Posted on 04/27/2011 6:08:52 PM PDT by blam
Americans Are Preparing At Unprecedented Levels
Author: Mac Slavo
April 27th, 2011
Do you have enough larder to feed your family and some friends if grocery stores ran out of food? How about several assault rifles and a few thousand rounds of ammo? Solar panels, a water filter, medical kits, bug-out bags, fire starters, tents, sleeping bags, some junk silver and reserve gasoline?
Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
It’s becoming apparent to many Americans that depending on our local, state and federal governments in the event of an emergency, catastrophic societal collapse or widespread disaster will not be sufficient to meet the needs of your family. Residents in Colorado (and likely the other 49 states) are stockpiling in droves and preparing to live off the grid if it comes to that:
Four families in Yoder are building a sand bunker and stockpiling ammunition and weapons.
A Black Forest resident has erected a geodesic dome on her 5-acre spread to grow vegetables, keeps horses for emergency transportation, in case she can’t get gasoline for her car, and plans to acquire chickens and goats as food sources.
A husband and wife who have a cabin on 100 acres of secluded land in Park County have weaned their property from the electric grid, acquired a three-year food supply and taken other measures to become self-sufficient.
While there’s little threat of the earthquake and tsumani that rocked Japan last month in landlocked Colorado, other epic crises on the home front are possible: A flood or fire. A terrorist attack. A nuclear weapons launch. World War III. Or an apocalyptic-type scenario.
An increasing number of people say they are getting ready.
“More people are getting into the survivalist mode. I’ve been in business 30 years, and I’ve never sold so many assault rifles as now. The last year was the best we’ve ever had,” said Mel Bernstein, a Class III weapons dealer and owner of Dragon Man’s shooting range east of Colorado Springs.
Israeli gas masks, helmets and sand bags also have been selling well, he said. “People are putting stuff away in case something big happens,” he said. “I think it’s superstition, but it’s been good for business.”
Interest in the survivalist movement has been heightened, many say, by global turmoil.
The ongoing strife in the Middle East, the lingering possibility that the Obama administration will enact stricter gun laws and the sustained economic downturn, coupled with political unrest in Libya and Japan’s nuclear catastrophe, have made people uneasy.
In addition, doomsday prophesies by Nostradamus and the Mayans pinpointing 2012 are distressing for some. There’s also a group of Christians who say they’ve determined that the end of the world will begin on May 21.
“People are afraid, and they want to be able to protect their families,” Bernstein said.
Y2K — the dawning of the third millennium — brought forth a fury of survivalist instincts, as many believed the nation’s network of electric connections and computer systems would crash.
The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, raised concern among even the complacent.
But this time in history feels more urgent, say those who identify themselves as “preppers” — people preparing to have all they need to sustain a catastrophe.
“There’s a distinct possibility that some other country could wipe out our electronics and computers, and the U.S. infrastructure is not ready — it would take six months to rebuild a transformer,” said Bob, a retired engineer who said he designed airplanes, power plants and aqueducts for the government.
He asked that his last name not be used because he shares a philosophy common among preppers: the desire for anonymity. Not everyone understands why they’re doing what they’re doing, Bob said, and there’s the possibility of others looting their stockpiles. “Preppers will give someone a pound of rice and a bowl of soup, but we’ll defend ourselves against people who are going to take everything we have,” he said. “We’re doing this to make sure that we can live the way we’ve been living and we’re not going to be out there scrounging or stealing food from others.”
There are any number of scenarios, both natural and man-made, that could lead to what preppers refer to as TEOTWAWKI (The End of the World as We Know It), be it an electro magnetic pulse attack, a US dollar hyperinflation, economic collapse, an earthquake along the New Madrid Fault Line, Yellow Stone’s super volcano, or the purported Mayan end of days.
While some may be more likely to occur than others, and some are improbable outliers, the fact that the possibilities exist, and that there are a whole host of reasons why life as we have come to know it could be halted from one day to the next, makes preparedness that much more reasonable.
We’ve seen how governments respond to disasters. Recent history in the modern age suggests that there is simply no way to meet the needs of millions of people if a far-from-equilibrium situation were to arise.
Americans spend thousands of dollars per year on insurance for our homes, our cars, our health, our lives, and even our mortgages.
Is it really so crazy to insure ourselves from unforeseen black swans by stockpiling some food, water, supplies and a means to protect them?
The US government is spending billions of dollars to prepare for unlikely events like war, catastrophic collapse of society, and even asteroids – maybe you should consider a little end-of-the-world insurance as well.
My fears are for when the government checks stop coming and the lights start going out.
Yep, most common sense is gone and the mobs will be ugly.
Last week someone put an ad in the local paper about canning jars to give away. I called within five minutes of when my paper hit the porch, and they were gone. I rarely see canning jars offered at yard sales.
My son used to clean an older lady’s sidewalk of snow- and what a pleasant surprise- some years later when she went into a nursing home, she showed up on his doorstep step with boxes of good canning jars and a very good pressure canner. She told him she knew he would use them. And yes, he has canned forever.
Something bad is going to happen this year. I can feel it in my bones.
For preparedness information: listen to The Survival Podcast and read their forum. Lots of good stuff there.
Now does that in general mean that taking the daily recommended value is all that is needed ?
Oh, metmom, you aren’t the only one!
My hubby and daughter are the same, too.
It is tougher, but someone has to do it. I know it helps me sleep better.
I do think hubby is coming around more lately at least, but I am the food storage planner, canner and gardener.
Lead can prevent the uptake of liberalism
I don’t know about the Iron or the Potassium but I looked in my Adelle Davis books and she did recommend the calcium for the strontium.
It is more important if you are low on your calcium intake, than if you don’t have a deficiency. Another of my books also recommended apples for their pectin. Not sure about that, but it wouldn’t hurt and be good for you either way.
I think the main principle is that these radiation related elements are picked up by your body IF you are deficient in the element that is like them. Like iodine for the thyroid instead of the radioactive element iodine.
Hope this helps.
Sort of like noticing that there have been some earthquakes, and noticing that the ocean has receded away from the shoreline. Putting two and two together.
I was just at The Dollar Store and you can order your supplies online.
This would be for those who are supplementing their prep with ready to eat 1-4 meal servings per package/can.
You can get all kinds of things that are very tasty and will last years until you need them.
They Ship for free and you just go down to your local Dollar Store and pickup your order.
How easy is that?
http://www.dollartree.com/home.jsp
Avgas (sans-alcohol) would keep longer, but the JP fuels(2-3-4-5) are refined kerosenes and keep pretty well if treated.
When I was in elementary school, nobody had ever heard of Strontium 90 - by the time I went to college, everyone in the world had it in their bones... Not a good omen...
I just installed two 350 gallon fuel barrels (on eight foot towers with filters and hoses and gravity feed nozzles) and had to pay $36 dollars per gallon, it took 2, of sta-bil to add to the fuel. I think the smaller pint bottles were about $11...
They also found Americium and Curium in the Japanese soil.
See my tag line.
SeaFoam IIRC is a motor treatment to clean out the carb, etc. You add it to the gas. I heard it is pretty good stuff as a “tune up” for small engines, etc. Maybe something like once a year, or before you put it away for the season run it with gas treated with SeaFoam.
But the Stabil is the stuff you want to put in the gas for storage. And I just had my lawnmower repaired from not putting it away properly a few winters ago and the gas gunked up the carb. (Lacquer). The neighborhood small-engine repair guy said what he does before he puts his stuff away is put some stabil in the tank and run it for awhile, then put it away. I imagine if the carb has a drain spigot to drain the carb of fuel - but I guess with the Stabil in it you might not need to. (I’ll have to ask him)
Is it safe to store those little green Coleman tanks in a shed? I want to get some more (have a small camp stove that I’ve kept for preps since DH is NOT a camper). I have two old ones from a long-ago (pre-DH) camping trip and I think they are empty. They are looking ragged and I’m not sure how to dispose of them.
Folks, don’t forget antibiotics!! In a SHTF situation, there will be no medical help. You can get antibiotics from Tractor Supply and other such stores.
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