TreeHugger has been stressing the importance of resilience, “the capacity to adapt to changing conditions and to maintain or regain functionality and vitality in the face of stress or disturbance.” We tend to think of those stresses and disturbances being natural events, but a lot of people think they might well be political, or the result of a breakdown in society as we know it. Some become survivalists or “preppers”; Others, with more money, make bigger plans. Evan Osnos wrote a long piece in the New Yorker, describing how “some of the wealthiest people in America—in Silicon Valley, New York, and beyond—are getting ready for the crackup of civilization.” It is an eye-opener; we learn of one investment banker who tells the writer “I keep a helicopter gassed up all the time, and I have an underground bunker with an air-filtration system.” These are people with money and resources, who think of this all as a form of insurance.

Most people just assume improbable events don’t happen, but technical people tend to view risk very mathematically.” He continued, “The tech preppers do not necessarily think a collapse is likely. They consider it a remote event, but one with a very severe downside, so, given how much money they have, spending a fraction of their net worth to hedge against this... is a logical thing to do.

Many are buying property in New Zealand, considered one of the safest places in the world to be in the face of disaster. It was just revealed that billionaire Peter Thiel even became a citizen. Others are sticking closer to home and investing in underground real estate like the Survival Condo. It is a converted Atlas missile silo that has been divided into condo units. It can feel just like home. The condo walls are fitted with L.E.D. “windows” that show a live video of the prairie above the silo. Owners can opt instead for pine forests or other vistas. One prospective resident from New York City wanted video of Central Park. “All four seasons, day and night,” Menosky said. “She wanted the sounds, the taxis and the honking horns.”

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