Your account of the American survivalists—or preppers, as they are also known—is quite amusing (“I Will Survive,” December 20, 2014). The end of the world as they see it will come after a huge solar flare, an asteroid strike, or a dirty bomb in a big city. Their inspiration for survival is drawn from the pioneers. The Federal Emergency Management Agency urges everyone to have a survival kit containing enough food, water, and other supplies to last three days, but survivalists go for much longer periods. The cleverest among them have a well-supplied hideout somewhere in Idaho, Montana, or Wyoming. What strikes me as amusing in your account is that climate change is not even mentioned, and that long-term survival is unimaginable without a good number of other people. Without a small community or “tribe” capable of survival, it is hardly survival at all. To wit, American survivalists are not up to the task. For survivalists worthy of that name, go to the remote rural areas of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and perhaps even the outskirts of Europe.