April 15, 2007

or one of my Yahoo groups yesterday, I wrote this as there was a growing heated discussion about Global warming, food saving and disasters:

"Change is constant.. people tend not to remember or want to change..."

Climate, economical, political... it always has been and it may also be so in our futures.

I have seen several things in the last few years, especially when I did Search and Rescue (SAR) and international training for it for 15 years. Most people do not prepare, most people do not think it will happen to them, most people either panic or wait for someone else to help them. For pity's sake, my brother cannot even change his windshield wipers on his car (honestly). This is not just a  North American thing, it is worldwide, it is just that the 3rd world countries my SAR unit went to, are used to having to make so without, recycle or "McGyver" things. But even they too.. alot of times wait for someone to help them.

  "Katrina", the hurricane which destivasted New Orleans, should have been a major wakeup call worldwide, but I think people only remember something for a limited time and then they get into the false sense of security again and fail to prepare.

  Honestly, I think KNOWLEDGE of what to do in as many situations as you can think of and train in them are more important than food supplies. Knowledge cannot be taken from you and is portable. One thing when me and my SAR  commander were traveling along in a vehicle or hiking for fitness training or whatever, was he would say "OK.. this is happening right now.. (we would be in a car in downtown Portland, Oregon.. which sits on 7-9 major fault lines).. we are having a 7.8 earthquake.. what would you do."... I would look around and see tall buildings, the MAX train, cars, the river and the TALL glass spires of the Oregon Convention Center which potentially could shatter glass further than my imagination. I had to think about all my scenario of what I would do, what I or who I would help first, what I would stay away from. How to survive. We then picked each others brains for ideas. It is second nature to me now and I "play that game" every now and again when I am driving or at home. We came up with all sorts of scenarios from a jet liner crashing into Beacon Rock to Washington Square shopping mall lights going out and cannot see... to .. lots of things...

Even if climate change is not happening (and it is.. ask me sometime about the rings on the 200 yr old trees here).. or at the heart of the problem, I feel everyone should be responsible for themselves or their family, if anything happens. That said.. even small kids ought to know what to do in some situations. .

Last winter up here, we had the power go out more often than we ever have. We at our house did not even have to blink an eye. My bf's parents took up residence in their motor home for 3 days for heat and cooking.. we nearly had a whole herd of people here from town (with the stipulation they had to bring bedding and water) as life was pretty normal up here at our place. We had heat and lights and food and everything we needed to know. Even on a first power outage of of the year which was 4 hours.. people were like "What do I do"? THAT amazed me.. people up here really need to know how to be more self sufficient than that and I know most people in the States I know are even less self sufficient than that.

Even if you live in an apartment, you need to know what you need to do in case the power goes out for days, which has happened in large cities before. The Northeast Blackout of 2003 affected an estimated 10 million people in the province of Ontario (about one-third of the population of Canada), and 40 million people in eight U.S. states (about one-seventh of the population of the U.S.).

Make sure you have foods which do not require cooking.. and a manual can opener floating around somewhere. Make sure you have bottled water. If you don't have bottled water, make sure you know where you can get it or make it. Yes.. make it.

Study, study, study and put it to practice now and again. At the very least, find a place to camp for the weekend (even if you put up a tent in your livingroom or backyard) with no one taking anything which won't fit in a backpack. You will quickly figure out what is critical and what wasn't.

Do I store food and supplies? You bet I do. It saves our family money ($5,000-8,000 a year savings), trips to the store (and I hate going to town), we can get blocked in due to weather. It banks food against inflation (that word does not look spelled correctly, but bear with me.. I am still sick).

Historically, famines have occurred because of drought, other weather related issues (such as the lettuce all drowning a few years ago or the oranges freezing again) crop failure and pestilence, and because of man-made causes such as war or misguided economic policies. The largest famine ever (proportional to the affected population) was the Irish Potato Famine, which began in 1845 and was caused from mono-cropping the "Lumper" potato and the "Lumper" potato got a blight. Wheat has been on the nail-biting edge of a mass issue for years now. Even when I was in High School they were talking about it, as there are only 5 main varieties of wheat being grown even then and how a wheat blight could devastate and destroy the wheat crops. I am nervous that the "Terminator" crops could be even worse than the "Lumper" potato epidemic.. as the "Lumper" did not turn all other potatoes and crops sterile and not able to reproduce.

As many of you know, I am into medieval reinactment and history.. The Great Famine of 1315 to 1317 was the first crisis that would strike Europe in the 14th century, millions in northern Europe would die over an extended number of years, marking a clear end to the earlier period of growth and prosperity during the 11th and 12th centuries. Starting with bad weather in the spring of 1315, universal crop failures lasted until the summer of 1317, from which Europe did not fully recover until 1322. Then it happened again in the late 1500's. That is just one example of many famines throughout history. Crop failure is not a new thing and North America is WAY overdue for it.

There are a whole handful of reasons as to why I store food, raise food.. it is ranging from knowing where my food comes from, saving heritage breeds and varieties, saving money and it is FUN!

Two years ago (maybe 3).. there were dockworker strikes on the docks in California and food did not get distributed for days which effected grocery shelves all over the US and Canada.

Look at the current headlines on TV and in the papers.. What about the honey bee problem right now? First it was American Foulbrood, then the Varroa mite and now this 'new' disease.. "Colony Collapse Disorder".. which they have NO HANDLE on yet and it is affecting bee colonies all over the world now. Surviving colonies are often so weak that they are not viable pollinating or honey-producing units. This too is a famine and a famine that will effect lots of other foodstuffs. The Pacific Northwest reported significant losses of more than 50 percent.

Then there is the wheat gluton poisoned dog and cat food thing going on and on.. which easily could have been in the human food..

Should we be worried? I think so. But it is a multi faceted thing. It is not just climate change, it is not  just GMO, it is not just disease.. it is not just ____________ (fill in the blank).. it is many things all intricately combined in an awful dance. Some of it is man-made (probably the majority), some of it is natural.. and some of it is ill luck.

WE need to figure out how we can solve these things. Again.. as it is not a easy fix either.. it is as complex as how it all got started. But EACH of us need to do our little part in keeping it from escalating, EACH of us need to help solve it.. and EACH of us needs to educate and prepare ourselves in whatever manner we feel we need to as what to do to survive if a disaster falls in our laps, locally or worldwide.

tenzicut
http://www.downtotherootsmagazine.com