Prepper

What's the difference between a prepper and a survivalist?

‘We have a vacancy at a very nice little prepper in North Yorkshire. Cundall Manor.’

Preppers are keen not to be seen as survivalists – the stereotypically anti-government, wood-dwelling, gun-toting hermits of past decades. Rather than isolating themselves in preparation for Armageddon, preppers tend to have normal jobs, mingle with their communities and take a more relaxed view about looming disasters.

After all, Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp says it was always meant to be a utility: “It’s a tool people use to plan their futures,” he told ReadWrite earlier this year. Preppers just happen to think the future looks bleak.

Earlier today, I found myself taking it down and flicking through its index — “handcranked lanterns”; “pandemic”; “panic, avoidance of” — in a manner that felt remarkably different to how I had flicked through it in the past. The themes and motifs of the prepper movement are having a moment in the mainstream.

The preppers were living in flush times in a beautiful region, but it seemed like the first thing they did with money was steel for the apocalypse.