When There Is No Food, Even Civilized Societies Will Resort to Dumpster Diving To Survive
by Tess Pennington Recently by Tess Pennington: Are You Ready Series: Nuclear Disaster Preparedness
In many so-called “civilized” parts of the world, life has taken a dramatic turn. If you have kept up with the news lately, you know that Greece is not the only European nation in trouble. In fact, smaller countries like Lithuania, Italy, and other debt- ridden nations are all rapidly approaching their breaking points. Little by little, the economic toil placed on these nations is hardest felt by its citizens who are doing their very best to provide for their families. For them, their untold story is one involving desolation and feelings of abandonment from their country’s leaders. In every sense of the word survival is the name of the game for our European friends and it will not be long before we are on the same boat. If we’re smart, we can learn from the events taking place across the ocean and prepare before it’s too late. In some areas of the world, it’s no longer about going to work and earning a living – it’s about going out and finding food to get them through another day. In some of these countries, the shelves in the stores are either empty, or the prices are unreachably high. As a last resort, people have gone back to the days of hunting and gathering in order to make it day to day. Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures Those who live near forests and natural resources are considered the fortunate ones and spend the entire day in search of food to forage – berries, nuts, edible mushrooms. In most of these places, weapons are banned, so they are reduced to using common items to make snares in order to catch squirrels or the occasional rabbit. This can hardly be considered a fortunate existence, but compared to those in the cities, the forest offers up a cornucopia of food. People in the cities are lining up for food that is being doled out; they are digging through garbage bins for bits of food that were discarded. Some city dwellers have been reduced to catching and consuming small rodents. Ten years ago, these friends of ours never expected to be spending the day in search of sustenance. Like us, they were planning vacations, contributing to retirement funds and working towards a promotion at work. It’s not that great of a stretch of the imagination to foresee that we may be headed in a similar direction.That leaves one question: What is your plan? We may be looking at a return to the hunting and gathering lifestyles of our ancestors. By deciding what foods you can access now, you will be miles ahead of all the people who are trying to wrap their brains around the idea that life as we know it is over. September 1, 2012 Tess Pennington joined the Dallas chapter of the American Red Cross in 1999 Tess worked as an Armed Forces Emergency Services Center specialist and is well versed in emergency and disaster management and response. You can follow her regular updates on Preparedness, Homesteading, and a host of other topics at ReadyNutrition.com. Copyright © 2012 Ready Nutrition
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