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So this is "what to eat after an apocalypse that is not the one we're actually facing". I would be far more interested in knowing how we deal with a "soft apoca

So this is "what to eat after an apocalypse that is not the one we're actually facing". I would be far more interested in knowing how we deal with a "soft apocalypse" of fossil fuel depletion, drinking water scarcity, high ocean acidity, etc.

IndianAstronaut 12y ago
Fossil fuels will not run out anytime soon. Depleting all the deep gas and coal deposits will take centuries.
- sbierwagen 12y ago
  Yes, that's not the point. We haven't run out of gold, either, but if you invented an engine that could burn gold it sure wouldn't be too useful for powering cars. Oil doesn't need to run out to be economically useless for powering the world economy.
- hawleyal 12y ago
  Let's burn more coal.
jmnicolas 12y ago
Store food, medicine a few guns and then enjoy the good life while it last. As our "leaders" are blind or don't want to see what's coming, I don't have anythin better than this advice.
- proveanegative 12y ago
  I imagine people with children, among others, would have a hard time agreeing with this advice.
  - bmelton 12y ago
    If you mean to say that people who don't like guns would have a hard time agreeing, then just say that. There are plenty of people with children who have no problems with guns. Unless I missed the point, and there's some reason I can't fathom why people with children would have a hard time agreeing with a reserve of foods and medicine.
    - pepve 12y ago
      I think his issue might be with "enjoy the good life while it lasts". That attitude might work well if you're alone. But if you have kids, you generally want them to have a good life too.
      - proveanegative 12y ago
        Yep, that is what I meant.
      - bmelton 12y ago
        Touche. I can't see how that statement is loaded, though, or why enjoying a good life is something people would object to, but I'll count myself as odd man out here, since you obviously got it.
  - jmnicolas 12y ago
    What should the people with children do ? Send a strongly worded letter to their politicians and vote for the other party next time ? I mean yes, it's a rather sad perspective but nobody came with a solution to change the world yet. Of course if we could all agree to shoot politicians, journalists and bankers on sight ... ;-) It is my opinion that western civilization need a collapse before it can reinvent itself better (I hope). The power structures are so well entrenched that nothing short of said collapse can dislodge them (or let us do without them like they don't exist).
- happyscrappy 12y ago
  People have been screaming "The end is near" for as long as I can remember, but no one ever comes back and says "We were wrong, sorry for the inconvenience".
  - saeguaiga 12y ago
    It wasn't lost that you'd be underwhelmed even if CSI could do resurrections! People who happen to have stored up excess plot coupons is a fine sort of outcome. Finally getting to use the ash hoover on the wheat... Oceans turned to ash? The chuckling aggro water-mining aliens will be horrified, let's call them for lunch and brain surgery. HOA finally approved front lawn full of sentient angry delicious plants...
    - cbd1984 12y ago
      I honestly don't understand this post.
      - willismichael 12y ago
        Looks like the account posts nothing but nonsense: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=saeguaiga https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=saeguaiga
yabs 12y ago
that's a great point. i bet some insects would still be on the menu...
cbr 12y ago
In the case of drinking water, desalination is already cheap enough that we're talking pennies a day. Even a typical American usage of 100 gal/day is around $0.15 at market energy rates [1] and is still under $0.50/day with solar. [1] http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/water/gamechangers/desalination.php http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/water/gamechangers/... gives $489 per acre-foot.
minthd 12y ago
Total fossil fuel depletion is a bit extreme, but let's talk about oil depletion: First of course, we'll rapidly turn to a conservation economy where energy(and critical commodities) are used only for necessities , probably under some kind of martial law. And of course we have some huge reserves for a case like that. But , we have such a huge redundancy in food. If we go to the basics, people can live on a big bowl of rice/wheat a day. That comes down 100-200g per person per day. that's tiny. We also have some amount of fuel diversity - some vehicles models can run on pure ethanol, some can easily converted to natural gas(LNG), and we already have 40K LNG based trucks in the u.s. . Also there is at least one plant that can make fertilizer from LNG, and others can be built. As for drugs, which are usually made using precursors from oil derivatives, there are new methods to make those precursors from other means. And some drugs are'nt manufactured locally , but it's possible to import using fuel reserves,or by converting ships to lng. And since it's under martial law, i assume we will work on rapidly converting our economy to LNG, so as to not be dependent on reserves and increase the living standards .
- musername 12y ago
  100 to 200 g of wheat is not a big bowl, especially if grown to use bigger ammounts.
  - hga 12y ago
    For just about anyone that's too little except for short term emergencies. A little over 300 or 600 calories, call the bigger serving lifeboat food. A bit more from polished rice, but not a lot. Still, that shows how little is required to keep people from immediate and then longer term starvation. Grains are very concentrated.
    - TheOtherHobbes 12y ago
      Nuts and seeds are even more concentrated. Nut-rich trail mix has almost twice the calories of a bowl of rice. You could pretty much live off muesli after the apocalypse. (Until it runs out, anyway.)
TheCoelacanth 12y ago
Drinking water scarcity is simply not going to happen any time in the foreseeable future. The amount of water we need for drinking is just far too small. The much more imminent danger is a shortage of water for irrigation leading to a food shortage.

IndianAstronaut 12y ago

Fossil fuels will not run out anytime soon. Depleting all the deep gas and coal deposits will take centuries.

sbierwagen 12y ago
Yes, that's not the point. We haven't run out of gold, either, but if you invented an engine that could burn gold it sure wouldn't be too useful for powering cars. Oil doesn't need to run out to be economically useless for powering the world economy.
hawleyal 12y ago
Let's burn more coal.

jmnicolas 12y ago

Store food, medicine a few guns and then enjoy the good life while it last. As our "leaders" are blind or don't want to see what's coming, I don't have anythin better than this advice.

proveanegative 12y ago
I imagine people with children, among others, would have a hard time agreeing with this advice.
- bmelton 12y ago
  If you mean to say that people who don't like guns would have a hard time agreeing, then just say that. There are plenty of people with children who have no problems with guns. Unless I missed the point, and there's some reason I can't fathom why people with children would have a hard time agreeing with a reserve of foods and medicine.
  - pepve 12y ago
    I think his issue might be with "enjoy the good life while it lasts". That attitude might work well if you're alone. But if you have kids, you generally want them to have a good life too.
    - proveanegative 12y ago
      Yep, that is what I meant.
    - bmelton 12y ago
      Touche. I can't see how that statement is loaded, though, or why enjoying a good life is something people would object to, but I'll count myself as odd man out here, since you obviously got it.
- jmnicolas 12y ago
  What should the people with children do ? Send a strongly worded letter to their politicians and vote for the other party next time ? I mean yes, it's a rather sad perspective but nobody came with a solution to change the world yet. Of course if we could all agree to shoot politicians, journalists and bankers on sight ... ;-) It is my opinion that western civilization need a collapse before it can reinvent itself better (I hope). The power structures are so well entrenched that nothing short of said collapse can dislodge them (or let us do without them like they don't exist).
happyscrappy 12y ago
People have been screaming "The end is near" for as long as I can remember, but no one ever comes back and says "We were wrong, sorry for the inconvenience".
- saeguaiga 12y ago
  It wasn't lost that you'd be underwhelmed even if CSI could do resurrections! People who happen to have stored up excess plot coupons is a fine sort of outcome. Finally getting to use the ash hoover on the wheat... Oceans turned to ash? The chuckling aggro water-mining aliens will be horrified, let's call them for lunch and brain surgery. HOA finally approved front lawn full of sentient angry delicious plants...
  - cbd1984 12y ago
    I honestly don't understand this post.
    - willismichael 12y ago
      Looks like the account posts nothing but nonsense: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=saeguaiga https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=saeguaiga

yabs 12y ago

that's a great point. i bet some insects would still be on the menu...

cbr 12y ago

In the case of drinking water, desalination is already cheap enough that we're talking pennies a day. Even a typical American usage of 100 gal/day is around $0.15 at market energy rates [1] and is still under $0.50/day with solar. [1] http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/water/gamechangers/desalination.php http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/water/gamechangers/... gives $489 per acre-foot.

minthd 12y ago

Total fossil fuel depletion is a bit extreme, but let's talk about oil depletion: First of course, we'll rapidly turn to a conservation economy where energy(and critical commodities) are used only for necessities , probably under some kind of martial law. And of course we have some huge reserves for a case like that. But , we have such a huge redundancy in food. If we go to the basics, people can live on a big bowl of rice/wheat a day. That comes down 100-200g per person per day. that's tiny. We also have some amount of fuel diversity - some vehicles models can run on pure ethanol, some can easily converted to natural gas(LNG), and we already have 40K LNG based trucks in the u.s. . Also there is at least one plant that can make fertilizer from LNG, and others can be built. As for drugs, which are usually made using precursors from oil derivatives, there are new methods to make those precursors from other means. And some drugs are'nt manufactured locally , but it's possible to import using fuel reserves,or by converting ships to lng. And since it's under martial law, i assume we will work on rapidly converting our economy to LNG, so as to not be dependent on reserves and increase the living standards .

musername 12y ago
100 to 200 g of wheat is not a big bowl, especially if grown to use bigger ammounts.
- hga 12y ago
  For just about anyone that's too little except for short term emergencies. A little over 300 or 600 calories, call the bigger serving lifeboat food. A bit more from polished rice, but not a lot. Still, that shows how little is required to keep people from immediate and then longer term starvation. Grains are very concentrated.
  - TheOtherHobbes 12y ago
    Nuts and seeds are even more concentrated. Nut-rich trail mix has almost twice the calories of a bowl of rice. You could pretty much live off muesli after the apocalypse. (Until it runs out, anyway.)

TheCoelacanth 12y ago

Drinking water scarcity is simply not going to happen any time in the foreseeable future. The amount of water we need for drinking is just far too small. The much more imminent danger is a shortage of water for irrigation leading to a food shortage.