When Did You "Wake Up" or "Get It" Regarding Preparedness?
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I grew up in a society where there was no debt (since there was hardly any credit), to me financial preparedness is #1 rule of self sufficiency - always be employed, have alternate streams of income if possible, have no debt etc.
I see a lot of people spending money on properties, homes, supplies etc. and going into debt over those. Bad idea, IMHO.
I think many things today are way better than they were a 100 years ago. I also think there are things today that are worse than a 100 years ago. Technology makes it easy for many people to be self sufficient but it also makes it easy for many people to propagate and be a burden on society. It is a double edged sword.
My wake up call has always been population explosion and resource depletion. Unfortunately, short of discovering a way to relocate people to other planets, I think this planet is doomed.
I do not worry about government overreach (it is already here and has been growing since early 20th century), I worry more about immediate stuff like water pollution, soil depletion, chemicals in the food etc. etc. Too many people, not enough water and proper food. That will do it for bad times.
Don't forget to put copies of your favorite pictures in your bugout bag.
Sometimes I think a person needs to live thru a disaster, or at least be threatened by one, before they finally wake up. I don't prep for Ebola, or zombies, but I do prep for hurricanes, tornadoes and floods!
I have children, and am expecting my first grandchild soon. For their sake, I in no way want "something bad to happen", but my gut instinct is that some things are too far gone now to turn around before hitting rock bottom first, and I guess that is what makes me want to feel somewhat "prepared" for that, rather than caught off guard. Yes, in the past, whenever there has been civil unrest, natural disasters, etc. order has been restored eventually. Until maybe it isn't.
I'm generally a pretty optimistic person, at times I have been to a fault. But over the last 15 years of so, including 9/11, it's a persistent, uneasy feeling I have in some ways, and an outright disgust in others. I don't think our government has much of a handle on things anymore, so I'm surely not going to depend on that. What I do see in the way of news reeks of corporate and government corruption, greed, mindless celebrity worship, and in some cases, outright evil. There's something bad boiling beneath the surface when people are taking out their whole families or killing innocent people at random - weekly.
Some things you obviously can't prevent. And most of us don't have the resources for "survival retreats". I'm not even sure if all that's necessary. But there are some things you can do, just to perhaps give yourself a little better odds in an adverse situation. Be economically prudent and frugal, learn some self-sufficiency skills, get healthy, be aware of your surroundings, and distance yourself from people who may have problems you don't need in your life. These are the things I feel compelled to do.
A great post. Let me start by retracting the wanting something bad to happen. That was too far and inflammatory. It's the cynic in me thinking someone's making a buck off the trend. Here in San Jose a scare point will hit once in awhile and my wife will scramble to the stores. There's been a couple times where bottled water is sold out and the big bags of rice have are gone at raised price levels.
That said, I agree with the overall unease. World debt levels have swelled, well beyond the amount of money in existence. Families are stretched and neighborhoods aren't what they once were. Multiple points of view in a workplace, backed by compelling reasons, seems archaic. Food and water resources are under strain. Pollution levels rise. Maniac groups can get access to more weapons, and can infiltrate areas never dreamed possible via hacking. Crony capitalism seems to be a status quo. Medical advances are aimed at developing expensive treatments rather than cures. Faith based organizations sometimes divide as much as they unite. I'm optimistic that technology keeps us moving forward, but there's certainly dangers.
What you've suggested makes sense. Taking a bit of time to take stock on where one is at would be good.
I have pretty much always been awake and aware of the reality the elite is trying to force on everyone.... I can see above that,outside of it........ I can see THE REAL "REALITY" of this hellish place called earth and its not pretty!! (Started going downhill in the late 70s)
My wake up call has always been population explosion and resource depletion. Unfortunately, short of discovering a way to relocate people to other planets, I think this planet is doomed.
I worry more about immediate stuff like water pollution, soil depletion, chemicals in the food etc. etc. Too many people, not enough water and proper food. That will do it for bad times.
You're repeating some of the myths not supported by the data.
Fifty percent of humans live within 50 miles of an ocean (!) That leaves one heckuva lot of empty space for the other 50% of us. We have 7 billion people in the world now, but @ 8 sq ft per, 10 billion could all tread water in L.Superior at one time (except for me. I can't tread water).
Seventy per cent of the planet's surface is water. We don't have a shortage of water. And we produce plenty of food for 12 billion +. We have a distribution problem, not a shortage.
With the possible exception of the rare earths (& common sense) in a hi tech society, we are in danger of depleting NO natural resource. I challenge you to name one, if you disagree.
Over the past several years, the major midwest ag states all report ZERO net soil loss from erosion. Farmers are getting good about using no-till, drain tiling & cover crops. (You could look it up.)
US rivers are not dying due to chemical or sewage pollution, but because their natural flow patterns have been disrupted for flood control by the Army Corp o Engineers.
CountrySue's comment is very wise: make most of your planning efforts for the things most likely to happen
You're repeating some of the myths not supported by the data.
Fifty percent of humans live within 50 miles of an ocean (!) That leaves one heckuva lot of empty space for the other 50% of us. We have 7 billion people in the world now, but @ 8 sq ft per, 10 billion could all tread water in L.Superior at one time (except for me. I can't tread water).
Seventy per cent of the planet's surface is water. We don't have a shortage of water. And we produce plenty of food for 12 billion +. We have a distribution problem, not a shortage.
With the possible exception of the rare earths (& common sense) in a hi tech society, we are in danger of depleting NO natural resource. I challenge you to name one, if you disagree.
Over the past several years, the major midwest ag states all report ZERO net soil loss from erosion. Farmers are getting good about using no-till, drain tiling & cover crops. (You could look it up.)
US rivers are not dying due to chemical or sewage pollution, but because their natural flow patterns have been disrupted for flood control by the Army Corp o Engineers.
CountrySue's comment is very wise: make most of your planning efforts for the things most likely to happen
Nope, I think YOU are repeating myths.
Drinking water is a resources that is fast getting depleted. We have cities like Dallas, Phoenix, Las Vegas etc. that were built in areas that can never support such populations. They have to pipe water in from surrounding areas but all areas are fast growing in population. Your statements include a lot of places that are otherwise uninhabitable. Could YOU survive in the Sonoran desert or in SW Texas without a water well?
There are numerous counties in just United States that are well past carrying capacity (look that term up). The whole system is designed to shuffle things between areas of the country that produce something and areas of the country that produce something else. So, a place like California produces almonds and veggies while a place like Dallas produces diddly-squat, yet, there are millions of people breeding and consuming in Dallas. Long-term such places are unsustainable (both Dallas or California).
Quite a few animal species are gone or on the verge of being gone - they are links in a chain. What do you think will happen when these links disappear and start disappearing on a larger scale?
US rivers ARE dying from over-use, pollution AND due to flow pattern disruption. Ever driven by the Rio Grande? It looks like a tiny little trickle and its otherwise wide bed is dry a lot of the time. Why? 'Cause everyone and their mother dips into it for agriculture (pecans in the desert???) playing farmer in the high desert. This, in turn, supports population growth that would not otherwise be supported in reality. In addition, the Rio Grande is polluted as hell. So on and so on.
Ever heard of climate change? Another tax on the resources.
There are quite a few counties in United States with "frontier" populations (by definition <2 people per square mile). Ask yourself why that is. The places where life is actually possible are over populated and over producing as it is and their limits are stretched (look no further than California for this) - one large natural event like a prolonged drought and bam - you got a major problem.
We recently spent two months in the Big Bend. Beautiful area, very arid obviously. There are people moving there daily. Because of companies like Amazon and UPS, life has become possible. Today there are (for the sake for argument let's say) 1,000 people there and many, many more coming for vacations and leaving. Many of the locals do not have water wells but they depend on water bottles or they buy water from a few places that have wells drilled. What happens when there are 100,000 people there and they all drill wells?
Until we start spaying and neutering - we will be sliding more and more downhill. Most of today's problems are caused by a simple cause: competition for dwindling resources and lack of space.
I started out slowly. We had a snowstorm and I couldn't get milk. Then later on there was a storm where we lost electricity for 3 days, and then 9/11, and Hurricane Sandy... and I started to wonder and worry what I would do if we lost power completely for a long time, or if some nut job knocked out our electric and computer systems, and that's when I started prepping.
My kids who are in their late 30's think I'm a little nutty for doing this.
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Then later on there was a storm where we lost electricity for 3 days, and then 9/11, and Hurricane Sandy... and I started to wonder and worry what I would do if we lost power completely for a long time, or if some nut job knocked out our electric and computer systems, and that's when I started prepping. 
