Regardless of what you may or may not believe about evolution, it’s hard to argue that the organisms best able to adapt to changes in their environment are generally the ones that survive. While organisms with less intelligence do this over generations, we humans were gifted with the ability to think and adapt on the fly. Sometimes this is not a good thing when we are manipulating currency on the fly or making decisions that can adversely affect our survival. But dealing with those circumstances with adaptive ability is the other edge of said sword.
After TSHTF neither I, nor anyone really can make any educated guess as to how long it would take to adapt to the new circumstances. Some of us will do better than others. Some will refuse to even try, giving up on the spot. The psychological side of adaptation is speculative at best. Some of us will, some wont and trying to ferret out how or why is a job best left to someone other than me.
The more physical side of adaptation such as adapting skills and physical objects to the circumstances is easier to talk about and outline. But the first task is trying to determine what we take for granted that simply won’t be there in the case of TEOTWAWKI.
Water
In a good deal of North America water is pretty easy to find. But finding potable water may be a different matter altogether. The usual sources are easy to get to. Rivers, lakes and streams may provide better water after a collapse due to less pollution. However the opposite could very well be true as proper sanitation and care is taken during this period.
The truth is that for many days, weeks, months or even years, fresh drinking water will not be out of hand as long as human habitation occurred where you frequent.
I don’t advocate looting but positively identified abandoned houses or industrial buildings may have water stored in the pipes in the walls and in hot water heaters. The bad news is that you will need tools to get to the water.
In houses the copper pipes can easily be beaten through with a hatchet, axe or even a hammer. You would just want to be ready for the deluge once the pipe is breached. A better idea would be a well-placed nail into a pipe, creating a small hole. Industrial building sprinkler systems are usually iron pipes so you will need a few good wrenches in the appropriate sizes.
None of the water from these sources should be assumed to be clean. It should be chemically treated or boiled before drinking.
Food
The second concern and one I think will be immensely more difficult to secure in most of the country will be food.
There are several schools of thought as to the game population once TSHTF. Some people think that due to lower human populations there will be more game. Some people believe that more hunting will wipe out the forests quickly. I’m not sure what to believe in this regard.
Small game will provide a one or two meal situation but killing a whitetail deer, elk or other big animal will provide a good deal of meat for a while but only if you know how to properly preserve the meat.
The same goes for a garden. Usually certain crops ripen all at once even with good succession planting. So again, the key is preservation.
When TSHTF many people will be prepared to can. However, with unstable supplies of fossil fuels and very few wood cookstoves around these days, can we be sure we can do this effectively? I submit that the answer to vegetables is drying and that the answer to meat is salting, jerking, drying and smoking.
It will be quite easy for someone to adapt a small amount of materials into a dryer or smoker quite easily. A small box can be built easily out of scrap wood and screen material from windows can be used to keep the drying vegetables well drained. Then a small window itself can be used to cover the box and keep the heat in. Paint the sides black or make a reflector out of any shiny metal such as ductwork from your house (you might not be using your central air at that point anyway).
For meat you will want to use the simplest methods first and build from there. Jerking meat is pretty simple if you have salt. Simply slice it very thin, salt it well and put it in the solar dehydrator I described above. In the absence of a solar dehydrator you can make biltong.
I learned about biltong from The Survival Podcast. Its been made in South Africa for decades. You simply douse thick-slicked strips of meat with vinegar then salt, coriander and black pepper. Hang the meat where it is protected from insects, moisture and light. In a few days the meat will turn hard and essentially mummify. Done properly and tested by consuming small amounts, there is no real limit to how long this can last.
A smoker can be adapted very easily as well. I think cold smoking is the best method for preservation, especially for fish. You’d simply need to have a metal barrel half or other metal box or container open at one end and closed at the other. Dig a hole that the container will fit in. Remember the ductwork I talked about earlier. Run ductwork from a hole in that container to a box at an elevation higher than the first container. The second box can be made of wood. Take care to close and seal any gaps or cracks in any container or the duct. Build a fire and toss on a lot of wet deciduous wood like hickory, apple, pecan, etc. Put the metal container over it. Use the ducting to connect the metal container to the wooden box. Hang thin strips of meat in the box and allow the smoke to work its magic.
Another method of preserving fruits and even some vegetables is to make them into wine. Alcohol is often thought of in terms of the detrimental effect that it has on our society. However, it has so many more uses than as a mental impairment.
Making alcohol is pretty simple. All you really need is some sugar or honey and a fruit or vegetable and water. If you have yeast, its better to use it, but many fruits such as grapes have yeast that grows naturally on the ripe skins. The key to making wine is keeping the air away from it as it ferments. If you fail to do that you may get vinegar which, when pasteurized afterward can be almost as good as wine. After all, where are you going to get vinegar to make biltong?
You could also adapt a pressure cooker, some salt and a length of small copper pipe and create a still for stronger alcohol to use for strictly non-internal uses.
Hunting and Fishing
I spoke above about preserving food once you get it. Adapting certain items to obtain food to begin with will present its own challenges-none of which are insurmountable. Many of these techniques are not legal and should only be practiced when lives depend on them.
Of course firearms will be around for a while and even a modest stock of ammunition should last for some time. However I believe we will find more primitive ways less likely to draw attention and good ways to save ammunition.
Longbows can be built surprisingly easily out of simple board lumber or of course split wood from fell trees. I recommend PoorFolkBows.com for information on how to do this step by step. Arrows can be made from bamboo or cane or small straight saplings. Making arrow points can be done with a glass bottle and a small nail. Dave Canterbury’s YouTube page illustrates how.
For those who don’t want to take the time to build a longbow or don’t have string or the aptitude an atlatl might be a better choice. The atlatl is simply a wooden handle with a knuckle at one end and a handle at the opposite. The dart-which is a long arrow-sets into the knuckle and the throwing action acts as a lever to propel the dart at near arrow speeds in some cases.
While normal fishing will yield decent catches sometimes adapting an old liquid detergent or clean bleach jug into a jug line makes a lot of sense and will allow you to catch fish passively while you work on other methods of getting food or water. [JWR Adds: Of course consult you state laws before using a set line or any sort of multi-hook line.]
Though highly illegal, old crank telephones or car batteries can be used to shock fish up.
There are also several wild plants in North America that can be adapted into a poison that will stun fish into submission where they can easily be scooped up. If you’ve watched the show Beyond Survival with Les Stroud this should not come as any shock. The natives he spends time with as well as the ones on our own continent had ways to use these poisons to get food. The good news about the poisons on our continent is that many times they are not as dangerous to humans. I do not recommend using any poison you don’t know the origin of. Chemicals that are not safe to humans can ruin a body of water or leave you severely sick if you eat the fish that result.
While most people think of fishing as an activity only for catching fish, there are many more edible creatures in water besides fish. In many lakes, mussels cling to underwater rocks or wood. When the water levels go down you can swim down and harvest. Or if you have a boat and a good spot, simply sink a log and pull it up at timed intervals, break off the mussels and sink it again.
You can also adapt a 2-liter bottle into a crayfish trap. Simply punch some small holes in the bottom end and sides toward the end. Cut the top ¼ off and reverse it and wire it into place so the funnel points in. Place a small but heavy rock in the bottom and a piece of bacon or entrails from a recent kill (might want to tie it into place). Then sink it in a muddy flat. The crayfish will come inside, eat the meat and when you pull it up the crayfish will be trapped.
Medical
After TSHTF many of us will be doing activities we don’t normally do. The desk jockey may be pounding nails and the housewife may be butchering game. Anytime you bring untrained labor into new activities injuries will occur.
For a while after TSHTF medical supplies such as medicine and sterile dressings may be somewhat accessible. What to do when they run out though?
I mentioned an antiseptic above that was used from Roman times until the 13th century. Wine and vinegar both are not stellar antiseptics but in the absence of everything else, they could save lives. The alcohol obviously kills germs and other nasty things that could grow on a wound.
Finding sterile dressings will be hard but you can always boil fabric or soak it in wine or alcohol in the absence of fire to sterilize it.
Conclusion
There was a line from the movie The Book of Eli
It’s hard to do it with our modern conveniences but we have to look at everything as if it is not what it seems. Sometimes the sum of the parts really is greater than the whole.