Climate and region: adapting survival plans to dry, tropical, cold and temperate places

Record your last and first frost, rainfall, water sources and hazards today, then adapt: water first in dry places, fast preservation in the tropics, fuel first in the cold, and move out of cities early if you can.

Part of Day Zero, the plan for an AI-related crisis that gets out of control. Why it exists. General information, not medical advice: how these guides are reviewed.

The plans in these guides are general. Adapt them to your climate: seed, season, water, building and the dangers all change. Always ask local farmers and elders what grows, when and how.

Record your own place today

Write down for your location: the last frost and the first frost, rainfall by month, the longest dry spell, flood and fire risk, the nearest river and spring, the common wild foods, and the poisonous plants. Keep it with your archive.

Temperate (mild summers, cold winters)

• Crops: potatoes, wheat, barley, oats, rye, beans, peas, brassicas, carrots, onions, apples.
• Season: plant after the last frost; store root crops and grain for a long winter.
• Fuel: firewood stocked a full year ahead; insulation matters most.
• Risks: cold in the first winter, floods in spring, wet rot in stores.

Dry and hot (arid and semi-arid)

• Water is the project. Find wells, springs, wadis, qanats and cisterns; dig swales and mulch; shade gardens.
• Crops: sorghum, millet, barley, chickpeas, lentils, dates, figs, pomegranates, olives, melons, onions, garlic. Plant in cool seasons or with irrigation.
• Building: thick earth or stone walls, shade, ventilation; sleep cool at night.
• Risks: heat stroke (shade, water, salt, rest in the hottest hours), dust storms, flash floods, salty soil from irrigating without drainage.

Tropical and wet

• Crops: cassava, yam, sweet potato, taro, banana and plantain, rice, maize, beans, peanuts, leafy greens, citrus, coconut.
• Food spoils fast: dry, smoke or ferment at once; store in dry airtight pots.
• Risks: malaria and dengue (nets, standing water), parasites in water, fungus in stores, storms and floods.

Cold and short summer (high latitude and altitude)

• Crops: barley, rye, oats, potatoes, turnips, cabbage, kale, peas, hardy roots; use cold frames and short-season varieties.
• Energy: fuel is life. Cut wood in the first summer, insulate one room, share heat.
• Food: fish, game and stored fat; dry and smoke in summer.
• Risks: frostbite and hypothermia (dry layers, no sweating), carbon monoxide from closed stoves, short light in winter.

Coasts and islands

Fish, shellfish and seaweed; salt production by evaporation; rain tanks; storm shelters; beware of tide, tsunami (go high after a strong quake) and polluted shellfish.

Cities

Cities are dangerous: no farmland, sewage, crowding and fire. If you can, move out early to farmland with water and tell your group where you go. If you must stay, collect rainwater, plant roofs and balconies, and form blocks with a shared plan.

Languages

The archive includes Wikipedia in Persian and other languages (Downloads). Translate the plans into your language and share them: a guide that people can read is worth more than a perfect one they cannot.

Review status: not yet checked by a named professional. Read how these guides are reviewed and check anything medical or dangerous with a qualified person where you can.