Published on August 25th, 2021
In this episode I discuss the aspects of our modern life that need to be prepared for that we don’t have societal redundancy. Whether it be food, water, medicine, or technology, we need to make some decisions now while we still have the opportunity to secure the right stuff. Today I hope to have a conversation about all of the skills that we may need in a catastrophic disaster.So with that said let’s talk about what it means to be self-sufficient, and what it means to our overall chance of success in surviving a natural disaster when we retain our abilities to stay self-sufficient.
Greetings to all my friends (both new and old), to my wonderful family, my fellow Alaskans, and my fellow Americans, wherever you are. Welcome to the Alaska Outlaw podcast, I am the Alaska Outlaw, thank you so much for joining me today. In this episode we’ll talk about the skills you’ll need to ensure that you have so you can survive regardless what natural, or man-made disaster comes your way. We’ll also talk a little bit about the self-sufficiency that can help us restore mother earth back to her former glory.
But, before we get after it today, I’d like to make sure that, for those of you who seek peace of mind and harmony with the world we find ourselves in today, or just need help in making sense of life, be sure to check out the Alaska Outlaw Forn-sidr podcast at http://forn-sidr.akoutlaw.com. After 30 years of spiritual searching and discovery, I have arrived home. Home to the ideology of of my ancestors. Home of a proud Germanic-Dane heritage. Some really good stuff for you there. Also, another second just to give a shout-out for our sponsors and affiliates:
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All right so with that said, let’s talk about what those skills are. Firstly let’s identify some situations that will drive self-sufficiency. First, let’s look at the self-sufficiency’s based on our fab five. Everybody remember those? That’s right, air, heat, food, water. In no particular order, oh wait, yes they are. So, the first thing we need to address is air. We need to make sure that we have a method of clearing the air so that we can maintain life, got to be able to breathe.So let’s talk about what skill you need for that. Obviously, a methodology at which to filter the air is going to become paramount. Therefore, it’s a skill to ensure we have the proper filters, and that we are addressing a particular particulate issue that’s in the air that we’re trying to breathe.What does it take to remove methane from the air? If you don’t know chances are you may want to look that up now before you actually have to deal with it.
Next up is the heating situation. Ultimately this is a temperature control situation. So we may be talking about needing heat, or we may be talking about needing cool air.Either way these are going to be skills that you want to make sure that you’re comfortable with before it’s actually required. These are going to be pretty important in a fairly short order after a natural, or man-made disaster.
Next up, everyone’s going to need to eat. So creating a food source, or more importantly, a resilient food source, is critical. Home, outdoor gardens may have a controlled growing season, but there are other opportunities always available. Talking about concepts like hydroponics, and possibly a bartering system with neighbors to secure vegetables you were in capable of growing yourself. Indoor gardens could possibly be added as well as some of the other sources that could allow us to create a resilient food source right now. Again, another skill set that you’re going to have to investigate so that you are prepared should the worst ever come to fruition.
Finally, water. Everybody’s got to have water. So creating a method to keep clean water, or making potable water from whatever sources you can find.This is going to be a critical skills necessary for successful survival. Regardless whether you’re talking about drilling your yard for the water table, finding a stream close by, or desalinating ocean water. The idea that you have to have drinkable water for yourselves, your family members, and any household pets should be first and foremost in your mind here.
Well we’ve covered the fab five, however there are a couple other skills that we might want to investigate as we look at being self-sufficient. Probably chief amongst them would be first aid skills. This does not mean super, super basic first aid, it means that almost anything could be treated at home. Being self-sufficient you have to kind of look at the big picture and think about any time that you require outside assistance, or help for any particular task.
What about weaponry, and self-defense? Here are some other skills that you may need depending on the situation. These are things that we should prepare for now, that way when push comes to shove we are not in such trouble. Included in the section might be the use of knives, axes, other bladed weapons, such as bow and arrow to secure a food should things get that bad. Again preparedness is 99% of the battle.Another potential might be the use of a chainsaw, or large handtools to secure your home, your residence, or to unbury vital preps. When talking about chainsaws, or axes, this may be able to be used to secure firewood to provide us with heat or a cooking option.
Another area that we might consider a skill set, would be communications. This is going to include things like obviously your local AM/FM radio, potentially short wave, VHF/UHF radios and other communication sources that could give us up-to-date information, it might provide us with communications with others, all kinds of benefits.This speaks volumes about self-sufficiency.
We have just scratched the surface of becoming self-sufficient. There is tons of research to be done to ensure that we are capable of surviving regardless what event drives it. Becoming self-sufficient not only allows us to feel comfortable with being prepared for a natural, or man-made disaster, however some of these skills can benefit greatly mother earth. And that’s kind of the other part of the real benefit here is that mother earth can be restored. By planting things we can help digest some of the CO2, granted it’s a small part, however if there is enough of us that do it, we can get things back in line.
With all that said, let’s look at five essential skills necessary for surviving the zombie apocalypse.
- Food Preparation and storage.
- Shelter establishment or construction
- First aid you family and pets
- Fresh water establishment
- Personal security.
Now we can go on and on about each of these bullet items, but suffice to say there is a list a mile long outside of this list that you could conceptually learn about now before things got tough.
Food prep and storage. This idea is a couple-of-fold. Firstly, we need to be able to store food so that it doesn’t spoil. This could mean developing some sort of cooling mechanism, or heat source. Obviously, one of the biggest factors here will be the season. Right? Middle of summer you live in Arizona, you’re going to need a way to cool meats and other things that spoil with heat. The other side of the equation essentially says we got to be able to cook it, now there are many foods that don’t need to be cooked, can be eaten raw. However the key is to make sure that we cook me enough to where we don’t cause a health hazard by eating.
Shelter and/or construction methods. This one’s kind of tough. You need to be able to understand when an interior or exterior wall is suffice enough to be secure. You’re also going to need to understand doors and other methods of securing the camp. That could mean blocking up windows it could be blocking up doors it could be blocking up walls, whatever it takes you need to be able to make sure that the residence is secure enough for you and your family to reside in, and provide that temperature control that you need. Obviously, like the first paragraph we this is completely dependent on the season. If it’s the dead of winter we need to make sure we can get some heat, dead of summer we need to make sure that we can have mechanisms of cooling.
We’ve talked about it a lot, but I can’t stress the importance of being able to treat oneself from minor injuries. The underlying concept that I want to put into your mind here is that particularly during a large scale disaster, the medical community is going to be overwhelmed and unable to provide you with particularly smaller injury remedies. You need to be able to make sure that you could take care of yourself and your family from most of the injuries that you can receive during this type an event. Obviously there will be injuries that can be incurred that are above and beyond what could normally be treated at home, this is something that we will have to deal with on a case by case basis. Primarily we want to make sure that we can take care of most of the lighter stuff. Again, we also want to make sure that we can take care of pets. What most people don’t ever prepare for is when plates and glasses in vases fall off the shelves and shatter across the floor, most people don’t think about injuries to the pets paws that can be incurred because they do not understand. In addition any type of gas that is released i.e. natural gas, or some form of other gaseous vapors, pets don’t understand that, so you need to be able to treat them for that injury, or prevent them from getting that injury.
Fresh water establishment and storage. One of the big things we find in most major disasters, is the lack of potable water. Many people prepare for 3 to 5 days of water, for family members only. What many people fail the plan for is the additional water that may be necessary for pets, or injuries. In addition sanitation and cleanup could be included in that water usage as well. Again, the other facet to storing water, is this idea that it has a shelflife. Water needs to be rotated periodically, particularly if it’s tap water that you’ve used and refilled old bottles to store in your garage, or under sink or something. They need to be replaced periodically to ensure they don’t get contaminated. Again all the math provided by most disaster organizations, state that we need to have 1 gallon of water per person per day, and a gallon per pet per day of fresh water stored. Optionally, if you have the skills, you can purify water, which provides you with a resilient and redundant water source.
Finally we get to personal security. Personal security is not only securing your person, but also your residence, your vehicle, potentially your yard, and ultimately expanding to possibly including your community. The key to security is understanding your neighborhood. By being able to identify who should, and who should not, be in your neighborhood at any given time give us a better chance of more quickly identifying issues and getting them resolved peacefully. Unfortunately in the modern day world we live in many people will try to take advantage of neighborhoods impacted, particularly following a disaster of a larger scale. Realizing that security will be at an all time low, and the police are detained providing first responder services, the world is their oyster, so to speak.
We’ve talked about it many times, and really the idea here is to get educated now before the necessity arrives. The key to any skill that you may determine that you need, is to get the skill before it’s needed, get the training as that will help us get to where we want to be.
As always my friends, I am honored and humbled that you have chosen to spend this time listening to me. I deeply appreciate each and every one of you. Being prepared provides each of us with the confidence for successful survival. We mentioned before, and will certainly say again, that survival is a 90% mental task. By having a confidence and discipline, we can and will survive. Remember to be strong, be safe, and keep your head on a swivel… Peace.
