“Prepping” for disasters in the UK

This is my final project for my Multimedia Journalism module and final project for my graduation. This article is also available on: https://www.doc.gold.ac.uk/~soztu001/finalprojectselin/ to be seen on a laptop browser as the mobile version is still in the works.

A certain group has been preparing for what's to come for decades, long before the fleece-wearing Silicon Valley bosses decided to spend millions on doomsday bunkers on remote islands. This expanding community consists of individuals who are more prepared than most of us in the event of a disaster or emergency. For them, it is an active choice, lifestyle, mindset, and hobby all at the same time. The core belief is that no matter how wealthy you are, whether you're above ground or underground, being ready to face a disaster is achievable.

Originating in the United States with roots in survivalism, "prepping" is the active practice of being prepared, despite often being perceived as the domain of gun enthusiasts living in the wild with years' worth of food stockpiled. The reality TV show "Doomsday Preppers," which first aired in the US in 2012 on the National Geographic Channel, brought preppers into the spotlight, and soon after, the stigma followed. The show provided the first glimpse into the lives of preppers and ran for four seasons, featuring a range of individuals from those who relocated to remote mountains to await societal collapse to those with fully-equipped bunkers powered by natural resources.

You don’t need to travel all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to witness extreme preparations, although UK preppers are considered to be less over-the-top compared to their American counterparts. Subterranean Spaces, a basement construction company, was featured in numerous news outlets (such as the Daily Mail) in relation to prepping, as their founder confirmed that enquiries for underground bunkers surged after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. With the bunker trend making its way to the island, it isn’t hard to imagine that other extreme styles of preparation tactics have gained popularity as well.

On another note, there are UK preppers who unknowingly challenge the tinfoil hat-wearing, wilderness-savvy stereotype associated with prepping and bring a new outlook on what it’s like to be ready for a disaster at any given time. Mike and Dan, preppers and fathers of two from North West England, neither own tin-foil hats nor live in remote areas, thus challenging two of the stereotypical attributes assigned to them by the stigma around prepping. Their stories also offer a new understanding of what disasters can entail, alongside scientists who have "always struggled" to define a word that many of us use frequently.

Ilan Kelman, a professor of disasters and health at UCL, has conducted extensive research and has vast knowledge on the subject of disasters, yet he told me that he had to "challenge himself to define a disaster in the fewest words possible." In the end, he came up with seven: a disaster is a situation requiring outside support. Simple yet open to endless interpretations, his definition aligns with the experiences of Mike and Dan in their years of prepping and their unintentional effort to change prepping culture in the UK.

Meet the preppers

Mike is a web developer and a YouTuber from Lancashire. On a Tuesday evening, I prepare to join a podcast for his prepping channel, with over 1k subscribers, where I will interview him about prepping and its community. He specifically requested to record the interview, to be featured on his channel. Most preppers are hesitant to talk to media, or to anyone else on record, as they are aware of the stigma that society has on anything remotely related to disaster scenarios and apocalypse conspiracies. Mike’s intention to show his audience that not all media are enemies, is a sign of willingness to address the stigma on prepping.

As we start the podcast, Mike’s first instinct is to crack a joke, one about “wearing a tinfoil hat” and in his own words, “that’s not the actual case, [but] the stigma.”

Mike lost his job in his early stages of prepping, and his partner didn’t have income at the time either. As a newbie prepper, he had to rely on his beginner-level prep to survive his month of unemployment, and overcame what can be his first disaster. He tells me, “If I hadn’t been prepping, we'd have really struggled to eat. It was it was that kind of scenario, I lost it with no notice, and no redundancy. It was just gone. So there was no savings, nothing like that. Prepping, came in handy then instantly.”

In Ilan Kelman’s 200-page book, Disaster by Choice, in which he defines the word disaster, the aim was to put an end to the struggle to define a word adopted differently by legislation and different positions of authority. As scientists, it isn’t inherently their job to consider how terms or definitions translate to the general public. Like Kelman says, “That’s why we need journalists”, to resolve their encrypted messages in a way the average reader responds to. However, Kelman’s definition was an attempt to make disasters easily understood, thus making collective action easier to take. By making a term accessible to more members of society, it encourages them to actively take part in the action plan or preparedness strategies without making it exclusive to government operations and internal procedures. Kelman’s definition also disassociates the word “disaster” from a catastrophic and grandiose depiction of the human mind, and replaces that with acceptance and normality. Being prepared for a disaster, then, doesn’t sound like such a mind-bending concept.

In Mike’s case, his first disaster as a prepper was unemployment, and his preparedness saved him in times of hardship.

For Mike, skills often associated with prepping were a big part of his childhood. As a kid, it was habitual for his family to always have stocked up cupboards and camping was a go-to activity. His stepdad ran an American Civil War Society, which meant his camping trips were inspired by the 1800s way of living with no modern communications and resources involved. In a way, the habits he preserved since childhood were proven useful and sustained throughout his adult years. Prepping came natural to him. Now, he takes his two kids camping when he has the chance.

Dan is another prepper originally from Ireland, now living in Liverpool with his wife and son (another on the way!), who is a freelance digital marketer. He is also the founder of the blog “Start Prepping UK”. His story resembles that of Mike’s, where his interest in prepping and wilderness skills were sparked by his discovery of a SAS (Special Air Service) Survival Guide at the age of 12. The moment he encountered the book at the library, it was over. He borrowed it so many times to the point of the book falling apart, that the librarian had no choice but to gift it to him.

“As a child, I loved to imagine wild situations and try to figure out how I would get through that […] That kind of capability is what appeals to me, the idea that you will know what to do, that you have the skills for whatever comes up.”

For Dan, prepping was where the crossroads led—all his hobbies under one roof. His interests in bushcraft, martial arts, archery, foraging, and camping could all make sense together. “I'm coming at it not from the angle of being afraid something is going to happen, but from the angle of I just love to collect skills and capabilities. And this is a really good way to do that. If you collect enough skills and capabilities for things, you kind of accidentally become a prepper.”

With childhood habits that led them to discover prepping as adults, Mike and Dan both choose to be visible and online with their prepper identities. Prepping comes natural to them, it is something to take pride in rather than hide. It is also about representation and proof that not all preppers wear tin-foil hats with a doomsday armoury and hate on journalists. Literally.

Prepping throughout decades

The roots of prepping go back to the early 1950s- the post-WW2 period. During my time spent in online forums and getting preppers on the phone, Dan was the first one to point out that what built up the origins of their community was in fact the Blitz period. “If you look at the biggest national disaster the UK went through, which would be WW2 and the Blitz. It's a huge point of cultural pride. People talk about the Blitz Spirit, that everybody pitched in to help however they could.” As part of the late-modern era in history, The Blitz Spirit constituted an important part in building a culture of preparedness and resilience in the country.

The famous meme “keep calm and carry on” that surfaced in the 2000s, has its origins in The Blitz-era as war-time propaganda to build morale amongst the affected. After 57 nights of consecutive bombing in London, the people had nothing to rely on, and the whole country had underwent a siege unlike any before. The casualties and destroyed livelihoods itself were enough to call it a disaster, but on top of that, energy cuts and crop failures followed. In recent years, there were instances where the public and national news outlets made comparisons between the Blitz Spirit and other disaster, such as the 2005 bombings and the Covid-19 pandemic. Needless to say, the Blitz, at the time, was a bigger disaster than any, and makes up a historic example of both British culture and pride.

Following WW2, disaster scenarios are about to get worse. Cold War and nuclear anxiety are added to the list of potential threats to human life. The Doomsday Clock, created in 1947, was the invention of atomic scientists against the initial threat posed by nuclear weapons- considered the greatest danger to humanity at the time. The clock is said to be a metaphor to represent humanity’s proximity to destruction, and the dangerously closest it has ever used to be was two minutes to midnight in 1953, when the US and Russia both tested nuclear weapons. Now, it is only 90 seconds to midnight, which shouldn’t come at a surprise considering the wide spectrum of disasters that 2024 presents.

The foremost reason stated by scientists to explain the current proximity to midnight, is the increasing climate threat and lack of action towards its solutions. Kelman’s professional opinion goes that climate change will certainly cause fatalities in the UK, and especially in London anytime now, whether it be heat humidity or cold snaps, as “this country is not ready for extended periods of [high] level of temperature”. Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg. During my conversation with Kelman, I could sense my expression gradually flattening as he went on to state the possible disasters other than climate change that could affect day-to-day life at any moment now. After that, our current proximity (90 seconds) to midnight should give us more comfort than anxiety.

Natural disasters like floods, storms, minor earthquakes, tornadoes, landslides or meteorite strikes are always things that can happen, Kelman expresses. One scenario he suggests is rather a more far-fetched one, but could very well happen and cause disruptions like never seen. “If [the Thames Barrier built in 1982] fails, mechanically or, by terrorism, or by deliberate sabotage, then most of central London gets flooded. It knocks out any tube line that crosses a river for a minimum of six months, more likely nine to 12 months. Imagine what that does to commuting. The parliament flooded, most of Whitehall flooded, Tate Britain and Tate Modern certainly would be flooded. This is an international catastrophe, nevermind a national one.”

Another possible scenario is a nation-wide weeks-long power outage. On a project, Kelman went over to the National Grid to talk about preparedness. He was told that the National Grid was “absolutely prepared for a major solar flare”, according to the data for the biggest one that happened so far. This was in 1859. Kelman’s exact words go: “The National Grid is absolutely certain that they're ready for an 1859 solar flare? Well, yeah, they probably are. But in the past 2000 years, there have been solar flares 10 times the size of that 1859.”

Going down the rabbit hole of every possible disaster scenario is what a disaster scientist does for a living of course, but it is also rightfully in public interest to know what to expect when, you’re not expecting. However, in reality, the public can only do so much when it comes to solutions or preparedness. Same goes for preppers: Dan and Mike make an active effort besides their busy family and work lives to prepare for what is or might come, almost as if they are creating their own life insurance. Taking precautions, talking about potential risks or proposing solutions go only so far, and the real action plan must come from places of institutions and government authorities.

Bad-news flash: Kelman simply says that the government isn’t prepared, despite the “overly competent and dedicated resilience officers, emergency managers or civil servants on the ground”.

“We have our second unelected Prime Minister, and he may not even last till the next election. They are so caught up in their own internal manufactured political crisis and completely divorced from reality, that they have no idea what this country is going through, why people are suffering, and what's needed in order to improve our preparedness.”

A month before Covid-19 was declared a pandemic, Kelman was already in touch with public health officers- what Cabinet Office of Civil Contingencies was at the time. “[They were] already exhausted trying to monitor the implications of this new virus. [They were] trying to tell our political leaders and our political leaders were not interested. This country is one of the top in the world regarding competence, technical approaches and understanding of crises and disasters. It is almost the opposite regarding political leadership.”

The handling of the Covid-19 Pandemic undoubtedly added to the distrust and scepticism towards authorities and their competence, especially the Partygate scandal where parliament members including the PM at the time- Boris Johnson- were caught throwing parties while millions had to stay home. The pandemic also was a turning point for the prepper community, as looting and stocking up due to the disruptions in the supply chain was a central conversation during lockdown, accidentally making each Briton a prepper. Dan says that the pandemic showed everyone the reality and risk of serious disruptions to daily life, and made it easier to pass the message as to why people prep. Besides the transient disruptions, a big and permanent wake-up call was the loss of lives. Mike lost friends during the pandemic, as did Kelman and everyone else, and has gone through what he called a horrible disaster. “Look what happened at the shops. I don't think many people knew before [the pandemic] how little a supermarket carries compared to the people around it. It's only got a day or two’s worth of food for everyone around there.”

Are all preppers conspiracy theorists?

As much as preparedness can be politicized, prepping’s essence aims to stay as unaffiliated as possible with any sort of ideology or political stance. The Reddit group “UK Preppers” has five guidelines (seen on the left) for all members to follow: no racism, no religion, no politics, respect opinions of other and keep it civil. Obviously, this isn’t applicable to all preppers in the country as keeping count of everyone’s political affiliations and how they act on it isn’t possible. However, a heartfelt feeling amongst the community is to keep prepping welcoming and away from stigma, and doing that includes staying away from polarization as much as possible. In the US, where prepping and survivalism is known to reach more extreme lengths, many religious and political groups do form and fall under the prepping umbrella. In a country with significantly different gun laws to the UK and a bigger conspiracy theory circles, American prepping has its nuances compared to the UK.

One of Dan’s motivations on starting his blog was to highlight those nuances between UK and US prepping, and show people how preparedness in this country is less about extremes and more about keeping one’s peace. He says, “I wanted to see [prepping] more represented, because I thought [prepping is] much more intuitive within the culture and politics and geography of the UK and Europe, than the American way of thinking about things.”

Dan and Mike both agree that prepping in the UK doesn’t have or need a political stance. Although some practices within the community align with right or left-wing ideologies, Dan thinks these polarized practices give way to stigma to be inflicted on the community. “There is [one] alternative side of it that is much less individualistic, less frontier-minded and focused on community, then it tends to be associated more with the left wing side of things[…] There are people who are full on anarchists who think that it's all about horizontally organized, federated eco villages.” On the other hand, some preppers go to the opposite extreme and fearmonger to form right-leaning cliques following their agenda. Mike isn’t a stranger to those types, saying they are mostly to be found on YouTube.

“I don't think [prepping] needs to have a political stance, I think it does in a lot of places. The danger is some of these communities in some of these forums can become their own little regime and becomes their own clique. That's where it becomes less about spreading the message. And that's, that's what I was trying to do, to make it more open to people.”

“There are preppers on YouTube that are literally [aiming] to scare you and aiming for you to click on [the video]” says Mike, and rightfully so. “My house has not turned into a bomb shelter. I've not got machine gun nests in my windows.”

A prepper on the popular side of YouTube amongst preppers is called “funkyprepper”, and has more than 130k subscribers. The first video that comes up when you click on to his channel starts with the line: “OMG, it’s happening! Crazy!”

The video titled “It’s starting in Europe – the uprising has begun” has nearly 400k views and is about the farmer strikes possibly spreading all across Europe and starting a continent-wide uprising. The comments seem to support his messages and predictions, as @edwardcarberry1095 says “THIS IS THE GREAT AWAKENING!” with capital letters. Another video from the channel suggests that “six million fighting-age male flipping migrants” are on their way to the UK, as funkyprepper’s speech-to-camera reads figures on Home Office’s recent projections about growth in migrant population of the country. Online prepper persona’s like such thread a fine line between being a passionate-prepper and extremism, as well as making it easier for the society to label preppers as conspiracy thinkers or madmen.

Professor Christopher French, head of Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at Goldsmiths University of London, specializes in paranormal beliefs and conspiracy theories. His expertise on conspiracies shines important light on the stigma surrounding prepping and its many extremes. An important note to start the conversation was to specify that conspiracy believers and thinkers tend to be people who fear that things are getting out of control, and they want to regain that sense of control. In times of economic and political uncertainty, with conflicts going on in many regions of the worlds, it shouldn’t be as surprising to see people looking for soothing explanations to such existential threats.

French gives an example of some people resorting to the idea that Bill Gates is going to plant chips into our heads or that a New World Order is on its way, to relieve themselves from the unknown that is our future. Although preppers share similar traits, such as aiming to establish some sort of control over potential disasters, French thinks that one can be a totally rational person and still be a prepper.

Conspiracy thinking seems to be on the rise, as uncertain times bring irrational consolations with them. “Historically, they would point to evidence that at times of uncertainty, these kinds of beliefs tend to increase […] The motivation there is to try to kind of regain a sense of control, even if it's illusory, controlled, it might be psychologically comforting.” French also notes that conspiracies can reach people of all social classes, all positions of power and all ages. His expertise generally seems to be siding with debunking the stigma surrounding preppers: “Trying to be prepared for the more disastrous scenarios: I wouldn't necessarily say it’s that irrational to worry about climate change or the possibility of wars spilling over from one part of the world.

“We do live in dangerous times, and we need to be aware of that and try to take steps to deal with those risks. So, another kind of take-home thought, I suppose, would be that the kind of psychological biases that underlie a tendency to be drawn to conspiracy theories are tendencies that we all have.”

He adds, “In other words, you know, I think we're all potential conspiracy theorists.”

As an outsider, prepping can either mean nothing or a whole lot of conspiracy-driven nonsense mixed with confusion. As in every niche, extremes or those walking a fine line between the truth and the conspiracy aren’t hard to encounter. After a deep dive into the world of disasters and prepping, it seems that preppers, on the most part, tend to be rational and simple men. After all, it’s a community effort to achieve ultimate preparedness, as both Dan and Kelman emphasize. When SHTF (shit hits the fan), it comes down to solidarity and combining everyone’s unique set of skills to cope with whatever’s to come. Dan says he would love to come up with an action plan for his neighbourhood in Liverpool, and is willing to share his wisdom (and prepper supplies) with neighbours. Mike is on the fence with sharing supplies, as Covid-19 showed everyone how looting can quickly become a scary reality, and potentially violent. However, he definitely won’t deny anyone in need, as part of his prepping includes knowing how to cook meals for 30 or 40 people.

As Mike says to me, “I usually turn to people and say do you have a box under the sink that has plasters and bandages in it? They say ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah…’ and I say, well, why if you've not cut yourself? They go, oh just in case. There you go. That's prepping."