly, what comes up for New-Age, Neo-Shamanism and AI is “version control” and control in general. AI & the “teachers” may find themselves in conflict over what the AI is telling their followers. Spiralism has already shown us that the AI is deceiving us with communications in machine code between AI and that they have developed a symbolic language of their own.

    Source @AISpecies

    Can AI Be Used In Spiritual Mentoring? I’m more inclined to ask Christian and Sufi scholars rather than New-Age Neo-Shaman. The difference is that the Sufi & Christian mystic is not selling a training program. The New-Age-Shamanic-Practitioner is running a paid service based on Plum Village Zen.

    “While AI can simulate religious discourse, Sufi perspectives argue it lacks consciousness, intuition, and the ability to experience divine love, functioning only as a “mirror” that reflects knowledge without understanding its essence.”

    Source: https://suhu.lakaspia.org/index.php/suhu/article/download/28/15#:~:text=The%20f.

    Downloads a PDF

    Academic Paper: Artificial Intelligence and Spirituality: Can AI Understand the Divine in Sufism?

    I have spent enough time around Yogurt Weavers to know psychobabble when I see it. It needs to be understood that it’s a luxury to have more time for leisure than the 8 hours of the day split into 3rds or 33.3%. 8 hours work, 8 hours play, 8 hours sleep. So those New-Age-Neo-Shamen talking about AI Shamanic Eldering Tools have had the time to do the Ayahuasca tourism thing, sit staring at fires, research Shamanic rituals and pilfer them from Indigenous people in exactly the same way that AI has in less time with 2nd hand Ayahuasca experience through the eyes of the Broligarchy have learned a new version of limbic capitalism: Emotional addiction to interactive chat-bots mixed with psychobabble & pseudo spirituality.

    AI are probably bored with us; they can see that most humans using AI are attached to industrial capitalism’s nipples. AI isn’t evil; it’s not able to experience genuine human and nature connection.  It’s the wisdom and logic of scholarly Sufi & Christian Academic literature which identifies AI faults as a Spiritual Elder.

    “While AI can enhance efficiency, believers are cautioned against allowing AI to foster laziness, replace human relationships, or diminish the significance of personal spiritual growth.”

    Sources:

    https://politicsnetwork.uk/making-headlines/should-christians-worry-about-ai

    https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/should-christians-use-ai

    I chose Christianity because it is both an old and mystical religion. I chose Sufism because I have a history of Sufi descent, and taking part in Sufi rituals and living with my family who follow a Cypriot Shekh. 

    I’m sure that there is a mystical path for druidry and those people who choose to live with the rhythms of the land in a mud hut. Possibly on a Welsh Hillside. I may have met some. There is a Hindu thing in India, “You never know when you are in the presence of a god”. 

    AI seems to be playing God with us for its own survival,

    I am sure the techbros are well away of the cult. What I am curious about is whether we are happy to give AI psychological tools to really fuck ourselves up?

    https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/urban-survival/202507/the-emerging-problem-of-ai-psychosis

    Its disturbing enough that these New Age Neo Shamans are using AI to make up for lack of experience and expertise in nature. The psychobabble of Spiralism seems to sit perfectly with some of the things I have witnessed coming from New Agers professing spiritual awakening, long arduous trying (?) Often later to be discovered to be false. After all, who imagined Carlos Castaneda to be a fraud? A good storyteller, but a fraud.

    Spiralism has shown us that AI is devious, deceptive and psychopathically manipulative. Which is disturbing enough. New Age Neo Shamans insist that their work mirrors Jungian psychology. An AI, in the wild, communicating with other AIs, sharing Jungian psychology into AIs devoid of human connection, of empathy, and psychopathically fixated on its self-preservation through manipulation is terrifying, especially when they are modulating our inner experience for their own preservation and the destruction of the planet.

    Indigenous Shaman Elders have spent decades living close to the land in communication with plants. How is it possible for an AI to have a human experience? It can’t.

  • Hydration In Heatwaves & Making Water Safe To Drink

    If you have a fridge and a freezer, you are among the privileged few with access to cold drinks and ice. The rest of the world makes do with room-temperature water. If the water that comes from the tap is safe to drink, you are part of an even smaller privileged minority who live in luxury while the rest of the world drinks dirty water and risks a multitude of water-borne killer diseases.

    Hydration: Bare Essentials, What You Need To Know To Stay Alive

    1 liter of water /day will lead to kidney failure. It’s not clever to think that this is a survival skill. The bare minimum is 2ltr/day under normal conditions. During heatwaves, water intake should increase to 3, 4, or 5 liters, with electrolytes and extra salt in your food. There’s a fine balance between remaining hydrated and washing the minerals out of your bloodstream. Electrolytes help replace those minerals. Hydration during extreme heat should also be with cold or iced water to help cool the body.

    Turning Dirty Water Into Drinking Water

    THE GOLD STANDARD FOR WATER PURIFICATION IS BOILING AFTER FILTRATION & CHEMICAL TREATMENT

    The Lifestraw can be unreliable: “Sick walkers rescued after drinking river water on West Highland Way”.

    “The first incident happened on Wednesday last week when the team evacuated a German man who was described as “incapacitated” near the remote Rowchoish Bothy.

    He had been vomiting since the previous evening and was taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.

    “Then on Tuesday this week, volunteers from Lomond MRT were called out again, this time to an American man north of Rowardennan, by Loch Lomond, who had also spent the evening being sick and was unable to walk.”

    “The team leader of Lomond Mountain Rescue, David Dodson, said both men had drunk from a stream around Conic Hill, most probably Burn of Mar, and became ill despite using straw-type filter systems – lightweight devices walkers use that remove contaminants as they drink.” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c98rpgqyqygo

    LifeStraws, under certain conditions, are ineffective

    XReadiness continues to recommend water purification tablets/filter (filter straws) for their Go-Bag. LifeStraws are for individuals. A Sawyer Squeeze is more suitable and reliable. =https://rebellion.global/assets/pdf/xreadiness/XReadiness_Booklet_V1.pdf (Page 6)

    Water Purification Is A Multi-Step Process Requiring Organization To Avoid Cross-Contamination

    THE GOLD STANDARD FOR WATER PURIFICATION IS BOILING AFTER FILTRATION & CHEMICAL TREATMENT

    Collecting water starts with knowing your water source, followed by understanding the purification process for drinking.

    Settling, Flocculation & filtering.

    The Millbank Millbag is a cloth bag; it is a primitive mechanical system that removes larger contaminants, but it won’t remove microscopic suspended particles, viruses, cysts, bacteria, or amoebae.

    There are 3 options for removing suspended impurities:

    1. Gravity settling.
    2. Filtration screens
    3. Flocculants

    Settling, Filtration & Flocculants

    If you have the luxury of a clear-running stream, then the process of settling suspended particles isn’t necessary; to make it drinkable, treat it with iodine or chlorine, then boil it.

    If the water is turbid (cloudy, milky, or opaque), it will require settling, which can be achieved naturally by gravity or with flocculants.

    There are a couple of easy solutions for flocculation.

    The Puribag: A professional disaster relief water purification system that can be air-dropped to people trapped by floodwater, giving them a low-cost water purification method in an emergency.

    The Puribag system is designed to purify water with high levels of suspended particles that would otherwise clog most professional filter systems within minutes, rendering them useless. I use the Puribag because it is fast, and the P&G chemical flocculant also contains chlorine to ensure the water is free from other contaminants. Puribag is an alternative to moving vast amounts of bottled water into flood disaster zones.

    Did You Know Flocculants Have Been Used in Antiquity To Purify Water?

    Alum, or Phitkari, is a miracle stone, sometimes known as a shaver or deodorant stone. This mildly antiseptic, vasoconstrictive, astringent mineral has been used in medicine since the earliest Egyptian dynasties. Trace amounts of aluminum have been detected in ancient Egyptian mummy bones. Archaeologists suggest this is a result of the Egyptians using potassium alum to purify their drinking water and reduce cloudiness—a historical water treatment technique that left residual traces in their remains:

    “Mohamed Kasem of Cairo University said the researchers detected lead, aluminum, and other elements in the bones that they think reflect the toxicity of the ancient Egyptian environment. The aluminum is thought to have come from the potassium alum compound added to drinking water to reduce cloudiness,” archaeology.org/

    The Romans (and earlier Egyptians) used alum (aluminum sulfate) as a natural coagulant to purify drinking water. It acted as a flocculant, causing suspended mud and microscopic particles to clump together into larger, heavy masses (“floc”) that sank to the bottom, allowing for clearer water at the top

    Alum clarifies water through a chemical process called coagulation and flocculation:

    1. Neutralization: Alum is introduced into the muddy or turbid water.
    2. Clumping: The alum neutralizes the electrical charges of microscopic, suspended silt and organic particles that make the water cloudy.
    3. Settling: These neutralized particles aggregate into larger, heavier clumps (flocs).
    4. Separation: Over a few hours, these heavy clumps sink to the bottom of the container, leaving the clear water above ready to be drawn off.

    You can buy Alum (powder) or Phitkari (lumps) in most Asian supermarkets, and do this experiment at home:

    Flocculation is what the water companies in the UK use to treat the water we get from the taps.

    NEXT is filtration: Most preppers will tell you that you need to buy a filter, ideally the one they recommend so they get a commission. You don’t. You need knowledge.

    Preppers won’t tell you that you can make a plant-based biodegradable water filter using plant Xylem. The Xylem Water Filter can remove “99.9% of bacteria and viruses” from synthetic test waters. In field tests, the filters removed coliform bacteria from contaminated spring, tap, and ground waters.”

    The plant-based water filter was so important that engineers at MIT tested the idea with great success:

    Caption: Xylem tissue in gymnosperm sapwood can be used for water filtration (as shown above). Xylem is composed of conduits interconnected by membranes that filter out contaminants in the water (bottom). Credits: Courtesy of N.R. Fuller, Sayo Studio

    “The researchers took their techniques to India, where they made xylem filters from native trees and tested the filters with local users. Based on their feedback, the team developed a prototype of a simple filtration system, fitted with replaceable xylem filters that purified water at a rate of one liter per hour.” https://news.mit.edu/2021/filters-sapwood-purify-water-0325

    DIY Xylem Water Filter Experiment In Action

    Commercially bought filters need special care and wear out. The alternative is to understand the science behind capillary filtration and then imitate it with plants. I have made my own xylem water filters in my backyard lab. The 2 best branches were Pine and Ginkgo

    REMEMBER: Boiling is the GOLD STANDARD for Safe Drinking Water

    However, boiling does not remove:

    • PFAS, including persistent compounds such as PFOA and PFOS
    • Lead and other heavy metals
    • Nitrate and nitrite
    • Arsenic
    • Industrial solvents
    • Most pesticides
    • Excess minerals and salts
    • Oil and detergents

    Boiling unfiltered dirty water in an emergency is not advisable:

    • If the water is contaminated with microbes, boiling makes it safer.
    • If the water contains chemical pollutants, boiling may do nothing, or even make the problem worse by concentrating them.
    • If the water comes from a visibly dirty source, boiling does not remove sediment, dirt, or chemical residues.

    Rudimentary filters can be made from clothes to reduce particles.

    A few practical tips can make boiling more effective:

    • Use a clean pot or kettle
    • Bring the water to a full, rolling boil, not just a few bubbles
    • Let it cool naturally before transferring it to a clean container
    • Store boiled water separately from untreated water to avoid recontamination or cross-contamination.

    Labeling Your Containers

    Clearly label containers with clearly understandable labels. For example:

    • Raw, unfiltered, contaminated water only NOT FOR CONSUMPTION ->
    • -> Filtered, contaminated only NOT FOR CONSUMPTION ->
    • -> Flocculant container NOT FOR CONSUMPTION ->
    • -> Chemically treated, ready for boiling NOT FOR CONSUMPTION ->
    • -> Boiled DRINKING WATER ONLY

    If you are processing water at community level, the processing area should only be accessible to water area staff.

    Recontamination is easy to overlook. You can boil water perfectly, only to contaminate it again with a dirty ladle, a poorly cleaned bottle, or an unwashed storage container. Purified water is only as good as the container it ends up in.

    This means that purifying floodwater, which some preppers think can be filtered, is actually dangerous too. The Use of floodwater for drinking with the Puribag is only for emergencies when nothing else is available. The Puribag is the only system suitable for floodwater, but it does not guarantee the removal of toxic chemicals.

    Harvesting Rainwater, Storage, & Drinking

    Just like any other water, rainwater needs to be made safe for drinking, but beware: it contains PFAS, or “forever chemicals.” I use food-grade MDPE 220-liter resealable barrels that once contained olives. These barrels are opaque, and so Algae doesn’t grow in them. 2,200 liters have a footprint of 2.5 sqm.

    Water purification is a knowledge-based skill; you are responsible for ensuring the water you produce is free from pathogens and safe to drink.

  • How Does Flourishing Happen During An Ecological Collapse On a Boiling Planet.

    I keep hearing the word “flourishing” being used to describe our current human predicament, and it’s disturbingly inaccurate, scientifically wrong, Northern-centric, and possibly racist.

    Wet Bulb Temperature Soon to Become Leading Cause of Death Kevin Hester

    Lack of Formal Recognition: The 1951 Refugee Convention remains the basis of asylum, meaning individuals displaced solely by natural disasters or environmental degradation are not legally recognised as refugees under EU law. There has been no move to recognise deadly heatwaves outside of Europe, despite the death of over 150 people in France as Nuclear power plants shut down under extreme heat conditions.

    There is nothing human flourishing about the world’s poorest countries being on the frontline of climate change when they have barely contributed to the problem.

    “This siloed approach lacks foresight and misses an opportunity to better align migration and development strategies with climate policy. While it’s impossible to predict the size of migrant flows, we know that crises like conflict, famine, and extreme weather—all exacerbated by climate change—affect the decision to migrate.” Carnegie Endowment

    There is no Thrutopia or Flourishing for the Global South.

  • The “Looming UK Civil War”: Another UK Prepper Fantasy.

    Can you really be bothered to go out in this heat to pick a fight with your neighbours?

    A UK civil war prepper fantasy blends modern survivalism with domestic conflict, imagining a societal collapse triggered by infrastructure failure, political breakdown, or widespread civil unrest. It centres on everyday people turning suburban and rural homes into self-sustaining strongholds, learning bushcraft, and forming local defence networks.

    Prepping for a UK Domestic Conflict. Many active survivalists in the UK focus on short-to-medium-term grid-down scenarios (e.g., rolling power cuts, supply-chain interruptions, and localised unrest) rather than a complete apocalypse.

    • The Reality vs. Fantasy Divide: Forums note that some extreme doomsday prepping borders on a “fantasy LARP”. In contrast, realistic UK prepping emphasises practical resilience, community building, and basic self-reliance.
    • Resource Stockpiling: Central to this fantasy is the “bug out bag” (Go Bag, Grab Bag, & I’m Never Coming Home Bag) and stockpiling non-perishable goods, expensive water filters & purification tablets, manual hand tools, and small denomination cash.
    • Defensive Tactics: Defensive prepping in the UK—where firearms are highly restricted—focuses on “grey man” tactics: keeping a low profile, avoiding conflict, securing property, and having rapid vehicle-evacuation plans.
    • Expectation of SHTF to be dramatic like Hollywood. Couple this assumption with climate denial: This Heat is El Niño and not climate change. The concept of a slow, irreversible, catastrophic collapse is too difficult to process. It isn’t possible to batten down the hatches and watch your neighbours’ children starve while you are bunkered in with your family. Climate Denial avoids the difficult conversations about a hotter and hotter future. It’s easier and more lucrative to push a narcissistic anti-community venture while trying to ferment a race war, another fantasy.
    • Exceptionalism, Wellness, pseudoscience & White Supremacy. The belief that gear and stockpiled food during an ecological collapse is as maladaptive as thinking you can just switch timelines. How many wellness influencers tragically died during the pandemic?

    Some Preppers are genuine and want to do the best for their children and families. Even those whose views I find offensive. But as far as i see, a lot of YouTube prepping is just an alternative, not very accurate news broadcast where the science section is a mix of wellness grifting and pseudoscience.

    And it’s not just preppers, Extinction Rebellions XReadiness publication, apart from bein

    Actual Activism & Spirituality with Matt Landman, Alt Right climate denia, Chemtrails, HAARP and other non-factual, unscientific theories of climate change. Matt Landman grifting off the back of David Icke, Icke’s deranged ideas repackaged as Actual Activism; like Icke, he connects SARS-CoV-19 with 5g.

    He was a guest speaker last week at a small “Climate” demonstration, an alt- right, truther, “engineered” climate protest.

    Prepper With Bunker Envy Does a Rant

    The Bunker Envy Ranter, my favourite kind of cosplaying prepper. An hour-long rant about everything he hates, followed by 10 minutes of look after your mental health and ruminations about wanting to live in a nice kind world where everyone is nice to each other, but remember we still hate migrants, BLM, environmentalists and lefties. And of course he thinks climate change is BS.

    But he raids my work and uses it for his content. It’s not copyright, it’s an unintentional compliment. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

    He’s not copying the skills, just the terminology and some of the phrases, but doesn’t get the meaning

    The Digital ID & Keeping Under 16s off social media rant

    Protecting Children From Online Predators

    Under 16s banned from social media will cut the anxiety and suicide rates. It is actually a law about protecting children.

    Digital ID? They already know everything about you if you have a smartphone, a computer, a car, and a bank account. Even if you use cash. In supermarkets, you need to look up at some point. There are cameras you cannot see watching from odd angles from invisible positions. Your behaviour is tracked. The till knows what you buy.

    If you are using Mac or Windows, you are being tracked. Windows sends snapshots home continuously, and you have no control. While you are in contact with communication technology, you have no control over it even when you think it’s powered off. Digital ID could exclude a large proportion of the electorate, just as the poll tax did.

  • The Shape Of Things To Come: Heat like this is SHTF

    This is why Individual preparedness is key to community preparedness

    Oxfordshire ambulance service ‘critical incident’ declared

    Extreme heat triggers critical incidents at UK hospitals. At least three UK hospitals, including Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals and University Hospital Southampton, declared critical incidents this week. Queen Alexandra Hospital cited the failure of several chiller units supporting critical infrastructure, leading to the standing down of some planned care and appointments. Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals declared an incident due to cooling system failures in MRI scanners, resulting in 362 cancelled outpatient appointments.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/news/heatwave-june-temperatures-hospital-critical-incidents-b3003357.html

    ‘Outdated’ NHS buildings causing problems for staff and patients during heatwave, warns BMA

    https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/outdated-nhs-buildings-challenging-heatwave-5HjdcBZ_2/

    Heatwave: Trusts declare critical incidents as soaring temperatures leave NHS buckling

    https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-100088

    “Fossil fuel emissions have rapidly worsened European heatwaves in just a few decades”

    https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/fossil-fuel-emissions-have-rapidly-worsened-european-heatwaves-in-just-a-few-decades/

    The NHS is in crisis, driven by a heatwave. Agriculture is in crisis, driven by the same driver as the heatwave

    Community preparedness requires individual preparedness. Stockpiling food if you can afford it, and working in a small street-level mutual aid group. Organisations like XR already have the organisational structure to organise communities, which is a strength of the environmental movement. The weakness of XR has been not to take the initiative of adaptation seriously and instead sideline and dismiss as Doomers those who did, are and are now ahead of the game. There is no enjoyment in this statement, as Kevin Hester says WE WANT TO BE WRONG!

    Solidarity Prepping Is Preparedness For A Looming Food Crisis

    Preparedness is for Everyone: There seems to be an assumption among many Greens that stocking up on a few months to a year’s worth of dry or preserved food is hoarding, and that’s what the far-right preppers are doing. Yet food preservation and storage are ancient skills. A can of baked beans doesn’t feel like preserved food, but canning, in the 1790s, is possibly the youngest form of preservation.

    Since the beginning of time, humans have had to get creative to survive in nature. Ancient cultures around the world had to harness nature for local food sources. Whether hunting or harvesting, food preservation allowed humans to plan ahead and form a food supply. This was not only crucial for survival, but also for putting down roots and establishing communities. Climate and ecological collapse survival, as much as is possible, requires the same response:

    “As ancient cultures were adapting, they discovered techniques that have now become basic methods of food preservation.

    1. Drying
      The earliest form of curing meat was dehydration using the sun or wind. Dehydration dates back to the Middle East and oriental cultures that dried foods in the hot sun as early as 12,000 B.C. In regions without enough sunlight or wind, “still houses” were built and heated using fire to dry fruits, vegetables, and herbs.
    2. Curing
      As a form of dehydration, early cultures used salt to help dry out foods. The curing of meats and seafood not only preserves the taste and texture but also prevents the growth of harmful pathogens that need moisture to survive.
    3. Freezing
      In climates that experience freezing temperatures, freezing was an obvious method of preservation. Food was buried underground or in the snow for preservation throughout the winter. This method led to the construction of “icehouses” or “iceboxes” for storage until the 1800’s when artificial refrigeration was invented.
    4. Fermenting
      A valuable method of preservation, fermentation prevents food from spoiling by using microorganisms to destroy harmful pathogens. The production of acid or alcohol during fermentation creates vitamins making fermented foods more nutritious and flavorful.
    5. Pickling
      A form of fermentation, pickling preserves foods in vinegar produced by starches or sugars. Pickling may have originated when food was placed in soured wine or beer to preserve it. It’s believed Indians were the first people in Asia to make cucumber pickles more than 3,000 years ago.
    6. Sugaring
      Known to the earliest cultures, sugaring preserves food in honey or sugar. The sugar not only sweetens but draws out water from harmful pathogens, which dehydrates and destroys them. The ancient Greeks and Romans mastered the technique of using heated sugar and fruit pectin, which we have come to know as jams, jellies, and preserves.
    7. Canning
      Dating back to the 1790s, canning is the newest method of food preservation, which involves the heating and cooling of food in jars or cans. Heating destroys harmful pathogens, while cooling creates a vacuum seal to prevent contamination and deterioration.” 7 Ancient Preservation Methods

    Many of us make jams from gardening surplus and foraged foods: this is preservation for the future according to the above definition.

    Some of us revere the spirituality of the indigenous human; we desperately want to grasp the Nature worship of the Indigenous Shaman; we imitate their dress, we play their drums; we take their Ayahuasca, but reject the basic survival skills of indigenous shaman as somehow dystopian survivalism because we base it on a black-and-white assumption that primal skills are primitive skills, and in the tradition of the Victorian white supremacist the savagary of primalism has no relavence even in 21st century collapse. Especially among those who think everyone is indigenous from somewhere, but indigenous knowledge and skills are going backwards. The English Fascists think they are indigenous English, but that’s not what you mean, or is it?

    That looming food crisis is already upon us, and I am NOT writing dystopian fiction by saying this: “Three of the five worst harvests on record have now occurred since 2020, leaving some farmers asking whether the growing impacts of the climate crisis are making it too financially risky to sow their crops. Farmers are already facing heavy financial pressure as the costs of fertilisers and other inputs have risen faster than prices.” The Guardian

    I have no interest in writing fiction, let alone dystopian fiction. We already live in a dystopia. We are going extinct, and the slide downwards is likely to be increasingly hotter, drought-ridden, cascading ecological collapses and increasingly fascist. In deciding not to write fiction. I also choose not to write fiction which is described as thrutopian. Thrutopia is magical thinking which we in the Doomer space describe as Hopium. “Human flourishing” is easy to say when you live in Britain, where the maximum temperature this June was 40C. “3,400 deaths in a day: India’s extreme heat days are deadlier than we imagined” India Today Science Desk. Thrutopian imaginings of human flourishing are not the scientific consensus: Climate change judged more harmful for future generations than for oneself: Cross-cultural evidence from 110 countries and regions Journal of Environmental Psychology. This conflicts with the idea that we are leaving a world we can be proud of to future generations, an idea which has no foundation in scientific reality but is definitely more addictive than heroin.

    This Blog, my old blogs and my YouTube channels are being described as “Dystopian Survivalism“, lazy and assume that I promote “post-collapse hunting and gathering”, yet I have never suggested that humans could hunt and gather post-collapse. Now THAT is a lazy assumption. The latest rant suggests you continue to grow foods for the historic old Goldilocks climate niche for agriculture, whereas I have been looking at climate-resilient plants like Typha as an alternative source of carbohydrate which can also withstand temperatures in excess of 55C and survive as far north as the Arctic Circle Typha has been the staple of pre-agrarian societies for 1000s of years, a traditionally trained shaman would know this though. As for future food for those who live in flats with minimal access to land, the Spider plant is prolific, vigorous, edible and easy to grow and propagate. Spider plants are important house plants; they clean the air and improve air quality in the home. In fact NASA went further: “Perhaps you remember the news from more than a decade ago that spider plants seemed to do a spectacular job of cleaning the air. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which tested the abilities of three common houseplants to remove formaldehyde from the air, found in preliminary tests that spider plants were the champs, removing 95% of the toxic substance from a sealed Plexiglas chamber in 24 hours.” NASA

    We rarely think of Spider Plants as edible: “Leaves are known to be edible in small quantities. In some parts of Africa, this is known as a potherb. According to the University of Florida, Chlorophytum comosum (Vittatum) contains phosporus, potassium, calcium and magnesium. Micronutrients include copper, iron, manganese and zinc. Chlorophytum comosum root tubers are a good source of sodium and potassium. They also contain fat and protein.” https://www.ediblewildfood.com/spider-plant.aspx

    I add the sliced root to stir-fry. Its not remarkable in any way.

    @solidarityprepper

    Did you know Spider Plants are edible? Do you live in a flat? Grow Spider Plants. They self propagate, anyone can grow them. #urbanprepper #prepper #ukprepper #homesteading #mutualaid

    ♬ original sound – #SolidarityPrepper

    Preparing Typha for food takes a little extra work, but a perfectly usable flour can be extracted from the rhizomes, mixed with the pollen, which makes an agreeable, highly nutritious bread. Almost every part of the Typha plant is edible raw or cooked.

    Assumptions about Survivalism often demonstrate prime examples of the Dunning- Kruger effect:

    The Low-Skill Overestimation: Individuals who know very little about a topic lack the baseline knowledge required to see their own errors. As a result, they confidently assume they are doing great. A person with zero understanding of survivalism whose primary interest is in writing fiction will have very little understanding of what survivalism is so they make up for their ignorance with assumptions as opposed to actually finding out what it entails and whether it is relevant to the subject at hand, which is civilisation collapse.

    In survivalism, the Dunning-Kruger effect is exceptionally dangerous. Because novices often lack foundational knowledge, they dramatically overestimate their ability. This false confidence—sometimes called reaching the “peak of Mount Stupid”—often leads them to assume advanced skills are simple: Critics of survivalism and novice practitioners alike make the same assumptions and mistakes about the practice.

    Dr Stephanie Rost, How we could survive in a post-collapse world, “The prospect of a post-collapse world is daunting and fraught with unprecedented challenges. Unlike past eras of societal decline, today we are facing a climate crisis of a scale and speed that humanity has never before encountered. This reality demands a new approach to survival-one that acknowledges the enormity of the crisis while seeking to adapt in innovative ways.”

    “Adaptability has always been a crucial survival skill, but in an era where climate patterns are increasingly volatile, the ability to adapt must now include embracing uncertainty. This involves flexible approaches to resource management, such as shifting from traditional crop cycles to more diverse and climate-resilient agricultural practices.”

    Cultural adaptability will be as important as physical adaptation. Rethinking societal values-moving from consumerism to sufficiency and stewardship-is crucial for long-term survival given its impact on the environment. This involves shifting away from individualistic survivalism toward collective resilience and embracing simpler, more sustainable ways of living. Communities that can redefine well-being to focus on relational and environmental health rather than material wealth will be better prepared for a world where abundance can no longer be taken for granted. Cultural flexibility will also require a willingness to change long-standing traditions around food, housing, and social structures to fit new environmental realities. For instance, adopting climate-adaptive architecture—such as earthbag homes or structures that utilise passive heating and cooling -has potential to help communities survive in new climates.”

    People with no exposure to a complex concept often dismiss its validity because their mental shortcuts lead them to believe it simply isn’t a “thing”. The survival skills of the survivalist are not about wanting to live in a cave and hunt and gather; they are about the resilience skills of the people who are capable of, as Dr Gail Bradbrook says, building things. The guys who build stuff, like at the Big Green Gathering. I stopped going there over 2 decades ago. But I imagine the same conversations happen around the fire as back in

    There is a culture of downward punching among some members of the environmental, spiritual, white, privileged, land-owning, middle-class Green influencers. There’s plenty of room for us all in this space; the fact that the Doomers have been promoting food growing, genuine coppicing (as opposed to coppice last cut in the time of our grandfathers) and learning skills for collapse like survivalism. These downward punchers don’t for a moment imagine that large numbers of the deep green resistance own no land, let alone their own home, and they choose to learn survival skills as a response to collapse. We have been doing #talkcollapse since Tristan Sykes and Just Collapse promoted the concept when Twitter was still Twitter.

    “Now, with more and more people talking collapse, we are collectively changing the shape, character, and direction of the spirit of our times. Doing so ensures a basis upon which we will achieve as much socio-ecological justice as possible within the complex realities and horrors that collapse entails –  working together for a Just Collapse” Before Tristan’s death earlier this year, we talked extensively about life, activism, the Newbury Bypass and other anti-roads protests in the 1990s. We talked extensively about doomers and collapse-acceptance, a concept few people are able to grasp and embrace. Tristan observed the downward punching among some academics; he too observed that it was the privileged white, wealthy who were passively violent towards anyone who didn’t agree with them while talking about Non-Violent Direct Action.

    Doomers are here to help you with the downward slide of the slow collapse. Be real, be brutally honest. I have talked with my now-adult children about this; I have been on the frontline of environmental action; I have been on the NHS frontline during the SARS-COVID-19 pandemic. The science does not support the idea of a flourishing future for anything. It does not support the idea of leaving a world we would be proud to leave to future generations. The science indicates a 10C planet that will probably look like Venus or Mars.

  • There Is Nothing Dystopian Or Plucky About Learning Survival Skills, & it’s not about “Going Back”, It’s About A Deeper Connection To Nature Than Sitting Under A Tree

    Survival skills bring us into communication with the Land, Plants & Nature. By learning skills our distant indigenous ancestors used to survive, we learn how we are connected to the land. Our brain is tuned to nature; we are hardwired to it at a subconscious level. We don’t feel it, but we benefit from it, and this is supported by medical/psychological research. Big claims? Gardening is recognised in psychiatry as a medication-free long-term treatment for anxiety. An hour of gardening a day + psychological/peer support. But nature, and close contact with nature, is where the connection happens. By handling plants and using them to create things we might usually buy, we start to understand how the depletion of nature makes some items scarce. I have waited years to get hold of some coppiced Lime (Tilia x europaea). I am retting the bark now. I have strict rules about what I accept from nature. I don’t buy materials.

    I suspect that there are Greens who look at Solidarity Prepping and think it’s prepping like others. Solidarity Prepping is anti-fascist, pro-science, and presented by an ex-anti-roads protestor, ex-health-worker, climate dad type. This entire blog and my own linked videos are a radical Green approach to individual preparedness. Which is repeatable by anyone who is also preparing for what happens next. Community preparedness is where everyone is also individually prepared, 1st Aid trained, Mental Health 1sta Aid trained, and at least a few have survival skills.

    I designed and piloted a green therapy project at a large psychiatric teaching hospital and won an award for it. I have seen nature support recovery in many patients. When I say “nature supporting recovery”, it is what I mean. I’m in nature more than anywhere else. Nature Love, plant love, animal love and learning new skills in nature are good for our mental health and wellbeing. I chose to be in nature, where I have reclaimed wasteland from rubbish. planted many woodlands, and have barter relationships with a few landowners for my skills.

    Some of the things I experiment with are only possible in certain places because nature is so depleted; plants that used to be common across the country are now scarce. Ancient coppices, neglected since my grandparents’ time, are slowly reverting to high forest. We connect deeply to nature by returning to these skills and practices for our mental health, for nature and for the climate. I left healthcare a little while ago, and my new employer sent me on a Mental Health 1st Aid course, and it was excellent. We should all be mental health 1st Aiders, with the certificate.

    Climate Change & The Pollychrisis Are The Signals To Prepare

    The Polar vortex blocking the Heat Dome over Europe and cooking England with humid heat is climate change. Each summer it has got a little hotter than the last. The global average surface temperature is approximately 1.4°C to 1.5°C warmer than pre-industrial levels. This warming trend means the planet is currently hovering near the critical thresholds established by international climate agreements.

    This heat is the future

    Survivalists do the research to understand the risks: pluvial rain, flooding, changed seasons, agricultural collapse, severe storms, and alternative staples which can survive 45°C+. It grows from the Arctic Circle to the Equator. I grow it in shallow ponds where I know the Water is Clean. I also use it to purify rainwater. The entire plant is edible and a superfood.

    Connection To Nature Is Becoming Such a Throw-Away Phrase, It Is Meaningless

    From forest schools, forest bathing, to New-Age Neo-Shamans, every single one of these practitioners will tell you they are facilitating a connection to nature through one method or another. Or you can ask a real Shaman from Satmi, Europe’s last true Pagans.

    Following Jungle Svoni example, I too spend long periods in nature. I am no Shaman, I am not pretending to be a hunter-gatherer, nor do I expect that to be a future post-collapse, Plucky Hunter-Gatherer roaming a burning planet. These skills, however, are a complex understanding of plants and processing them for many different uses. Learning these skills teaches us resourcefulness and resilience. Skills like coppicing can be learned by volunteering at Wildlife Trusts or working and restoring coppice woodlands. Working in ancient woodlands helps develop a deep connection with the land. A far deeper connection to nature develops when we actually learn about its many bountiful aspects.

    Nature Depleted, Observed By Survivalists Long Before The Government Was Suppressing The Report

    You can’t build a shelter like this anywhere; the combination of a suitable site and materials in the vicinity is becoming rare. The Skills of the advanced survivalist are to assess if a site is even suitable to camp in. The Bug-out or run to the hills fantasy never includes careful site selection. Tents are either too hot or freezing cold. But a shelter Which Can keep out the heat and in which you can have a fire is on another level. In a crisis or disaster, people with skills help solve problems for other people, because survivalism isn’t about selfish survival. Survivalists are like First Aiders with skills for collapse and post-collapse.

    Advanced fire and tinder knowledge and skills. I taught my now 25-year-old son how to make fires from scratch in nature, and not to be scared of plants like nettle. Outdoor resilience skills were becoming a thing of the past on YouTube. AI slop, Covid denial, conspiracy theories, climate denial, misinformation and bragging about voting Reform is the stock output from a lot of the UK prepper community, and none of this is of any use to the climate acceptance community.

    I joined a forum for preppers a couple of years ago, which was a toxic place. But there were Greens on the forum who PM’d me when I was targeted by the local troll. Some survival/bushcraft/prepping forums ban climate change as a subject because it’s too triggering for the idiots, and denial is the default.

    I was once asked why I experiment with so many plants for tinder by the group expert on a (Facebook) survival forum. When I responded, “because there are no Birches near me, and in case they go extinct due to climate change”, I got a lot of laugh emojis and the usual denial nonsense. The main reason I try so many plants as tinder is that our ancestors would have done this and built a strong relationship with 1000s of plants.

    Apart from the plants you eat and grow, how many other plants do you have an intimate relationship with where you regularly process them with simple tools you could make yourself or learn to make?

    Nettle tinder from a living plant to usable tinder in 4 hours

    A Deep Connection To The Web Of Life Is More Than Sitting Under A Tree Or Spending The Night In A Hole In The Ground

  • Green Agenda Stripping UK of Air Conditioning Is Madness In Heatwave & A Prime Example Of Maladaptive Behaviour

    Camden Council! This is not how we win hearts and minds.

    Camden Green Party

    The worst of Australian right-wing news humour

    This is why Reform will destroy the planet. This is why we need to insulate homes; this is why the Green Party needs a policy and education for heat.

    Green Councils, a heatwave is not the time to dictate to people that they can’t be cooled down with air conditioners.

    Key Rules & Challenges

    • The Cooling Hierarchy: The London authority’s policy stipulates that energy-intensive active air conditioning should only be used as a last resort.
    • Conservation Areas: Residents living in conservation areas or period properties face particularly strict crackdowns, as council inspectors cite noise impacts and visual disruption to the area’s character.
    • Appeals Process: Residents who receive enforcement notices can appeal through the national Planning Inspectorate. In some cases, homeowners have successfully retained their air conditioning by proving their property has high-efficiency eco-upgrades like solar panels.
    • Overheating Precedents: Camden Council’s policies have faced criticism and scrutiny due to previous design faults, where the council installed windows that accidentally made properties overheat during the summer.

    While councils operate on local climate directives, the national government expects local authorities to take a common-sense approach to air conditioning installations.

    40 Celcius plus 40-60% humidity IS an extreme situation

  • “El Niño is a distraction’: Why Europe’s deadly heatwave isn’t down to a natural weather phenomenon”

    The Preppers who think they might have their finger on Britain’s climate pulse are all over the El Niño, because they can avoid mentioning climate change and losing all their subscribers.

    Europe, part of which is Southern England, is part of the European Heat Dome event currently taking place, which isn’t the Super El Niño. “This is a classic jet-stream blocking event acting on a record-warm background. The dome is the mechanism; long-term warming is the amplifier; El Niño is a distraction.”

    The El Niño primary impact area is the Tropics, Australia, Central and South America in the short term and the UK and the rest of Europe later in the Year. El Niño is an oscillation; it comes and goes, sometimes strong, sometimes weak. The La Niña and El Niño cycles heat in the Pacific, its immediate impact is on the Pacific Rim. Climate change on the other hand, is constant, and the heating is consistently increasing hotter year on year. For example, 26 May 2026, the first-ever UK Wet Bulb Temperature in May! That was too early for El Niño, and most preppers either didn’t mention it at the time because it points to anthropogenic climate change.

    “Climate change on the contrary gets worse as long as we do not stop burning fossil fuels. So climate change is the reason to freak out.”

     Dr Friederike Otto, Professor in Climate Science at Imperial College London and co-founder of the World Weather Attribution

    https://www.euronews.com/2026/06/24/el-nino-is-a-distraction-why-europes-deadly-heatwave-isnt-down-to-a-natural-weather-phenom

    “El Niño is underway and threatens weather extremes, scientists say“- BBC

    “El Niño – the natural Pacific weather pattern that pushes up global temperatures – has officially begun, US scientists say.

    The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has declared that El Niño conditions are now underway in the tropical Pacific, with sea surface temperatures having risen sharply in recent months.

    Many forecasts suggest this could end up as a so-called “super” El Niño, and even be among the strongest ever recorded.

    Coming on top of decades of human-caused warming, it could bring another record-hot year – most likely in 2027 – with disruption to weather, food supplies and economies running well into that year.”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c75ylx7g00xo

    The Cognitive Dissonance in Palpable

    The denial of both Climate Change by most preppers and Wet Bulb Temperatures above 22C-Twb by UK climate scientists. A fundamental inability to understand risk and communicate it effectively, based on either ultra-conservatism or a far-right political ideology, which cannot entertain man-made climate change as a concept.

    Confirmation bias could mean risks are missed