6 Things Max Brooks’ “Devolution” Made Me Think About Preparedness

The premise of Devolution, at least part of it, feels quite close to home. And I mean this literally, because it’s about what happens in a small, eco-community in the forests south of Mt. Rainier after the volcano unexpectedly erupts. Thus, it is quite literally close to my home in the Pacific Northwest. 

I do not live in a small, eco-community in the forest. I do, however, live in Portland, Oregon in the Pacific Northwest. We wouldn’t be as affected by a Rainier eruption as the closer larger communities of Tacoma and South Seattle, but having grown up finding the ash of the Mt. St. Helens eruption–which was the year before I was born–in my parents’ yard across the state in Spokane, WA, it is quite close to home. We can also see the now-domed top of St. Helens on clear days from many places in the city, including going north on I-5 through the middle of town and whenever I see that view I wonder “that must’ve been wild to be driving on this road on May 18, 1980.

Also, the prospect of a Mt. Rainier eruption might not be imminent, but it is surely something scientists are thinking about, and worrying about. In fact, just a month ago, CNN posted this story about why a Rainier eruption keeps scientists up at night. What keeps them up at night are the lahars–boiling rivers of mud and debris from melted glaciers rushing down the mountainside and into nearby communities. In 1985, a lahar from the Nevado del Ruiz volcano eruption killed 23,000 people in the town of Armero. 

I had never even heard the term lahar until I read Devolution. In fact, the geological aftermath of a Rainier eruption was clearly well-researched by Brooks and highly probable in the case of an eruption. The fictional community of Greenloop in which the story takes place is not in the direct path of a lahar, but their path to escape is cut off by one. So the people there are stuck. When the characters do hear of news–usually from their car radios since their main source of info in their house is through the internet which is now gone–they hear of the lahars and the riots and civil breakdown in Seattle, and all the chaos that might come in the aftermath of a disaster. While being cut off for weeks or months from the rest of society is the immediate risk to this group of people in Greenloop, it actually ends up being the emergence of the recently-thought-to-be-mythical Sasquatch communities whose natural ecosystems were destroyed by the eruption and they were pushed further out and, in effect, became the downfall of this tiny little town before hunger could do so.

So much of this book was well-researched enough that I not only came away with a whole lot of thoughts about preparedness, but might even believe in Bigfoot, LOL. That, of course, is besides the point. The one thing I believe less, though, are the backdrop of reports about the momentary societal collapse that happens in the more urban areas. I believe, of course, that that’s what the news would report so I guess Brooks got that right, but everything that I’ve read about post-disaster communities, while there will be opportunists and shitty actors, the real violence comes because the government, the rich people, and others with power assume people will be violent and, in that, they end up being the violent ones. Of course, that’s beside the point at the moment, so let’s go back to Greenloop.

This community of Greenloop was created by a tech dude who saw the power of technology to create utopic eco-communities. Each of the six houses and the common house in the middle of their little loop of homes ran on solar and gas-powered on the methane from their composting toilets. They were as connected to wifi as a neighborhood in downtown Seattle. And while they were essentially in the middle of nowhere, the town was a mere 1.5 hour drive to the city so they were within easy reach of “civilization” if they so desired. It was a town designed for telecommuters who also wanted the feel of remoteness.

What the residents didn’t quite get until a lahar cut them off from civilization was that it wasn’t just a feel of remoteness, but literal remoteness. And so before the Sasquatch came in to create the novel’s more immediate horror scenes, the horror was general survival. Alas, this was the type of community that was so committed to the tech-runs-this-place idea (where a broken solar panel would be reported to the tech company’s HQ and a repair team would be out within a day to replace it) that, when disaster did strike, there was not even a hammer or a ladder among them.

And so, the first few days of the disaster was a slow realization among most residents that they were, indeed, stuck there with minimal food, skills, or tools for what could be months. The exception to the deniers, though, was Mostar, an older woman who was an artist who we come to realize is the survivor of the Balkan wars of the 1990s. She quickly brought on the main protagonist, Katie, whose journal tells the entire story to the readers, and her husband, Dan, and they got to work prepping hoping that the others would eventually come around. 

And so, it is the utter lack of preparedness of this remote community that kind of kicked my butt into gear with a few reflections on preparedness for all of us.

Don’t Rely on the Cloud

We’ve come to rely so heavily on the cloud for storage of some of our most precious memories and even important docs. I’m thinking of photos in particular. While family photos aren’t exactly something that will help with physical survival, they are considered precious when thinking about our emotional resilience. I have literally thousands of photos in the cloud. Too many photos honestly. But I have made a habit of making albums depicting all our big tips and each year in our lives. Although I’m about three years behind right now where I’ve chosen the photos I want for 2021, 2022, and 2023 and they’re sitting on my desktop waiting to be organized to put in a book. Devolution was the kick in the ass I needed to get moving on those, because photos mean a lot to me, especially since I have a kid. I want a physical reminder of the growth he’s made and the memories we’ve made together. 

Keep at Least a Few Physical Books

Another thing that is “in the cloud” more often than not are books. The main character, Katie and her husband, who had only moved to Greenloop into her brother’s house temporarily after he and his husband split a few days before the eruption, hadn’t brought a single book with them. They also got rid of every DVD they had. She lamented this fact when they were immediately cut off from wifi access when the volcano erupted and she had nothing but her journal to keep her distracted. Of course, Mostar kept her busy prepping while everyone else in the community was still in denial that it would be more than a few days before they’d be rescued, but they did have downtime and nothing to occupy their time.

I do not have a problem with not enough books. Just ask my dear spouse who, after texting him the other day how much I had made from selling our books to Powell’s last week, responded “Do not buy anymore books!” I never really got into reading on a Kindle. Although I’m an avid audiobook reader/listener, I always have a hard copy book I’m reading. And that, my friends, makes me ready for the downtimes in the apocalypse.

Have a Few Practical Books Around

Among the physical books you have, maybe get a few practical ones on gardening or basic home maintenance. Not a person in Greenloop knew anything about basic home maintenance or even gardening beyond the basics. Katie, having been charged with setting up an indoor garden for the winter, realized she had no idea what to expect or do and without access to Google, was just winging it.

Honestly, winging it might be what all of us will do in the end. And they had a good start to winging it–her garden was looking good and her husband, Dan, had somehow taught himself in a matter of days how to do all the fix it stuff without access to any regular tools–before the Sasquatch came to ruin it all. 

At the Very Least Have a Hammer and a Ladder

Like I said, Dan figured things out and made tools from what they had lying around, but life would be much easier with a basic toolkit. The Greenloopers relied so much on the technology the community ran on to keep them up and running that they had not even a hammer or a ladder. I think most of us have a basic toolkit, but this was that reminder that having something like that might also be a matter of survival.

Get Your Food and Water Situation in Order

By design, Greenloopers were only allowed an allotted shipment of food by way of a fancy drone or a driverless electric vehicle that delivered food every two weeks. This supposedly cut down on food waste. Lovely in theory, but when the prospect of those food shipments being cut off for more than a few days, the community found themselves almost immediately having to ration the meager foods they had stocked in their pantries.

They at least had ample water access thanks to the solar powered electricity and wells accessed just by this community. Food, though, not so much. So if anything, get yourself an emergency food supply.

Don’t Delude Yourself That You Will Be Saved By Someone Else

While Mostar came to the realization the day Rainier erupted that they were on their own, possibly for months, it took quite a bit longer for the rest of the community to get on board with the idea because, even until the Sasquatch became known to them, there was this idea that if they just went for help, they would be saved. Yet, as Katie reflected in her journal that the riots in Seattle and a sniper on I-90 and the overall destruction and catastrophe from the lahars were going to keep rescue workers occupied for quite a long time, this tiny little community wasn’t even going to be close to anyone’s radar. They were a group of privileged people in the backwoods, it was assumed that they’d be prepared.

But even in a city, that should also be the mentality. If you are in a place of privilege where you have 1) the money to buy extra food, and 2) have a place to store it, you should very much do that. The government resources will and should be spent on helping the most vulnerable people–the ones who aren’t able to stock up for many reasons. Assuming that you will be saved and even calling on the authorities to do so is a drain of resources. I have written about this in the past and probably will again!

Have you read Devolution? What did you think? If anything else, it’s a damn good read that I totally binged. I have never been into horror for the sake of horror, but make it an apocalypse horror book and, I guess apparently that is now my genre of choice. Go figure.

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