Antibiotics
My guy. That was the precise thing most of our ancestors struggled their whole lives to get out of.
I nearly did, but didn’t for two main reasons:
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Women. I’m not a monk, and it’s really hard to find a woman who wants to live in the woods, especially when you live in the woods.
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Empathy for the rest of humanity. Can’t make the world a better place from the woods.
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If you want to see what it’s like to live without modern conveniences, go to a really poor country and observe the lower-class civilians. Having been to Honduras where poor people live in the mountains (with amazing vistas) with dirt floor huts and no clean drinking water, I can tell you that it is a terrible existence. Half their children die before they make it to 10, because of parasites from the dirt which get in their feet, and contaminated water that they have to hike down and up the mountain for every day. I feel like everyone should see this at some point to reset their perspective.
Moving to a rural area and realizing how fucking hard it is.
The hill I will die on: rugged individualism as strength in a post-disaster world is a lie that is sold to appeal to ego in an individualistic society, and also to prevent the formation of community.
That doesn’t apply to many existing rural communities, who of course know better.
It is an unfortunate truth for introverted autistic loners like me that Community really is key to survival.
What? You mean prepping isn’t just another form of participatory consumerism?
That too! Why not also make money from it?
I’m in the woods right now, waiting for you to come help cut firewood and get next year’s garlic and potatoes in. December-Febuary I’m gonna go be homeless somewhere warmer though. For real, if you want a taste of woods life and are able to pitch in hmu. “Other people” are kinda the main thing missing from the equation atm
The only woods where I could do that in my country are part of the Amazon , and the uncontacted tribes living there are not exactly friendly
I like enough of the civilized world that I’m still willing to participate in it, despite being relatively removed from a lot of it.
Also, living in the woods in a lot more work than people think it is and I’m lazy.
There are fewer than 10,000 people who, if they just like weren’t around anymore, would inprove everyone’s quality of life like ten fold. I cling to the hope that one day enough of us will realize that and save the world.
Getting rid of those 10,000 people is relatively easy. The hard part is preventing 10,000 replacements from popping up.
You realize that’s entirely cope right.
Some dead rich people just means their money will go to their kids/family, it’s not going to you in any way ever other than through changes in tax law and enforcement. And well, if you’re already middle class, you won’t really see any benefit because you already generate more taxes than you consume.
Further dead rich people and more tax money won’t fix the massive inequalities and inefficiencies and corruption that makes government and social policy so limited and ineffective in many places.
The idea is that watching what happens to those 10,000 discourages replacements. But of course it’s cope. Fortunately, I don’t live in the US so am at least insulated somewhat. I’ll be dead before things get too gnarly. And no kids. Good Lord, no kids.
Fortunately, I don’t live in the US so am at least insulated somewhat.
The rise in authoritarianism and surveillance is worldwide, the US is just where the people funding it live. You’re barely insulated now, and will be much less so if they succeed.
i don’t think you understand how people work.
It is impossible to gather food for yourself. We don’t live in pre-civilization or even the wild west. Everything is owned by someone, regulated, etc.
How do you expect to feed yourself? Not like you can just gather all day and get lucky hunting.
It is objectively harder to ‘live on the land’ then it was centuries ago. Borderline impossible, especially if you want to… you know live and interact with people.
I have a wife and cat to look out for, hard to do that when I can’t pay rent.
not having to shit in a hole in the ground
Shitting in a hole is not the part that concerns me, it’s dealing with the hole once it’s full.
Cover the hole with dirt and dig a new hole.
Which is a giant pain in the ass, especially if you’ve built a nice heated structure over the hole so that you don’t get hypothermia while pooping in the winter.
In that case, large container that can be tipped into the big hole periodically. You can always dig the new hole in stages rather than all at once too.
Also if manual labour is off putting to you, the whole idea is probably not something you are suited to.
Not sure how I could legally do it here but the idea I like is going half way into the wilderness. Buy some woodland but have towns nearby you could pop into for some supplies occasionally and still keep a part time job. Difficult part is legally living in your own woodland.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who has to shit in the woods some time: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/610432/how-to-shit-in-the-woods-4th-edition-by-kathleen-meyer/9781984857132
I was working in sanitation and told my co-worker about my upcoming back country trip. He recommended this book. I put it on my e-reader and read it during the course of my adventure. I changed how I approach such things afterwards.
Either the soil percolates, so it’s fine, or you didn’t perform your due diligence when choosing a place to live.
As long as your soil will percolate, a septic system isn’t difficult to build. You just dig a trench leading to a hole, fill the hole with plastic buckets or 55-gallon plastic drums cut up and arranged correctly, then run a correctly sloped PVC pipe to the septic tank you just built. From there, you connect to your fixtures to the drain pipe as needed.
The difficult part is getting the tools and equipment to do all that out to your location. The bigger the tools you use, the faster and easier the work will be, the it will also be more challenging to get it in and out. Basically, a shovel is a lot easier to carry than a backhoe, but a lot less pleasant to dig with. Same deal with a reciprocating saw, battery, charger, and solar setup, versus a hacksaw.
except all of that requires a civilized world to produce.
excluding basic hand tools
Ticks. Also, probably, my wife and progeny.
Living in the woods alone without food input from civilization is incredibly hard if not impossible.
Realistically you’d need like 10-20 people to help out, livestock, a field to grow cereals, large garden and a vegetable field, just to keep everyone surviving.
A mortgage and a family.
Mostly that I like the civilized world.
Like don’t get me wrong: Nature hikes? Camping? All great. National parks are a treasure. But I will freely admit I rather enjoy little comforts of modernity like “clean water just comes out of the tap when I turn it on”, “fresh food is a 15-minute walk to the grocery store away”, and “the spinny machine makes my clothes clean while I do other stuff.”
I complain about the modern world petty often, but damn some of it is nice. The other day, the dishwasher was running, the washing machine and dryer were going, the robot vacuum was doing its thing, the litter box was cleaning itself, and I was just sitting there with a beer and a good book.
Imo, either this is your answer, you’re a hypocrite, or you live in the woods.
