Did you know that a if you really break the skin that your bite can kill? It could get infected and kill if untreated. Maybe you look forward to eating people? ick.
There are only a few things that could end the world and in those cases survivalism would be about worthless. A large asteroid could end it all. Knock the earth off it's orbit into space. If you survive the asteroid you would burn or freeze. Chances are a large rock could not be stopped like in the movies.
Peoples only chance would be to work as a community and produce food. Would need to be prepaired for several situations that could happen. The only reason we don't do this today is oil. Cheap transport has allowed us to totally redesign the way food reaches places. It used to be hard to really transport it long distances. So many places are totally not designed to produce their own crops.
It is more likely that life could just get alot harder then today. As a result of several problems we are going to have to face. Everywhere that there are glaciers people are sitting and watching them vanish. There is a really scary book about pollution called "Your Stolen Future". It explains that DDT is now known to have affected humans by causing premature births. It also explains other problems we are seeing with pollution and concerns scientists have. There are other problems as well such as ever increasing population. Decreasing fertility of crop lands. Vanishing top soil. Decreased genetic variation of crops. The excessive use of monoculture crops. Desertification that slowly advances. Decreasing rainforests. Increasing rates of extinction of species. The more humans there are the more likely that a virus or bacteria evolves into a the perfect killer that causes mass extinction. Fun fun.
If people are in small groups it is likely they would get attacked by those who are starving and desperate. If society collapses, canibalism is one thing that has happened in past historical disasters. Most would probably starve first, but some people in a real disaster with no end in site would probably choose to live off of what food there was, humans. I would rather eat dirt and starve.
We hit peak oil a few years back. That means that the amount produced is now moving towards decreasing while demand is increasing. Many smart people predict that in about 20 to 30 years the global economy will begin to really collapse since almost everything requires oil to be the way it is. The oil industry has a long history of destroying things that really threaten it's income. So they will likely force every drop out before letting go of their grip. Some things will probably find alternatives while others will not. I saw some new energy technology that some oil company was starting to invest in to prepare, but it still won't stop them from forcing people to use oil as much as they can. Around 20 to 30 years we are likely to see radical change or mass death. Maybe both. It is possible that nothing will do all the things oil does.
Part of the problems around the world right now are because the price of a barrel of oil is starting to rise faster.
http://www.google.com/search?q=year...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a I believe Obama and congress started paying for oil with taxes to reduce the price at the pump for most people. It is only a short term fix though.
It is likely that the prices of things will start going up faster and faster. Production will decrease. Eventually technology will start to go backwards. Many people believe that it is all fueled by oil.
We need to start using trains more here in the US. Most industrialized countries are more then 10 years ahead of us in terms of using alternative energy sources.
Oh ya, and if you live in a large city, chances are you will just starve or meet a bad end. People have more chances in less populated area's.
