have you seen this?

http://www.examiner.com/article/dhs-to-intensify-attacks-on-freedom-oriented-citizens

and

http://www.examiner.com/article/citizens-jailed-on-trumped-up-charges-a-foretaste-of-coming-woes

how do we reach people

The few who follow me here, like me, are preparing. Preparing for some future that is unstable and unsure. Some of the changes that are to come can be alleviated, and maybe even diverted, if people were paying attention. and how do we convince people that these are changes are coming unless each and every one of us acts? How do we shake up the politicians? How do we shake up the person who is so comfortable there thoughts are of little else beyond that! Know so many who have basically turned over everything in life to “THEM”. They who will take care of it. They who will do something about it. They who are elected officials and somehow this gives them some knowledge and power that will keep everything A-OK! and as long as it is not in their backyard, and they remain comfortable, its all good.

realize that there are a lot of folks out there who feel the world their children and grandchildren inherit is that generations problem. What happened to the “7 generations” idea that was supposed to govern our actions? and being of the generation that came into power in the 60’s, I know that many of my peers have tuned out, and dropped out, of the idea of social change! as far as they are concerned, Earth Day has done its job!

What started this tirade? This article http://finance.yahoo.com/news/public-health-emergency-way-more-214209248.html. At one time I’d have shared this on Facebook, but more and more of my ‘friends’ only want to see pictures of cute animals and flowers. Do not want to engage in a discussion of this type. This is downer stuff and if we only do goodness and light everything will be okay!

Yes, I’m preparing. But I’d much rather see my preparations be for naught! I’d much rather be teaching my children and grandchildren different skills, and that survival skills are for fun, and camping, and are basic techniques on which we can build knowledge and develop other skills. Not that our very existence depends on them!

Of course, to change this course, we not only have to vote differently, we have to live differently. We have to give up STUFF. We have to give up our garbage. We have to support each other, not isolate ourselves in our homes with our computers being the only way we engage one another.

Oh yes, I love the world of internet shopping. Where I can sit here and research what fruit trees will augment our garden best. ( Since I live in a community where there are already apricots, plums, pears, peaches and several variety of apples, I’ve chosen blueberries, fig and pomegranate.)

I can research and purchase rain water harvesting tanks and equipment.

I can buy a rocket stove, a canner, a slow cooker, a vacuum sealer, a solar powered battery module, all without leaving my home.

I can buy yarn, a sewing machine.

All of which are not negative impacts on my local merchants as there are no local merchants for this stuff other than walmart!

At the same time, I’ve narrowed down our garbage so much that when my last fat can was full, I was looking for where and how I could find another as we use so little commercially canned food here! Rather than additional garbage cans, I needed another composter (closed systems work best here in the dry SW) as I’m overwhelming the two I have.

None of this is hard. and in doing all I’ve been doing I’m saving $$$! But it is work. and my “friends” would rather be sailing, or attending brunch, or the movies, or going on vacation to Europe. Or the zillion other things I’ve heard, including “there is nothing I can do about these things, so I don’t pay attention to the news”.

I’m glad I’m an oldster now. another 20 years, maybe 30. But what of the children? who don’t even know how to boil a pot of water! much less where it came from and how to get it when it stops running from the taps.

sigh. Guess it is too depressing to think about.

am I the only one?

Now, I realize that we all have slightly different ideas about what is going to happen at teotwawki. Some see a general decline in just about everything until we reach the tipping point that will result in the precipitous decline in everything – see my hand raised? Some see it will happen due to an EMP, an accident like Fukishima, volcanic erruptions, as well as Alien invasions, something like the movie Red Dawn, etc. Some of you are just preparing for more or less short term disasters like flood, blizzard, hurricane, tornado. Some are hoping it won’t happen in our life time and our stash will just help us get through our Golden years a little better – my hand is raised here too.

But, as I read books and magazines and see Prepper shows, it occurs to me that not only do we have different POV’s on what and how deep this is will be, but what life will truly be like on the other side.

Case in point, canned goods. Okay, I truly get CANNED goods vs home canned goods. But what are you going to do with that garbage on the other side? there isn’t going to be an garbage truck coming by on Monday! Where I live, this area had people living here from about the mid/late 60’s (the first house was mid 1950), and garbage collection didn’t begin until the 80’s. So back in the woods is our modern “midden heap”. Oh, there are a certain number of things that can be done with old cans, but our modern “tin” cans are not as good a quality as the old ones which could even be connected to make a chimney! I think modern cans would burn out from the heat!

The toilet paper issue. Yes, TP storage takes up a LOT of space, so instead “re-useable cloths”? Having grown up in the days of cloth diapers, yes there is an ick factor, but for right now, it makes a certain amount of sense. reduce waste in a general manner. Of course, washing them requires bleach and hot water and will not be good grey water for the garden; not now, and not post when the SHTF! Since I live in drought area, extra water useage that can’t be recycled also has to be balanced with compostable waste paper . . and post SHTF, are you going to want to use your limited supplies of drinking water for that purpose? within that scenario, paper plates have a certain place too – after using them for food they are fuel for the cooking fire!

and the plastic! bleach containers used to be glass, so to were vinegar and the water jugs. Now its all plastic. We won’t be able to recycle the plastic, & it won’t have much use post SHTF! at least glass bottles can be part of cob walls as decoration and light transmission! plastic will just have to go into that midden heap. And if you read history, you will know more than one civilization was destroyed by the size of its garbage pile!

And how much stuff are you buying and storing? Yes, we have certain technologies that will make living in a post disaster world much more comfortable than our forefathers had it! We will have solar power, we will have rocket stoves, we’ll have MRE’s, we’ll have laptops, DVD players and MP3 players – all of which we can keep going for entertainment and information storage. My vacuum sealer runs on 12V. LED lights that run on 12V or through a USB. Of course, I’ve also got stashed some oil lamps and the appropriate oil. We are definitely STUFF oriented folks and don’t think we can much manage without our STUFF.

Clothing . . do you have needle and thread in your stash? cloth? knitting yarn? knitting needles? how long will your sneakers last vs old fashioned leather shoes?

Yeah, I see a lot of fear mongering without the true understanding of what we will need in that future. without a mindest ready to deal with BASIC needs and issues, it will be a very tough life regardless of how much “stuff” we’ve got.

And that reminds me to go charge up my Goal Zero battery . . . .