Prepping and bunkers are not about surviving forever with a luxurious standard of living, but about surviving for 2-5 years until some semblance of society re-forms. It’s actually an optimistic bet: that we don’t devolve permanently into warlords and subsistence survival, but instead whatever apocalypse that comes is temporary and recoverable. I don’t know any preppers or survivalists who think their bunkers will sustain them forever.

I used to consider myself merely mildly curious about prepping, but 2020 has convinced me we are much closer than we think to every man for himself, to the point where I am almost seriously looking for private, defendable land tucked away in the mountains with fresh water, juuuust in case. Not for a permanent The Road scenario, but to weather a temporary storm.