Does anyone think about the Yellowstone Caldera and how it would devastate the mid-section of our country if it erupted? I recently read about it in A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson. A friend in the Netherlands told me about it as she’d read the book and was actually concerned, thinking it could affect me.

I live in Northern California, west of the caldera. The wind blows from west to east. My area could be one of the last to be covered with volcanic ash from Wyoming. However a few months back I seriously considered moving to North Dakota, which is probably covered with ash from the caldera’s last eruption, 630,000 years ago. I was looking at this house which is so cheap compared to anything available here in California… and it includes a church! But we decided to stay where we are, and perhaps that’s a good thing.

About that time I also read The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, by Timothy Egan. It told of the suffering of settlers in the Oklahoma panhandle and North Texas when the protective layer of sod was removed from the ground, and then the fields began to shift in the wind. It doesn’t take much insight to put 2 and 2 together. Shifting fields of dirt killing people, and volcanic ash killing people. Perhaps the same thing.

I am not pessimistic enough to think there will be no survivors when this cataclysm re-occurs, but I’m sure unprepared people will most likely not be among them. The more we know about the earth and this world in general, the more likely it appears that we should protect ourselves and our families via advance preparation. Food storage, and all that!

According to this video there are several massive calderas in the world, not just the one in Wyoming. The producers paint a bleak picture of what to expect, suggesting it could wipe out everyone on earth. However I’m going to repeat that people will survive. Maybe people who live underground… people who have collected a lot of water and food… and people who are still young enough to have children. They will get out and repopulate the earth. And you could be among them. Everything takes advance planning, and the will to live, and motivation, and persistence. And even with all that, nothing is perfect! But… it makes sense to try to prepare if you want to be a survivor.

Of course, this may never happen in our lifetimes. In case your food supply doesn’t get used, be prepared to rotate it every year or so. My current food supply is just about ready to be donated away and replaced.

If this Yellowstone Caldera, or another caldera, erupted… imagine the amount of food you would need to have stored to get by. The disaster could conceivably affect crops for several years to come. And how much food do you now have stored?

Most people store only enough food to survive for a few months, if that. They have even less water! But both of these are essential if you’re to survive a caldera eruption.

Nobody wants to think about a disaster striking and ending the beautiful life we now have. We have such enormous bounties in this civilization! Our electronic playthings, cars, and whatever else, could all become useless in the space of a day if the Yellowstone Caldera erupts. I suggest that if you plan to stock enough food for your family to survive, you might want to also lay in a collection of worthy books – perhaps a few good classics, and non-fiction on how to rebuild the universe.

Oh, hey, here’s a good book… I just finished reading it: The Road by Cormack McCarthy. In it, a father and his young son have survived a holocaust. It doesn’t mention the exact sort of disaster that destroyed most of the world’s population, but ashes are mentioned, and extreme cold, and lack of sunshine. All these indicate that possibly a massive eruption was to blame. It is worth reading because it shows what could become of the remainder of the people on earth.

Another survival novel I’ve read twice (in my distant past) is Earth Abides, by George Stewart. Though I was a teenager the two times I read it… it still is lodged in my memory as one of the best books I’ve ever read. The Road is also an excellent read… while you’re waiting to see if the disaster ever does come while we’re alive. Earth Abides is about a population in the SF Bay Area left behind after a deadly virus eliminated almost everyone. Not a happy thought, sorry!!! But I’m just trying to convince people that the best time to store food is NOW.