Prepping (disaster resilience)

[Ystranc]

Firstly I would like to attempt to clear up a few misconceptions that have built up regarding prepping. We're not all yearning for the end of the world as we know it (I for one quite like the world just how it is). There are people that dream of the rest of society being wiped out (and along with a few other worthy individuals being able to start over and rebuild the world in their own way) they are not so much preppers, probably just discontented dreamers suffering from a god complex.

There seems to have been a prevailing attitude in the UK that planning ahead (to mitigate some form of accident or disaster) rather than leaving it all up to the authorities is somehow a little bit odd...maybe it is but in the the last few years our government managment process has unfortunately proven to be slow to respond in some instances. Our emergency services are excellent but overstretched.
Essentially, doing anything by committee takes time and that is how governments and local authorities work, it isn't that your government doesn't care, they are accountable for an awful lot of other things and constrained by limited resources. In an emergency, time is the one resource that you're usually short of so having a a plan, a few basic tools/supplies, the knowledge of how to use them and enough information to know when to use them could dramatically improve the outcome of any incident. Whether it's a major or minor event.....in effect you are just helping yourself and hopefully the people around you.

 

[Baytree]

It probably isn't helped by tv programmes like "Doomsday Preppers" either which strive only to sensationalise what is in effect just a common sense approach to things. Guns especially come in for the over the top treatment with too much emphasis . What are essentially just tools to bring home a dinner become the basis for starting a small war . I had never really encountered the term prepper until a few years ago and my parents certainly never had but looking at how they lived ( and how I have continued) , stores of food etc , growing their own , living within ones means and having quite a degree of self reliance they would be more than likely classed as preppers now.

 

[Joecole]

Firstly I would like to attempt to clear up a few misconceptions that have built up regarding prepping. We're not all yearning for the end of the world as we know it (I for one quite like the world just how it is). There are people that dream of the rest of society being wiped out (and along with a few other worthy individuals being able to start over and rebuild the world in their own way) they are not so much preppers, probably just discontented dreamers suffering from a god complex.

There seems to have been a prevailing attitude in the UK that planning ahead (to mitigate some form of accident or disaster) rather than leaving it all up to the authorities is somehow a little bit odd...maybe it is but in the the last few years our government managment process has unfortunately proven to be slow to respond in some instances. Our emergency services are excellent but overstretched.
Essentially, doing anything by committee takes time and that is how governments and local authorities work, it isn't that your government doesn't care, they are accountable for an awful lot of other things and constrained by limited resources. In an emergency time is the one resource that you're usually short of so having a a plan, a few basic tools/supplies, the knowledge of how to use them and enough information to know when to use them could dramatically improve the outcome of any incident, whether it's major or minor......in effect you are just helping yourself and hopefully the people around you.

Morning mate, firstly I personally am not anti prepping simply because most of us who have lived a bit on the wild side are preppers in our own right probably without realising it. What I can't get my head round is the lengths that hard core preppers go to. Some I've read about would need a 10 tonne truck to move all the kit they have horded over the years. I like to think that I can get everything I need for myself and my family into a single rucksack and be able to survive for a week or more in the woods. The important thing for me is knowledge of my local area (for me about a 20 mile radius of my house) where I can find water, where the food sources are and I'm lucky I guess because I'm very familiar with those things. What is the threat level? That very much determines where I'm going to go and what I'm going to take. I think probably that we older generation especially ex military have a far better chance of surviving in a given situation than a lot of the younger fitter people around us.

 

[Ystranc]

Absolutely, Baytree. Self reliance is a major part of prepping but we even tend to ignore the less glamorous side of prepping which is the resilience part of it...the ability to bounce back from an incident, any incident. Not all disasters are going to shake the world as we know it down to its foundation. some disasters may be entirely personal and must be dealt with on a small scale.

 

[Ystranc]

Joe, I wasn't even intending to go near the whole 'bug out bag' thing in this thread but since you've led me there I would ask if your rucksack contains copies of identification papers, digitally stored copies of irreplaceable images, insurance contracts and an inventory of your homes contents? This is the more mundane side of prepping that I was thinking of when I started this thread.

 

[Joecole]

Joe, I wasn't even intending to go near the whole 'bug out bag' thing in this thread but since you've led me there I would ask if your rucksack contains copies of identification papers, digitally stored copies of irreplaceable images, insurance contracts and a inventory of your homes contents? This is the more mundane side of prepping that I was thinking of when I started this thread.

My wallet contains all the identification I need Ystranc and I think the other bits you mention would depend very much on the situation, is it something that has happened very quickly or is it something I have a bit of time to prepare for

 

[Ystranc]

I didn't really have a specific scenario in mind when I started, just a simple question because if you have some sort of incident such as a house fire where you all have to get out fast then the losses would be entirely personal. Having documentary evidence of your house contents would speed up the entire process of making a claim. Having digital copies of photos and contracts burned to a disk or on a usb stick will help you reproduce them at a later date.

 

[Joecole]

I didn't really have a specific scenario in mind when I started, just a simple question because if you have some sort of incident such as a house fire where you all have to get out fast then the losses would be entirely personal. Having documentary evidence of your house contents would speed up the entire process of making a claim. Having digital copies of photos and contracts burned to a disk or on a usb stick will help you reproduce them at a later date.

I agree totally, all my insurance documents etc are kept in a plastic wallet which can be grabbed at a seconds notice and my photos (the ones I want to keep) are stored on photo bucket so they will always be there

House contents, I keep all receipts of major purchases in with my insurance docs

 

[Ystranc]

I guess the point that I'm trying to get at is that a prepping lifestyle is as much about the little details and more mundane common sense items...the tents, fishing, firearms and campfires are the fun side of it, not that I would ever try to disparage them in any way because I love doing it.

 

[Ark79]

Easy to read and you make a good point. Looks to me as good information and the right way to think when starting of preparation. There shouldn’t be any stigma attached to this way of life or attitude. It’s self preservation as said before and a healthy structure.

Particularly like the point about guns. These are not weapons. As ystranc states above there tools to put food on the table and animal numbers down to a reasonable level. Fun to granted!

Anyway it’s a good attitude to have imo.

 

[MikeR]

Very well put Ystranc.
The media have a lot to answer for. It is they who have made anyone who has built resilience into their lifestyle worthy of mockery and a target for derision.

 

[Ystranc]

I will be honest and admit that there is a section of the prepper community that have invited ridicule by the media. I run across them regularly on American forums. All you can do to counter the more sensational news articles is try to continue putting the right information out there for people who will be helped by it.

 

[MikeR]

I will be honest and admit that there is a section of the prepper community that have invited ridicule by the media. I run across them regularly on American forums. All you can do to counter the more sensational news articles is try to continue putting the right information out there for people who will be helped by it.

You're not wrong and let's face it, we have our own pile of nutjobs over here too. It's time to take the reins and in your inimitable words put the right information out there for people who will be helped by it.

 

[Rathwulven BC]

Well, reading Ystranc's post (and just scanning the others, my apologies), I do have to say that - in my humble opinion - the prepper-community as such has gone too insane. Not because self-reliance is a bad thing, but because every day the community itself perpetuates the dogma of isolation, fear and sometimes even paranoid lunacy. I want to explain what I mean by that as I am not intending to offend those interested in self-reliance or comparable topics:

I come from a point of reference that is based on the German prepper-scene. Most of the social media groups, as well as many (more or less) famous youtubers of the German community are known for their very paramilitaristic and doomsday-like approach. Trying to be fair: SHTF can happen, yeah. But so could you just be hit by a truck crossing the road. We do not get the idea of blowing up all trucks with bazookas, right? Then why does the community perpetuate this, in my opinion, cult of fear? I met quite some hardcore-peppers during camps and conventions, and according to them, everything is a threat (or threatened). I heard folks talk about the "fact" that "all refugees are here to destroy our country". I heard folks talk about "the Russians", "the Americans", and many other factors that are "about to get us". Whatever that means. Everything is dangerous, everything is the "enemy".

Long story short: Over here, there is no differentiated view in the community as such. Even worse: Yesterday, a couple of loonies hiding automatic weapons and explosives have been uncovered by the federal police - of course resulting in another shitstorm about "prepping" as such, for whatever "prepping" means.

Those misconceptions Ystranc is talking about are, unfortunately, mostly the result of the conduct of individuals identifying themselves with the prepper-scene. Then pop-culture pics up that image and cultivates it (see: Doomsday Preppers or other shows featuring folks believing that storing 40 gallons of Sauerkraut will make them survive the next nuclear winter they're expecting every day).

But if we talk about attitude and image, I strongly believe (or know) that there needs to be a shift towards rationality within the community. A shift towards a more reflective and calm way of living, and away from complete irrationality.

One quote of the thread-author: "Our emergency services are excellent but overstretched." Great illustrational example - if we assume this, what do we do? Are we going to take a first aid-course or follow an education to become a medic? Or are we storing 1500 rounds of ammo and a sub machine gun with a scratched off serial number in our basement?

Again, please note I am note ridiculing normal folks interested in prepping here, self-sustainability is a great ideal and worth perpetuating. I just want to throw in a couple of thoughts to reflect on.

 

[MikeR]

Just so you know, this is the prepper section and we discuss prepping not what people think about preppers.

 

[Ystranc]

To be fair it was me that started talking about the media perception of Preppers Mike.
Rathwulven, if I could address the point that you make in your second to last paragraph I would choose the first aid course and a well stocked medical kit over automatic weapons and a cashe of ammunition every time. The problem with the hard line types that you describe is that they're not really prepping to preserve life or to survive, they're preparing to fight. they're at risk of becoming domestic terrorists.
I wouldn't describe them as Preppers, more like militia.

 

[Ystranc]

I suppose I started this thread because I'm just a little bit tired of the armchair warriors and doomsayers that have taken over a subject that should have more to do with common sense and co-operation, Rathwulven, you are quite correct when you talk of other prepping sites propagating an environment of isolation and paranoia, I hope that you don't find that on this forum. We're here for honest information exchange.