The Little Book of the End of the World (25 page)

  weapons/tools

  sleeping bag/insulation

  clothing/footwear suitable for climate and exposure

  torch

  cash

  compass

  ID

  rope

All these supplies vary, depending on just where you intend going when you need to tap into these survivalist skills, and perhaps some will be rendered completely useless if it truly is the Apocalypse. But a good survivalist is one who can get multiple uses out of one item, something to bear in mind when preparing your own kit.

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE: ORGANISATIONAL SURVIVALISM

Mormons believe that each member of the Church should prepare for adversity by having a three-month stockpile of food and drinking water should it be needed. This has only recently been revised downwards from six months.

Several UFO religions claim to have access to advanced technology, and rumours persist that they are researching cloning and other things that will enhance the human lifespan. While not ‘survivalism' in its strictest sense, the principles of avoiding death and prolonging life remain the same.

The Norwegian government, with global consent, have developed the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, an installation 120m deep within a mountain complex, complete with hi-tech security measures. The vault is a measure to ensure that various forms of plant life will survive the Apocalypse – albeit in certain forms. There are over half a million different species stored in the Svalbard Seed Vault, with similar plant-based programmes existing at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew. San Diego Zoo also cryogenically freezes animal matter in a similar scheme to preserve life.

So when the Apocalypse comes, and you're desperate to reboot the agricultural industry, you know to hitchhike your way to Norway, Kew or San Diego.

21

THE ULTIMATE FUTURE

What sort of book about the End of the World would this be if we didn’t close by looking ahead at some of the things we should still be scared of? We can scoff all we like at our ancestors and their fear of random dates, but now you can prove yourself better than all your friends by picking an equally random date in the future and telling them just why the world won’t end then.

CLASH OF THE PLANETS

As we discover more and more about the planet on which we live, we’re also significantly more comfortable with the volatile ecosystem around us. Volcanoes, floods and extreme weather conditions can still lead to significant loss of life, but for the most part, they can be predicted and resisted: they are no longer the Apocalyptic affairs they once were, certainly not Apocalypse-with-a-capital-A.

And so, humanity has begun to look further afield for threats to our humble civilisation.

In the late twentieth century, Wisconsin-based Nancy Leider claimed to have been visited by a race of aliens called zetas who warned her of several cataclysms that would befall the planet Earth. This would begin with the arrival of ‘Planet X’, a gigantic planetary body that would pass so close to the Earth that it would stop the planet’s rotation for a period of five days and then reverse the Earth’s magnetic poles.

Leider first claimed that Planet X would arrive in 2003, and that the approach of the Hale-Bopp comet was a precursor to Planet X’s arrival.

When this failed to transpire, she revealed that this initial date was a test to see how corrupt authorities would react: they had confirmed her suspicions by ignoring the threat, therefore confirming the purpose of the 2003 date. After this reaction, Leider refused to disclose the actual predicted date.

Planet X has since been adopted by other UFO-religions and cults, and its arrival was one of the many suggested events that could occur in 2012.

Leider’s claims of the existence of Planet X coincides with Zecharia Sitchin’s theory of the planet Nibiru, a twelfth planet in the solar system whose orbit intersects with Earth’s every 3600 years. Nibiru is a twelfth planet because Sitchin claims that it was previously responsible for the destruction of other planets in the solar system, two of which have become the asteroid field between Mars and Jupiter.

Sitchin claimed that Nibiru is inhabited by a race of aliens who were responsible for the creation of humanity: their power and abilities led to them being worshipped as gods, and the long cycle of Nibiru’s orbit explains both the absence of gods in the modern world and the myths shared by many religions about their return.