a Navy vet, good marksman and Christian man, though not as devout as I should be. I love my country and what it stands for, or used to stand for. I ask for your opinion on my analysis. I know how busy you must be and should I not hear back from you, rest assured that you have an avid fan of your books and precepts! Kind regards, - John T. JWR Replies: To begin: urban "foraging" is just a polite term for looting. (Here, I'm not talking about true foraging, for wild edibles.) Urban "foraging" would be conscionable only in near extinction-level catastrophes , where many properties (buildings with intact contents) are left truly abandoned and without rightful heirs . But don't plan on that, since the chances of such an event are very small. I'm aligned with the geographical determinist camp, in both history and predicting future outcomes. (Although some new transformational technologies such as large scale desalination plants, inexpensive photovoltaics, and perhaps even seasteading may make my determinist stance less firm.) In general, geography and climate have shaped human settlement patterns and in many ways they will shape future events. The core risk in a grid-down collapse will be directly proportional to population density. Think of it this way: during a full scale societal collapse the actuarial risk of having a high velocity lead pellet pass through your chest cavity or brain box on any given day increases with the population density of your locale . There