I love that this thread is LITERALLY all about immediate, impacting solutions to problems at hand! I'm so proud of the open discourse happening here. I am currently planting my first garden! I'm very exited to become more and more independent, relying only on my self, and what the land can, and will provide to me.

This is a great idea and something I think we should be focusing on.

The first part is - what is the problem? Identify it the best you can and then you can find solutions towards minimizing the problem.

I feel paying down debts if your unlucky enough to have them (cough, student loans) is the best bet, and attempt as best you can to be beholden to the least amount of people/corporations as possible is a logical step that most people will do regardless.

But as far as other solutions - the garden idea is great. Anything you can do to be less reliant on multinational corporations and the government the better. Keep in mind however - that one thing the governments and corporations of the world (one could argue that are mostly the same thing at this point, give or take) is a monopoly on youth education. By engaging and educating the youth on what's going on in the world - we have a much better chance at making a difference in the long term.

If engaging with youth and talking to them is too daunting - spark up conversations with locals, strangers, neighbors - people who you come in contact with day-to-day. Too many of us are lost in our phones, our outlets, etc to pay attention to what's going on at the ground level, people close to us, etc. Forming strong social networks NOW will pay dividends later when you want to engage in youth talks, neighborhood talks, etc. Talk to people with opposing world-views, and LISTEN TO THEM. Don't try and hit them over the head with an opposing world-view - remember that you weren't born with this kind of realization and you had to actively work at the educational process. I am far more aware of the comings and goings of the world today compared to myself 20 months ago - and 20 months ago I thought I knew EVERYTHING. These are the people you may be interacting with. Treat everyone with kindness and respect. It is our job to figure out why people aren't questing the world as we did years, months, or weeks ago - and figure out how to get them to start asking questions. And then to be there to lead them to answers - not to tell them the answers. The television has been telling them the 'answers' for far too long.

This is one gripe I have with /v/Conspiracy , plenty of negativity and pathetic nit picking. Granted, things look pretty bleak, but what's the point of chewing each other out over it. Fear, anger, and pride just cause entropy, what good does that do for us as a whole?

When the SHTF we're really going to see some negativity. Stuff like you've never seen before. Millions of people will die. Positive thinking isn't going to stop it. I hope you're ready.

I recently bought a house with a nice yard and planted a garden. This is just a test year to see what works out, but the plan is to turn as much of my yard into garden space.

Assuming things go well, I'll be learning how to can and pickle this fall.

I've been focusing on reducing my waste through recycling and compost. I'm at the point where I'm recycling more than I'm throwing away in the garbage.

Now that I have some space, I've come to realize that certain things are better done the old ways. Hanging my laundry instead of using the dryer, learning canning and pickling, using a non gas powered lawn mower, and doing things using my own power instead of using gas powered items.

Not only am I taking steps to reduce my dependency on the status quo, but it's helped me get much more exercise.

Start a garden... seriously. If you're completely self-sustainable, nothing that happens in the corrupt financial system can affect you.

Just remember, if you care about these things you're not part of the problem.