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THERESA'S THOUGHTS ON HOW & WHY TO PREPARE FOR EMERGENCIES

FROM EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS TO SELF-SUFFICIENCY

I have never been able to pretend that emergencies won't happen to me and have never felt that being prepared for them is silly.  When I was really young, I remember driving to visit family and going through Zenia, Ohio, the day after it had been flattened by a tornado.  There was one house standing, and everything else seemed to be rubble.  When I was older, I was in a tornado myself.  It took me almost a decade of Summers after that not to be frightened by every storm.  I refused to buy a house that did not have a basement for a tornado shelter.  I keep supplies to fall back on in case the worst happens. 

To me, emergency preparedness and self-sufficiency are intertwined.  The more self-sufficient we are, the less we have to worry about losing vital resources in an emergency.  They are two steps along a continuum.


SOME GOALS ALONG THE CONTINUUM:

REDUCE OUR DEPENDENCE:
  • on fossil fuels
  • on technology and infrastructure that we don’t understand or can’t control ourselves

PREPARE FOR THE EFFECTS (Emergency Preparedness): 
  • Determine what the most likely emergency situations are in your area (for us, that would be tornadoes and winter storms)
  • Gather supplies to be prepared for short term emergencies that cause a shut off of utilities (electricity, gas, water) 
  • Prepare stay at home supply kits and evacuation kits

ADDRESS THE CAUSE (become more self-reliant): 
  • create & live a lifestyle that reduces our dependence on utilities
  • prepare for the long term effects of Peak Oil (when fossil fuels become scarce)
  • relearn homesteading and self-sufficiency skills

CREATE SELF-SUFFICIENT COMMUNITIES:
  • prepare together with communities/villages- only a group of people working together will able to be truly self-sufficient
  • create local economies that are more resilient

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Copyright 2020 by Theresa & Rob Berrie