Survival mode

A new show looks at preparing for a post-apocalyptic landscape (and other catastrophes)

- HUGO MACDONALD

Doomsday is an evocative word for a grim idea, and it's hard not to be spooked by the knowledge that the Doomsday Clock is currently set at 90 seconds to midnight.

According to its operators - the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists - who monitor the combined risks of nuclear annihilation, climate disaster, biological threat and disruptive technologies, we have never been closer to global catastrophic destruction since the clock's founding in 1947. Oof.

And yet, humanity has a primal instinct to survive. Anyone in doubt of this bold statement would do well to hotfoot it to Mudac in Lausanne this month, where a compelling new show, 'We Will Survive', demonstrates in glorious breadth and depth that we are a resilient species. Or we are doing our utmost to be as prepared as is humanly possible for disasters of all scales, from blackouts and biological warfare to full-scale, four-horsemen apocalypse.

The show introduces us to the 'prepper movement', preppers being the term for people who prepare for catastrophe. It is a practice that has been on a rapidly upward trajectory since the dawn of the atomic era, aided by wars, climate change, terrorism, pandemics, rolling recessions, technology and the media. Today, 'prepping' is mainstream - a global movement and industry - and the value of the preppers industry is growing globally seven per cent year-on-year, due to reach $2.46bn by 2030.