I'm not suggesting that I'm attempting to prepare for 10,000 years from now. I was just identifying the stated stance of the Long Now Foundation.

I'm an ecologist by training but the lessons of history are not lost on me.
I've believed that we (the USA... humans?) have been heading for a fall for a long time. From and ecological stand point, there is no balance being reached (or even approached) and systems of life require a dynamic equilibrium.

Ever since the 1950's and probably well before that, we've been pushing the pendulum as far and fast as we could. Now we're running out of steam and that pendulum is going to swing back.
Historically, human societies have always gone through periods of rise and fall. Historians, correct me if I'm wrong, but the size and extent of any given collapse (and what that ment to the average citizen) depends on the size of the civilization. For all practical purposes, we now have a global society. The ideas of "here" verses "over there" don't mean very much as we are all so interconnected economically and environmentally.
We've build an amazingly complex and relatively efficient house of cards but have neglected the crumbling foundation.

Back to the lecture mentioned above; if you believe that some sort of collapse is happening or going to happen soon, how can we best prepare for it?

I agree with Tom_L, predicting what will actually happen, how it will all play out is next to impossible. So I suppose it comes back to the usual issues, food ,water and shelter. Orlov also adds transportation and security. Thinking about these things in terms of 72 hours is different from a 3 week scenario; a decade long scenario requires different thinking all together.

I know a lot of people take the stance that if you can't really prepare for it, why worry? I wish it were that easy to turn off my anxiety. I would at very least like to hedge my bets and attempt to prepare for thing I think might happen. Then hope that some of those preparations help me when the unforeseen happens.