Posts Tagged ‘emergency planning’
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
Do I stay or do I go! Not just a great old song by The Clash but an ongoing debate and topic of discussion everywhere preparedness is discussed. Some are sure they will bug out, they have a plan to live off the land (good luck with that) and others just know they are going to guard the fort and hunker down. The reality is this is one of those issues that is very situationally dependent. The same person (if they act with reason and logic) will choose different answers. To help me formalize this process I developed 12 questions to ask yourself both in advance of and during a disaster to make this decision with logic vs. emotion.
Tune in today as we consider the following…
- Logic vs. emotion
- Which choice gives you the best chance of survival for the scenario at hand? (this is not always clear)
- How well prepared are you to bug in?
- What exactly are you prepared for? (a forest fire is far different from local rioting)
- Have evacuation orders been given?
- What is the nature and probable duration of the threat?
- Well staying put change anything as far as “saving your home”?
- Where will you go and how will you get there?
- Do you own a bug out location or have double up plans or no place to go at all?
- Will you be able to help your community if you stay?
- What will the impact of staying or going be on your family, can they handle what you can?
- What can you take with you and what must you leave behind?
- If you leave what exactly is waiting for you at your destination?
The time to answer these questions is not in the middle of a disaster but right now. At this point you can plan, form contingencies and be prepared for a variety of outcomes. That way if the day comes your mind is ready to act and you can make the best use of the resources you have. As always how you act and how you think is more important then your resources.
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
Perhaps these could even be called baby steps and even so I bet even a few veteran preppers could do say 4-7 of them to improve what they have already done. I figured it was a good time to back up before I roll out with the RV for a long vacation and give people concrete action. Don’t worry there will be shows Wednesday, Thursday and a guest host on Monday, Friday this week is still sort of up in the air. By the way these steps are not in a defined order other than the first three which will help you immensely with the other eighteen.
Join me today as we discuss….
- Step one – keep a food log
- Step two – keep a spending log
- Step three – perform a risk assessment on your life and geography
- Step four – build a basic black out kit
- Step five – build a basic first aid kit
- Step six – start copy canning
- Step seven – cut two expenses, just two of your choosing
- Step eight – Build a basic 72 Hour Kit – BOB
- Step nine – buy some source of back up power – any source
- Step ten – get some source of back up heating
- Step eleven – build two 7.5 gallon tubs or four 5 gallon buckets emergency food
- Step twelve – store a minimum of 50 gallons of water, more if you can
- Step thirteen – acquire a minimum or two emergency radios
- Step fourteen – acquire some means of back up communications
- Step fifteen – build a basic documentation pack
- Step sixteen – build up a 30 day supply or commercial long term storage food for your house hold
- Step seventeen – learn at lest 2 methods of food storage
- Step eighteen – find a local farmer’s market and visit often, learn about seasonal opportunities
- Step nineteen – learn to cook 5 items you have never eaten before with storable items
- Step twenty – store up a reasonable amount of COH (cash on hand)
- Step twenty-one (bonus) – affirm your right and responsibility to survive
Resources for today’s show…
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.
Monday, March 1st, 2010
Today we take just a few questions and mostly discuss news stories and events sent in by listeners. We have a lot on board today, the earth quake in Chile, the tsunami warnings, guns at Starbucks, nitrogen fixing trees and more.
Tune in today to hear me discuss…
- Is gold about to drop in price in the short to intermediate term if so why
- Open carry of firearms at Starbucks, what do we learn from it
- Has science discovered a new element called “Governmentium” – a bit of humor
- Do you have a preparedness story on how TSP made your more prepared for a disaster or weather event
- What do we learn about “transition periods” and “new normals” from Chile
- How do some plants “fix nitrogen” and how does it become available to other plants
- How can you get a free college education on permaculture from NC State University (go to the iTunes store and search for HS432
Resources for today’s show…
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
Today we examine the commonalities of three very different disasters. Today we look at a potential major solar storm with a huge coronal mass ejection, a massive ice storm and a global pandemic. While these disasters seem quite different their impacts are very similar only duration is a major variable. Last for today we end with a thought, “is the zombie apocalypse already here?”, I say yes it is. Tune in to find out what I mean and see if you agree.
Tune in today as we examine…
- Why is a solar storm a big threat
- What have scientists learned about our magnetosphere that changes everything
- Is there a hole in the magnetosphere, if so what does that mean
- What would a pandemic with a 25% infection rate and 10% death rate look like
- If 7.5 million people need a hospital bed what happens
- What happens if we have a major ice storm
- How big can an ice storm be
- The common needs, food, shelter, energy
- The advice from The Today Show, you won’t believe this
- Are you a zombie, do you know zombies, is the apocalypse here
- Can you be living in the middle of absolute disaster and not know it
Additional Resources for Today’s Show
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
It seems there is always a disaster somewhere in the world. Right now eyes are on Haiti, over the last two decades we have had many. The LA Riots, The California Quake, Hurricanes Andrew, Ike, Rita and of course Katrina. Lesser publicized weather events like the Ft. Worth and Arlington Tornado (which we lived through), the Mississippi floods of the 90s, Tropical Storm Fay in Jacksonville and more.
Each time we hear how we have “learned” from the event and will do better next time, yet a lot of what we learn misses many of the real lessons. This will be the subject of today’s podcast.
Join me today as we discuss…
More first responders per individual
Biggest shortages are food, water and shelter
Law and order will break down
Law abiding citizens often become targets of law enforcement
The media loves hardship, blame and is never part of the solution
The size and scope of large disasters has actually be quite small
Government and your fellow man will help but you may still be on your own
Redundancy in your preparations is critical
The disaster is not the biggest danger, the aftermath is
The cause is less important then the removal of systems of support
Money can become worthless, beer can be a currency
Free societies are vulnerable
What happens elsewhere can and very well may effect you
It can happen where you live
It is up to you, no matter the intentions of others
Additional Resources for Today’s Show
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
So you are brand new to prepping or self sufficiency planning, where do you start? Why should you in the first place? Can you actually get reasonably prepared on your budget? Today we answer those questions and more.
Tune in Today to Hear
- Start out with what you have
- The burden of debt and why it must be eliminated
- Where do you find survival supplies, Walmart, The Grocery, etc. at least before you need them
- Starting out with 3 days of self sufficiency and turning it into 10 days effortlessly
- Pile it on a table, know what you have and organize it
- Documentation and simple encryption of sensitive numbers
- Why you must own your plan not follow mine
- The big regret you never have to face
- The cancer of fear and how to destroy it
- The difficult choices you can avoid ever having to make
- Why now is the time to start and the journey is not a hard as you may believe it to be
Resources for today’s show…
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
The number one question I get from non preparedness minded individuals when I tell them about The Survival Podcast is simply, why?
Why takes many forms such as…
- Why do you worry about so many things you can’t control?
- Why do I need to do anything different then I am doing now, I got this far OK, right?
- Why should I spend money on things I may never need or even use?
- Why should I sacrifice just to be “debt free” because “you’re no one unless you own money in the nation anyway”?
- Why should I store food?
- Why do I need a gun, we have a nice town and a great police force?
- Why do you feel the need to be an alarmist?
Oh and that list of why’s goes on and on, I assure you. Yet I always answer every single why with the same answer, “because the way I do things my life is better even if nothing bad ever happens”.
Tune in today as we discuss this concept and thoughts on how…
- Living debt free is the only way to have the freedom we all desire
- Why most people tolerate things in their life they should never allow
- Why tax is theft and why understanding it creates freedom
- Why no matter what people say you do need to prepare for bad times
- How the media and the government create plastic lifestyles that we choose to live within
- Why storing food will always pay itself back even if you never have to rely on it directly
- Why a garden is liberating and a financial gain
- Why so many people that start to prep fail and fall out and how to change that
Resources for today’s show…
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
As we approach the 300th episode I realized it has been a long time since we did a show dedicated to the brand new person. Today will will lay out 20 steps to take as a person who has just decided that it is time “to do something” but isn’t quite sure what that “something” is. Even though today is done with the new person in mind I think it will help everyone sort of recenter on the core of what is the most important things to make sure you have accomplished.
I have also created a special commercial free version of today’s show for sharing with others who you want to get thinking about preparedness. That version can be found on our forum here.
Tune in today as we discuss
- Start with the old fable of the grasshopper and the ant
- The first thing you do is assess the situation and stay calm
- Journal your spending and your eating
- Write a plan for debt elimination and begin creating an emergency fund
- Put together a basic documentation package
- Assemble a BOB for each family member (cheap and fast the first time around)
- Inventory your pantry over a week or two (how much food do you have at your low point)
- Begin storing up a 30 day supply of food you will eat anyway
- Begin assembling a low cost 30 day long term storage supply
- Determine where you would go if you had to leave and go at least 50 miles from home
- Make plans for how you would help elderly parents or other family members
- Update your resume and be prepared to loose your job on any given day
- Avoid focusing on any individual coming event or scenario
- Plan a garden and start getting ready to plant (depending on the season)
- Learn about disaster commonality (it is not about the disaster it is about loss of support systems)
- Learn about disaster probability (Personal-Localized-Regional-State-National-Global)
- Determine your most probable “personal”, “local” and “regional”
- Start window shopping for “country land” or an “urban homestead”
- Think of the children, won’t someone please think of the children (seriously think of your children)
- Assess your “normal preparations”
- Take ownership of your plan and your life
Resources for today’s show…
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show.
Monday, October 5th, 2009
Today on The Survival Podcast I have the privilege of interviewing John McCann, owner of Survival Resources and the author of, “Build the Perfect Survival Kit”. John has appeared on the Martha Stewart Show and been published in the New York Times.
John has a long history in the survival industry and you talk to him and read his work you quickly realize that he really loves what he does for a living. He has spent years in the bush out of a pure passion for the outdoors and over those years experimented with various components, configuration and construction techniques for making survival kits. He continues to this day to refine the process and personally train students.
Resources for today’s show…
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show.
You also now can call in questions or comments for the host at 866-65-THINK, (866-658-4465) please read the suggestions for calling in before you do for the best chance of getting your comments on the air.
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
Today’s podcast covers putting together a bug out bag (BOB), also known as the 72 hour kit or three day survival bag. In today’s show we cover things like what goes in a BOB, what type of bag is best to use, the purpose of a bug out kit and more.
Today we discuss,
- The purpose of a 72 Hour Kit – getting to safety not spending three days at home.
- Ideas for food items that keep you nourished on the go and are easy to obtain
- The advantages of a “back pack” over a duffel bag
- Ideas for wet weather and sleeping gear
- My view of what makes a good survival knife
- Rechargeable lighting options
- Making sure you have the ability to purify water
- The value of maps, a gps and a compass
- Why a poncho is not a good wet weather gear option
- Ideas to save space and weight
- Various “hard gear” equipment options
- Methods of self defense that won’t be confiscated by authorities during a disaster
- The value of a simple small tool kit
The list presented in the podcast is by no means complete. If you have ideas and suggestions please leave them in the comments below.
Resources for this podcast,
Daily House Cleaning Items
On Survival Gear and Options
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show.
You also now can call in questions or comments for the host at 866-65-THINK, (866-658-4465) please read the suggestions for calling in before you do for the best chance of getting your comments on the air.
– John’s Book
– My Favorite “Survival Knife”
