Tempus Fugit

If you’ve been watching the news this week, you’ll have seen stories about tornados, fires and floods. Devastating events, to be sure, but they are relatively short in duration and the effects are transient in their nature. They have devastating effects on the areas in which they occur, possibly fatal to some people. Yet in the big picture, it’s not that bad.

While terrible, these disasters are generally mitigated by the arrival of outside help from other communities, agencies, and levels of government. The loss of a hundred or two hundred lives is devastating to their families, but sustainable by a city such as Joplin, Mo., when taken as a whole. The loss of people’s homes in Slave Lake, Alta. is shocking to the homeowners, but they will rebuild, likely with some government insurance. Likewise with the flooding in various areas. Life will go on and things will return to normal sooner or later.

Now consider what happens if it does not. Consider what happens when everyone is in the same situation, and has little or nothing to spare to help out others. This is the sort of thing that a CME might bring about. Even a major economic collapse might leave individuals, towns, and cities in an ‘every man for themselves’ state of mind.

Most preppers prepare to a particular timeframe: 72 or 96 hours. Three months, six months, one year. Underlying those preparations is the assumption that somehow, things will return to some sort of normalcy. Even if that normalcy is a return to a lower level of technology, or a lower standard of living, the human desire for stability is there.

After all, who other than the hopelessly insane wants to live every day of the rest of their life armed to the teeth against attack, vulnerable to famine if their crops fail, and doomed to die if they get seriously ill? Unfortunately, in much of human history, those conditions have too often occurred, and may occur again.

In reality, surviving through a major collapse will not be like a novel where all the plot elements are neatly wound up in the last chapter and everyone lives happily ever after. Hopefully, your story will continue for years and years, but if you want that to happen, you need to consider what happens after you’ve eaten 23 months of a two year food supply, what you do when you’re down to only 10 rounds for your .22, and what you’ll for new shoes, new clothes, new anything once whatever you have runs out.

I’m not advocating massive stockpiling, nor am I saying it’s a hopeless situation. What I am saying is that once you’ve prepared to a certain level, you need to think and plan for the long haul. Think of as many long term scenarios as you can and try to imagine what you’ll need to prosper in those conditions. If you’re doing this honestly and not imagining yourself as some neo-feudal lord surrounded by loyal minions, you’ll likely come up with a list of skills and perhaps a few tools and supplies you may want to work toward in the long term.

A stockpile of bullets, band-aids and beany-weenies is fine, but it won’t last forever. Plan for when it runs out.

Originally posted May 29, 2011 @ Canadian Preppers Network

Slow or Fast?

There are several long-running debates in the prepping world. One of these concerns the best survival firearm. Another is about which vehicle is the ideal bug out transportation. But the one that I want to talk about is the fast vs. slow collapse.

While we talk about be prepped for any circumstance, once you go beyond the 72 or 96 hour bag, the BOB for natural disasters and so on, what are you prepping for? If you’re honest, you are prepping for a collapse of society, or at the very least, an extended period of civil disorder where food, medicine and shelter may be difficult to obtain and keep, a time in which you cannot look to local or national government for aid.

That’s fine. Given the way we’ve messed with nature (climate change) and our own institutions (financial crisis), it is not an unreasonable assumption that we are reaching a limit, some sort of tipping point. It is only sane and reasonable to attempt to safeguard yourself and your loved ones. But when does the SHTF, when is TEOTWAWKI? When does the balloon go up?

And therein is the heart of two opposing viewpoints. One camp would have you believe that collapse is imminent, that you need to move away from fiat currencies into gold, silver, beans, bullets, and band-aids. The collapse of world financial system, or peak oil, or a Carrington Event sized CME or other dire event is just around the corner. Time is running out, Chicken Little, the sky is falling!

AT the other end of things are the slow collapse folks. Things will be okay for three, five or ten more years, and even then there will be a slow genteel slide, allowing plenty of time to set up that off grid energy system or to get a few more pails of wheat stocked up stocked up. It’s okay, relax, and don’t panic, lots of time left.

At this point, let me introduce a concept from evolutionary biology called punctuated equilibrium. The concept arises from the fact that in the fossil record, there is little evolutinary change in species over millions of years, until in a relatively short time, geologically speaking, there is an explosion of evolution, with many species suddenly appearing before things settle down once more.

The explanation for this is that it is very hard to disrupt an ecosystem, but once it happens, things occur very quickly and species rapidly evolve to fill the niches created by whatever upset the normal conditions, whatever event disrupted the equilibrium.

There is some evidence that this happens with human societies. There is a normal equilibrium state which is very hard to disrupt. After all, the society that created that state desires that it continue, and will do everything it can to maintain it. That’s why you saw the US government intervene rather than let everything crash in 2008. It’s the reason Europe keeps trying to bail out the weaker economies like Greece. They are trying to maintain the status quo.

But if you look at history, you see that no matter what a society does to patch up the ship of state, they eventually have more patches than boat, and more leaks than patches. Sooner or later, the society in crisis will collapse under its own weight or other external political factors. Disorder will abound, populations will be on the move, and life gets orders of magnitude more difficult. Think Libya here.

Sometimes the triggers for a collapse are not social or political, but environmental. A series of droughts, earthquake, or other catastrophic event can pull down a society that seems otherwise healthy. Think Mesa Verde, or perhaps Haiti. It was and is bad enough with massive aid. Think what it would have been like without it.

Once that equilibrium is breached, there will be a nasty period until some sort of stability is regained. New ideas, institutions, and societies will rapidly evolve to replace the old ones. The trick for you is getting from one stable point to another in one piece.

Don’t panic, but don’t think you have forever to prepare. Things may very well decline slowly for years, but once we hit a certain point, slow collapse will become fast collapse in a blink of an eye. And once that happens, the time to prepare has ended.

Originally posted May 23, 2011 @ MPN

Far From the Madding Crowd...

Get out of the cities. You will read that advice in every survival oriented blog. Get out or die. To an extent that is true. I can hardly imagine what the situation would be like in a city like Toronto or New York or London in the case of a major collapse. It would be hell on earth.

But just how reasonable is that bit of advice? The steps that the survival gurus advise usually go more or less like this:

1. Find a secure rural retreat in an isolated area with good water and soil suitable for raising your own food.

2. Give up your city job, and instead relocate to your retreat where you will somehow find work that will allow you to develop your retreat, complete with fortified dwelling and off grid power.

3. Sight in your weapons and wait for the apocalypse. Defend yourself from the hordes of starving city folks.

4. Emerge in the reconstruction as some sort of neo-feudal lord. This is your right, of course, as you are one of the chosen few that followed steps one through three.

Unfortunately, few of us can afford to find and purchase the land for those perfect retreats, and fewer still can afford the development to the standard often advised. And if we all take that advice, it’s going to make for a far more crowded landscape, and a far more expensive one than before.

I’m also wondering where all those jobs are going to come from. We can’t all support ourselves writing survival blogs and writing books about dirt cheap survival retreats. For many people trying to relocate to rural areas, it will mean a sharp drop in income, which makes developing that hidey-hole in the backwoods a lot tougher.

I’m also amused to see that the survival gurus are sure of surviving the hypothetical ‘golden hordes’ that are supposed to come pouring out of the cities. There is the assumption that they will be better armed, better trained, and better positioned than the starving multitudes. Maybe, but let us remember that any retreat, no matter how well defended or positioned is still a static target.

Attackers of retreats will have a lot of advantages. They’re mobile for one, and retreaters are not. It doesn’t matter how much garden you have if you can’t water it without being sniped. Neither can you assume that they will be worse armed or trained than the average retreater. Likely they will not be in the initial stages, but those that survive to continue raiding will be skilled, aggressive ‘professionals’ that are going to be far more dangerous than anticipated. And likely armed as well or better than are their targets.

This doesn’t mean that the rural retreat philosophy is wrong or doomed. It’s just not perfect solution for large numbers of people. Nor are all cities necessarily doomed. Huge concentrations of populations are likely to fail, but there are thousands of villages and small towns and possibly even smallish cities that are likely to survive and possibly even thrive. A lot will depend on the local government and the local population.

So if you can’t afford that million dollar retreat, find an alternative. Consider the likely problems and look for solutions. There is more than one way to be prepared, and more than the simplistic golden horde scenario to prepare for.

In any kind of calamity, those that seem to fare the best and recover the soonest are those groups that pull together and help one another for the common good. Perhaps we should forego thoughts of retreating in splendid isolation to focus on how to survive as families, groups, and communities.

With the Stroke of a Pen

In preparedness literature, both in print and on numberless blogs, there are dire warnings of the evils of government. Governments will seize your weapons, seize your goods, herd you into camps, and a dozen other paranoid ramblings about how the government is out to get you.

Frankly, it’s all childish babble. There is no secret plan to get you, it’s just a government, an organization made up of people, who for the most part are no smarter than you, but by election or employment, have certain powers in an emergency to make decisions for and about you. The fact that they do have this power can make a hash of your plans and preparations, but knowing just what they can do makes you a little more able to do what you need to do in an emergency.

The current legislation in Canada that says what may or may not be done is the Emergencies Act. This was enacted in 1988 and replaces the old War Measures Act. There are various types of emergencies delineated under the act, and various powers are given to deal with each type of emergency.

The first of these is the public welfare emergency, which means: “an emergency that is caused by a real or imminent
(a) fire, flood, drought, storm, earthquake or other natural phenomenon,
(b) disease in human beings, animals or plants, or
(c) accident or pollution
and that results or may result in a danger to life or property, social disruption or a breakdown in the flow of essential goods, services or resources, so serious as to be a national emergency.

Pretty reasonable as far as it goes, but this means that during such a crisis, the government may:

make such orders or regulations with respect to the following matters as the Governor in Council believes, on reasonable grounds, are necessary for dealing with the emergency:

(a) the regulation or prohibition of travel to, from or within any specified area, where necessary for the protection of the health or safety of individuals;
(b) the evacuation of persons and the removal of personal property from any specified area and the making of arrangements for the adequate care and protection of the persons and property;
(c) the requisition, use or disposition of property;
(d) the authorization of or direction to any person, or any person of a class of persons, to render essential services of a type that that person, or a person of that class, is competent to provide and the provision of reasonable compensation in respect of services so rendered;
(e) the regulation of the distribution and availability of essential goods, services and resources;(
f) the authorization and making of emergency payments;
(g) the establishment of emergency shelters and hospitals;
(h) the assessment of damage to any works or undertakings and the repair, replacement or restoration thereof;
(i) the assessment of damage to the environment and the elimination or alleviation of the damage; and
(j) the imposition
(i) on summary conviction, of a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisonment not exceeding six months or both that fine and imprisonment, or
(ii) on indictment, of a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or imprisonment not exceeding five years or both that fine and imprisonment,
for contravention of any order or regulation made under this section.

I’ve highlighted the most important bits. To put it in prepper terms, the government may; restrict your ability to bug out; may remove you from your retreat; requisition your property or otherwise use it; requisition you; and ration food water or other resources. This type of order has effect for 90 days unless otherwise shortened or extended.

The second type of emergency is a public order emergency, which to me is pretty vague, and I think not well defined by the act. It allows the government the following powers:

(a) the regulation or prohibition of
(i) any public assembly that may reasonably be expected to lead to a breach of the peace,
(ii) travel to, from or within any specified area, or
(iii) the use of specified property;
(b) the designation and securing of protected places;
(c) the assumption of the control, and the restoration and maintenance, of public utilities and services;
(d) the authorization of or direction to any person, or any person of a class of persons, to render essential services of a type that that person, or a person of that class, is competent to provide and the provision of reasonable compensation in respect of services so rendered; and
(e) the imposition
(i) on summary conviction, of a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisonment not exceeding six months or both that fine and imprisonment, or
(ii) on indictment, of a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or imprisonment not exceeding five years or both that fine and imprisonment,
for contravention of any order or regulation made under this section.

Again, I’ve highlighted the important bits that I feel might have immediate effect for preppers. This has a 30 day duration unless otherwise mandated.

Next we have the international emergency which means: an emergency involving Canada and one or more other countries that arises from acts of intimidation or coercion or the real or imminent use of serious force or violence and that is so serious as to be a national emergency.

Sadly, in these ‘War on Terror’ days, these conditions might be easily met. It means that the government may engage in the following;

(a) the control or regulation of any specified industry or service, including the use of equipment, facilities and inventory;
(b) the appropriation, control, forfeiture, use and disposition of property or services;
(c) the authorization and conduct of inquiries in relation to defense contracts or defense supplies as defined in the Defence Production Act or to hoarding, overcharging, black marketing or fraudulent operations in respect of scarce commodities, including the conferment of powers under the Inquiries Act on any person authorized to conduct such an inquiry;
(d) the authorization of the entry and search of any dwelling-house, premises, conveyance or place, and the search of any person found therein, for any thing that may be evidence relevant to any matter that is the subject of an inquiry referred to in paragraph (c), and the seizure and detention of any such thing;
(e) the authorization of or direction to any person, or any person of a class of persons, to render essential services of a type that that person, or a person of that class, is competent to provide and the provision of reasonable compensation in respect of services so rendered;
(f) the designation and securing of protected places;
(g) the regulation or prohibition of travel outside Canada by Canadian citizens or permanent residents within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and of admission into Canada of other persons;
(h) the removal from Canada of persons, other than
(i) Canadian citizens,
(ii) permanent residents within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and
(iii) protected persons within the meaning of subsection 95(2) of that Act who are not inadmissible under that Act on grounds of
(A) security, violating human or international rights or serious criminality, or
(B) criminality and who have not been convicted of any offence under any Act of Parliament for which a term of imprisonment of more than six months has been imposed, or five years or more may be imposed;
(i) the control or regulation of the international aspects of specified financial activities within Canada;
(j) the authorization of expenditures for dealing with an international emergency in excess of any limit set by an Act of Parliament and the setting of a limit on such expenditures;
(k) the authorization of any minister of the Crown to discharge specified responsibilities respecting the international emergency or to take specified actions of a political, diplomatic or economic nature for dealing with the emergency; and
(l) the imposition
(i) on summary conviction, of a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisonment not exceeding six months or both that fine and imprisonment, or
(ii) on indictment, of a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or imprisonment not exceeding five years or both that fine and imprisonment,
for contravention of any order or regulation made under this section.

Again, I’ve highlighted those parts most relevant to preppers. This has the duration of 60 days unless otherwise specified.

While there are provisions to prevent the abuse of these powers, these do you no good at the moment you are having your car or food requisitioned, or if you are forced to work to provide an essential service. After the fact compensation will not help you survive the here and now.

Be aware of what can and cannot be done may help you. It may not. But knowledge is power, and having the knowledge of what the government’s powers are just might shift some of that power back into your hands.

Originally posted May 17, 2011 @ MPN.

Apartment Survival: People

As important as food, water, shelter, and security are, I’ve been discussing them largely in the absence of what is likely the very most important factor in apartment survival. That factor is the presence of the other people in your apartment complex. Depending on the circumstances, those other people may be a help, hindrance, or outright danger to you. The other people in your complex will determine the longer term viability of bugging in to an apartment.

First, let’s look at some broad classifications of people that you’re going to have at your apartment building. The first type will be those that believe everything will be better tomorrow morning. They will wait for the water and power to be restored, and are sure that the bus service will resume tomorrow so that they can go to the grocery store. They may also be extremely frightened and agitated, and could be dangerous if armed. I would expect this group to have the lowest overall survival rate.

The second type will be the G.O.O.D. type, whether they are preppers or not. As a crisis looms and deepens, they will pack up and head off to find safer, better situations somewhere else. They may or may not take all of their resources, and if you have exposed possessions, they may or may not take some of yours. What is more, they might not stay gone. It is entirely possible that a proportion of them will find nothing better out there and survive long enough to make it back ‘home.’

The third group are the ones that while perhaps not prepped, are proactive and coping as best they can. They will be among the first to start pilfering empty apartments for food, water and resources. They may be jerry-rigging solutions to things like heat and water purification, and they might even be a bit territorial, and perhaps somewhat aggressive in some circumstances. I would expect this group to do better than either of the others.

Finally, there are you and hopefully one or two more people like you. But there are no guarantees of that.
So for you, the first question is to find out who stayed and who left. When you know who is left, you can assess them as to whether they are threats or possible comrades. Remember, threats need not be limited to actions directly against you. It might well be that the neighbours are being a threat because they will not make proper sanitary arrangements, or making too much noise or light which may attract unwelcome attention.

It is imperative that you find like minded people in your building as soon as possible. Everything I’ve discussed can be done more easily by a small to medium sized group than can be done alone. This may require you to make the first overture, and will likely necessitate you taking a leadership role. Depending on the depth of the crisis, you may need to make decisions (or guide your group into making the decisions) for everything from defense and rationing to water and sanitation. This doesn’t give you license to become a feudal baron, but you will find that in a crisis, people will rally behind someone that is willing to step up to make those decisions, as long as the decisions are sound.

A small group working together will greatly increase your chances of survival, and group pressure will likely bring the ‘unwilling’ into line and into your group. The flip side is that a building full of uncooperative individuals makes it almost certain that all will fail. Despite everything you try, you may fail to weld the remaining people in your apartment into a cohesive group.

I see no easy answer to this, short of relocation. If you cannot get everyone in your building on side very quickly, the viability of staying at your apartment is severely diminished. Whether it is an empty building or storefront, an abandoned house, or a multiple unit such as a four-plex from which all have fled, you and whoever is like-minded need to go. You may even be able to find a building that is working together to join, but I believe strangers will have a difficult time getting in to a functioning group unless you possess goods or skills that are needed.

In the final analysis, the determining factor as to whether or not apartment survival is a viable option will come down to who is left in your apartment, and whether a community can be created from a collection of what were likely strangers before the crisis.

It is on this that all of your other efforts rest.

Originally posted May 08, 2011 @ MPN.

Review: After Armageddon

After Armageddon is a program produced by the History Channel, and presents a hypothetical end of the world scenario (pandemic), as experienced by one family, with commentary from a wide variety of experts. While it was broadcast some time ago, it is available for download from a variety of sources.

The family in question is portrayed with little or nothing in the way of prior preparations, and possess no exceptional skills, other than that the father is a paramedic. It runs through an escalating series of crises, from the beginning of the pandemic through a ‘bug-in’ phase to a bug out scenario and finally a rebuilding scenario.

Interspersed with the dramatizations are commentaries from various experts that give basic survival information, speculate on how various scenarios might develop, and give examples from recent disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. It is nicely balanced between the commentary and the dramatizations, so neither bores the watcher.

There are some incidents portrayed in the dramatization that will make the longer term prepper wince, and I know the overall lack of preparedness by the family made my teeth grind as almost anyone can be better equipped than this family just from what is around the average house, but overall it is a decent show, and likely a good way to introduce family or friends to survivalism and preparedness.

I was also pleased to see that the psychological aspects of coping with such a crisis were not neglected in the show, and there was also some decent discussion about what form a rebuilt society might take.

As this is Preparedness Week, it might be worth sitting down to watch this and role play through the show. Look at each crisis that occurred in the show and assess whether or not your preps are good enough to cope. Dissect each decision that the family makes in the show and see if there was an alternate case of action that would have served them better.

Overall, After Armageddon is a decent exploration of the SHTF scenario. I can recommend it without any caveats except this one:

After you watch the show, get off your butt and make Preparedness Week a real high point in getting further along in your preparedness.

Next week we'll return to the Apartment survival series.

Originally posted May 01, 2011 @ MPN

Apartment Survival: Security

In deciding to ‘bug-in’ in a city, and especially if you are bugging in to an apartment, there are a lot of challenges. Food, water, and heat will all be difficult to manage, but next to the monumental task of your physical security, they are easy. Getting the essentials for survival might be less difficult than keeping them. And by deciding to try to survive in your apartment, you’ve made the task that much harder, but not impossible.

First, let’s look at your own apartment. How secure is it? Hopefully, you are in a poured concrete or metal and cinderblock building rather than a wood frame type. Obviously, the more robust the construction of your building, the better, but the unfortunate trend in modern construction of two and three story apartments is to lighter and shoddier construction. Hopefully, you are relatively secure as far as walls go, but windows and doors will remain a problem.

Starting with your front door, you need to make sure that this access point is hardened. If your landlord will allow it, replace a hollow core or wooden door with a steel one. Sometimes this will be allowed if the original apartment door is replaced when you leave. If you can’t get this concession, consider hardening an interior room’s door instead. Make sure that you have locking hardware that consists of a minimum of a deadbolt on your doors, exterior and interior.

Windows are also a concern. Again, aftermarket hardware is available to make entry more difficult, but by their very nature, windows are always vulnerable. Still, there are things you can do, such as having metal grills made that you can bolt over the windows once a crisis arrives.

Being on the second or third floor may be desirable. The elevation gives you a small measure of added security, especially if you are able to chain, lock, or otherwise block stairwells to your floor. Remember that this has consequences with regards to escaping fire or other circumstances, but may be preferable to unfriendly folks having easy access to your floor.

If there are vacant apartments above, beside or below you, consider, mouse-holing into adjacent spaces to provide alternate escape routes, better fields of fire, or just to enable tactical movement. Be aware that you will need to secure these alternate routes as well, or they become a liability instead of an advantage.

You will need to consider ballistic protection. While concrete is ‘reasonably’ resistant to high velocity impacts, cinder block will disintegrate under repeated hits and anything less is little barrier at all. The easiest solution is to sandbag what you will use as your fighting positions, at the very least.

If bags are not available (and you can stock a lot of them empty), or if sand is not nearby, improvise. Hard packed (not loose!) dirt in a suitcase is better protection than nothing at all, and pillow cases, boxes, and in fact any container at all that will hold packed earth or sand will offer some protection. Multiple layers are recommended, and don’t overlook materials at hand such as books, furniture, appliances or whatever else can be pressed into service as a ballistic barrier.

Just remember that it takes a LOT of mass to protect you, and a washing machine that is mostly sheet metal and empty space may not do the job, although that might change if it is packed full of dirt or sand. As well, try to get at least one layer under you if you are on an upper floor, to protect from angled fire from below.

As for weapons: whatever you can get. If legal, consider the types of weapons police carry, who are operating in an urban environment: handguns and shotguns are most common, followed by compact assault weapons. If not possible to obtain, weapons such as crossbows are as deadly at short range as any firearm, and may have to do in a pinch.

Better yet is avoiding the need to defend your apartment. If you must shelter in place, do everything you can to avoid drawing attention to yourself. This will require you to maintain tight control in several areas.

The first of these is light. A candle can be seen at a range of a couple of miles if there is no other light source, and in a grid down crisis, a lit window in an apartment is an open invitation to ne’er-do-wells. If you must have light after dark, ensure that it is in a light proofed area of your apartment, safe from observation and accidental exposure by you or other inhabitants.

Another area is noise discipline. In a situation where the background noise of city life is absent, any sound will have the potential to betray you. Running a generator, hammering a nail, or even calling your dog may have unwanted consequences. Every activity you undertake must be assessed as to how much noise it will make.

Smell will also inform on your location. Have you ever walked through a neighborhood in the summer and had your mouth water at the smell of someone’s backyard barbeque? Your cooking smells will carry an amazing distance, and lead someone right to you. At least initially, try to stick with things that can be eaten cold, prepared using boiling water (e.g. cup of noodles), which will limit the amount of aroma given off.

Finally, try to eliminate visual clues. Smoke from a fire, laundry on a line, recent tracks and pathways, and you standing in a window are all giveaways. Try to maintain as low a profile as possible, and be aware that even though you can’t see anyone, you might be observed when you go out. Take circuitous routes back and make sure you observe your own trail when you return.

As you can see, security for the apartment survivor is a tough proposition. Not impossible, but definitely a big challenge. Next we’ll look at what you can do to make this challenge, as well as food, water and so on, a little easier to manage.

Originally posted April 25, 2011 @ MPN

Apartment Survival: Shelter and Heat

Living in your apartment, you might think you’ve got the shelter aspect of survival sewed up. Maybe you do, but maybe not. Let’s begin by looking at what ‘shelter’ means to us. Then we can see if you’re apartment is still providing this and how to provide for it if something is missing.

Prior to humans learning to reliably create and use fire, shelter would have been just a place to stay out of the wind, rain, or snow. Given that your apartment has not suffered any damage, it fits that criteria, and does it well enough. However, once we learned the secret of fire, we began to heat our shelters, and to cook in them. In a major catastrophe, it is likely that the heat will cease to function, as well as the electricity. Any modern home, especially apartments become far less functional as shelters when that happens. Still, it doesn’t mean you can’t make it work.

Here in Manitoba, there are perhaps seven months of the year that you can stay warm without a heat source of some sort. In a house, you have the option of putting in alternate heating methods such as a wood stove as a back up. In your apartment, you don’t have that luxury, at least not prior to a collapse. Please don’t even think about dragging your barbecue inside and heating your place that way. The apartment might get warm, but your body will inevitably get colder after death from carbon monoxide poisoning.

There are options such as propane space heaters which are relatively cheap and quite a bit safer, but these still have the possibility of depleting the air in a tightly sealed apartment, although the better ones have oxygen sensors that will shut the unit off in that case. Overall, though, any fuel burning heater will pose some inherent danger. And there remains the problem of storing sufficient propane. The same problem goes for running a small generator to power an electric heater.

The problem of heat in an apartment is not an easy one to resolve. Over the longer term, I believe the best option would to be to obtain or build a wood burning stove of some kind that would be vented to the outside. Wilderness stores sell small stoves meant to be used in canvas tents that might be a good option, or you can build your own (see picture). Obviously, you will need to vent it to the outside, and storing the stove and other parts may be a major problem. Fuel can be scavenged from a variety of sources, and it takes a surprisingly small amount of wood to heat a small space. The downside is that you may draw attention t yourself, and that a poorly made stove badly installed may cause a fatal fire.

Otherwise, there are measures you can take to make your situation somewhat better. Make the area you live in as small as possible by sealing off as much of the apartment as you can with plastic sheeting and duct tape or other materials. Seal a layer of plastic over the windows as well, and seal openings such as bathroom and kitchen fan vents if not in use. Make use of passive solar if you can, especially in a south facing apartment. Get as much sun as possible during the day, but make sure drapes and blinds are closed at night to slow heat loss. Restrict your trips in and out of the apartment to as few as possible to avoid losing warm air.

If you own a tent, you might consider pitching it inside your apartment and sleeping in it to conserve even more warmth. If you don’t own a tent, hark back to your childhood and make a blanket fort. If you are able to boil water, a small hot water bottle taken to bed with you can make the difference between a miserable night and a comfortable one. And of course, there is always cuddling in with a friend. It may seem silly, but you and your significant other, or even the whole family sharing a nest of blankets will make it warmer for all.

There is no easy answer to staying warm in an apartment, but if the polar explorers of the last two centuries were able to stay alive without the modern materials we enjoy, there is no reason you can’t. Some pre-buying of appropriate bedding, equipment and clothing may be necessary, but if you are serious about making it in your apartment, it can be done.

While heating may be difficult, cooking is a little easier to arrange. Many apartment dwellers have a barbecue on their balcony, which will do in a pinch but I feel that the average gas barbeque is a poor choice for emergency cooking, due to its inefficiency. A far better use of the 20 pound propane tank on your barbecue would be to obtain a camp stove that is designed for one pound propane bottles. Not only can you use the one pound bottles which are small and easy to store, but by using an inexpensive hose and adaptor, you can use the 20 pound tank as well. The bigger tank should let you cook for many, many days.

Of course, if you’ve installed a wood stove, cooking will take place on that, but if not, there are other options. The best of these is the twig stove made from a coffee can. There are plans for various types of these ‘hobo’ stoves on the net, but remember that you need to be careful. Ventilation due to smoke and carbon monoxide make this a design best used on the balcony, and as always, an open flame demands respect. Still, you get much heat from very little fuel, so it may be the cooker of choice once other fuels are gone. As always, remember that cooking on your balcony will likely give you away to outsiders.

A last but limited option is a solar cooker. While it is using a free, unlimited heat source, it may not be effectie at all in colder weather. As with all things preparedness, you'll need to try it to see if it is a viable option, at least part of the time.

Overall, I believe that staying warm and cooking are the biggest challenges for the apartment survivalist. You need to give this area more thought than almost any other aspect of apartment survival, with the possible exception of security. If at all possible, try out whatever strategies you come up with before you need them. Find an abandoned building, a shack, anything without heat and power, and try to stay warm and cook using what you’ve come up with.

You need to know now what will work then.

Originally posted April 17, 2011 @ MPN

Apartment Survival: Food

Assuming that you have your water supply squared away, it is now time to think about food. Again, the absolute minimum recommended by authorities is three days worth of food, but given what we’ve seen in Japan, where it has taken ten days or more to reach some communities, my personal recommendation is to have at least three weeks of food and water on hand. If you can store more than that, then by all means do so.

There are as many schools of thought about what you should set aside as there are types of food. One option beloved by the camo crowd is the military field ration. Known as MREs in the US and IMPs in Canada, these are pre-packed rations intended for troops in the field. They tend to be somewhat bulky until field stripped, may not be considered tasty by all, and their storage life can be considerably compromised by high temperatures. The advantage is that they may be eaten cold or hot (some come with a chemical heater) and each ration is about 1200 calories, with a complete set of breakfast, lunch and dinner giving you roughly 3600 calories. They are pretty much nutritionally complete for the short term, although they can be deficient in some elements (Canadian IMPs do not have enough folic acid or calcium to meet requirements long term, for example).

Another option is commercial freeze dried hiking/camping food. These usually come in packages of two or four portions, and generally require significant amounts of water to make them palatable. Add to the fact that in my opinion that they are fairly bulky versus the calories they contain, plus their high cost per serving, they would not be my preferred option. In their favor is a long shelf life, and that they are widely available everywhere from camping supply stores to Walmart.

If you decide on a commercial product as part of your storage, consider something like Datrex emergency rations. They are small in size, high in calories, and reasonable in storage life (5 year). Remember that you are always trying to get the most calories for the smallest size (and price). You will need to do some research to see what is most appropriate for your situation.

Then there is the bucket brigade, those storing buckets of wheat or beans and other things in food grade buckets, complete with oxygen absorbers, mylar bags and/or CO2 filling. While this option can be cost effective (bulk buying) and great for long term storage (25 years is claimed for wheat stored properly), the sheer weight and bulk of these buckets may make it a difficult option for the apartment prepper with limited storage.

An easy way to start storing for emergencies is to store what you eat now. It’s easy enough to buy three instead of two cans of tomato sauce or an extra package of noodles the next time you go shopping, and if you stick with a weekly buying program you will build up an impressive amount of food very quickly. The downside of this is that you’ll need to create a rotation system to ensure older stock gets used and replaced, but this is relatively easy to do.

I believe that if you are trying to get some serious food in reserve as an apartment occupant, your initial focus should be on the conditions in your living space. If you are in an apartment that swelters in the summer, you will not want to store foods that have their storage life adversely affected. The second thing to look at is your storage space. It might be damp, prone to insects or rodents (I’m thinking storage lockers here), or have other conditions that must be reckoned with.

All of this should help you decide on what type of food you store, whether IMPs or cans of tuna, and what you store it in. Don’t be discouraged if your space is limited as there are likely spaces you haven’t thought of using, For example, simple things like plastic containers that slide under your bed will allow you to store an impressive amount of food and not compromise your living space. Dual purpose wherever you can. A blanket chest holding a single layer of cans of tuna under your spare bedding is now a blanket chest plus!

Storing food is only one aspect of preparing to sit it out in your apartment. If you have good sunlight exposure, there is no reason not to be growing herbs by your windows. If you have a balcony, you are better off than you imagine. Using square foot gardening techniques (look it up) and containers, you can raise an impressive amount of food for the space available to you. I have seen one arrangement that used a bleacher like structure of containers that maximized both sun exposure and storage. Remember that in certain situations, a balcony full of tomato plants might make you attractive to others, so caution must be exercised.

Again, getting access to the roof of your apartment is a must. While caution must be used in loading the roof with the weight of containers, soil, and plants, there is likely a lot of unused space getting a lot of sunshine up there. You might even be able to get access now, and get practiced at container gardening.

Other usable room might be available if there are abandoned apartments in the building. This might give you additional balconies to use, or you might even have your own greenhouse of sorts if there is enough light and warmth.

The grounds around your apartment building bear looking at as well. There may be space where a garden plot might be dug. Gardening may be difficult if the area is not protected from animal or human poachers. Still, it is worth looking at if you are going to be in your apartment through the growing season. If so, you need to be prepared preserve your harvest. There is little point to going through all the trouble if what you grew rots before you can eat it. Remember that canning/preserving, like gardening, are skills you need to learn now, before they are absolutely critical.

Another thing to check on is the possibility of there being edible landscaping on the building grounds or on local streets. In my on neighbourhood, there are Nanking cherries, crabapples, and lingon-berries on public property within a block of me. Others may also be seeking the same supply, so cooperation might be necessary if there are a number of you trying to harvest the same resource.

A better strategy might be to go after wild edibles. Depending on where you live, there will be a variety of ‘weeds’ that are edible and contribute necessary nutrients to the diet. There are things like purslane with its high iron content, or the Vitamin C content of wild rosehips, as well as things like burdock and cattails that can supply some starch to the diet. Proper identification is the key to safe consumption, as nearly seventy-five percent of all plants are toxic to humans to some extent and even some edibles (like acorns) need processing for safe eating. Again, it is a skill you need to acquire now, not after your judgment is clouded by hunger.

Finally, consider doing some guerilla gardening right now. This can take a variety of forms. One is to garden a little plot in an out of the way spot. It might be the space between two buildings, a vacant lot or similar spot but it will allow you to practice technique as well as seeing where you can garden undisturbed. This should be at some remove from your apartment to avoid leading folk right to your home. Another is by planting certain crops in out of the way areas. The plants are then ignored and left to fend for them selves. My favorite for this is Jerusalem artichoke, a very hardy plant that will self propagate and has an edible root that stores very well. I’ve also done this with different varieties of squash, but with less success. The final method is to try to spread wild edibles. My choice for this is burdock, which I’ve managed to establish in several ‘secret’ locations by harvesting seed and planting it.

It might not be five acres and self-sufficiency, but I believe you can bug in to your apartment without sentencing yourself to death by starvation. It takes work, forethought and lots of practice, but you can develop a storage and gardening program that will boost your survivability.

Next, apartments as shelter.

Originally posted April 10, 2011 @ MPN

Apartment Survival: Water

I said in the prior article that trying to survive most crises in an apartment is not ideal. That hasn’t changed, but as stated in the first article you might not have a choice. Survival is about making the best of what you have, both knowledge and resources.

Assuming that you need to stay at your apartment for a relatively long period, the first problem to consider is water. You need to have a decent supply in your apartment or in a storage locker in the building (if in the locker, make sure it is camouflaged as something else). The amount you store is up to you, but a three day supply would be the absolute minimum, while a three week supply (or more!) would be far better. That seems like a lot of water, but if you store for drinking and cooking only, it will not consume an unreasonable amount of space. Sanitation needs may have to be put on the back burner.

The next step is to get whatever extra water that is at hand that you can obtain. The toilet tank is always available, and in some apartments, you may have your own hot water heater. Have a plan for filling tubs, sinks, pots and pans or whatever else you have if you get a chance. Collapsible water containers are easily stored and can be filled along with other containers, so plan on buying at least a couple of them to fill in an emergency. Learn where the nearest pond, stream or river is located and have plans and equipment for making it potable (more on that later). Better still would be to know the location of any wells in your area, but they may be owned and guarded by others, and you may have no way to get the water to the surface. Note that in going outside of the apartment to get water, you are exposing yourself to personal risk as well as risking using water that may be contaminated with toxins a primitive filtering system will not remove.

You should consider a rain catchment system that you can set up yourself. If you have a balcony, a couple of broomsticks in a V, a garbage bag, some duct tape and a bucket for collection and you’re in business. Just remember that some of that water may be cascading off of your building and may well have harmful impurities that you can’t filter or treat, so use due caution. Also realize that a catchment system deployed on a balcony will likely give away your position to observers, so discretion will be required in its use.

A better solution might be to get access to your buildings roof. I’m assuming that it is flat and will have plenty of open space to set up your rain catchment system. The design is up to you, but there are a huge number of possibilities. One simple design would be garbage bags cut open to give a large area for collection, and the lower ends taped to a length of clean eaves trough which in turn runs into a bucket. A fairly primitive arrangement and I’m sure there are many other ways to do it. You might even be able to store the parts for your system on the roof. In my experience, the roofs of apartments are rarely visited unless a problem occurs. Again, purity of the water obtained this way may be an issue depending on the type of crisis.

Of course there is also the issue of water collection in winter. Melting snow is a possibility, but many five gallon buckets of snow would need to be melted to give you one bucket of water, as snow isn’t very dense. If you can harvest ice, you get far more water per pail of ice. Again, there is the possibility of contaminants, so care must be used in using this water for drinking and cooking. There is also the issue of needing to melt the ice or snow, which will be expensive in terms of fuel.
Finally we come to the issue of making your water safe to drink. The first step here is trying to start out with the best water possible. If you can, avoid water that may be contaminated with human or industrial waste. That said, you have a lot of options: To start with you can do a lot with a t shirt, a couple of large coffee filters in a kitchen strainer, and some unscented bleach.

Filter your water through the (hopefully) clean t shirt, then through the coffee filters in the strainer. This should give you more or less particle free water. You might want to let it stand to let any suspended solids settle out and then decant the cleared water. If you have the fuel, boiling this water for two to three minutes should kill the any harmful bacteria. I would add an extra step and add eight (8) drops of unscented bleach per gallon of water, and if you have cloudy water that you cannot filter or clear, you can double the amount of chlorine bleach. The flat taste of boiled water and the chlorine taste can be removed by aerating the water by pouring it between containers or even vigorous stirring.
Using either method or (my preference) both together will give you drinkable water. Remember that this will rid your water of bacteria, but will not remove chemicals dissolved in the water, so again, finding the best water you can for treating is important. Don’t panic too much, as most chemicals in water (with exceptions) are mostly a problem in long term consumption.

By the way, here’s a neat little bleach/water calculator:
http://www.csgnetwork.com/h2oemergencypurifycalc.html
There are also filter systems of various types on the market. Katadyn produces a variety of reasonably priced compact, portable filters. Where a gallon of bleach will treat roughly 3800 US gallons (about 14,300 liters) of water, the Katadyn filter I own is good for 13,200 gallons (50,000 l), and weighs far less in a smaller volume than does a bottle of bleach. It’s also 35 times as expensive.

There are also large stationary filter systems, such as the type made by Berkley. These claim to remove some chemicals and metals as well, and are reasonably priced. Going the other way, you could use water purification chemicals like AquaMira, or compact devices like Steripens that purify smaller volumes of water using ultraviolet light. Do some research and find out what you feel suits your needs, and get the equipment and chemicals you require to make your water safe.

So for our apartment dweller, water comes down to this: Store it, collect it, purify it. The biggest issue is that you will not have a dependable source of clean water from a well like Joe Retreater, so a source needs to be located and you need to make sure some sort of purification system is available to you. Easy, no?

Originally posted March 29, 2011 @ MPN

Apartment Survival: Intro

Most survival experts will tell you that trying to survive a major catastrophe in an apartment is a bad idea. For the most part, I agree with them. You are far better off out in the country, or at least a small town. The problem is that many people in today’s housing market can barely afford the rent of an apartment, let alone a house, and a well equipped remote retreat is something that is the stuff of dreams. On the other hand, it doesn’t mean you can’t prepare, it just means you have to work harder to overcome the difficulties.

Over the next few articles, we’ll look at some of the options the average apartment dweller has for being more prepared, and some basic supplies and equipment. These aren’t intended to be definitive articles and the last word on any subject, but should get you started in the right direction, if only that you think about the consequences of where you live and what can happen in a major crisis.

Remember that unlike the Japanese Tsunami, most crises rarely have everything coming down around your ears at once. It might be just a power outage, or it might be the water stops running, spring flooding, or a dozen other things, singly or in combination. The trick is to look at what you have in your apartment, and imagine that you have it no longer. You need to plan now for the what-ifs later.

Look first at your building. How big is it? If you live on the forty- first story of a fifty story apartment tower, is it even practical? Imagine hauling water, food, or just yourself up forty flights of stairs. Now imagine doing it in the dark, as those battery powered emergency lamps won’t last long. Even the buildings resources won’t be what you think they are. There might be a fifty thousand gallon pool in the basement, but it’s no good to you in Apartment 4101.

For the purposes of our discussion, I will assume you live in a two, three or four story apartment building, which is a pretty common sized building in Manitoba. You might live in something as small as a fourplex, or a building a little larger than described, but most of the lessons will still apply.

You will need to look at every aspect of your life in the apartment: food, water, sanitation, safety from natural disasters, safety from humans, easily reached resources and so on. You’ll need to make a plan for dealing with the loss of any and all services you presently enjoy, from the easily reached grocery store to electrical power.

There is one other factor that the apartment dweller needs to deal with, and that is the other inhabitants. While you might be dealing with your waste responsibly, the guy right above you might be peeing off of his balcony. You might be doing your cooking in a safe manner on your barbecue, but the moron next door might light your building on fire trying to figure out his alcohol stove he bought at the camping store.

Your preparations and forethought can disappear or be rendered ineffective because of others. This is what makes the apartment survival scenario so challenging. In addition to all the other preparations you may need to make preparations to get others organized and working together.

But that’s for a later article. First we’ll look at the more material aspects of apartment prepping.

Originally posted march 23, 2011 @ MPN

Flu: The Scoop

Although spring is approaching, I want to write about something most of us consider a winter topic: influenza. I have heard people for years state that they had a ‘touch of the flu’ or a ‘bit of a stomach flu’. These people are liars. You either have influenza or you don’t. Everything else is mere transient viruses. I know because I caught influenza this year.

I have had colds and coughs previously, but I believe this is the first time I’ve actually had influenza. I had a high fever, chills, cough, stuffed up nose, body aches, headache, watering eyes and fatigue. The only major symptoms I missed were abdominal cramps and diarrhea (thankfully).

This might not sound like a big deal, but to someone in a situation where they needed to be active, it could be fatal. For an entire week, I was unable to do anything more than try to get well. I had chills so violent I couldn’t even butter bread. What if I’d had to get a fire started? I’m sure that for a couple of days I lacked enough co-ordination to light a match.

During the first week, I coughed, sneezed and when I slept I moaned and snored (so I’m told). It would have made keeping a low profile in a survival situation a little more difficult. Again, if my life depended on stealth, I would have been in trouble.

The combination of body aches and fatigue were dreadful. My ability to do any kind of useful work was almost zero. Travelling any distance on foot would have been impossible and doing hard physical labour like collecting firewood likewise unlikely. Again, the consequences for survival are obvious.

However, after the first week, I was getting better. I had avoided any complications like pneumonia, and was definitely on the mend. That did not mean I was suddenly all right. For another week, I experienced most of my symptoms in declining severity, with the exception of fatigue, which was still a significant factor. It took another full week before I could get back to work, and it took a full three weeks before I was close to 100% better.

During my illness, I lost almost 7 pounds (a little more than 3 kilograms). While I needed to lose the weight, it’s not a method I recommend, and in a crisis, where you might already be malnourished, that much weight loss might not be something you can afford. Malnourished and without medicine, I might have been sicker for a longer period, developed complications, or even died. All of which are not good outcomes for me or my group in a disaster.

This brings me to the point of today’s post: Get a flu shot.

Yes, I know that the medical types are only making their best guess when they formulate the vaccine. I also know that it won’t always prevent you from getting the flu, though I believe in those cases, it shortens intensity and duration. I also think over the years, multiple vaccinations may confer an advantage against newer flu strains, although this is my own idea developed from anecdotal evidence.

So why you ask, did I get the flu? Because I’ve never had a flu shot. Although I boast several vaccinations most others don’t have, I never got a flu vaccination. I intended to do so, but since I had never had the flu, and rarely get colds of any sort, I just didn’t get around to it. Good intentions, shitty follow through. Possibly a case of thinking I was invulnerable.

So next year, you’ll find me at the head of the line, sleeve rolled up, and waiting for my shot. I also intend to review my present vaccinations to ensure that I’m current, and to see if there is anything besides the flu shot I should get.

Getting the flu was a learning experience.
I learned that I had a blind spot in my preps.
I learned that I am not invulnerable.
I learned that a minute at a clinic can save days or weeks, and possibly lives.

That’s what this winter taught me.

Everyday Carry: The Unseen Kit on Your Person

The subject of the everyday carry kit has been extensively written on by many people. The main objection I have to most of the articles I’ve read is the bulk involved in many of the recommended kits. The reason for this is twofold.

The first problem is in the sheer number and variety of items that are recommended, everything from pencils to pry-bars. There is an old military adage that goes: ‘He who tries to defend everything defends nothing’. The same goes here. You just cannot carry enough on your person to cover every contingency. If you try, you’ll wind up with a bag full of crap that you won’t take with you, and when your ‘EDC’ is sitting on the hall table because you just don’t want to be bothered carrying it that day, it’s useless. Taken to extremes (and you can find examples on Youtube) what you have is something that weighs too much, is conspicuous as hell, and looks more like a full sized BOB. And as an unfortunate side effect, it might look like a burglary kit to a LEO having a cranky day,

The second problem, and related to the first, is that once you’ve gone beyond what fits in your pockets or on your belt, you’ve strayed into the territory of the get home kit or the B.O.B. Again, it is just my opinion, but if you can be separated from your gear by losing a handbag or briefcase, then it’s not my idea of everyday carry. Watching some video of people fleeing during the recent Japanese earthquake with nothing but the clothes on their backs should bring this point home to you.

Before we go any further, let me state that I am not opposed to having gear in a bag, briefcase or purse. For women, whose normal business or street attire generally has few pockets or other areas to conceal items, a purse might be the only way to go. I’ll even concede that women may be less likely to be separated from vital supplies in a purse by the very nature of how and where they are carried. That said, I’m still not completely happy with the idea of relying on any gear that has to be remembered.

For me, EDC means that whatever gear I’m carrying is largely invisible, light, useful and always on my person. I’ll detail what I carry, and mention some alternatives. We’ll start with my key ring.

Firstly, I don’t carry many keys. Car, house keys front and back, bike lock and a mailbox key are about it, and the key ring fits in my pocket. In addition, there is an old Sears 4-way screwdriver attached to the ring. I dislike the ‘biner’ type key rings with twelve things attached to them. Sooner or later you don’t want the keys in your pocket, and they get left in or on something, along with whatever gear is with them. But if you want to attach a couple of things like a pill-case or mini flashlight, go to it. Just make sure you dump that half- pound, plate sized “Sexy Beast” key ring you’ve been using when you add something worthwhile.

I also carry a wallet. In addition to the normal things like identification, credit cards, and money, I also carry an un-lubricated condom or two. While you might think I’m a cad on the make, the real reason I carry it is that it makes a rather nifty water container if placed in a sock for support. Additionally, you might want to carry something like a pocket magnifier or a more elaborate device such as a Swisscard in your wallet or purse. I tend to sit on my wallet and bend everything in it, so I try to keep as little as possible in it.

I wear a watch, which most of us do in modern society. While mine is a basic timepiece, you can pack quite a bit of interesting stuff into modern timepieces, including an altimeter, barometer, digital compass, and thermometer, all for not much more than a basic watch costs. I’ve also seen watches with thumb drives incorporated into the watchband. Really, there is a plethora of interesting options for wrist wear, including the old standby of watchbands braided from paracord.

The one piece of gear that I do wear in plain sight is on my belt. I always carry a Victorinox ‘Huntsman’ with me which I like for the blend of tools contained and it’s light weight and un-threatening appearance. I’ve added a mini screwdriver that stores in the corkscrew, as well as a straight pin that fits into a hole on the handle. I don’t usually carry a multi tool, but that might suit others better. Either one is innocuous in appearance and quickly becomes ’invisible’ to the people around you, and of course either could be carried in a purse as easily. You might even want to carry a small survival kit or selected other gear on your belt in a small pouch, preferably one resembling a cell phone holster.

In all seasons, I tend to wear a suit coat, jacket or parka. In whatever coat I have on that day, I carry a small first aid kit, a miniature LED flashlight, a miniature compass, and a small lighter. I also carry a knife, (one that is legal for where I live), the Wedge by Outdoor Edge. It is small, easy to carry and comes with a lanyard and a swivel clip that give you interesting carry options.

I could carry more, but I feel relatively comfortable with the amount I have, which is considerably more than the average person carries. It is all unseen, and most importantly, what I carry is on my person at all times. I don’t need to remember to take a separate kit.

Remember, there are lots of options for unseen everyday carry besides the ones I’ve described. I’m not usually a hat wearer, but let’s say you are. Buy a Tilley hat, which are available for both men and women in a variety of styles. Many of them boast a secret pocket into which you might slip extra cash, a Swisscard, or whatever else you think you need. The only limit is your own imagination.

What you carry and where you carry it are up to you, but remember to make sure that it’s with you.

Originally posted March 12, 2011 @ MPN

The Perfect Storm

Very often in survival circles, you will hear people talk about preparing for when “the shit hits the fan”, or the end of the world as we know it” (usually abbreviated to TEOTWAWKI), or even just “the big one”. What they mean by that is quite varied and depends on who you’re talking to and their personal beliefs and opinions. The person speaking might be talking about an EMP event, a major earthquake, a financial/ societal collapse, a terrorist attack, a flu epidemic…well, the list goes on and on.

The interesting thing about this sort of talk is that there is an unspoken assumption that they will recognize the event before it happens, making it possible to put their preps into effect. Often, survivalists will be deeply knowledgeable about a particular type of disaster, usually the one that they fear most or for which they feel least prepared. For example, Prepper X might be able to give you chapter and verse on EMP, how it is generated, what the primary effects are, the follow on effects, how to protect your gear from EMP and so on. While he will likely have at least some knowledge in other areas of concern, he may not be watching them closely or may see their effects as minor.

The danger for this type of prepper is that the ‘big one’ might never happen. What happens instead is a whole bunch of little ones combine to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. It takes only a quick look at the news over the last few months to see that we’re enduring a veritable swarm of little ones. Just a few examples:

Food prices are becoming an issue, from the less than spectacular North American and European wheat harvests of 2010 to the Australian flooding to the Mexico freeze, and who knows what else. Here on the prairies the prediction is for a cold wet spring, hardly ideal seeding conditions.

Mideast unrest is presently driving up the price of oil, which in turn will drive up the price of damn near everything else. It will make already expensive food more so because of transportation costs, and fertilizer and herbicide/insecticide prices will also rise, pushing up production costs. If things went exactly wrong, you might see actual oil shortages rather than just speculation driven price increases.

And how about the financial world? The Euro isn’t out of the woods, neither is the U.S. dollar. There may be a second wave of home mortgage debt to deal with, never mind the commercial mortgages. Add into that the debt crisis facing many of our southern brethren’s cities and states, and you’ve got something to keep you tossing and turning at night.

If that isn’t enough, you are seeing massive labour unrest across the border as many states enact or try to enact union busting legislation. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before some nincompoop Canadian politician tries it. If Mr. Harper gets a majority in the spring, all bets are off.

At any rate, I think you see my point. It isn’t one big event that might be a problem, but a host of smaller ones that combine to create the ‘perfect storm’. By the time you realize your dinghy is in trouble, it may be too damn late to row for shore.

I urge everyone to keep a wary eye on events as the year progresses. I’ll mix boat metaphors and say that you should keep building your ‘ark’, whatever form it takes. Stick to your program of prepping, but don’t get so caught up in the prepping that you fail to see the rain coming down and the water rising. Don't spend so much time on polishing the handrails that you forget to launch your boat.

Don’t get caught by a perfect storm.

Posted Previously March 03, 2011 @MPN

Bring Out Your Dead!

A funny scene from a funny movie, and it was even funnier in the Broadway show. We laugh at death, but it’s just our way of not thinking about it, not taking it too seriously. But we should, and here is a short scenario to show you why:

You are manning a firing position, engaging a gang of bandits who are intent on looting your group’s retreat. One of your group shifts position to get a better firing angle, but unfortunately, he exposes himself in doing so and is fatally shot. You and the rest of the group manage to fight off the horde after a fierce engagement, killing five of them but losing one of your own.

Now comes the hard part, which is dealing with the bodies. In most of the survival literature you’ll read, you’ll rarely find the subject of death and the disposing of bodies being mentioned. After all it’s about surviving, not dying, right? So what are you going to do with the half dozen dead people littering your retreat area? How do you plan to deal with your casualty? What sort of body preparation and rituals are appropriate? Will you treat the bandits differently? Will you bury them in the same area as your own people? Will you bury the bandits at all or will you use a gallon of gas to drive their bodies a distance away and just dump them?

Death is not something we deal with anymore. You die in a hospital, the nurses whisk a curtain around the corpse to keep it from view, and very shortly the mortuary folk come and remove it. The body is embalmed, made up, dressed up and laid out in a lovely coffin worth more than your dining room set so that family can exclaim: “Doesn’t he/she look good!!” From start to finish, our modern society is protected from the realities of death.

And death is not pretty. At the very least, you will have a corpse on your hands that may or may not have leaked body fluids (which in the case of some diseases can be infectious in nature), with mouth agape and eyes that don’t quite close, despite what you see in the movies. The pretty young woman that you can carry easily in your arms alive at 125 pounds is nearly unmanageable in death. It can be a hard thing to deal with for most people.

In the event of collapse, you have no undertaker to help you avoid the unpleasantness, so you need to give some thought as to how death will be dealt with by your group. What rituals will you perform for the living? What care is appropriate for the dead? Will you try to make a casket, or merely wrap a shroud? Perhaps not even that?

This might seem morbid and unimportant, but how you deal with your dead will have a very large psychological effect on your group. Their ability to function will in part require ritual and routine to help them go on, some trace of ‘normalcy’ is needed to make sure they feel there is a point to surviving.

So what happens in the above scenario? Well, the attackers are driven a half mile to an old gravel pit, dropped over the edge, and enough slope knocked over them to keep animals from getting at them, more for reasons of sanitation than respect.

The group’s casualty is washed, dressed, wrapped in a shroud (maybe poly, maybe cloth), and a grave is dug. Prior to the ceremony, the body is placed in the grave, something that is horribly awkward to do, and nothing the family needs to witness. The burial ceremony takes place, and the grave filled. A marker is erected, and you pray you don’t need to do this again for a long time.

Ah, but what about cremation? If you are secure enough, if you have fuel enough, and time enough, go ahead. Just remember that a wood fire cremation may leave you with bones to be pulverized, or with things like hip replacements largely intact, possibly a distressing prospect for the family.


Here’s another scenario:

One of your people contracted cholera while on a foraging mission. Sadly, you can’t save her, and she passes away in your camp…..

Seems like a simple scenario, but this has a catch. Because cholera is one of the few infectious diseases that can be spread by human remains (this is caused by fecal matter from the corpses leaking into the water supply. In a case like this, the remains should be disinfected as far as is practical, and buried at least 100 feet from sources of drinking water.

There aren’t a lot of infectious diseases that can be spread this way, but when you are dealing with things like cholera, it pays to be careful.

How we will treat our dead after a collapse will vary from place to place and group to group. As I mentioned before, there are strong reasons to have a procedure in place, not the least of which is the psychological effect the death of a group member will have on the survivors. This is something that needs to be planned for just as much as other aspects of preparedness, talked about, and procedures decided upon.

In many collapse or disaster scenarios, death is expected to occur and in the absence of modern medicine, perhaps become much more commonplace. How we deal with that prospect is up to us.

Originally posted February 21, 2011 @ MPN

City Mouse, Country Mouse

I’m often amused by a particular attitude that runs through much of the prepper/survival community. Usually held by those in a rural setting, there is an assumption that farm and rural folk are better prepared, better positioned, and better skilled than those living in an urban setting, and thus more likely to survive a major crisis. Indeed, attitudes often border on contempt when the country mouse considers his city cousin. But how true is it that farm trumps city?

Much will depend on the type of crisis that occurs. In a pandemic, being isolated from the hundreds of human contacts that a city dweller experiences in a day will likely be an advantage. That’s not a certainty, as rural children are often bussed to large schools which are likely vectors for disease. If a food crisis, having the ability to grow food, or having food on hand will likely be an advantage as well.

In other forms of crisis, the advantage is less well defined. In an EMP scenario, whether natural or manmade, or a severe fuel shortage, the rural advantage is smaller. Unless Mr. Farmer is one of the few hobbyists that maintain a working team of horses and the equipment sized for them, he’s out of luck. Modern tractors, combines, trucks and so on depend on electronics in their systems nearly as much as do newer cars. A farm without modern machinery is unlikely to prosper.

Indeed, if we look at modern farming, it is nearly as dependent on the present supply network and infrastructure as are cities. Fuel, parts, fertilizer, seed, herbicides and pesticides are all inputs produced off the farm. In some extreme cases, farms don’t even have their own water, as some rural areas have municipal water systems, with farms depending on water piped out to them rather than wells. Many farms would be in as much trouble without power as any city dweller, as few farm homes have alternate heating or lighting sources anymore. Manitoba Hydro has been too darn dependable.

Even livestock operations are often dependent on electrically lit and heated barns to produce livestock, get feed from off farm, or need inputs like antibiotics and supplements in order to produce on the scale that they presently do. Sometimes, in the case of feedlots, or chicken or turkey operations, the animals being raised are born elsewhere than the farm that ‘finishes’ them for market.

Surely, though, the average farmer has skills that will give him an edge in survival? Possibly true. Many farmers I know are damn good amateur mechanics, can weld with the best of them, and a few are even decent machinists. Sadly, all of these skills depend to an extent on society staying whole. A talented mechanic can do nothing without parts, and without power to run a lathe or welder, the machining and welding skills are useless..

Without modern machinery, pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizer, it is likely most farmers would be little farther ahead than the urbanites. Neither group now knows how to cut grain with a scythe, tie a sheaf, or stook those sheaves. Few now remember how to make harness, shoe a horse, or smith a tool from raw stock. Nor can these skills be acquired in without practice and experience, in many cases, years of it.

Then what about the farm wife? There must be a repository of skills there that give an advantage to rural folk? There will at least be a kitchen garden to fall back on, won’t there? There might well be, but Ms. Farmer is buying her hybrid varieties from the same few companies as the city folk, her seedling tomatoes from the same greenhouses. She is dependent on the same weed killers and pesticides, and without a gas tiller, she is turning the earth with the same sort of garden fork. It won’t much matter how much land she has if she has to dig it by hand. Gardening after a collapse will be little different wherever you are.

And perhaps she doesn’t garden at all. Many farm wives work full time off the farm, often from financial necessity. That full time job likely means that the farm pantry looks little different from the city one, and has as few reserves. Processed, ready to eat is the norm on the farm now. It is likely that Ms. Farmer is as dependent on a well stocked supermarket as anyone else.

Some farms I know of do produce their own food to an extent. There is often a side of beef in the freezer, or chickens or pigs that were raised on the farm. In most cases, these animals are slaughtered and processed off the farm. Few people have the skills or facilities to butcher their own stock. I hardly need to mention that even if you have a freezer (or two) stuffed with meat, it doesn’t last long without power.

The traditional domestic skills have suffered as well. Fewer and fewer people can or preserve food, do their own sewing, or can create a warm quilt from little more than scraps. Even cooking from scratch is becoming a rarer talent, with so many families being pressed for time.

Being situated in a rural area might even be a disadvantage. There is the possibility that in the city, you may find, along with or instead of disorder and violence that people organize, and share the burden of raising food, obtaining water and maintaining a defense. The farm dweller has likely a far smaller labor pool to draw on to do what is necessary. It is often miles from the nearest neighbor, a poor arrangement when mutual aid and defense is considered.

Of course this is not the situation with every country dweller, but it is more common than not these days. I think many of us that live in rural Manitoba would do well to reassess how prepared we actually are, and be honest with ourselves as to how self sufficient most of us are not.

Like anyone, the country mouse needs to look at the range of possible emergencies, and to actively prepare for them. We’ll look at farm preparedness in a future post.

Originally posted February 12, 2011 @ MPN

Studying to Survive

I’ve just come across several articles on the net that list the ten or fifteen or umpteen essential survival skills. Everyone has a different take on what is essential, depending on their personal preparedness planning. Someone planning an ‘urban’ hunker down is likely to need a different skill set than someone planning to get way back in the bush away from everything and everybody. There is also the issue of looking at what level of skill in each area you need to acquire, since some advanced skills require an advanced infrastructure to support them. So let’s look at a few of these skills with an eye to what is ‘essential’.

Medical - Traditionally, this is rated as one of the highest, if not the highest priority skill by many authors. I agree that you should get advanced First Aid training and whatever other medical training is available, but remember that there will be a limit to what you can accomplish in a severe crisis. Supplies will likely be limited, and equipment as well. I think that abundant manuals or not, most individuals cannot develop the sort of skill required for even moderately complex surgery. Remember as well that the infrastructure for caring for someone after a complex procedure or over the long term may not exist.

I believe that a good knowledge of basic modern techniques would be better complemented by adding traditional and alternative medicine, rather than knowledge of advanced medical techniques that you cannot support. You might be better off having learned some useful herbal lore for the long term rather than attempting to memorize the entire contents of an advanced surgery manual.

Martial - This covers a lot of ground, from personal self defense to knowledge of military weapons and tactics. I think a course of study in a personal self-defense martial art is worthwhile, as it provides physical and mental benefits beyond fighting skills. It really doesn’t matter what you study, as long as it has practical applications. Which is my way of saying choose to learn Krav Maga over fencing, or karate over Tai Chi (Yes, I do know that Tai Chi has a combat form. Never seen it taught in Manitoba).

As far as other military skills go, I think many authors over-emphasize the level you need. While it might be lots of fun to be roaring around in the bush learning small unit tactics with your buddies, is it a level of skill you really need to obtain? This is something you have to answer for yourself, but I believe knowledge of and practicing stealth, evasion, and camouflage techniques are to be preferred over knowing how to lead a squad in combat. My feeling is that if you are involved in a firefight, you’ve already screwed up. Not that you shouldn’t know how to extract yourself if it happens, but better you should not get into the situation in the first place.

Weapons - This is separate from martial skills because it isn’t necessarily military in focus. As far as firearms go, I believe you need a decent level of skill, but don’t get hung up if you can’t snipe someone at a mile range. Practice, but don’t obsess, there are a lot of skills to acquire besides pulling a trigger. Learn to handle everything you own, and how to care for each firearm.

It is also worthwhile to learn to use something that does not make a lot of noise or require hard to get ammunition. Skill with slingshots, bows, and other ‘primitive’ weapons can be a valuable addition to your talents.

Don’t waste your time with learning skills such as throwing knives or using a katana, unless of course you have an interest as a hobby. Knowledge of exotic weapons might qualify you as a top ranked mall ninja, but is unlikely to add much to your practical skill base.

Wilderness Survival - I have a hard time saying you can know too much in this area, as almost all of the skills and techniques can be transferred to almost any setting or scenario. Fire-making, navigation, water purification, plant identification, small animal trapping, learning to avoid things like hypothermia…well, the list just goes on and on. The beauty of this is that using most of these skills don’t require anything beyond very basic equipment, if any. Of course like anything, you can overdo. Knowing how to make a fire bow and having experience using it is fine, learning to make a mirror from a pop can using chocolate as a polishing compound is likely going too far.

Trades - almost any practical and traditional trade is valuable. Carpentry, plumbing, electrical or mechanical knowledge are good for you to know. You can save yourself money now, have a skill to barter later, and can provide you with an entertaining hobby. Don’t restrict yourself to ‘modern’ trades. Knowing how to weave, blacksmith, drive a team, or a hundred other ‘obsolete’ trades likely will be in high demand after a breakdown. Again, competence is required, not absolute mastery.

Gardening and animal husbandry - This should be part of everyone’s skill suite. Get good at growing at least a few things. You don’t need to be able grow prize winning cantaloupes, but if you can reliably get a crop of tomatoes, potatoes or beans, you’re ahead of the game. As for the animal husbandry, make it your business to raise something. Rabbits, chickens, goats, whatever you can do where you are. Raise something you like. You don’t have to duplicate Noah’s Ark, but having expertise with
at least one species is again getting you ahead of most folk.

Hunting and fishing - I have a bit of trouble with this, as the traditional methods in North American hunting often are energy intensive. Pushing deer out of thick brush is exhausting, for example. I believe you are better to use more passive methods like traps or snares (or nets). Otherwise, if you must pull the trigger or bowstring, do it with as little energy as possible.

Those are just a few areas, but there are dozens of others to think about. Food preparation and preservation; bartering, sewing…well the list goes on…

The point is, make an attempt to acquire a set of skills that are useful both now and in the future. Be aware that you likely can’t live long enough to become expert in all of the areas you’d like to be expert in, so don’t stress about it. Get to levels of skill that are practicable and practiced. Aim for competence in as many fields as you feel necessary, but remember it’s not necessary to be expert in all fields. And since learning should be enjoyable, try to have a little fun as you do so….

Let me know what skills you plan to learn...

Originally posted February 3. 2011 @ MPN