Sure. But communal circumstances doesn’t have to mean in an industrial capacity either, with overuse of fertilizers that degrade the environment, irresponsible management of water resources, and monoculture that degrades the soil.

Imagine, if you will, sustainable agriculture done on a communal level with a focus not on profit but on feeding populations (human and nonhuman) while restoring environmental health. Regardless of whether one is in a city or the countryside. The means to produce massive amounts of food are there historically and being developed for modern life. Hydroponics, Aquaponics, vertical gardening, agroforestry, 3 sisters planting, waffle plots, heukkenculture (?), permaculture ... the list goes on and on.

One of the promising things about collapse is that once the government and government regulations that protect big industry are gone, it becomes more viable to pursue these other options. Trades and artisan craftsmanship return. Right now industrial agriculture stifles innovation by buying politicians and manipulating voters. Big Ag could not exist without government subsidies. Once they’re gone, the rules change.

It’s up to us to either prepare for that now and take proper advantage or be what they think we are... mindless sheep who will resort to absolute barbarism if not kept in line by brute force.

We don’t have to live in the world of the Walking Dead unless we choose to. And we should stop letting those who’s ONLY concern is money (an abstract that only has the power people give it) make those decisions for us.

There are people and resources out there with the skill sets and knowledge to move us all forward. Unlike Universities which will cost you an arm and a leg, they are GIVING this education away to anyone who wants to learn it, because that’s where community and communal infrastructure begins.

We’re going to collapse. It’s going to be hard. The world is going to change whether we want it to or not. A lot of people are going to die.

The question is not whether we go out with grace or kicking and screaming. It’s can we change the way we do things enough and quickly enough to be able to preserve some of the better parts of our civilizations while leaving the bad parts behind. Can we work to restore what we didn’t take care of the way we should have?