From the Washington Post news section:
The best place to ride out a global societal collapse is New Zealand, study finds
By Adam Taylor
Today at 1:00 p.m. EDTIf the skies were to darken, seas swell and economies crumble, where would be the best place to ride out global civilizational collapse?
In the southwestern Pacific, in a country with some six times as many sheep as people, according to a recent study.
New Zealand could be one of the last places standing.
Released this month in the journal Sustainability by researchers at Britain’s Anglia Ruskin University, the study aimed to build understanding of which destinations could survive independently in the face of a global disaster caused by the likes of climate change, a pandemic, a financial collapse or other cataclysmic disruptions.
Or, as the paper puts it, which destinations could survive as “nodes of persisting complexity” in the face of a period of rapid, uncontrolled and worldwide “de-complexification.”
Islands in temperate regions and with low population densities generally came out on top. Destinations were ranked on a variety of factors, including land area per capita, distance from other population centers and potential for renewable energy and agriculture.
Other potential “nodes” include Iceland, Tasmania and Ireland, the study found, and the researchers said they were surprised by a relatively strong showing from Britain. However, New Zealand was found to have the most “potential.”
Though New Zealand’s economy is highly globalized and the country currently relies on imports, it has “abundant” energy resources and agricultural land, the study found.
Riding out the apocalypse in New Zealand sounds pretty good, so long as you like mutton.
