Throughout the centuries people have always been trying to bend over backwards in order to survive and provide themselves the means to ensure the continuance of mankind. For that reason, they started as nomads, groups of people that had to move to find food and safety, and gradually evolved to settled societies that were more focused on farming, embracing the deriving changes in their culture and overall life. At times so fragile, as those set by the paper’s scenario, where we are facing the extinction of the world as we know it over a natural disaster, one needs to make important decisions to come down with viable and effective solutions that can keep the very few people left alive on the planet safe and going. There are a lot one should take on and think over, in case of an extremely serious disaster, like an almost complete wipe out of mankind from the face of Earth, as supposed in this scenario. This paper focus in just a fraction of the responsibilities involved to bring a community to safe grounds and provide them with a promising future, while keeping them alive, happy and secure.
That being said, apart from the obvious problems including food, water and energy needs, one should look into many societal issues and also maintain the natural environment in balance, so that people can always be provided with the essential means for their life. Should I have taken over leadership of a project led by a mankind contingency plan, I would probably choose to live in a permanent community somewhere close to natural water supplies, such as rivers and lakes, and in places that could provide us with food supplies, meaning with fertile land and animals living in it. For that reason, I think Greece is a nice pick, as it offers the Mediterranean Sea and many streams, lakes, springs, rivers, alongside lots of sun, green land and mild climate that would help us with our struggle to stay alive and continue the human race. However, we need to be extremely careful in our choices, since the mortality rates of displaced populations “can be as high as ten times the death rates for the same populations in non-emergencies” (The Johns Hopkins Public Health Guide for Emergencies, p.448). So, the first few months into the emergency are the most crucial ones and need special attention when dealing with people’s needs and trying to sustain living (The Johns Hopkins Public Health Guide for Emergencies, p.448).
Assuming that in a world disaster where the rising sea level has destroyed most of the coastal land and that the very few people left that form a core society have at least the basics to continue living as people of the 2000’s used to do, I would not have to figure out how to make containers or any other objects important to keep our hygiene at a decent level. The small community of the 100 people, would definitely need water that should be fairly and carefully used and distributed, in order to avoid any contamination from polluted water, which in turns could threaten the health and lives of all of us. We could use rainwater, streams and any other moving bodies of water, alongside natural springs and lakes to provide our community with the needed water supplies; but first we would need to purify the water, probably by boiling it for about 10 minutes, and in cases we would be using salt water, we would have to distill it (NJ Office of Emergency Management). According to Ready, a “national public service advertising (PSA) campaign designed to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to emergencies including natural and man-made disasters” (ready.gov) that collaborates with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, one can determine the water needs of an individual if they take into account that each individual needs approximately a gallon of water per day to cover their sanitation and drinking needs, while the water needs of sick people, nursing mothers and children can exceed other people’s needs (ready.gov). What is more, the hot temperatures and warm weather conditions affect the drinking needs that can double, and the same applies to any medical emergencies (ready.gov).
I am sure that practically every household has prepared an emergency stockpile that could keep the family alive for a number of days. Given that we will be starting some place new with only a portion of our stockpiles, tools and equipment we had in our homes, it is crucial that we all stick to a schedule and ration the food. That way, we would have bought ourselves time to find out how to use the resources provided to us by the new homeland. We could also organize groups of people that could go hunting and fishing to provide the community with some food, while others could start sowing the land; of course, the latter is a time consuming approach that would ensure our food on the long run. Children, pregnant women and people with high activity levels need more food than those with low activity levels and we should also be avoiding salt to control our thirst. In detail, children under the age of five run a greater risk of mortality, since malnutrition to them, even if it means being a bit underweight is an underlying cause and the biggest killer in more than half the population of under-five children (The Johns Hopkins Public Health Guide for Emergencies, p 448). After we have settled down, we could organize groups of people to start farming, fishing and/or hunting to provide the community with the necessary to feed on.
Greece is a rich country in terms of renewable energy supplies such as wind and solar energy. Given that Greece has invested to wind power by 77% and has installed more than 1,000 wind turbines through its mainland and islands (Kelemenis, 2008), I would count on them to get the energy required to meet my community’s needs. Alternatively, we could use geothermal heat that is easy to find in Greece too (GREECE – Renewable Energy Fact Sheet, 2007). Other than that, since Greece is showered by sun practically all year round, I could suggest to benefit from the solar energy and the numerous photovoltaic and concentrated solar power panels installed. The combination of all three aforementioned types of energy resources would definitely provide the community with more energy they could use.
In order to prevent chaotic situations and impose rules for all to follow, we would probably elect the ones we feel more confident about ruling us, although people with leadership and organizational skills, among others, are difficult to miss. Unlike Nomadic Societies that preferred chiefdom, meaning the senior members of a tribe would choose the ones in authority (Helms, 1998), we would pick the ones we believe could serve our needs best. If there were police officers or military noncommissioned officers we could use their experience and assign them as head of the new police and army force respectively. People with higher educational levels could become the community’s teachers, med care individuals can perform medical services to get the community back on track running in a brand new marathon. That way, slowly and gradually we could establish our little community and help make the first baby steps towards completion and perfection.
In regards human population control, in a new world that parts of only 100 people and limited resources to maintain their existence, it is vital to impose measures to limit births. I strongly oppose to Uzbekistan’s measures to limit births by forcing people to have hysterectomies, sterilizations and IUD insertions (Antelava, 2012) as I find it a rather cruel method to prevent families from having children. Instead, I would go with a more humane project that would include additional and heavier taxes for the families that would chose to have more than 1 child. Additionally, contraception would be greatly forwarded and young people will be informed about the various ways to birth control. Maybe, if members of the community nurture fear for upcoming taxation that would be difficult to pay off, they would re consider expanding their family, with more than one child. Of course, prevention is always the right and wisest choice, which is why I suggest that younger members of the newly formed society be informed of birth control and consequences of having two and more children. I would just hate to be forced to impose stricter measures, in terms of killing the female and sick off springs, like Chinese do, to keep the strong males and depend their country’s wellbeing and growth on them.
Being in charge of a group of people that have suffered and survived a natural disaster is more than just challenging. One needs to have leadership qualities and humanitarian feelings to carefully and effectively shape and organize the newly formed community and make it a viable social core. However, with common spirit and unity among the members of the community, things can better and finally manage to adjust to a new reality that forms a future people can control, for a change. Sometimes, leaders need to make tough decisions for the common good and the sake of the majority in a community. Maybe, this behavior is judged as cruel and inhumane; however, if I had to save my people, I would do whatever it takes, like any leader that has remained in history with a positive feedback would do. After all, it is not like every day that you save the world!
Works Cited
READY. “Build a Kit: Water”. Website. Last updated: 04/17/2013 <http://www.ready.gov/water>
NJ Office of Emergency Management. “Planning and Preparing: Emergency Food and Water Supplies”. Website. <http://www.state.nj.us/njoem/preparedness_foodwater.html >
The Johns Hopkins and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. “Food Security and Nutrition in Emergency”. Print. N.d. <http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/center-for-refugee-and-disaster-response/publications_tools/publications/_CRDR_ICRC_Public_Health_Guide_Book/Chapter_9_Food_and_Nutrition.pdf>
Kelemenis J. (2008) “Rising to the challenge: the growth of wind power generation in Greece”. < http://www.kelemenis.com/pdf/pub11.pdf>
“GREECE – Renewable Energy Fact Sheet”. 2007. <http://ec.europa.eu/energy/energy_policy/doc/factsheets/renewables/renewables_el_en.pdf>
Helms, Mary W. (1998). “Access to Origins: Affines, Ancestors and Aristocrats”. Austin: University of Texas Press. p. 4.
Antelava Natalia. (2012). “Uzbekistan's policy of secretly sterilising women”. Online Magazine. < http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17612550>
