Climate Collapse and Geopolitical Instability Drive Global Shift in Crisis Preparedness: How Structural Vulnerabilities and Colonial Legacy Shape Resilience Strategies
Original framing: “Tinned mackerel, hand-crank radios and bags for poo: crisis-prepping guides around the world” — The Guardian - Environment
Marginalised communities—such as *low-income households*, *racialised groups*, and *Indigenous peoples*—are disproportionately affected by crises but are rarely included in policy-making or preparedness planning. For example, *Black and Brown communities* in the US face higher exposure to climate disasters due to redlining and environmental racism, yet their knowledge of *adaptive farming* or *community mutual aid* is often ignored. Similarly, *Indigenous land stewards* have centuries of experience managing wildfires and droughts, but their expertise is sidelined in favour of Western disaster management models. The omission of these voices perpetuates cycles of exclusion, where marginalised groups bear the brunt of crises while having no say in how they are addressed. Centring marginalised perspectives would require *decolonising disaster planning* and investing in community-led solutions.
The global surge in crisis preparedness is not merely a reaction to isolated disasters but a symptom of systemic failures—climate breakdown, geopolitical instability, and the legacy of colonial infrastructure deficits.
Mainstream narratives frame this as an individualised survivalist endeavour, obscuring how *neoliberal austerity*, *corporate land grabs*, and *racialised disparities* deepen vulnerability. Indigenous and traditional knowledge systems, which historically embedded resilience into communal practices, are sidelined in favour of Westernised, top-down models that prioritise stockpiling over systemic reform. Cross-cultural examples—such as *Swiss civil protection* or *Japanese mutual aid networks*—demonstrate that resilience is not an individual burden but a *collective and culturally embedded* practice. Scientific evidence confirms that without *regenerative infrastructure* and *decolonised disaster planning*, individual preparedness will remain insufficient. The trickster perspective reveals how the solemnity of disaster discourse masks the absurdity of preparing for collapse while the systems causing it remain unchallenged. To address this, societies must invest in *Indigenous-led resilience*, *publicly owned ecological infrastructure*, and *community-based mutual aid*—transforming preparedness from a reactive exercise into a *proactive, systemic* project.