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7 Steps of Preparedness This is a general overview taken from talking notes for my New Day Seminar, which was offered in many California cities and Missoula, Montana in 1997 and 1998. The seminar included demonstrations and diagrams to support the material. If this is your first contact with these ideas, you'll need to buy books, take classes, or learn on your own how to handle the basics. You must learn exactly how to prepare food and water for storage. 1. WATER is most critical, because you can only live a few days without it, while you could live maybe two weeks to a month without food. You'll also need water to cook your food, assuming you've stocked storage food. You're primarily made up of water. 70% of the earth's surface is water. But all the fresh water available for human use and management amounts to less than 3% of the total. And of the tiny 3%, more than 80% of the fresh water on this planet is in the form of glacial ice and thus unavailable. Most of the remaining fresh water is underground. As the population and demands of agriculture increase world wide, the demand for this diminishing resource increases proportionately. It will increase ten times in the next century. In the event of a disaster, you can assume that the current system of water delivery will be affected. Even if the faucets in your home or apartment still work, the water will probably be polluted. SO WHAT DO YOU DO On average, we each use 150 gallons of water a day. Drinking, bathing/showering, in cooking, flushing the toilets, washing our dishes, washing clothes, watering the lawn, washing the car, et cetera. A normal person needs to drink 2 quarts of water per day, and you'll probably require more during a disaster situation. Realistically, you'll need water to cook and wash, so the minimum required is ONE GALLON FOR EACH MEMBER OF YOUR FAMILY for at least two weeks. For a family of four that's 56 gallons. AND that's assuming the crisis will be over in two weeks and things will return to normal. But we're talking a transitional event. That means you might be on your own for a very long time. For a family of four, to have enough water for a year would mean about 1500 gallons--an unrealistic goal to be sure unless you have a swimming pool in your backyard, and even if you do the water will go bad without power. 1. YOU'LL NEED TO STORE WATER. Water weighs about eight pounds a gallon, which creates problems when storing quantity. Water should be stored in new containers and should be rotated and stored with bleach or better, a water preserver which will stabilize the electrolytes of oxygen for five years. A product like Aerobic 07, selectively kills microbes, bacteria, parasites and viruses by over oxygenating the water. You can use straight liquid bleach with a single ingredient of sodium hypochlorite in it. 16 drops of bleach per gallon, or 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons. Never used powdered bleach or any bleach with softeners, scents, or color-fasteners, because they are poison. Don't store water in metal containers or reused food containers. Keep it stored away from any form of contaminates, such as petroleum-based products, fertilizers, etc. 2. LEARN HOW TO FILTER AND PURIFY WATER SO THAT IT'S SAFE TO DRINK. Assume that bacteria is everywhere. The MSR WATER WORKS II Ceramic filtration unit is probably the most effective American portable microfilter available. It removes Giardia and Cryptosporida and 99.99999% of Brevundimonas diminuta bacteria (0.3 micron), as well as many chemicals including pesticides, iodine, and taste/odor compounds. Under current circumstances that would be enough to make the water drinkable in America. But I'm not willing to count on current or normal conditions during a transitional phase. CLEAN WATER AS BEST YOU CAN. A sock filled with sand will take the gunk out of it. It still won't be clear or purified, but once you let it settle, ladle off the top and take the steps to purify. IF YOU'RE DEALING WITH REMOVING NUCLEAR FALLOUT FROM WATER. Bucket or barrel -- punch 3 small holes in bottom, then filled with a couple inches of gravel. Then fill the rest of the bucket with dirt taken from below the surface (clay soil is best). Lay a porous cloth on top of the dirt and add the contaminated water and allow it to filter through. This will take out 99% of the fallout. TO PURIFY--BOIL WATER 10 minutes at sea level and add 1 minute per 1000 feet of elevation. (Water boils at a lower temperature at higher elevations, so you have to boil it longer to kill the things that would make you sick.) PURIFY with a filter, or bleach or Halizone, or Iodine purification tablets. You can neutralize the iodine taste but the stuff is still there and it isn't good for you in any quantity. Iodine Ratio: 1 gallon of clear water = 12 drops of Iodine. 1 gallon of cloudy water = 24 drops of Iodine. Bleach Ratio: 1 gallon of clear water = 16 drops of bleach. 1 gallon of cloudy water = 20 drops of bleach. Again, use only sodium hypochlorite. With bleach as the purifier, let the treated water stand for at least 30 minutes. If very cold, let it stand for an hour before drinking. 3. LEARN HOW TO GENERATE WATER FROM YOUR ENVIRONMENT: Find water inside your home: Water can be trapped in lines, hoses, your water bet. In the hot water heater, toilet tanks. Collect water outside: The Ocean; go about 50 feet inland or just beyond the high-tide mark and dig down. Salt may be filtered out. From stream, do the same thing. Purify. Rain water, melt snow or ice, but know that bacterial can be in this water and you'll still need to purify. Solar still: A solar still uses heat to evaporate water from the soil and plants and a cooler surface to condense and collect the water. Dig a hole approximately three feet across and two feet deep in the most moist soil you can find. Place a container in the bottom of the hole to collect the water. Line the hole with fresh vegetationleaves, small plants, etc. Cover the hole with a sheet of clear plastic , which you secure around the end with dirt and rocks. Allow the plastic to form about a 30 degree cone and place a small rock in the center of the plastic to hold this shape. The sun shining through the plastic will evaporate water from the soil and plants. The water condenses on the underside of the plastic and drips down into the container. The still will generate about a cup of water every eight hours, so dig several. Solar bag: Fill plastic bag with non-poisonous plants such as grass or dandelions. Tear up the plants before you place them in the bag. Tie the bag shut and place it in the sun. Water will condense on the bottom. (No bags coated with bug killer. Makes a very small amount of water. Solar Wrap: Wrap the branches of a tree in a plastic bag or plastic sheet. Tie the bag closed around the branches and arrange so one corner catches the condensed droplets. How much water depends on the plant and sub-soil structure, but this is a desert survival technique that has saved lives. At night, lay a blanket away from trees and it will be soaked by dew in the working. Wring the water from it. Or mop up dew in the morning from grass, railings, the surface of your car, then wring it out and filter the dirt. 2. When it comes to storing food, purchase the essentials first. Here is a good rule of thumb for an average adult for one year2300 calories a day:
Plus vitamins and leavening agents, yeast and baking powder, plus seasonings and flavorings. Some preparedness experts recommend 2600 calories a day. So increase the amounts proportionately. Naturally, consider the different sizes, ages and degrees of activity for those you're storing food for. The purchase of a top quality hand-crank grain grinder should be among your first purchases. TIPS 1. Store your grains in round containers, not square, because you want air to circulate around the buckets. Today, ideally, you'll use 6 gallon plastic buckets with sealable tops. In the bucket, the grain will ideally be treated with Perma Guard and inserted in triple-layer metalized liner bags and then sealed with a heat sealer. Instead of treating the grain, you may want to add oxygen absorption packets (4 to a 6 gallon pail). I treat the grain and also add the oxygen packets. 2. Over time, food value deteriorates, so use your supplies and rotate, rotate, rotate. 3. Whole rice can go rancid in a short time. Polished rice will keep for many years, but has far less food value. 4. Nonfat dried milk, if stored properly, will last for a few years (non-instant milk). The top grade is best because it has lower moisture content. 5. Canned goods are great for storage if you rotate. But they're not good for over a many-year period. 3. By sprouting, you'll have fresh, green, live whole foods for pennies a day. Seeds can be purchased in bulk from a seed company. 4. If you take a daily prescription, talk your doctor into a year's supply, which you can then rotate. Buy the best medical kit you can afford. Overstock items you'll be most likely to need. Purchase a variety of medical books (general first aid, outdoor emergency first aid, a home medical guide, et cetera). 5. Solar-powered radio/flashlight. Solar powered battery charger and a big supply of rechargeable batteries. Shortwave radio. Camping equipment, stoves, fuel, sleeping bags (for maximum cold in case you have to keep warm during a nuclear winter), lanterns, tents, and everything else you'll need to survive outdoors. Gas masks and protective suits if you're concerned about chemical or biological attack. Much more. See the Nitro Pak catalog for thousands of possibilities. 6. Every kind of tool you think you might need, from garden tools, shovels, automobile tools, saws, wrenches, crowbar, extra hammers, plus lots of nails, screws and materials to rebuild if necessary. 7. Even if you dislike the idea of guns, everyone needs a basic defensive weapon, if only to protect themselves from packs of diseased animals that may be running wild. ___________________________________________ NOTE: the following story was a sidebar in Soaring Spirit issue 70--Fall 1998. I'll include it here because it illustrates how important it will be to stock your own storage foods.
In the Event of Transitional Times The man running the Montana wilderness school claimed he was going to teach us to start a fire by rubbing sticks together. He tried, the sticks smoked, but no fire. Then all of our seminar participants tried. A little smoke, no fire. Stalking lessons followeda woman teaching us how to sneak up on wild animals. Also, how to call wild animals to you. But she admitted that when she called in the deer, grizzly bears also tended to appear. The day before, a local doctor had shared a story with me. One of his patients, a park ranger, had emptied his .357 magnum into a grizzly without stopping him. The bear chewed on the ranger's foot until another man killed the animal with an assault shotgun. Next on our wilderness agenda was learning to skin weeds and braid our own rope. Watching the participants braid away, I thought, If it comes to this, none of these people will survive long enough to worry about making rope. When we returned to the hotel to continue the seminar, a teacher from Brooklyn raised her hand and said, "I've decided the first thing I'm going to store is several cases of matches." The wilderness school teachings were only four hours of our 5-Day Preparedness Intensive held in Missoula, Montana April 20-24, 1998. The rest of the seminar was practical survivalist advice and demonstrations. I scheduled the wilderness afternoon as a stark contrast to the main content of the seminar, which included short courses in subjects such as, 1) How to find water when there is none coming out of the faucet. 2) Many ways to filter and purify water. 3) Long-term storage of freeze-dried and dehydrated foods, Grain storage and usage. 4) Critically important survival equipment. 5) How to avoid being a victim. 6) Key hazard areas such as hyperthermia, dehydration and hypothermia. 7) 72-hour kits. 8) Chemical and biological terrorism. 9) Altered-state sessions explored potentials. 10) Stocking the best trade/barter goods. 11) Police training videos. And much more. On the last day of the seminar, one of the participants--a woman in her late 70s--joined me in the hotel elevator. "I almost made fire," she said. "You think you could do it if you had to?" I asked. "Absolutely," she said, her voice strong and proud. I ended the seminar hoping that all the talk, demonstrations and exercises had made a strong point for urban survival preparation. Unless you're already a farmer/gardener who is living off the land, you certainly can't count on living off the land during a crisis. Even farmers might need additional knowledge and supplies to make it, for there are many end-time factors that could negate one's ability to grow crops. Tara and I observed huge herds of deer and elk all over Western Montana, but most of the hunters we talked to didn't manage to kill anything last season. If bad times come, even in the Rocky Mountains, the game will be quickly gone. By the turn of the century, most of the mountain men had returned to civilization because they could no longer survive in the wilderness. If bad times come, the only people living off the land will be marauding bands of lawless men. So it comes down to this: If you believe transitional times are forthcoming, prepare so you won't be begging for food, and so you can then focus upon helping others. Assume that there will be no power, safe water or food for a long time. If you live near the sea, purchase a reverse osmosis desalination unit. Learn to store, find, filter and purify water. You can only live a few days without it, while you can live two weeks to a month without food. Learn about storing grains. Stock freeze-dried and dehydrated food. A standard good rule of thumb for one average adult for one year (providing only 2300 calories a day): 300 pounds of grains such as wheat, rice, oats, and corn. 60 pounds of dried beans, peas, lentils. 60 pounds of honey, sugar or a combination of the two. 75 pounds of powdered milk. 20 pounds of oils and fats. 5 pounds of salt. Plus vitamins and leavening agents, yeast and baking powder, seasonings and flavorings. Purchase a hand grain grinder. Store sprouting and planting seeds, survival books, medical essentials, a solar-powered battery charger and rechargeable batteries, shortwave radio, camping equipment including a stove, fuel, sleeping bags. Tools and supplies to rebuild could be important, including nails, screws, etc. Purchase a defensive weapon and learn to use it, if for no other reason than protection from dangerous and possibly diseased packs of animals hunting for food. Good luck.
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Copyright 1998 by Dick Sutphen, Malibu CA |
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