Prepper Recon

Prophets of Doom

“Prophets of Doom” is a History Channel presentation that features the problems that our globe is facing. It aired recently as part of H2’s 21 days  of Apocalypse. H2 or History Channel 2 is running the 21 days of Apocalypse as a play on the 12 days of Christmas and the 21 days of December leading up to December 21, 2012. This is the day many believe is to be the end of the world because it is the last day on the Mayan long count calendar. Read our Doomsday post to get our views on what will happen on that date.

Prophets of Doom gives the views of six men who see serious cataclysm facing our society. The first “Prophet of Doom” is Michael Rupert. Michael draws an excellent illustration of how fossil fuels have allowed the global population to balloon to its current level. He makes a very strong case for a mass extinction due to resource scarcity.

The next “Prophet of Doom” to make his case is Dr. Nathan Hagens. He also sees resource scarcity as being an issue but is much more concerned by the global economy. He calls the financial system a global Ponzi scheme. Hagens enumerates several threats that our world faces that stem from reckless economic policies. He describes our national debt as well as sovereign debt of other countries as being totally unsustainable. Hagens expects the dollar to collapse and to be replaced by another currency, perhaps a global currency. Dr. Hagens imagines that the human race will adjust to what ever changes may come but expects the transition to be unsurvivable for many.

The third “Prophet of Doom” is John Cronin. Cronin says that clean water is becoming scarce. He claims that we have polluted our rivers to a point that the fish living in them are unsafe to eat.  John Cronin talks about the over use of underground aquifers for irrigation of dry farmland. He tells us about the chemicals that end up in our water supplies from industry and pharmaceuticals.

The fourth “Prophet of Doom” is James Howard Kunsler. His pet theory is also energy scarcity.He gives the basic premise of Peak Oil in his segment. While I don’t think we are seeing a lot of evidence for having reached Peak Oil, I will say that we have reached Peak Cheap Oil.

The fifth “Prophet of Doom”, Hugo Degaris believes in the robot revolution. Basically “The Matrix”. This one is a little hard for me to take seriously. If you remember where you put your tin foil hat, you may find it entertaining.

The last “Prophet of Doom” Robert Gleason, sees nuclear war or nuclear terrorism as being the most significant problem on the radar. He states that because it can happen, statistically, it eventually will happen.

Grab some popcorn and enjoy the show. It is about 1 1/2 hours.

Prophets of Doom

Regular Prepper Recon readers know that I perceive the economic threats mentioned in the video to be the most concerning. We have overspent on welfare and warfare until we have amassed a national debt that is mathematically impossible to repay. I think this will erode confidence in the US dollar and create and environment that will make it difficult for the US to fund our profligate spending through further bond sales. The last options will be to raise interest rates  and excessive quantitative easing which will cripple our economy and cause high or hyperinflation.

If you are new to prepping or would like to learn more, read our 7 Step Preparedness Plan which focuses on prepping on a budget.

Happy Prepping!