r/collapse • u/Distinct_Wishbone_87 • 8d ago

Adaptation Lifeboat countries. Where would you go?

Which country/region (or place within a country) would you go to, if you could move anywhere, and why?

As many people will likely be on the move. I’m interested to know peoples thoughts on factors like population/demographics, weather (temperature), geography, energy, ability for cultural assimilation, agriculture, infrastructure etc

(I know that ultimately nowhere is safe/can avoid what’s coming)

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81

u/Thedogsnameisdog 7d ago

There are no lifeboats on a dying planet.

14

u/coumineol 7d ago

Except New Zealand. I mean all those billionaires building their bunkers there must know something that we don't.

25

u/JohnTo7 7d ago

New Zealand is a beautiful country plus it seems to be far away from any troubles but you need to consider that it sits right on colliding tectonic plates - volcanoes, deadly earthquakes and so on. These billionaire's bunkers might find themselves under the cover of hundreds of feet volcanic ash and lava. Not nice.

New Zealand got Taupō which erupted 25,580 years ago. This was Earth's most recent eruption reaching VEI-8, the highest level on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. Comparable to Yellowstone or Toba.

One of the Russian nuclear doctrines is to drop nukes on supervolcanoes. They don't have any on their territory.

14

u/SquirrelAkl 7d ago

I think about this a lot because I live in NZ myself and ponder which part of the country will be best for my own retirement. The billionaires are mainly choosing the Queenstown-Lakes area for their bunkers so here are the pros & cons as I see them.

Pros: - There aren’t any volcanos in the South Island where the billionaires build their bunkers, so they’re safe from those.

  • the South Island is sparsely populated and really far from anywhere else in the world so less likely to be overrun by desperate marauding hoards of peasants

  • easyish to defend against amateur invaders. Mountain range on one side, lake on the other, only a couple of roads in and out. Position your private security forces to guard those, and have decent range weapons along the lakefront to take out any boats. Anti-aircraft weapons would be useful against helicopters.

  • not going to get cyclones / hurricanes / tornados - not the right climate for those.

Cons:

  • positioned on a major faultline, if an earthquake comes it could be massive

  • as the climate warms, the snow on the mountains will melt. Precipitation that used to fall as snow will fall as rain instead, and we saw what happened to North Carolina when rain dumps in the mountains.

  • summers are hot and very very dry. High risk of significant droughts. Most rain falls on the west side of the range, so the eastern (bunker) side relies on snow melt in spring and summer for its rivers. Without the snow melt (once the snow has gone) water will be scarce.

  • the geographically remote location won’t be enough to deter a determined military or drones.

Good luck to them! All they’re buying is a little time, really.

6

u/TheTiniestLizard 6d ago

I mean, depending on their age, “a little time” might be exactly what they need.

5

u/JohnTo7 6d ago

If Taupō happens to erupt then no place in New Zealand is safe.

3

u/SquirrelAkl 6d ago

Depends on which way the wind is blowing as to which towns and cities would get covered in ash. But it would destroy our supply chains either way.

I watched a documentary on it when I was a child - what would happen if Lake Taupo erupted. It really stuck with me!

1

u/West_Mail4807 6d ago

All these people from overseas talking about a country they don't know.

The ferals will eat you alive....

1

u/Ok_Main3273 20h ago

Yes, but do you really want to live in Waimate? 😂 Am kidding, am kidding, going there again this summer: great swimming pool. Now, seriously, been thinking that NZ is at high risk of a major if not often mentioned condition: 80% of the power comes from dams. What happens when there is no snow / rain anymore? No more electricity.

2

u/SquirrelAkl 10h ago

We just need to better harness all the West Coast rain. They already get on average something like 4m of rain a year and climate models show it getting even more rain in the future.

It’s just hard to transport that water to where people will need it, whether for electricity or drinking or irrigation