Your Bunker Isn't Ready Yet, Sir?

Billionaires are buying bunkers in New Zealand as a hedge against societal collapse. A study in the journal Sustainability, started from the position that human civilisation is 'in a perilous state' due to its highly interconnected and energy intensive nature. Its authors looked for 'lifeboat' locations, that could potentially 'ride out the storm'. Countries were ranked on their 1) ability to grow food for their population; 2) ease of closing their borders to mass migration; 3) having some manufacturing capacity and 4) ability to maintain an electrical grid. The countries best-suited to survive, relatively intact, were New Zealand, Iceland, the UK, Tasmania and Ireland. These are all islands in temperate regions. Having a low population was also clearly an advantage (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/28/new-zealand-rated-best-place-to-survive-global-societal-collapse). New Zealand's evident 'lifeboat' potential was hardly unexpected. The country has a modest population and lots of agricultural land. It proved its ability to close its borders in the Covid19 pandemic. New Zealand can also take energy from both geothermal and hydroelectric sources. The UK's positive ranking was less expected. It has a relatively large population, producing only about 55% of the food needed to feed its people. The UK has another feature that would make it a 'leaky lifeboat'. A report by its Metereological Office and climate scientists in the International Journal of Climatology says that much of its existing infrastructure cannot deal with extreme weather events ((https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/29/extreme-weather-will-be-the-norm-and-uk-is-not-prepared-report-warns). In the UK, 2020 was the 3rd warmest, 5th wettest and 8th sunniest on record. It was the first year ever to feature in the top ten, on all three measures. Extreme weather events are predicted to become the norm. Rising sea levels and intense storms make flooding much more likely. Drainage could be dramatically improved. High temperatures currently buckle existing rail lines and cause electricity cables to sag. Tar mac roads melt. The UK clearly needs to make its infrastructure more extreme weather resistant (as do others). They could also put more effort into countering the effects of climate change and making pandemics less likely. The country seems, however, unwilling to give up any of its interconnectivity or its energy intensiveness. If human civilisation collapses, things are going to be horrendous even in the 'bunkers' (including the ones that are oven ready)!