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You’re Likely A Lot Less Prepared For Crisis Than You Realize

September 23, 2017

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You’re Likely A Lot Less Prepared For Crisis Than You Realize

Lessons from the recent rash of natural disasters

It seems as if Mother Nature is waking up. Either she’s trying to send humans an important warning, or perhaps she’s just out to kill us all.

Massive storms across the globe, earthquakes, and collapsing ecosystems all combine to remind us that we are indeed intimately connected to our planet’s natural systems. And that our well-being rests on staying on Mother Nature’s good side.

Well, Mother Nature has seemed pretty pissed at us of late. Her recent punishments should be taken as a disciplinary wake-up call: It’s time.

It’s time to prepare, everyone. Way past time.

And it’s time to recognize that there are multiplying failure points across the many systems we depend on for our way of life — both natural and man-made. For example:

The wealth gap between the rich and the poor is now grossly obscene and yet still growing wider.
Our industrially-farmed soils are being depleted of their nutrients.
Species are going extinct every single day.
Global oil consumption ticks higher every year.
Stock price overvaluation is about the highest it’s ever been.
Bonds have never been more expensive (i.e. yields have never been lower) in all of recorded history.
Debt levels have never been higher (both globally and, in most cases, locally).
The planet’s population continues to explode (7.5 billion today, 10 billion by 2050) while key resources deplete at accelerating rates.

Only the foolish, or the seriously self-deluded, would think that these observations and trends will be consequence-free.

Which means we have to begin doing things very differently. We have to change who we are, the actions we take, the investments we prioritize, and even our most fundamental values and priorities.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

A Crash Course in Preparedness – Week 2 – Medicine, Sanitation, and Surviving Disaster Diseases

September 22, 2017

A Crash Course in Preparedness – Week 2 – Medicine, Sanitation, and Surviving Disaster Diseases

Welcome back to week 2 in our Crash Course into Preparedness. Last week we discussed the basics of survival and gear needed for a short-lived event. One of the comments from last week’s class mentioned that it isn’t hard to prepare, you just have to start. I couldn’t agree more! My only addition I would make to this comment is in order to start you must prioritize your needs and know what you’re planning for. This week, we are taking the same concept from last week – prioritizing, planning and preparing to another facet of disaster planning and highlighting the more dirty side of preparedness – medical and sanitation needs.

Some of the greatest threats in an emergency occur after the disaster. Lack of accessible clean water following major disasters can quickly escalate and create secondary problems in a post SHTF situation. Additionally, those unsanitary conditions can exacerbate the spreading of diseases, infections and health risks. In this preparedness course, we will cover the most common issues that occur following a disaster that relates to hygiene, sanitary and medical condition.

Sanitation, good hygiene, and medical preparedness all go hand-in-hand. But as you will see after reading this guide, it takes a lot of planning and a lot of preparation. Simply put, there are many wrong turns a person could take in the aftermath of a storm and their health could suffer as a result. Therefore it is paramount that you understand the magnitude of these types of disasters and how to avoid them. As Ready Nutrition writer, Jeremiah Johnson noted in a recent article, “hygiene protects you from germs and diseases, as well as preventing the body from falling apart.” In the aftermath of disasters, this needs to stay at the forefront of our priorities.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Grasshopper Nation: Planning For Those Who Aren’t Prepared

June 4, 2016

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Grasshopper Nation: Planning For Those Who Aren’t Prepared

Whom will you help? And how much will you be able to?

Take a moment to reflect on all the people you care about who aren’t reading this article. Or sites like this, which wrestle with the implications of limits to growth and the concerning unsustainability of the economic and natural systems our society depends upon.

How many of your family members, good friends, and neighbors simply choose to ignore the messages from those of us alarmists on the “doomer” side, and live life trusting that tomorrow will always look and feel pretty much like today? Most of them? All of them?

Look, it’s understandable. Humans aren’t wired well to respond to future risk that isn’t visible as an immediate threat. And temperamentally, we prefer good news over bad, so we seek to overweight the former and discount the latter. Who wants to stress out about what “might” happen tomorrow, anyways — can’t we just enjoy life today?

The rift between the preparedness-minded and those not is age-old, as fables like Aesop’s The Ant & The Grasshopper date at least as far back as the 5th century BCE.

We spend our focus on this website engaging the “ants”, the empirically-minded folks who look at the data and concur that there is sufficient possibility of one or several crises (economic, energy-related, environmental — or a combination of such) occurring in the next several years. And that taking advance action is prudent.

But the ants are the minority.

Forget about planning for the more esoteric risks posed by faulty monetary policy or energy economics — 72% of Americans don’t even have a basic emergency response kit in place should an ordinary kind of disaster strike (power outage, hurricane, tornado, earthquake, etc).

The simple reality is that, if you’re investing your energies towards building resilience against potential hardship, most of those around you likely aren’t.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Advice For The Newly Awakened And Overwhelmed

March 9, 2016

Advice For The Newly Awakened And Overwhelmed

There are many aspects of personal preparedness that make sense, and I know firsthand that once you take a trip down the rabbit hole, the path to preparedness can be daunting at best, if not completely overwhelming. To this overwhelming state of mind, I wish to remind everyone that you must walk before you can run. I know it sounds obvious, but once you start “waking up” to the real world we find ourselves in many are drawn into panic because there is so much to do and seemingly so little time.

Where to start? What’s most important? Bug out bags? Food storage? Water purification? HAM radio? Alternative energy systems? Defense “tools”? The list of needs in a SHTF situation is staggering. However, I believe that while all those things (and more) are important, maybe even essential given the scenario, what I see most overlooked is just good ol’ common sense personal safety in the home.

For example, are you aware that in 2014 there were over 1.2 million fires reported in the U.S. alone? Those fires led to 3,275 civilian deaths and over 15,000 civilian injuries. In other words, the S hit the fan for close to 20,000 people that year, from house fires. Not financial collapse, CME/EMP or the New World Order, house fires. Just think about that for a minute and let it sink in…

When is the last time you checked your smoke detectors? Not only do they need to be checked routinely for battery replacement, but smoke detectors also have expiration dates. This is something most people aren’t aware of. If you haven’t checked yours in a while, do it today.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

“Simple Offers Freedom”: Building a $500 Cabin Without a Permit

February 18, 2016

“Simple Offers Freedom”: Building a $500 Cabin Without a Permit

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How to make it in the wilderness certainly has its difficulties, but so does living in modern society.

Whether you are taking shelter from the elements and the harsh realities of nature, or from the stresses, panic and emergency crises of the city.

Building a cabin is a classic, timeworn and reliable way to build a shelter that can be made simply by a few men, or if necessary, by a single man alone.

It is enough to survive, but no guarantee of an easy life.

But it provides a path to a simpler life – away from the busy conundrum of idle and mostly meaningless existence inside the system.

As the man in the below video notes, “Simple offers freedom.” Indeed, the cabin life may be about as free as it gets.

He built the cabin at 10×10 deliberately, and cheaply – for $500 – allowing him to build without a permit, and enjoy the freedom of living off of his own land.

Practically everywhere in the country – suburban communities and rural lands alike – places restrictions on building that requires approval and permission. But most codes make an exception for temporary structures and those under a certain size – and that’s where you’ll have the most room to work on the project on your terms and outside of most restrictions.

For bigger projects, and the right to build without a permit if you are willing to stand up for it, see what patriot Tom Hyland did to live free.

Like other things in life, there is no one way to do it, but it’s a time honored tradition that offers its own advantages – for survival, independence from debt and life of self-reliance and preparedness.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How the Perfect Prepper Plans Still Go Wrong

October 28, 2015

How the Perfect Prepper Plans Still Go Wrong

When a disaster strikes unexpectedly, there’s nearly always some kind of monkey wrench that causes your well-thought-out prepper plans to work less effectively than expected. When describing the situation, the person says sheepishly, “Normally we wouldn’t have had X circumstance going on when it happened, and our preps would have worked just fine.”

Or, in the words of Mike Tyson, “Everyone’s got a plan ’til they get punched in the mouth.”

But, variables.

That’s just the thing. There is nearly always going to be a variable that doesn’t fall neatly into your imagined scenario. Your ability to roll with that is the truest test of your preps. It is more valid than any number of planned practice runs.

Don’t get me wrong. Planned practice runs are great and are a valuable technique to enhance your level of preparedness. But be honest – you nearly always do a little something extra to prepare for a practice run. Perhaps you make an extra trip to the store. Maybe you just got a brand new prep that you want to test out, inspiring the practice run that is a perfect scenario for the use of that prep.

But…disasters do not wait for the perfect time and circumstances. They don’t always indicate their arrival and allow enough time for a trip to the store. (At least not a trip to the store during which everyone else in your geographic vicinity is competing for the same supplies.)

Realizing this can take your preparedness to the next level.

Here’s an example that happened to us this past weekend.

On Friday, I spent the afternoon canning. I did a huge batch of tomatoes, and anyone who has ever canned tomatoes can tell you exactly how messy that was. My poor white kitchen looked like a crime scene. I made dinner and stacked the pots, pans, and dishes in the sink.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Surviving the Drought: 25 Easy Ways to Conserve Water

August 1, 2015

Surviving the Drought: 25 Easy Ways to Conserve Water

If you aren’t already storing and conserving water, it is absolutely your top preparedness priority as our country suffers from the drought that has now reached epic proportions. Forget, for now, about the beans and rice – how are you going to cook them without any water?

From a survival aspect, you absolutely must focus on a long-term source of water. All of your best-laid plans will be for naught if you don’t have water rights on your property, a collection system for rainfall, and second and third sources to rely on, as well as reliable purification systems. Safe municipal water (although with the inclusion of all the toxic additives ‘safe’ is debatable) could soon be a thing of the past.

It’s beyond dispute that the United States is facing a water crisis. On the West Coast, where much of our produce is raised, California Governor Jerry Brown declared a State of Emergency and ordered statewide restrictions on water use. On the East Coast, the water is plentiful but is polluted by chemical spills, as seen inWest Virginia and radioactive leaks, as seen in South Carolina. In Detroit,thousands of people who couldn’t afford to pay their bills no longer have running water in their homes.

Three years ago, Michael Snyder wrote about the endless drought of 2012, calling it the larges t natural disaster in American history. He predicted a water shortage that will change the lives of every person on the planet.

It’s certainly beginning to look like he was right.

How much water are you using?

One thing that people don’t always stop to consider is exactly how much water they use each day. Everyone in the preparedness realm knows the adage about 1 gallon per person per day, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. It doesn’t include the vast amount of water we customarily use for hygiene purposes.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Preparedness Critics Are History’s Cannon Fodder

July 8, 2015

Preparedness Critics Are History’s Cannon Fodder

The world is entering a kind of no man’s land, in between the realms of insane denial and utterly obvious crisis. Europe is now destabilizing amid the Greek soap opera (an event that I predictedin January would occur in 2015); China’s stock market bubble is bursting; and the U.S. dollar’s world reserve status is about to be decimated by the global shift toward the International Monetary Fund’s basket currency reserve system. I’m afraid I’m going to have to say this because I don’t know if anyone else will: Alternative economic analysts were right, and the mainstream choir was either terribly wrong or disgustingly dishonest. However, as most of us in the liberty movement are well aware, being right is not necessarily a solution to disaster.

At the forefront of alternative economics and constitutional vigilance are the people doing thereal work in the movement: the preppers. These are the activists taking concrete action in the tangible world (as opposed to the ethereal laziness of the intellectual world) first to make themselves as independent as possible from the mainstream grid, thereby removing themselves as a potential refugee or looter in the event of national crisis. Second, they are the people mastering valuable and necessary skills that will allow them to rebuild any collapsed social and financial system. Third, they are the people most capable of defending our inherent freedoms and the principles of our founding culture, and they are the only people organizing locally for mutual aid and security. The fact of the matter is preppers are free, and almost everyone else is a slave — a slave to dependency, a slave to doubt, a slave to ignorance, a slave to fear and, thus, a slave to petty establishment authority.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

San Andreas for Preppers: 12 Earthquake Survival Lessons from the Movie

June 3, 2015

San Andreas for Preppers: 12 Earthquake Survival Lessons from the Movie

Nothing warms my prepper’s heart more than a good disaster movie that supports my hypotheses about a specific event, and the recent movie San Andreas was no exception.

Okay, sure, there was some pretty unrealistic stuff like when The Rock was driving a boat through post-tsunami San Francisco and just happened to find his daughter that he was looking for. The last time I went to San Francisco, my daughter and I had trouble finding each other on the first floor of Forever 21, for crying out loud.

But, when you only have two hours for a movie, you have to be willing to suspend your disbelief somewhat and put that kind of stuff aside. So. putting that aside, I enthusiastically recommend the movie. We live about 4 hours from San Francisco and go there occasionally for educational outings to the excellent museums, so the setting was quite familiar to us, as was the premise of what would occur if an earthquake happened there. So familiar that my daughter was the frequent recipient of my elbow, as I whispered, “See!!!! I told you this was what would happen if the Big One hit that time we went to the Science Museum!” Trooper that she is, she said, “Yes, Mom, I know, you were right about that too.” Since she’s a teenager, she probably also rolled her eyes each time, but it was dark and I can’t be absolutely certain of that.

As I’ve said before, you can’t overestimate the value of finding entertainment that enhances your preparedness mindset. A movie is like the prepper version of a sporting event, where we can cheer, jeer, and scheme our ways through some imagined event.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How to Start Prepping in 3 Easy Steps

May 15, 2015

How to Start Prepping in 3 Easy Steps

One day, you’re just moving through life with everyone else in your office or at your church, and then, for whatever reason, the reality of how tenuous our current lifestyle is, hits you squarely between the eyes. You realize that electricity and grocery stores and transportation are all things that you’ve been taking for granted and that these things could actually disappear. Maybe you’re concerned about a natural disaster. Perhaps you saw something on the evening news. It could even be a job loss that puts these things out of reach.

But whatever the reason, suddenly, you know in your heart that you need to prepare for a different type of future, just in case.

Where on earth do you even start with something like that?

Start with information

Before you start making enormous purchases or moving your family to a bunker, take some time to learn.

Information.

That is the key that unlocks the door to preparedness.

When you begin reading websites about prepping, sometimes it can be overwhelming. You see people talking about their one-year food supplies, their bug-out lodges, their ammo collection, and their homestead that is so far out in the wilderness that they have to climb a big pine tree on top of the mountain to get an internet connection (where they then boast online about their seclusion on a prepper forum).

Most preppers are just regular folks with a self-reliant mindset.

Getting started does not require a $20,000 investment or your children feverishly packing beans and rice into Ziplock bags late into the night. It requires enough information to properly assess your situation. It requires some guidance to help you develop a plan to keep your family safe, housed, and fed, regardless of what comes in the future.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Value of Learning To Cook

April 18, 2015

The Value of Learning To Cook

The potential of food to add beauty/pleasure to everyday life should not be under-estimated.

I have been discussing job skills for the past five days, but life skills are equally valuable. For example, knowing how to cook. Knowing how to cook offers benefits beyond just saving money (though that is important); when you know how to cook:

1. You and your household will eat healthier, better-tasting food

2. You can create joy by sharing what you make with friends/neighbors/roommates

3. You gain the power and confidence that comes with having useful skills

4. You can add beauty and pleasure to your life and the lives of others

5. You can dramatically improve your health

6. Your value as a spouse, roommate, friend, colleague etc. rises

7. You can save money for investing or spending on higher-priority items/experiences

8. You have a daily creative outlet

The joys of cooking are varied and flexible. Once you gain the basic skills of prep (chopping, slicing, etc.), stir-frying, sauteeing, baking, etc., then just about any recipe is open to you.

It takes a lot of practice to create beautiful food (presentation), but this is a bonus. I am not adept enough to fashion such perfect spring rolls as the lady of the household; these were her first spring rolls, made a week or so ago (the dipping sauce is from Charles Pham’s cookbook Vietnamese Home Cooking):

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Primitive Survival Skills: Surviving Without Supplies

March 8, 2015

Primitive Survival Skills: Surviving Without Supplies

Although modern day technology has made outdoor living easier than the last few thousand years it is still very important to have knowledge of primitive survival skills. Knowing primitive survival skills will ensure survival without gear or supplies.

A vast majority of people lately have been gathering gear and supplies for various scenarios such as natural disasters, economical collapses, and even possible martial law. However, although having a stockpile of gear and supplies is great, preparing to survive without gear is even better. This is because situations may occur where individuals and even entire families may not have an opportunity to gather their supplies in case of an emergency.

Primitive Survival Skills

This is where primitive survival skills come in handy. Knowing how to stay warm, create shelter against the elements, construct weapons and tools, and of course gather and hunt for food without any modern gear will prove to be a useful feat that many others may not even be aware of.

Collect Rocks and Wood to make Weapons and Tools

The first task that should be completed is creating tools and weapons that can be composed together from the elements that are around. This includes sharpening rocks to be used as knives and spear like weapons as well as wrapping strips of vine around both wood and blunt rock in order to create tools such as mallets or hammers for building shelter. Keep in mind that this task should be done immediately as the tools will provide for a much easier experience while completing the other tasks such as gathering food and building a fire.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Doom Boom: US Families Increasingly Prepared For “Modern Day Apocalypse” | Zero Hedge

December 22, 2014

The Doom Boom: US Families Increasingly Prepared For “Modern Day Apocalypse” | Zero Hedge.

From the outside America may seem to be a land of endless optimism and confidence. But, as Sky News reports, an increasing number of Americans seem to think it is danger of falling apart, and they’re preparing for the end. “We’re not talking about folks walking around wearing tin foil on their heads,; we’re not talking about conspiracy theorists. I’m talking about professionals: doctors and lawyers and law enforcement and military. Normal, everyday people. They can’t necessarily put their finger on it. But there’s something about the uncertainty of our times. They know something isn’t quite right.”

A now-privately-held ex-nuclear-missile base in Kansas has been turned into luxury “post-apocalyptic refuge for the very rich”

“It’s an undergorund complex straight out of a bond flick”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Martial Law: What You Need to Know to Survive – Survival Life | Preppers | Survival Gear | Blog

December 21, 2014

Martial Law: What You Need to Know to Survive – Survival Life | Preppers | Survival Gear | Blog.

How prepared are you for what will unfold when your hometown goes from Mayberry to fullscale Martial Law?

With all the events going on in the world right now, we might be a lot closer to the brink that you would think…

In the past few days alone, we’ve seen a hostage situation in Australia, a school shooting in Pakistan, and Obama trying to lift the embargo on communist Cuba…not to mention continuing race riots, tension with Russia and the Middle East and the threat of Ebola (funny how those things kind of fell off the radar, huh?)

What I’m saying is that any of these situations, if they get out of hand, could easily result in martial law. Governments have been known to use everything from terrorist attacks to disease epidemics to racial tension to declare martial law.

We can’t know how or when martial law will be implemented, but we can educate ourselves on what it is and what to do to survive it.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

What Does Societal Collapse and Martial Law Look Like? | Dave Hodges – The Common Sense Show

November 6, 2014

What Does Societal Collapse and Martial Law Look Like? | Dave Hodges – The Common Sense Show.

According to a survey conducted by the Adelphi University Center for Health Innovation, 55 percent of Americans believe that the government will come to their rescue when the proverbial poop hits the fan because your big brother really cares. Literally, every alternative media outlet could show conclusive proof that an EMP was going to wipe out the power grid. We could conclusively prove that nuclear bombs were going off in 39 American cities in the most horrific false flag attack in world history and it would not make any difference to 55% of all Americans because of their cognitive dissonance.

The United States is staring at an economic collapse in the face with its $17 trillion dollar deficit, $238 trillion dollars of unfunded mandates (e.g. social security, Medicare, etc.) and a one quadrillion dollar derivatives debt in which the governments of the world are being forced to assume in the form of the “bailouts”. Even if Obama and his bankster puppet masters never had any intention of executing a false flag event in order to put this country into martial law in order to fully complete the coup d’état that is already underway, a crash is coming. The banks are going to collapse, the people will riot, there will be food shortages, whether they be planned or unplanned. I do, however, believe that food will undoubtedly be used to control the unruly masses, despite the DHS and their new found friends in the Chinese and Russian personnel which are on our soil.

Are you prepared? At the bottom of this article, I will visually demonstrate to the reader with real time examples of human behavior in groups, how each of us are going to be in very grave danger when the collapse comes. But first, let’s analyze America’s present level of individual and collective preparedness.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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