I think of it as something of a hobby. A little bit camping-adjacent. But just a little bit.

It used to be a hobby.

But now we have major, extended weather-related events once or twice a year (wildfires and winter storms). And then there was the pandemic.

So now, it's a mission-critical thing.

I said in another comment, it is an endless task of talking down the newbies off the ledge of their doomsday prophecy.

"No we are not going to be in a Mad max world in 2 years!"

Agreed, but I've also experienced some Mad Max-ishness at the (small) town and neighborhood level during a couple of events (wildfire chaos and complete hosedness from winter storms) where my inner redneck engineer flourished.

When it happens at the atomic level, the larger government elements aren't really supplying timely assistance or even functional law enforcement.