Sustainability – A Discussion

by fren2ken

As a youngster who romped around my rural home and the deep woods areas of the Northcountry, I learned many valuable lessons about being well prepared for unanticipated natural conditions. They have taught me lessons about sustainability, as we now term it in our adult years. There is nothing quite like getting caught in an unforeseen cold rainstorm without shelter or a good fire to keep you warm and dried out. At that time (back in "prehistory") we had to pack canned foods on our trips or, hunt for our food. Freeze-Dried camp foods hadn't been available back then. We hated to haul the extra weight ... and sometimes paid the price for it.

As I grew into adulthood, these experiences stuck in my memory. I watched the drama of world events unfold, both in politics and in nature, and felt uneasy about how delicate "civilized" humanity's condition was. That is when I became what is known nowadays as a "Prepper". At the time, the only available label was "Survivalist". I was determined to train and learn as much as I could of technology and maintained my survival skills by training our youth in wilderness survival skills. This also started me planning to become as independent of external factors as possible.

I have come to understand that merely Prepping, storing food, securing long term shelter and, arming oneself, was not enough. To maintain a reasonable level of comfort and satisfaction, one must learn additional skills. Stockpiling building supplies, metals, and hand tools is also required. After all, what good is your shelter if the roof blows off and you don't have the skills, materials and tools to repair it? If you can't repair your equipment and shelter, you will become just another refugee. I have seen many blogs and other discussions which cover obtaining sustainable food supplies, how to protect yourself and family, and build up supplies and shelter. My intent is to get you thinking about the nuts-and-bolts of surviving beyond that first 6-months and into an uncertain future.

If it has become too late for you to gain some of these skills, or are mega-unhandy, this is a good time to cultivate a good relationship with another Prepper who may be able to assist you. Gathering good contacts with Preppers who able to fulfill each other's knowledge gap is a very good thing to do. This is called forming a Self Organizing Collective (SOC). I encourage you, if you have not already done so, reach out to other Preppers and form such associations. If we do not support each other, we will eventually go the same way as the Sheeple already did..... much to our chagrin.

We often focus too intently on short term goals. While that is fine and good to do, thought needs to be given to the long term too. I hope that I have caused you to consider the question of, “What happens in 2nd 6-months of craziness? The 2nd year of insanity? The 3rd?”. Keep building your plans. Keep prepping but, think about the longer term and add that plan to your prepping too. Try to establish a support group (a SOC).