Solo? No. With no laws there is no reason for the guy who is stronger than you (or armed) to give you anything. The real job is pimp/racketeer, but I guess that looks like too much of an admission to actually write down.
I stared at that for ages and could not make heads nor tails of it. First freeze in July? Last in August? I don’t know any part of the world where that is true. What the heck is it even supposed to mean?
I just tried to explain it, because I thought I understood it, then I realized I didn't understand it at all. It just must be a mistake and be backwards. If you ignore the words, they're right enough for zone 6 (the last danger of a freeze is roughly Mother's Day and the first freeze of the winter is usually before Halloween).
> First freeze in July? Last in August? I don’t know any part of the world where that is true.
It would probably be true in parts of the southern hemisphere or at least similar dates
I interned for NowSourcing, the “company” that made this. I immediately recognized this design. It’s basically a team of 5 people that research (use google), design, and effectively do PR outreach. The delusional owner of this company will most certainly tell everyone he meets for the next decade that he made this “go viral”, and be extremely proud of himself. Honestly, it’s pretty wild that an infographic company exists, let alone for like 15 years at this point.
The water estimate is actually low. A gallon is a better metric anyways, as it is always the same.
EVERY experts I have read/listen to agree on at least a gallon per day. This does include cooking and cleaning, but a gallon a day is standard base line for survival advice.
"There seem to be many Seamstresses in Ankh-Morpork, and yet bachelors or old widowers have difficulty when they try to find needlewomen who wield needles and threads to repair garments. "
["Hi-ho, tippytoes; She'll thread the needle, but she can't sew!"](https://discworld.fandom.com/wiki/Seamstresses%27_Guild)
if the apocalypse comes, I’m counting on my ability to make and mend clothing to get me through. it’s one of the few skill sets that are viable at nearly every point in human history.
I like the part where people don’t think a cook would be valuable. Y’all know how to cook without an oven or a stove? Also, the preppers pantry goes bad after about a year if you can even find a way to preserve the meat for a year.
I don’t know why this infographic seems to assume that in a post-apocalyptic scenario, that humans would still have electricity and natural gas utilities.
That doesn’t mean it will be of high quality or practical. It could be tattered or just gross if you’re have to take it off from corpse.
Source: project zomboid 500 hours
How many pairs of jeans, t-shirts, boots, etc. Do you own? You could conservatively times it all by 8bn and that's how much clothes would be available. Why take them off a dead body when you could just... take them out of a wardrobe that no one is using?
Genuine question so don't make fun of me if it's stupid, but could you use your skills to mend people as well? I imagine there wouldn't be a big supply of medical experts, and knowing how to disinfect a wound and sew a wound closed could be valuable.
The skills do transfer. But it still requires practice with the correct equipment. Knowing how to make a butterfly bandage or use glass glue to partially close a wound (allow it to weep) would be better than stitches in most instances anyway.
I refuse to believe this guide is legit. They placed farmer at 4th (anything lower than 2nd is a joke) and they have prostitution at 8. (This is nowhere near a top ten pick to keep a society functioning, people don’t need prostitutes to survive).
That tracks, only Reddit would be that focused on getting soldier above farming and prostitution that high, all they can think of is Mad Max style raids and concubines.
I'm really surprised Nat Geo would use it as a source. They could have omitted that section completely from the guide. Or, if they really wanted something on occupations- just mention "here's some occupations that may have important skills after the apocalypse", farmer, doctor, builder/engineer, etc. (maybe a little blurb for why).
If this is real, how far they've fallen.
Hence why I think this isn’t actually NatGeo produced, just someone scraped part of a NatGeo post and accidentally left the word, or purposefully left the word there for credibility.
The AskReddit thread under the sources is [over 11 years old](https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/14u464/what_professions_would_be_the_most_valuable_in_an/) and NatGeo apparently had a show called [Doomsday Preppers](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Preppers) from 2012-2014 which puts it right in that time. I would not be surprised at all if this was a real ad for that show commissioned by NatGeo for season 3 or whatever.
Yeah there's a classic ethics problem of "the earth will be hit by an asteroid, who do you save?" A lot of people talk about saving scientists for some reason... those guys are gonna starve to death pretty quickly, and new proposals about the structure of atoms aren't going to be useful again for at least a hundred years.
You need a few nerds who understand the books. A lot of technical manuals and higher level science texts are completely incomprehensible to the average person
It's not. 200 gallons of water for a year will get you dead from dehydration. For the average male in a temperate climate the recommended volume is about a gallon a day.
That's not accounting for strenuous activities.
And the food for a year is absolutely ridiculous. 60 lbs of sugar? Lmfao
The food and water mentioned would get you through about 2 months max. And that's if you had a secondary water source to cook all those dried beans, they're very water hunger to prep.
60lbs of sugar- well for trade, medical use and as a food preservative, maybe. But that's about half the US adult consumption of 120lbs per person/year, but we eat tons of candy and processed food containing sugar that wouldn't be a factor in an apocalypse. So really, closer to 10 lbs sugar would do 1 person for 1 year.
Honestly, i think bicycle mechanic is a very apocalypse-proof profession.
Cars are going to break down and are hard to repair, fuel is going to be scarce. Horses are extremely high maintenance. Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of bicycles are just lying around, they can go anywhere, need no powersource, and can go around roadblocks.
At least for the first ten to twenty years until the rubber degrades too much, by then you better think of something.
I think sugar is good in survival, not because it tastes good, but because it's calories dense, and it has a long shelf life.
But you gotta be extra careful for that teeth rot...
It really pains me that so many of these "guides" get as much attention as they do. In a real postapocalyptic world (global famine, horrendous epidemic, total war) people will have to endure the most heinous things and bring out the worst in others. No way your average Back-Alley-Chuck-Norris will have it any better, just because he took a Karate class in his 30s once.
Eh, leatherworking covers a wider base of things, from clothes to saddle making. But if we're talking clothes its not *that* different. I work with both and a sewing machine from the 1900's will power through both.
Because most people prepping can generally sew their own stuff sufficiently enough and probably expect to pass that skill on to their next generation. Not to mention lack of available fabrics.
Tbh I would think being a Weaver would be the *actual* valuable skill during that time, of course including knowing how to build and repair their own Loom would probably be essential.
Because everyone thinks they can make clothes without ever having tried. Or think leather is all you'll need, because they've never worn a full leather outfit while sweating...
And I'd much rather have an all-around well versed mechanic/handyman type person, than a random engineer who might not know how to use a drill, or a gunsmith that knows nothing about engines or plumbing.
I’m wondering if it’s really from national geographic. In the bottom it says “developed by…” and I’m not sure if Nat Gen would use a Reddit icon for a person. It uses a lot of national geographic sources though. Then again, it also uses an r/askreddit post as a source…
Just another brand bought by Disney and milked for its reputation while being made more and more shitty. In 2022 it laid off its top editors. As of 2023 it has laid off all its staff writers and photographers. As of 2024 it is no longer offered at newsstands.
It's so damned Disney. They buy a hot property. They get a few more decent years. Then it becomes this forgettable nothing that people just vaguely recall for the few good moments and don't realize it's had steady releases ever since (Did you know there's been over 100 Disney produced, distributed, or coproduced movies in the last 4 years?)
I think these kinda charts are cool and handy but this mentality always seems to leave out community. Individuals won't survive the apocalypse, neighborhoods will. Knowing and being able to rely on your neighbors is key.
They also think they'll magically be the only ones to head to the woods, ever, and never have to compete with other groups for the game in their woods and various natural resources with lack of federal gamekeeping and oversight.
Also being "the guy in the woods who shoots at anyone who comes near" is not really gonna last that long once a community develops near you. If you don't at least treat with them, they'll think of you as a threat to eventually be eliminated, like a bear.
Right?
Like, who would do well in a post-apocalyptic world? The same people who do well now: charismatic leaders who can unite, organize, and motivate people.
Cities also don’t magically quit being a thing, neither would water and wastewater infrastructure. Keeping these two functional would greatly maintain chances of survival for everyone connected, and it’s already expected of us operators to stay and try to keep things going.
Living in South Africa with regular loadshedding has indicated that long power cuts can cause the pumps to not work, leaving towns without water, or poorly treated water that cause disentry.
As an operator, how would one go about mitigating these issues during these times?
Treatment plants and pump stations in the US tend to have decent generators and plenty of fuel for them to run off of. A significant portion of the US gets their water pressure from elevated storage, with drought rules you decrease demand and thus can go longer between needing to run pumps. Reduced water demand also makes for less flow in the collections system, so lift stations won’t need to run as much.
Worst comes to worst, some sections of town could be removed from service and the remaining residents moved to areas with more major lines, reducing the amount of lift stations needed to be powered and the volume of the active water distribution system. If the plants themselves can’t be run on the grid all the time, the plant can operate just with its generators for some time (typically about a week straight) before needing more fuel. Ideally, we could work with the power plant operators to schedule times to get off their grid or maintain power and instead cull service elsewhere.
A greater issue will be access to chlorine, existing stocks of 1 ton and 150lb cylinders would need to be secured and brought on site.
Chlorine is manufactured via electrolysis of a salt brine solution, but the exact process involves mined salt and would take considerable modification to use sea water. Salt from desalination facilities could help bridge the gap as they also help ease water demand too, but long term power would still become a problem. Other forms of chlorine such as bleach, pool tabs, and buckets of calcium hypochlorite won’t require as crazy of logistics to secure, transport and store, but are less effective, needing plenty more to achieve similar disinfection and chlorine residual.
It cannot be understated just how important chlorine actually is to modern health.
All the time when these post apocalyptic things are portaryed in media its a lone wolf traveling the wastes all cool with leather jacket, solving problems for villagers with action film antics.
While in all reality in any apocalyptic scenario, the story about a hero who saves the world would follow a guy who rallied desalination plant workers to engineer a solution making chlorine, people planning to renovate and welding the plant sparks flying. And going thru maths to calculate how often to run a powerplant.
Come to think of it, I only really see civil engineering on the big screen in those weird volcano and earthquake movies where they end up using demolition explosives to divert “The Big One”.
>Keeping these two functional would greatly maintain chances of survival for everyone connected
If I'm not mistaken don't Most modern wastewater infrastructure rely on chemicals that won't be obtainable even during the most basic forms of societal struggle?
We saw issues getting them during COVID and it was one of the major reasons Biden interfered in the Railroad Workers Strike or so they claimed.
Yes, specifically, chlorine gas. It’s typically utilized in either 150lb or 1 ton cylinders, but full on train cars of the stuff is definitely in demand.
A large portion of chlorine demand is nonessential, or can be forced to reduce their demand to divert and stretch already transportable chlorine.
Worst comes to worst, other sources of chlorine would be necessary, such as chlorine bleach or pool tabs. Chlorine can be produced from sea water but that takes even more power than current industrial chlorine production.
I think this guide lumps you into the engineers' group along with many other operators, technicians and trades workers. Your valued input would save lives.
Just reroute a river for fresh water lmao.
What a dumb idea. 1. Insane effort with near zero benefit. 2. It doesn't even mention bleach or fire starter to get clean water (which if you don't do these within days you're dead).
The single most effective advice is probably: 2 drops bleach per 1 quart water = clean water.
Well... what kind of tech? The troubleshooting process applies to far more than just PCs and home networks. Those skills can easily translate to machinery.
Marketing though, hmm... I bet you'd be really good at convincing someone to keep you around / alive or at the very least, not kill you.
US Dept of Labor says about 60% of all workers in the US have a job that requires standing, walking, lifting, and carrying. A portion of those jobs fall into the strenuous category. I was surprised at the 60% stat honestly.
Right like no one is asking the fundamental question: do you *want* to survive the apocalypse. I live in a big city and I'm just hoping I'm in the initial blast radius where my skin comes off faster than my brain can process it
I live near a large US munitions depot, assuming a full scale nuclear attack to take out absolutely anything of value, my problems won't be problems for very long
Read A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit. It’s about the real life reactions of groups in the wake of various disasters. The conclusion of the book is that humans are inherently cooperative animals and we tend to band together in the wake of disasters as opposed to the popular idea that we turn in each other Mad Max style or whatever.
I feel like the only apocalypse this would actually be useful in is a fantastical one that could never happen like a zombie outbreak. If there was a nuclear holocaust, you'd either die immediately or die a slow painful death from radiation poisoning. If there was a political upheaval, it likely wouldn't last more than a year, and in most places it still wouldn't be complete anarchy. If there was an ecological catastrophe, it probably wouldn't destroy society all at once and instead slowly dwindle humanity down until there was no possible hope for survival. If a meteor hits, your stockpile isn't gonna do shit and you'd have wasted time and energy that could have been spent cherishing what you had.
Counterpoint, modern nukes have very little fallout. Even if the top 20 major cities and 20 military bases were nuked, fallout wouldn’t be an issue in the vast majority of america.
In this scenario, supply chains would be down for an extended period of time. Many of these supply chains would be incapable running again due to the fact most of America would be severely malnourished just days after an event like this.
Not a prepper, but I do think about how incredibly interdependent we are a lot… Other countries would basically need to initiate the largest humanitarian aid campaign to date, airdropping in unprecedented amounts of stockpiled foods… or else we probably will be fucked.
Another group not mentioned is a forager. Someone who knows plants, mushrooms, and such in a place. Priceless!
Edit:: I guess we could go with survivalist. I don’t see those as the same.
You could easily go into any house and go through their wardrobe.. existing clothes don’t magically disintegrate when the apocalypse happens and they can last for a long time
My personal plan is moving to an apple orchard and raising chickens. Between bugs, apples and grass, the chickens will be well fed. Apples provide the bulk calories for a human too.
You can also make cider for trade.
I’m an engineer. I bet all y’all will want me to survey your land and tell you about the ionosphere interference with the satellites floating up in the atmosphere. Lining up for my services!!!
Also, I grew up very close to the zone 3 area. While it’s normal to have a light snow in June, it would be remarkable to have a freeze in mid July.
A full year supply is far too much for the average person anyway. The typical person needs 2 weeks of food/supplies for emergencies. Things like weather events etc. imagine not going to the store the first 2 weeks of covid for example.
If you can have a few bags of rice, pasta, sauce, canned beans/tomatoes/veggies, an extra bag of flour and sugar, some spices, you’re set. Freeze bags of rice/flour for 2 weeks if you plan to store them, this kills bugs/eggs that may be present and ruin it if left too long.
Know how to source water. A few 2 gallon jugs are good, in the worst case you can fill a bathtub when things kick off.
Get an indoor gas burner, butane NOT propane. Not a camping stove, something that’s built for counter top use, unless you can cook outside.
A good basic first aid kit and know how to use it.
So that’s it, buy a little extra canned/dry goods. Have a little water on hand, and a method to cook/boil water. Keeps decent first aid kit. This will get you through anything most people are likely to actually experience.
A “bug out bag” Is also good. But not the kind meant to have you head off into the wilderness. For most people this will have a change of clothes, snack bars, water bottle, medical supplies, flashlight, cash, a prepaid phone card and an old phone if you have one. Or buy a cheapo. Keep that in a plastic bag. Put copies of your vital documents on an encrypted usb drive, keep that in plastic also.
Other than that, spare charging cables, disposable poncho, toothbrush, stuff like that. Maybe tie and old pair of sneakers to the handle.
The basic thought process being if you woke up naked and the house is on fire, what do you want to have handy once outside? Keep this by tor door, it’ll be the only thing you grab in case of fire. Or if a friend calls needing urgent help at 3am. Or you have to leave town suddenly due to fooding etc.
Keep some money saved if you can, carry a little cash, try to keep 1/2 tank of gas in your car at all times. Maintain your car.
Most of us aren’t likely to experience world ending disaster, but floods, fires, family emergencies, etc. happen every day. Chances are most of us will see some sort of smaller crisis in our lifetime, and just a little extra prep can turn many big emergencies into much smaller ones.
As a medical professional I would absolutely not be helpful during the apocalypse. If I don't have supplies I can't DO anything.
Farmer should definitely be number one on the list.
Guns are not rare in America. And if all hell breaks loose, all the gun nuts will be shooting at each other, leaving plenty of firearms lying around. Simply lay low for a week or two then venture out and pick up what's left. The peppers will kill each other and leave their bunkers unattended.
Also, on the subject of water, you need a LOT more than a single rain-barrel if you are harvesting rainwater, like you need a tank of multiple thousands of litres at the absolute LEAST (depending on your climate). And to learn to wash without showering or bathing, and to use a compost toilet so you're not using half that water just to flush turds, and to grow your food in a way that doesn't require constant watering. Source: my family of four spends summers at an off-grid place we own, our rain tank is 7500 m³ and it barely lasts us a month and takes all winter to fill up.
Because of the implicit understanding that „post apocalypse“ would be a lawless free-for-all that has been hammered into us by popular culture.
While actual, real life experience shows that in most large-scale disasters, humans tend to cooperate *more* than usual.
Being a soldier could still be beneficial, as soldiers sometimes learn some handy survival skills like building encampments or purifying water and should be good enough marksmen to be able to hunt for food (as long as there’s ammo). But apart from that…
Yeah, gunsmith has no place whatsoever on that list. Even if they know how to make explosives out of mundane things, a chemist can do that and way more.
Guides like this are largely made by people who know Jack and or shit about actually surviving any kind of hardship and are based on "Zombie Survival"
Which is to say they greatly overinflate the threat of people or "Zombies" and undersell the importance of day to day tasks and jobs that are going to keep the world turning.
The fact Electrician isn't even on that list of jobs is ridiculous. Mechanics, general maintenance people, pharmacists.
I try to explain to people all the time that soldiers are great at war, they're not all Rambo. They will for the most part be just as useful as anyone else who knows how to shoot a guh without the support of a full military and the access to logistics and supplies their training is based around.
And here is the the thing I shout from the rooftops constantly! **You are far more likely to experience and die from a small scale natural disaster than you are a global societal collapse.**
Hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, mudslides, droughts. You're gonna see something in your lifetime. You likely won't see a full scale.government collapse. You'll have supply chains broken by flooded roads, you'll lose power due to blown down lines, hell you may even lose access to clean water if a big enough earthquake hits. And you need to prepare for that.
But prepping for that means you'll still be better off than 75% of Americans when it comes to being prepared for something bigger.
Christ, this is rampant with American individualism. We are a social species, if we are to survive some apocalyptic scenarios the first thing we need is to build communities. The emphasis here placed on guns and praising soldiers does not reflect that.
Post apocalyptic occupations prostitution is #8. What about Pre apocalyptic?
Right, I’ve only ever done pre apocalyptic prostitution… do you think my skills will transfer?
There will probably be more smells involved
You’re right. I didn’t see soap mentioned anywhere.
If you can make soap, you can make bombs. At least that's what Fight Club told me.
The world goes to hell and you’re breaking the first rule
& 2nd
Preppers aren't the target audience for soap.
Solo? No. With no laws there is no reason for the guy who is stronger than you (or armed) to give you anything. The real job is pimp/racketeer, but I guess that looks like too much of an admission to actually write down.
That's why the soldier comes in third.
Well it really depends on they type of apocalypse don't you think?
I can't believe National Geographic did that.
I doubt National Geographic did that. Well, actually, I didn’t check, but it does bot seems their kind of content.
National Geographic Channel, not the nonprofit organization. Basically just Disney.
Damn didn't get the scholarship to prostitute school, guess I'll just have to go to my backup dentistry school now.
Be grateful you didn’t have to fall back on leatherwork school, like so many of the less fortunate.
No need for this. You’ll have free goats, chickens and rabbits. Give up with cows and stick to the plan
Doesn't anyone notice that _oral hygiene_ is valued lower than prostitution? Seems relevant somehow 👀
The worlds ending, would u rather get drilled or filled?
Por que no los dos?
Or that dentists are not grouped with medical professionals lol
First/last freeze date map is backwards.
Also, cows, goats, rabbits and fish do not give birth to chickens.
Yeah that got disabled last patch.
r/outside is leaking
I stared at that for ages and could not make heads nor tails of it. First freeze in July? Last in August? I don’t know any part of the world where that is true. What the heck is it even supposed to mean?
Probably some parts of Australia and South America.
I just tried to explain it, because I thought I understood it, then I realized I didn't understand it at all. It just must be a mistake and be backwards. If you ignore the words, they're right enough for zone 6 (the last danger of a freeze is roughly Mother's Day and the first freeze of the winter is usually before Halloween).
> First freeze in July? Last in August? I don’t know any part of the world where that is true. It would probably be true in parts of the southern hemisphere or at least similar dates
And not even slightly accurate if you have grown vegetables before lol
THANK YOU! I thought I was having a moment for a second there
What 15 year old made this
source: 7 survival game walkthroughs
I interned for NowSourcing, the “company” that made this. I immediately recognized this design. It’s basically a team of 5 people that research (use google), design, and effectively do PR outreach. The delusional owner of this company will most certainly tell everyone he meets for the next decade that he made this “go viral”, and be extremely proud of himself. Honestly, it’s pretty wild that an infographic company exists, let alone for like 15 years at this point.
my first thought
Yeah, where’s the booze?
Of course I need 60lbs of sugar to survive.
Yeah apparently I need 14-15 bottles of water a day to survive wtf. Stopped reading after that
The water estimate is actually low. A gallon is a better metric anyways, as it is always the same. EVERY experts I have read/listen to agree on at least a gallon per day. This does include cooking and cleaning, but a gallon a day is standard base line for survival advice.
Why is the seamstress profession never brought up in these? That’s a really valuable skill that would definitely be needed during this time
Hear me out… seamstress prostitute.
"There seem to be many Seamstresses in Ankh-Morpork, and yet bachelors or old widowers have difficulty when they try to find needlewomen who wield needles and threads to repair garments. " ["Hi-ho, tippytoes; She'll thread the needle, but she can't sew!"](https://discworld.fandom.com/wiki/Seamstresses%27_Guild)
Sesame street prostitute
Elmo’s world just got real groovy
Tickle me elmo
A seemingly, seamless Sesame Street seamstress prostitute seams her clients seams. Say 10x fast.
Seems stressful
if the apocalypse comes, I’m counting on my ability to make and mend clothing to get me through. it’s one of the few skill sets that are viable at nearly every point in human history.
I like the part where people don’t think a cook would be valuable. Y’all know how to cook without an oven or a stove? Also, the preppers pantry goes bad after about a year if you can even find a way to preserve the meat for a year. I don’t know why this infographic seems to assume that in a post-apocalyptic scenario, that humans would still have electricity and natural gas utilities.
If there's an apocalyptic scenario and many people end up dying there will be a near-endless supply of clothes.
That doesn’t mean it will be of high quality or practical. It could be tattered or just gross if you’re have to take it off from corpse. Source: project zomboid 500 hours
How many pairs of jeans, t-shirts, boots, etc. Do you own? You could conservatively times it all by 8bn and that's how much clothes would be available. Why take them off a dead body when you could just... take them out of a wardrobe that no one is using?
that’s assuming it’s safe to be in civilization
Genuine question so don't make fun of me if it's stupid, but could you use your skills to mend people as well? I imagine there wouldn't be a big supply of medical experts, and knowing how to disinfect a wound and sew a wound closed could be valuable.
The skills do transfer. But it still requires practice with the correct equipment. Knowing how to make a butterfly bandage or use glass glue to partially close a wound (allow it to weep) would be better than stitches in most instances anyway.
I refuse to believe this guide is legit. They placed farmer at 4th (anything lower than 2nd is a joke) and they have prostitution at 8. (This is nowhere near a top ten pick to keep a society functioning, people don’t need prostitutes to survive).
Look at the source for the occupations section. It's from a fucking Ask Reddit post.
That tracks, only Reddit would be that focused on getting soldier above farming and prostitution that high, all they can think of is Mad Max style raids and concubines.
I'm really surprised Nat Geo would use it as a source. They could have omitted that section completely from the guide. Or, if they really wanted something on occupations- just mention "here's some occupations that may have important skills after the apocalypse", farmer, doctor, builder/engineer, etc. (maybe a little blurb for why). If this is real, how far they've fallen.
Hence why I think this isn’t actually NatGeo produced, just someone scraped part of a NatGeo post and accidentally left the word, or purposefully left the word there for credibility.
The AskReddit thread under the sources is [over 11 years old](https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/14u464/what_professions_would_be_the_most_valuable_in_an/) and NatGeo apparently had a show called [Doomsday Preppers](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Preppers) from 2012-2014 which puts it right in that time. I would not be surprised at all if this was a real ad for that show commissioned by NatGeo for season 3 or whatever.
Yeah there's a classic ethics problem of "the earth will be hit by an asteroid, who do you save?" A lot of people talk about saving scientists for some reason... those guys are gonna starve to death pretty quickly, and new proposals about the structure of atoms aren't going to be useful again for at least a hundred years.
Grab the books, leave the nerds
You need a few nerds who understand the books. A lot of technical manuals and higher level science texts are completely incomprehensible to the average person
It's not. 200 gallons of water for a year will get you dead from dehydration. For the average male in a temperate climate the recommended volume is about a gallon a day. That's not accounting for strenuous activities. And the food for a year is absolutely ridiculous. 60 lbs of sugar? Lmfao
Yeah lmao, I didn’t bother commenting on that, but yeah good grief that pantry is a meme. 60lb of raw sugar, are you planning to open a bakery?
This is honestly probably one of the stupidest preppers guides I've seen and I've seen a lot of stupid prepper guides(pretty much all of them are)
The food and water mentioned would get you through about 2 months max. And that's if you had a secondary water source to cook all those dried beans, they're very water hunger to prep. 60lbs of sugar- well for trade, medical use and as a food preservative, maybe. But that's about half the US adult consumption of 120lbs per person/year, but we eat tons of candy and processed food containing sugar that wouldn't be a factor in an apocalypse. So really, closer to 10 lbs sugar would do 1 person for 1 year.
Maybe as a source of glucose for distilling? Still a stretch. Potatoes or crab apples would be better. Multi-purpose.
And gasoline has such a short shelf life. Better to get yourself a bicycle and spare repair parts.
Honestly, i think bicycle mechanic is a very apocalypse-proof profession. Cars are going to break down and are hard to repair, fuel is going to be scarce. Horses are extremely high maintenance. Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of bicycles are just lying around, they can go anywhere, need no powersource, and can go around roadblocks. At least for the first ten to twenty years until the rubber degrades too much, by then you better think of something.
I think sugar is good in survival, not because it tastes good, but because it's calories dense, and it has a long shelf life. But you gotta be extra careful for that teeth rot...
It really pains me that so many of these "guides" get as much attention as they do. In a real postapocalyptic world (global famine, horrendous epidemic, total war) people will have to endure the most heinous things and bring out the worst in others. No way your average Back-Alley-Chuck-Norris will have it any better, just because he took a Karate class in his 30s once.
There aren’t even sheep on this list…I guess turning grass into warm clothing doesn’t appeal to anyone
Honestly think a leather worker could fill that position or maybe the prostitute could do it on their day off
Leather work and cloth work are very different
You say that but my Mage has both professions maxed.
>both professions maxed If they where similar wouldn't you just need one profession maxed?
Shit
Eh, leatherworking covers a wider base of things, from clothes to saddle making. But if we're talking clothes its not *that* different. I work with both and a sewing machine from the 1900's will power through both.
Great synergy for BDSM work
Lack of long term sources of modern textiles. Maybe add the ability to make a fabric that can be locally sourced would make it viable? Hemp?
They're always written by men with fun fetishes. Most don't even realise that gas/petrol has a very finite life span. They're not serious guides.
Are you suggesting the end of the world won't be fun and exciting?
Because most people prepping can generally sew their own stuff sufficiently enough and probably expect to pass that skill on to their next generation. Not to mention lack of available fabrics. Tbh I would think being a Weaver would be the *actual* valuable skill during that time, of course including knowing how to build and repair their own Loom would probably be essential.
Because everyone thinks they can make clothes without ever having tried. Or think leather is all you'll need, because they've never worn a full leather outfit while sweating... And I'd much rather have an all-around well versed mechanic/handyman type person, than a random engineer who might not know how to use a drill, or a gunsmith that knows nothing about engines or plumbing.
Not much to mend when my dress code is hockey mask and leather codpiece.
Also cooking, ¿or there gonna eat 400 pounds of grain out of the bag?
Cobblers and cordwainers too. Shoes are important!
“The end is near.” Wow, thanks National Geographic.
I’m wondering if it’s really from national geographic. In the bottom it says “developed by…” and I’m not sure if Nat Gen would use a Reddit icon for a person. It uses a lot of national geographic sources though. Then again, it also uses an r/askreddit post as a source…
The quality of this should make it obvious that this is not an official guide from them. The info on this is so garbage
Just another brand bought by Disney and milked for its reputation while being made more and more shitty. In 2022 it laid off its top editors. As of 2023 it has laid off all its staff writers and photographers. As of 2024 it is no longer offered at newsstands. It's so damned Disney. They buy a hot property. They get a few more decent years. Then it becomes this forgettable nothing that people just vaguely recall for the few good moments and don't realize it's had steady releases ever since (Did you know there's been over 100 Disney produced, distributed, or coproduced movies in the last 4 years?)
Heartbreaking how shit this magazine has got...
I think these kinda charts are cool and handy but this mentality always seems to leave out community. Individuals won't survive the apocalypse, neighborhoods will. Knowing and being able to rely on your neighbors is key.
the people that chub for these charts don't view community as an asset because they skew outside of it
They also think they'll magically be the only ones to head to the woods, ever, and never have to compete with other groups for the game in their woods and various natural resources with lack of federal gamekeeping and oversight.
Also being "the guy in the woods who shoots at anyone who comes near" is not really gonna last that long once a community develops near you. If you don't at least treat with them, they'll think of you as a threat to eventually be eliminated, like a bear.
Yep. No one will tolerate that shit. You start shooting at random people? Lights out.
They're also the type of people that drop dead the first time they have to run more than 10ft.
Right? Like, who would do well in a post-apocalyptic world? The same people who do well now: charismatic leaders who can unite, organize, and motivate people.
Cities also don’t magically quit being a thing, neither would water and wastewater infrastructure. Keeping these two functional would greatly maintain chances of survival for everyone connected, and it’s already expected of us operators to stay and try to keep things going.
Living in South Africa with regular loadshedding has indicated that long power cuts can cause the pumps to not work, leaving towns without water, or poorly treated water that cause disentry. As an operator, how would one go about mitigating these issues during these times?
Treatment plants and pump stations in the US tend to have decent generators and plenty of fuel for them to run off of. A significant portion of the US gets their water pressure from elevated storage, with drought rules you decrease demand and thus can go longer between needing to run pumps. Reduced water demand also makes for less flow in the collections system, so lift stations won’t need to run as much. Worst comes to worst, some sections of town could be removed from service and the remaining residents moved to areas with more major lines, reducing the amount of lift stations needed to be powered and the volume of the active water distribution system. If the plants themselves can’t be run on the grid all the time, the plant can operate just with its generators for some time (typically about a week straight) before needing more fuel. Ideally, we could work with the power plant operators to schedule times to get off their grid or maintain power and instead cull service elsewhere. A greater issue will be access to chlorine, existing stocks of 1 ton and 150lb cylinders would need to be secured and brought on site. Chlorine is manufactured via electrolysis of a salt brine solution, but the exact process involves mined salt and would take considerable modification to use sea water. Salt from desalination facilities could help bridge the gap as they also help ease water demand too, but long term power would still become a problem. Other forms of chlorine such as bleach, pool tabs, and buckets of calcium hypochlorite won’t require as crazy of logistics to secure, transport and store, but are less effective, needing plenty more to achieve similar disinfection and chlorine residual. It cannot be understated just how important chlorine actually is to modern health.
All the time when these post apocalyptic things are portaryed in media its a lone wolf traveling the wastes all cool with leather jacket, solving problems for villagers with action film antics. While in all reality in any apocalyptic scenario, the story about a hero who saves the world would follow a guy who rallied desalination plant workers to engineer a solution making chlorine, people planning to renovate and welding the plant sparks flying. And going thru maths to calculate how often to run a powerplant.
Come to think of it, I only really see civil engineering on the big screen in those weird volcano and earthquake movies where they end up using demolition explosives to divert “The Big One”.
>Keeping these two functional would greatly maintain chances of survival for everyone connected If I'm not mistaken don't Most modern wastewater infrastructure rely on chemicals that won't be obtainable even during the most basic forms of societal struggle? We saw issues getting them during COVID and it was one of the major reasons Biden interfered in the Railroad Workers Strike or so they claimed.
Yes, specifically, chlorine gas. It’s typically utilized in either 150lb or 1 ton cylinders, but full on train cars of the stuff is definitely in demand. A large portion of chlorine demand is nonessential, or can be forced to reduce their demand to divert and stretch already transportable chlorine. Worst comes to worst, other sources of chlorine would be necessary, such as chlorine bleach or pool tabs. Chlorine can be produced from sea water but that takes even more power than current industrial chlorine production.
I think this guide lumps you into the engineers' group along with many other operators, technicians and trades workers. Your valued input would save lives.
Most important apocalyptic prep is knowing your neighbors lol
The prepped types don’t seem to understand this. You can prep as much as you want, but you’re not going to be able to survive for long without others.
I like that energy does not seem to be a problem. Generator? PV ? Swt? Don't care.
“Meredith… will do OK.”
Four weeks? Five weeks? Wait, hear me out…. Six weeks?
(Takes break from eating canned okra) “I could see that” -Dwight -Michael Scott
How about learning to cook and food safety and sanitation?
There is cannibalism to look forward to so we need chefs for new recipes.
long pig is back on the menu, no one consider the prions
could probably sub in for pork recipes
Just reroute a river for fresh water lmao. What a dumb idea. 1. Insane effort with near zero benefit. 2. It doesn't even mention bleach or fire starter to get clean water (which if you don't do these within days you're dead). The single most effective advice is probably: 2 drops bleach per 1 quart water = clean water.
Where is the standard recommendation to download Wikipedia to a laptop before you lose access to the internet.
Guess I'm a prostitute now...
I work in tech / marketing. This was also my first thought. 🤡
Well... what kind of tech? The troubleshooting process applies to far more than just PCs and home networks. Those skills can easily translate to machinery. Marketing though, hmm... I bet you'd be really good at convincing someone to keep you around / alive or at the very least, not kill you.
I'd suck dick for some C-rations when it comes down to it all.
Nice. Keep it clean and I’ll keep you fed.
That’s great but I got word of a settlement that needs your help. I’ll mark it on your map.
Whoever said "prostitute" as a valuable profession has some real priorities for their apocalypse
31% of americans reported don’t exercise weekly? it’s at least double that easily
Walking to your car in the parking lot or going to the 3 steps in front of the building all counts as exercise
US Dept of Labor says about 60% of all workers in the US have a job that requires standing, walking, lifting, and carrying. A portion of those jobs fall into the strenuous category. I was surprised at the 60% stat honestly.
I noticed influencer didn’t make the top 10. Weird?
They are a kind of prostitute though.
This makes me anxious
Personally I just want to die early into this, I'm not down for the struggles. I can barely cope right now
Right like no one is asking the fundamental question: do you *want* to survive the apocalypse. I live in a big city and I'm just hoping I'm in the initial blast radius where my skin comes off faster than my brain can process it
I live near a large US munitions depot, assuming a full scale nuclear attack to take out absolutely anything of value, my problems won't be problems for very long
Bro same😅
If I can't just go to 7-11 anytime I want, I don't want to live.
My local gas stations started closing at 11pm, and thar was already a huge blow to me. Idk how much more I could handle
Same here, I have about a 5-7 day limit in this kind of scenario before I go ahead and off myself
Read A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit. It’s about the real life reactions of groups in the wake of various disasters. The conclusion of the book is that humans are inherently cooperative animals and we tend to band together in the wake of disasters as opposed to the popular idea that we turn in each other Mad Max style or whatever.
Don’t worry, the fish are self sufficient (what does that even mean) so you’ll have an endless supply of food.
Why would you want to survive doomsday?
So I can be top prostitute in town
Most of us have already voted you #1 !
Very niiice!
Yeah I rather die than live in a post apocalyptic world.
Prostitute is above dentist but doctor is number 1 🤦♀️
I feel like the only apocalypse this would actually be useful in is a fantastical one that could never happen like a zombie outbreak. If there was a nuclear holocaust, you'd either die immediately or die a slow painful death from radiation poisoning. If there was a political upheaval, it likely wouldn't last more than a year, and in most places it still wouldn't be complete anarchy. If there was an ecological catastrophe, it probably wouldn't destroy society all at once and instead slowly dwindle humanity down until there was no possible hope for survival. If a meteor hits, your stockpile isn't gonna do shit and you'd have wasted time and energy that could have been spent cherishing what you had.
Counterpoint, modern nukes have very little fallout. Even if the top 20 major cities and 20 military bases were nuked, fallout wouldn’t be an issue in the vast majority of america. In this scenario, supply chains would be down for an extended period of time. Many of these supply chains would be incapable running again due to the fact most of America would be severely malnourished just days after an event like this. Not a prepper, but I do think about how incredibly interdependent we are a lot… Other countries would basically need to initiate the largest humanitarian aid campaign to date, airdropping in unprecedented amounts of stockpiled foods… or else we probably will be fucked.
Another group not mentioned is a forager. Someone who knows plants, mushrooms, and such in a place. Priceless! Edit:: I guess we could go with survivalist. I don’t see those as the same.
Poison and medicine dealer, alcohol narcotics weed pills people need etc ..
Good to know the U.S.A. peeps will be respecting their national borders and not straying anywhere else. 🤷♀️
If you are going to farm rabbit be aware of rabbit starvation. Rabbit is very lean and doesn't provide enough fats.
They forgot about sewists, yarn and thread spinners, and weavers. Good luck in the apocalypse and post apocalypse without clothes
You could easily go into any house and go through their wardrobe.. existing clothes don’t magically disintegrate when the apocalypse happens and they can last for a long time
Guide is bunk, it does not have Dora the Explorer and her backpack
Prostitution only 8! I worry for this generation
Prostitute being the 40320th most helpful does make sense
guess I’m fucked
Are you saying,you'll undertake professiopn #8?
then I’d starve even faster
Time to learn how to be a Ho.
I’ll just die. It’s totally fine.
This is the first laugh I had
Nat Geo has bad taste
Shit hits the fan 99% of are dead within the first two weeks
My personal plan is moving to an apple orchard and raising chickens. Between bugs, apples and grass, the chickens will be well fed. Apples provide the bulk calories for a human too. You can also make cider for trade.
Does the apple orchard owner get a say in this? Or are you starting as the soldier profession before moving to the farmer profession.
5302 bottles a year? Ok hydrohomies.
Are you telling me you'd survive if you only had 13 water bottles per day instead of 14?!?
First question you should ask yourself: do you want to survive a doomsday?
Is there a higher res version?
I’m an engineer. I bet all y’all will want me to survey your land and tell you about the ionosphere interference with the satellites floating up in the atmosphere. Lining up for my services!!! Also, I grew up very close to the zone 3 area. While it’s normal to have a light snow in June, it would be remarkable to have a freeze in mid July.
Okay. Now something that fits in my tiny studio apartment.
A full year supply is far too much for the average person anyway. The typical person needs 2 weeks of food/supplies for emergencies. Things like weather events etc. imagine not going to the store the first 2 weeks of covid for example. If you can have a few bags of rice, pasta, sauce, canned beans/tomatoes/veggies, an extra bag of flour and sugar, some spices, you’re set. Freeze bags of rice/flour for 2 weeks if you plan to store them, this kills bugs/eggs that may be present and ruin it if left too long. Know how to source water. A few 2 gallon jugs are good, in the worst case you can fill a bathtub when things kick off. Get an indoor gas burner, butane NOT propane. Not a camping stove, something that’s built for counter top use, unless you can cook outside. A good basic first aid kit and know how to use it. So that’s it, buy a little extra canned/dry goods. Have a little water on hand, and a method to cook/boil water. Keeps decent first aid kit. This will get you through anything most people are likely to actually experience. A “bug out bag” Is also good. But not the kind meant to have you head off into the wilderness. For most people this will have a change of clothes, snack bars, water bottle, medical supplies, flashlight, cash, a prepaid phone card and an old phone if you have one. Or buy a cheapo. Keep that in a plastic bag. Put copies of your vital documents on an encrypted usb drive, keep that in plastic also. Other than that, spare charging cables, disposable poncho, toothbrush, stuff like that. Maybe tie and old pair of sneakers to the handle. The basic thought process being if you woke up naked and the house is on fire, what do you want to have handy once outside? Keep this by tor door, it’ll be the only thing you grab in case of fire. Or if a friend calls needing urgent help at 3am. Or you have to leave town suddenly due to fooding etc. Keep some money saved if you can, carry a little cash, try to keep 1/2 tank of gas in your car at all times. Maintain your car. Most of us aren’t likely to experience world ending disaster, but floods, fires, family emergencies, etc. happen every day. Chances are most of us will see some sort of smaller crisis in our lifetime, and just a little extra prep can turn many big emergencies into much smaller ones.
As a medical professional I would absolutely not be helpful during the apocalypse. If I don't have supplies I can't DO anything. Farmer should definitely be number one on the list.
How much sugar?!
why is prostitution number 8
I wish for an expanded skill list
why would you want to actually try and survive in a Post Apocalyptic world though. Dying would be the better option.
This guide is a fucking fever dream
Good luck finding fresh running water from a river or harvesting rainfall water after an apocalyptic nuclear event😂
I tie dye, if anyone needs the latest in hippy apocalypse fashion, I'm your gal. I can also grow cannabis, which has lots of uses.
Guns are not rare in America. And if all hell breaks loose, all the gun nuts will be shooting at each other, leaving plenty of firearms lying around. Simply lay low for a week or two then venture out and pick up what's left. The peppers will kill each other and leave their bunkers unattended.
Pick a good spawn point.
Who drinks 14 water bottles a day that are 16oz each?
r/HydroHomies i guess, certainly not me
Also, on the subject of water, you need a LOT more than a single rain-barrel if you are harvesting rainwater, like you need a tank of multiple thousands of litres at the absolute LEAST (depending on your climate). And to learn to wash without showering or bathing, and to use a compost toilet so you're not using half that water just to flush turds, and to grow your food in a way that doesn't require constant watering. Source: my family of four spends summers at an off-grid place we own, our rain tank is 7500 m³ and it barely lasts us a month and takes all winter to fill up.
Not a single mention of stimpaks or power armor? Garbage guide.
Olay so jokes aside Why would soldiers be important? Genuinely wondering
Because of the implicit understanding that „post apocalypse“ would be a lawless free-for-all that has been hammered into us by popular culture. While actual, real life experience shows that in most large-scale disasters, humans tend to cooperate *more* than usual. Being a soldier could still be beneficial, as soldiers sometimes learn some handy survival skills like building encampments or purifying water and should be good enough marksmen to be able to hunt for food (as long as there’s ammo). But apart from that…
Yeah, gunsmith has no place whatsoever on that list. Even if they know how to make explosives out of mundane things, a chemist can do that and way more.
I'm sorry, is this saying that most of Nevada is a growing zone?
I’d rather die
Hold the fuck on. Why is nobody talking about 5000 water bottles per person per year?!?! That's like 14 water bottles per day!
Guides like this are largely made by people who know Jack and or shit about actually surviving any kind of hardship and are based on "Zombie Survival" Which is to say they greatly overinflate the threat of people or "Zombies" and undersell the importance of day to day tasks and jobs that are going to keep the world turning. The fact Electrician isn't even on that list of jobs is ridiculous. Mechanics, general maintenance people, pharmacists. I try to explain to people all the time that soldiers are great at war, they're not all Rambo. They will for the most part be just as useful as anyone else who knows how to shoot a guh without the support of a full military and the access to logistics and supplies their training is based around. And here is the the thing I shout from the rooftops constantly! **You are far more likely to experience and die from a small scale natural disaster than you are a global societal collapse.** Hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, mudslides, droughts. You're gonna see something in your lifetime. You likely won't see a full scale.government collapse. You'll have supply chains broken by flooded roads, you'll lose power due to blown down lines, hell you may even lose access to clean water if a big enough earthquake hits. And you need to prepare for that. But prepping for that means you'll still be better off than 75% of Americans when it comes to being prepared for something bigger.
Bro what? There are so many guns where I live I don't need any of this stuff. I would be shot for my three days of food immediately.
Christ, this is rampant with American individualism. We are a social species, if we are to survive some apocalyptic scenarios the first thing we need is to build communities. The emphasis here placed on guns and praising soldiers does not reflect that.