As Americans battle a "tripledemic" of influenza, RSV & COVID with a hefty helping of deadly Strep A, news has hit that World Cup players have been stricken with MERS, a coronavirus that kills 1/3rd of its victims. A "once in a generation" winter storm, also referred to as a "polar plunge" and "bomb cyclone," is currently bearing down on the entire country, making holiday travel next to impossible. Meanwhile Mendocino's wet season is looking a bit better than previous years even though they're still experiencing a "Stage 2 Water Shortage"... no word on whether or how often they can flush their crappers.
Now would probably be a good time to talk about the future of life on Earth. Scientists have said we're entering a period they term the "Pandemicene" which has been brought about by climate change, overpopulation (which gets far too little recognition) & other human-driven changes to the living world like deforestation & pollution. Vector-borne diseases like malaria, Nippah, tick-borne maladies, the numerous "fevers" (yellow, Dengue, chikungunya, Zika, West Nile) & parasitic diseases a-plenty will be ramping up as the planet gets hotter & steamier. To put it mildly, COVID was just an appetizer: the main course is still several salad-and-breadsticks away. Even the world's top minds can't predict whether the human race will survive the 6th Great Extinction which is currently underway.
Tripledemic. Bomb cyclone. Pandemicene. Lots of scary superlatives in this new era.
While it would be nice to brush it off as media sensationalism, the writing has been on the wall for some time: the planet is dying & taking us with it. (Scratch that: We're killing the planet & taking ourselves out with it). Anyone who intends to survive the next few decades with their health & sanity intact will have to put some serious thought & effort into it. Things we once took for granted like heating and air conditioning, clean drinking water & affordable housing may no longer be accessible to everyone all the time. They already aren't.
If you have kids, now is the time to plan ahead & teach them basic risk assessment skills to ensure the best possible future. If you don't have kids, seriously consider not having any if you care at all about their quality of life or the survival of the planet. Governments are downplaying these unprecedented threats & underfunding public health, infrastructure, clean energy & basic amenities like clean water far past the point of no return, so don't rely on them for your survival or comfort. The media, social & otherwise, are great at throwing around ominous-sounding names for these problems but are mum on their actual CAUSES or solutions. Might that have to do with who's funding them through advertising? ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Conoco Phillips, Total & company... the Koch family & others who have stock in the oil, gas & coal industries... there are many including some of your fave politicians.
This practical & timely quote from Charles Darwin comes to mind often lately:
"It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself."
This rings true on so many levels. Brute strength will get you out of a physical bind & a high IQ will help you think your way out of an intellectual quandary but not everybody is born with those gifts. However we can all choose to be more mentally flexible, and this trait is invaluable in an ever-changing world with new existential threats around every corner. In nature, those who don't evolve to meet the challenges of their environment are picked off or left behind to fend for themselves, eventually going extinct as competition & natural selection beat them out. The more stressful the environment, the more adaptable a species has to be to survive, & the more of its members will succumb to things like natural disasters, disease, famine, predation & other threats.
The Darwin quote is also an apt summation of the abstract struggle between the progressive and regressive (ahem, "traditional") ideals tugging at our society. It would be perfect in every way except for one thing: Darwin never said it. At least not in so many words. It IS a real quote however, and a damn good one that's just as relevant whether it came from the lips of the world's greatest biologist or a hobo on the street.
Step 1: Identify The Threat
The first step to improving your survival chances is knowing your enemy. Every year the CDC releases a list of the Top 10 Causes of Death in the U.S. They don't change dramatically from year to year & 2022's hasn't been released yet, so I've included 2020's list here. This is for all ages & races in all parts of the country. "Unintentional injuries" includes things like car wrecks, accidental drug overdoses, lightning strikes, falls & drowning while "Chronic lower respiratory diseases = COPD, emphysema, asthma & the like.
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| Just the facts, ma'am. Courtesy CDC. |
Speaking of crime: If you live in a crime-infested neighborhood surrounded by warring gangs & impoverished addicts looking for their next fix, you'd take basic safety precautions, yeah? Avoiding nighttime outings by yourself, locking your door, being aware of your surroundings & not flashing cash or expensive jewelry in bad neighborhoods would be common sense. Maybe an alarm system for your home & a handgun for protection if you're comfortable handling weapons. Well, I've got news for you: The same should apply to protecting yourself from other threats such as contagious illnesses that can cause long-lasting illness or death (see above) & avoiding risky behaviors like driving on icy roads or exposing yourself to avoidable cancer-causing agents.
While this sounds like "no shit, Sherlock" advice, too many Americans only perceive violence as a threat while viewing these other "soft" dangers as an overblown risk. Microbes are invisible & take longer to cause death; violence is sudden & in-your-face. It's also exciting and "sexy": The news reports on blood-and-guts stories around the clock to keep us tuned in and terrified (and tbh, entertained). True Crime is the fastest rising genre of documentary film. It's no wonder we're more afraid of each other than things like heart disease (the #1 killer), car wrecks, infectious illness or drug overdoses which doesn't make sense according to every statistic in recent history. If a gazelle panicked about ants & other insects beneath its feet it wouldn't be alive for very long. Same with humans. We're missing the hungry lions for the ants.
Just look at our disproportionate responses to 9/11 vs. COVID. The death toll of each event does not correlate to our reaction as a nation. 2,977 victims + 19 hijackers died in the 9/11 attacks vs. 1,115,913 (that's million) deaths from COVID and counting. 9/11 was used to justify wars in Iraq & Afghanistan that resulted in an untold number of additional deaths & billions of taxpayer dollars blown. To this day it's treated like a national holiday. COVID? Crickets. No national mask or vaccine mandates & our nationwide lockdown lasted 0 days because it was left up to individual states to impose stay-at-home orders (or not). Ditto with masking mandates. As a result, the U.S. has consistently had the highest rates of COVID infection & death of ANY nation on Earth.
And what does the conservative right do? Fling shit at the U.S. capitol about... Pizzagate & a stolen election. Or someshit. Their anger was justified, no doubt. But boy was it misguided. These are the same people who are loud & proud about gun ownership as a means of "protecting their families" and being a "good guy with a gun" while refusing to wear a mask or get a shot to reduce the spread of a deadly disease to loved ones and the immunocompromised. Or to ditch the fast food that's clogging their arteries, or to put their phone on silent & stop texting while barreling down the highway at 80 mph. Those things would be FAR more likely to save lives--both theirs & the lives of others--than carrying around a loaded weapon, yet they selfishly refuse to do them because it's inconvenient & doesn't fit their narrative.
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| Meal Team Six: Semper Pie |
Cut the horseshit, guys. You're not carrying that gun to "protect" anything but your fragile ego.
Open-carrying makes them feel macho and powerful; a mask signifies fear & weakness. (Because nothing says "I refuse to live in fear!" like a plainly visible firearm in a family-friendly restaurant with a ball pit). Never mind that they might kill someone with their distracted driving or disease-spreading (or you know, their loaded weapon capable of inflicting great bodily harm). They just wanna play John Wayne in some imaginary Western. That's why you see all these Gravy Seal/Paul Blart wannabes LARPing as a reserve military in their backyards: they might be diabetic, 60 lbs overweight & in various stages of periodontal disease, but goddammit, they're gonna FIGHT for their freedumb if that pesky federal government tries to step in! Which they won't as evidenced by their anemic response to every-fucking-thing that matters.
And that's how we've become a nation that bases our decisions on feelings instead of facts. To my mind, that's far more weak and cowardly than anything else. Who's mentally stronger & contributes more to society: a surgeon who stands in the OR all day with a mask & gloves doing the thankless work of saving lives using years of schooling & the latest medical technology, or a snuff chewing, GED-accredited manchild wearing a gun on the outside of his clothes in a post office while refusing to put a piece of cloth over his slobberhole in a pandemic? And why is it the surgeon?
Because facts & statistics say so. You're never going to stop a mass shooter with that gun at the Piggly Wiggly, but you ARE going to spread germs that will eventually kill some old person or even a close loved one when you refuse to mask up in a pandemic surge. See the graphic above. Or below. And if you're overweight/obese, have Type II diabetes, high blood pressure, smoke tobacco or fit any of the other typical American risk categories, that "somebody" could be you.
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| COVID #1 killer in early 2021, courtesy KFF |
Step 2: Plan for Said Threat
Back on topic: If we don't adapt to the rapidly changing climate, medication shortages, pandemics & coming lack of resources like water & water-thirsty crops, we're gonna be in a whole heap-a-trouble as a species. I'm not saying go full Little House on the Prairie, but get your home ready for an increasingly dramatic climate. If you live on the extreme East or West Coast where wildfires are burning constantly or hurricanes are swallowing up your property, move. (Or at the very LEAST get your ass out when evacuation orders have been issued). Keep an eye on weather updates & have a plan in place for whatever severe weather emergencies are common in your area. Nobody without nearby access to a basement or cellar has any business living in Tornado Alley, for instance. That "middle room of your house" shit is not going to cut it with EF4 and EF5 tornadoes.
Stock up on N95 & KN95 masks & fucking WEAR THEM indoors when cases are high in your area. Surgical masks that fit snugly are better than nothing. Get all recommended vaccines, especially if you're 65 and older or work in a high-risk profession. Tell your doctor to double your medication dose & keep taking the same amount, saving the other half for doomsday. (Make sure your particular medicine doesn't turn toxic after the expiration date first, of course. Some meds like Erythromycin become dangerous when expired, but most only lose a bit of potency after a few years if kept in cool, dry conditions). Weak pills are better than no pills. Keep taking your full prescribed dose, never cut your dose in half. Just request double the amount you take now or see if you can buy some extra from a reputable foreign pharmacy online. Medication shortages & price increases ARE coming. This year alone saw a shortage of 114 Rx medications.
Save enough money to cover your ass in an emergency. Cash if possible. If you can stomach canned food, start stocking up. Shelf-stable dry goods are a great option too. Water will be even more vital. As we saw during the "panic buying" spurts & freighter holdups, store shelves can become bare very quickly in an emergency. Having the basic survival items on hand can be a literal lifesaver: A first aid kit, some flashlights & batteries, candles, blankets, a generator & plenty of warm/cool clothes will be vital as heating and A/C units break down due to power grid failures. Buy insurance on everything & read the fine print: home, car, health, pets & life. You won't regret it.
Infodemic: The Deadly Wildcard
While the Darwin (or hobo) quote says "intellect" isn't important, that's not entirely true. You DO need strong media literacy & bullshit detection skills to determine what the actual threats are & how to best deal with them. If you go through life employing magical thinking, denialism, wishful thinking or lacking critical thinking abilities, you're basically fucked. The infodemic is real--there are far too many people posing as experts & spewing BS they only wish were true: that COVID is no worse than the common cold; that fossil fuels & overpopulation aren't causing extinction-level threats to humans & other species; that prayer & positive thinking have physical healing powers and all this crap that we've all been guilty of believing at some point. Myself included.
I once believed vaccines caused autism & chiropractors were legitimate doctors. I even spent around $500 as a broke college student trying to treat my depression with overpriced supplements at one. Went off my Prozac & everything. That went about as well as you'd expect. And then later, much later, I learned more about the dangers & bogus nature of chiropractors & changed my views to fit the evidence available to me. This is what determines your adaptability & is a great measure of your overall cognitive flexibility. I will admit it can sometimes feel uncomfortable bordering on confronting, but it sure beats the alternative. 🦠💀⚰
Another major problem I see all the time is a growing inability to discern opinion from fact. With subjects like politics, religion & personal interests like movies or gardening, there's endless room for opinion & debate. Not so with science & medicine. The answers to these things are as set in stone as math problems, with answers that can be proven or disproven with carefully designed experiments. It's called the scientific method. Opinions are as unique & varied as fingerprints but there are no "alternate facts"; you can't just pick your favorite reality & expect an equally favorable outcome as someone doing the exact opposite, particularly in a dangerous scenario like a natural disaster or pandemic. Somebody's gotta be wrong.
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| The stakes are higher when it's a deadly disease & not, you know, a six (nine!). |
Of course there are those for whom no amount of meticulously documented evidence by reputable sources will move their beliefs an inch. That's a sign of an inflexible mind tainted by emotional bias or, in rare cases, something more sinister--early cognitive decline, mental illness or other organic neurological conditions. For them, the cognitive dissonance would be too terrifying, too painful if they were to even consider the possibility that their dogmatic belief wasn't true. They've invested too much of their ego, money, time or faith into this belief system to "betray" it. Tribalism is also a HUGE factor. Nobody wants to be alienated from their political or religious cult--err, party. But they'll pay the price for their inflexibility & willful ignorance eventually. (I only say "willful" because we all have easy access to the same damn information via the internet these days, not because they're particularly brilliant). We already saw these dire consequences with COVID deniers, R.I.P.
As for me, I want to live even if this world is brutal at times & doesn't always conform to my preconceived biases & desires. A little temporary discomfort is well worth my long-term survival; a truth too many only realize on their death beds. "Adapt or Perish" is the only way forward. And honestly, it always has been.
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