I dunno… I kind of think of the elite as those who see what’s eventually coming and prepare for it. After all, it’s them who will survive it. That counts as elite in my book.
I have another disease of civ. It’s called “procrastination” and it’s screwing up my search for Florida coral to knap. Me, prepared? Pff. Me, elite? hahahaha. Just another unworthy, unwashed civ, lol.
My dad brought up another point I only barely thought about. After the collapse, wildlife populations will take a hit of almost extinction proportions from people trying to put food in their babies’ bellies. He told me a story he’d read about a guy who turned to the local deer for meat during the depression of the 1930’s. He’d said at the very beginning and just before it happened, he only had to go about 5 miles from home to get enough to keep fresh meat on the table. 2 months in, however, he had to go 20 miles out.
That was in the 30’s, when the population was easily less than a quarter of what it is now. My dad figured that the only reliable source of meat for a couple of months after a catastrophic collapse would be “long pig,” otherwise known as “soylent green.” That itself would only be reliable for a couple of months and then they’d all starve to death. I suppose that’s alright, I’d never eat it anyway with all the preservatives and growth hormones and garbage they pump it full of.
So pull out those local plant manuals and study up.
And get far, far away from the meltdown zones. Upwind, upwater.