Happy New Year. 2012. The beginning of the end. I’m not even talking about my project, I’m talking about this ‘end of times’ business. It’s Day 353, if you happen to be counting down to the end of the world. Personally, I don’t buy into the Mayan calendar thing (I like to think that their math is off), however I am very curious how the whole thing will manifest in people’s behaviour this year. If Y2K and other times of potential strife are anything to judge by, my prediction is an increase in sales of firearms and granola bars.
In some ways though it’s not too hard to imagine that the end is nigh. Maybe it’s just perception fuelled by more pervasive media reporting but hasn’t there seemed to be an increase in large scale natural disasters and extreme weather events around the world? In my mind I picture the kind of newsreel montage that you see at the start of a zombie film (finally ending with static fuzz).
The kind of abuse we consistently dish out to the environment, we do as a species deserve to be shaken off like fleas or scratched like a rash. In our tendency to anthropomorphize, it’s not difficult to imagine Mother Earth being very, very angry with us. As someone pointed out to me though, the planet is going to be fine, it’s just humans that need to worry (and the sorry flora and fauna that we take down with us).
How we are all interconnected in our plight and the global nature of our situation is particularly apparent to us here right now. The debris from the tsunami in Japan, which happened months ago and thousands of kilometers away, is now hitting the west coast of North America. I’ve heard various estimates of the size of the debris field – twice the size of Ontario, the size of the State of California. Apparently, the faster flotsam, like boats, have already washed up down south.
For us on North Beach, it hits us in a couple of ways, firstly, there is the concern – rational or not – that eventually there might be a significant increase in radioactivity in the food we eat out of the ocean. Secondly, it’s a visceral reminder of the fact that we’re on the water and along a major fault line. We could have a tsunami of our own.
I’ve noticed that people, especially parents, have been making preparations, even doing drills on their escape routes. We’re short on accessible high ground at this end of the island but people are finding solace in the nearest rise.
Those who are really on it have made ‘end of times’ caches or ‘bug-out’ bags. Some have left Totes up in the hills, moulding with condensation no doubt, but hopefully they’ll never need them.
I should be putting together a grab bag myself. Fire is probably a more immediate concern though. These wood cabins with wood stoves tend to go up in flames with alarming frequency.
I can see how survivalist-types really enjoy these kinds of scenarios. There is something gratifying about simplifying things, forcing you to think about what’s important enough to put in that one pared-down bag. The silver lining in a major disaster/the apocalypse is that you can finally let go of those heirloom dishes you never really liked anyway.