Fun Monday in a Post-Apocalyptic World

Roger of a Screed in Time is the Fun Monday host for the month of April. For this last Monday in April, Roger has asked us where we would like to spend our lives in a  post-apocalyptic world. Would we rather spend our days in a cave with a fresh water supply and food for twenty years? Or, would we choose to spend our next twenty years on a fifty foot boat equipped with a plentiful supply of food and a desalination device?

As I ponder my choice, considering the options, I may not choose to be among the survivors. In favor of the cave, there would be solid ground for your footing. However, living in a cave offers no natural light. Living in darkness for twenty years seems difficult. A boat has limitations as well. Never being on land seems impossible too. However, I choose living on the boat intending to catch some of our food from the ocean's store. On my boat, we have brought fruit and nut trees to provide other essential nutrients. Additionally, we will grow some other plants in a special greenhouse.

Actually if our Earth is polluted with dangerous radiation and the atmosphere with toxic chemicals, I suppose that food from the ocean may not be a option. Then, I guess my ship would need to be like the Space Station or floating artificial Biosphere, a place that replicates the natural ecological systems of the Earth. Therefore my ship will be designed as a closed system, a structure sealed from the outside atmosphere. Developing and maintaining the correct balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide needs to be addressed as well as providing food and water for the inhabitants. Thus, in addition to our desalination device, we would need to include some animals such as chickens to provide eggs and some mammals to provide milk. Furthermore, the ship will should be equipped to grow some plants to provide required nutrition for the inhabitants. Other issues also need to be addressed such as how is human and animal waste eliminated from the system. Since our floating world is self-sufficient, some mechanism of recycling waste needs to be developed.

In any event, as the twenty years come to a close, my floating modern day ark will come to land and greet you as the cave-dwellers venture out into daylight. Together, we will build a new world. Hopefully, we have learned much from our past, and more importantly we can put these lessons to use.