Read a very interesting blog from The Archdruid Report about how perspective changes your viewpoint about events as we experience them compared to events as they are recorded for posterity. The observant can very clearly see that the times are a-changing right now, and some might say that things are changing for the worse. As John notes: "Recent headlines note events that most people would have considered cataclysmic not that long ago."
Others might see the changes as necessary growing pains for the species. The observant are alarmed by the rapid acceleration of "negative" events we see going on around us, and taking the long view, we prepare to survive. Being prepared for every possible scenario that life on planet Earth, or in the Milky Way, for that matter is not feasible. But not preparing at all is the kind of grasshopper thinking that leads to a lot of dead grasshoppers. I recommend that you read this entry in its entirety; it's well worth the time to do so. We are in the autumn, so to speak, in the current cycle of changes and winter is coming.
By the way, John recommends anyone interested in gardening as a survival skill might want to learn how to breed varieties of plants that will thrive where you live:
