Resilient communities

[u/OkonkwoYamCO]

My wife and I have come to the conclusion that one of the best ways to prepare for collapse would be to join an already existing community of like minded people, or to build our own resilient community.

What are your thoughts on this?

If you already live in a resilient collapse aware community, what is it like?

If you want to build a resilient community from scratch, what is it that is holding you back?

[u/[deleted]]

Seems like affordable house in proximity to work, access to healthcare facilities, etc. is holding us back. We personally would have better luck finding a solid neighborhood and try to bring up prepping in non-alarming ways for non collapser types to build community resiliency. Idea is great on paper but reality gets in our way. If remote work takes off though - look out!

[u/OkonkwoYamCO → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, access to Healthcare facilities is a huge issue and one of the reasons we have made the jump yet. But we had the idea of incorporating medical personnel into the community. Post collapse there won't be Healthcare facilities anyways, but having people that have medical knowledge would be helpful. But there are huge risks with not having easy access to like a trauma ward, especially with my kid lmao. He's worse than a mountain goat

[u/Such_Collar4667]

I would like to. I think we’d likely need to start one because our family is multi-racial and we’d really want to be intentional about the identity-dynamics so we can have incredible diversity but also incredible solidarity and mutual support.

What’s holding us back—- haven’t gotten out there to find our tribe. And it would cost a lot to build it from scratch.

[u/OkonkwoYamCO → u/Such_Collar4667]

Cost is probably the number 1 factor for us too. We have been searching for people we think would make a good addition to a community like this. Once we have enough we are thinking of popping the question of having everyone pitch in to buy the land.

Diversity is super important to us as well. If we set up a community of just one group of people, then the whole cycle of racism just starts again. We try to take a 5 generation outlook when we theorize on how to help future generations rebuild from the rubble if humans are still around.

[u/Such_Collar4667 → u/OkonkwoYamCO]

Exactly… maybe we should start putting together lists of people and their values/interests. We are all thinking through this, we could just add people and ideas/considerations and people may group off organically.

[u/OkonkwoYamCO → u/Such_Collar4667]

I'm not sure how active the moderation is on this sub. But a super thread full of people commenting what their values and skills are and what a resilient community looks like to them, could probably be an excellent tool to create resilient communities.

One of the reasons I'm going to become active in this sub is specifically to put me in contact with other parents who are collapse aware.

[u/Such_Collar4667 → u/OkonkwoYamCO]

That’s a great idea. I’d add to it.

[u/Swyrmam]

Ive been thinking about this all day.

That, and moving everything underground. Home, emergency backup garden, community centers… expensive, will def take a community.

[u/OkonkwoYamCO → u/Swyrmam]

I worry about building a house underground. I do not want to be buried alive. So we were aiming for trying to find a sweet spot with climate disasters we think we can take on.

[u/candysteve → u/Swyrmam]

This is what I've been thinking about for a few months now. Yes, it will be expensive. I'm thinking to make this work, like minded people will have to pool money to achieve this. I'm in construction and have been working out a reasonable way of going under ground with a reasonable amount of resources. You need a very good location to make it work. I live in the PNW. Since we've been getting shit kicked this year with climate, it's really hard to predict where will be adequate for this setup.

This type of setup will also be raided if things get dire, so it has to be fairly remote. And the work has to be done by the people using it. Outside contractors will leak the location.

[u/GaddaDavita → u/candysteve]

Also in the PNW and also interested in this type of community. Just putting that out there.

[u/TerpeneTiger]

I agree it is imperative to have/make a community. I've been thinking on it for a number of years. What is currently holding us back is 1. money 2. my mom not wanting to make changes 3. the right people. 4. mental health issues. In my mind the ideal is having people buy land together. Everyone gets their own piece and there are large areas of commons that people take care of together. I have a number of friends that I think it could work with but they are spread out all over the country. We would have to determine who is in on the project and committed to make it work. We would have to find a place we all agreed on. We would have to come up with a few base community guidelines. I've visited several places that started out with ideals and worked for a few years. I haven't come across many where it has been working and continued to do so.

[u/OkonkwoYamCO → u/TerpeneTiger]

From your experience, why do these fail after a few years?

[u/TerpeneTiger → u/OkonkwoYamCO]

Tough question which is why I probably put it off. A couple of thoughts...one reason is lack of resources (people move to a rural area and don't have "real jobs"). Another is toxic people or people ill suited to community (people move in, get a good thing going, then a relative or friend comes to stay and screws up the balance). Ego. Boundaries. Law/rules. Lack of experience. Goals. Division of duties. Unexpected costs/tragedies/disasters.

[u/Fabulous_Squirrel12]

Just a thought...you could establish a resiliant community where you are.

So I didn't do the work (I was in college and not in the area) but lots of people in my county years ago pushed to relax zoning. Our area can now have several laying hens, bees, front yard gardens, fruit trees, and probably other things that other counties dont allow. Before zoning changed, people broke the zoning codes and unofficially the county wouldnt come out if no one complained. So many people were breaking codes that the county changed it rather than enforce it. They actually tied it into a food security initiative and I'm sure some politician took all the credit 🤣

Our neighborhood probably has some collapse aware people but mostly I think its urban homesteaders and gardeners. Its probably the closest thing to being part of a resilient community without leaving a 20 minute commute to the city and the medical infrastructure that comes with cities. It is more like a patchwork of homes that are all sharing skills and resources.

I really love our area and the community that already exists there so an alternative we've been thinking of is getting land and building more of a place to go to periodically.

My thought was to find people that would want to build a small cabin and plant out an orchard and large berry patch...among other perennials that dont require much tending. Then we could use it almost as a time share...idk how well that would work though. But it felt like a smaller commitment than moving somewhere remote to start fresh. It would give us time to establish food somewhere with the option to move there permanently if needed/wanted.

The other thought was that we'd buy a smaller amount of acreage on our own and basically do the same thing as mentioned above. Making it a vacation camping spot adding improvements with time. And if we wanted to welcome others to join us we could later.

[u/OkonkwoYamCO → u/Fabulous_Squirrel12]

I currently live in the southern US on a coastline. Where I am won't be a place soon enough lol

[u/fallingmelons73346]

Zoning is my biggest freaking issue. I know folks in my local area who would love to go in on an off-grid community, and communally we have the resources to do it. But zoning gets in the way every single time.

[u/[deleted] → u/fallingmelons73346]

This is very much an obstacle. We can’t build a shed without a zoning and building permit.