She told me that when facing a disaster that makes necessities scarce, we humans effectively become squirrels. “A good example is the pandemic,” Preston told me. The pandemic was like a very bad summer. At its onset, people panicked. Our first response was to hoard. Brawls broke out in aisles as people clamored for toilet paper, canned food, hand sanitizer, and more. And then, once we had the resources to weather the pandemic winter, we continued our squirrel-like behavior. “This is when we saw a trend of people worrying about getting robbed of items like toilet paper or food,” Preston said.
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