Written by Becca Stine
For many of us, experiencing panic or an “oh shit” moment is only temporary when we consider the possibility or inevitability of “doomsday” or a climate change catastrophe before we begin to compartmentalize the thought and feeling. We then quickly continue to go about our normal lives. There is a woman in Manitou Springs, however, whose experience of terror and realization of such a time is not temporary. Rather, it shapes her entire existence. This woman, in her 60s, wishes to remain anonymous, so, for the sake of the article, we will call her Annie.
Annie is originally from California, and has owned her small shop in Manitou Springs for almost eight years now. She lives just behind her shop, where she works all day, seven days a week. Two years ago, while running her store, Annie stumbled across an article about climate change, and then another, and another. She became somewhat obsessed with the issue and began to take action. She compares climate change to the cigarette industry. “They don’t tell you that it’s bad for you until its too late,” she said. Annie experiences what she calls “climate grief.”
“I still go into anger at civilization…[I] sometimes wake up in the middle of the night crying,” she said, as she grappled with the condition of the planet and the lack of attention to the issue of climate change.
“I am a prepper,” Annie said, “I’m prepping for a catastrophic event…that is climate change.” Upon my first visit to Annie’s store, she spoke of implementing sustainable living techniques that she reads in the environmental magazines she sells from the 70s. To prepare for this inevitable day of environmental and societal collapse, Annie has built a skylight in her bathroom, where she grows lettuce, beats, carrots, and spinach—plants she researched that need little sunlight. The plants that decorate her small shop are all edible cacti and flowers. “I eat dandelions too,” she said. Annie captures rainwater from the roof into a 100-gallon bucket that she uses to water her plants. She also built a small dam in the creek behind her shop to slow water flow before it no longer exists. The small solar oven she built cost her only $1, which is impressive given that it’s $100 online. She invested $20 in a small solar panel which conducts enough energy to fuel a small light for her living area. Additionally, she is currently looking into other methods of food storage, as she has already begun to dehydrate foods and make “beef jerky for [her] kitty cat.”
In implementing such sustainable living techniques, Annie is not hoping to better the condition of the planet, for she has “lost hope.” Rather, she is preparing for her ultimate fight for survival within it. “Some people think I’m kooky,” Annie said, as she began to describe the real prepping she does. Annie said reading articles about climate change keeps her busy. This is essential because “[She] can’t just sit and do nothing,” while she’s working seven days a week. She reads article after article to “assure [she’s] not nuts.” Annie isn’t crazy. She knows her facts and she knows the science.
According to NASA, the global sea level has risen almost seven inches in the last century. The rate in the last decade, however, is double that of the last century. Additionally, LiveScience states that just last month, a time when atmospheric carbon dioxide is usually at its minimum, the monthly value failed to drop below 400 parts per million. The website reads: “That all but ensures that 2016 will be the year that carbon dioxide officially passed the symbolic 400 ppm mark, never to return below it in our lifetimes, according to scientists.” Climate change is a reality, and Annie has shifted hers because of it.
“The bad news is we’re all going to die,” she said without much expression at all, “but you know what the good news is? The good news is we all got to live.” Somewhat unfortunately, Annie’s will to live seems to be driven by her methods of survival. Annie compared the process of prepping to a prison barter system, urging the need to stock up on things people will want when the time comes: Medicine, cigarettes, drugs, canned foods…the list goes on. She said, “these are the essentials” and explains her process of stocking up on antibiotics as well. She has also bought heirloom seeds from Amazon, “Emergency Survival Vegetable Seed,” that lasts 20 years. There seem to be two main outlets where Annie sources her prepping materials: Amazon and the dollar store.
“The best source for prepping materials is the dollar store,” she said. It is where she bought all her antibiotics, canned foods, instant coffee, and materials to build her solar oven. Annie has considered almost everything. She even thinks about what foods will keep best when crisis hits. “I thought crackers would be great but it turns out they only last 6 months,” Annie said. She talks about a trout line as the “most efficient way to fish,” and something she is looking into building for herself. Annie also considers her own protection. She is currently in the process of learning to string a crossbow that she bought off Amazon—the second greatest source for prepping materials.
“Don’t you want to know so you can survive and prepare?” she said to me, addressing the daily struggle she faces in her choice of lifestyle. “It’s a lonely place to be,” she said, as she explains how she has lost many friends and family members because they think she is crazy. Annie has isolated herself in an attempt to survive her own future. “It’s a burden knowing the truth,” she said. The wet redness of her eyes revealed her struggle and frustration with society’s ignorance to this pressing issue and inevitable disaster strike.
“The biggest predator is man,” she said to me. Although completely isolating herself in the process, Annie is becoming almost totally self-sufficient and sustainable in her attempt to survive. “All we can do is live a life of excellence,” she said. She lives the rest of her life in preparation of her death, and the death of the human race. She calls it “The sixth extinction: the only human-caused extinction.”