In today’s NYT, John Leland reports on people who believe Very Bad Times are coming soon, and who are preparing. Excerpt:

Mrs. Wilkerson has now read two dozen books about peak oil and related topics. For a while, she became depressed at work and had trouble discussing her feelings with her husband because the conversations were so dire, she said. At work, her colleagues told her directly “that they were tired of hearing about it,” she said. “They felt I was going to an extreme, thinking collapse was going to happen.”
She added, “I was ready to move out to the country and be an organic farmer, but I learned that’s not the way to do it. You need a community.”
Despite the rapid growth of Transition US, the movement was much easier to sell in England, said Raven Gray, who came to this country to found a branch here. While Americans embrace doomsday scenarios, they are less likely to work together on how to live afterward, she said.
“There’s lot of apocalyptic people in environmental circles,” she said. “A lot of those people were outraged that we presented an optimistic view of the future. There’s a dark vision driving us, but we’re about moving toward a positive picture of what can be done.”

John Robb thinks there’s money to be made in this. Excerpt:

Fast transitions to resilient communities that offer energy independence, food security, and thriving local economies will require a new approach. Resilient communities need to be sold as an investment (there’s tens of trillions in investment capital currently on the sidelines). An investment package that makes it more attractive than the alternatives. That shouldn’t be hard, the alternatives are in terrible shape…