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In the Event of The following was a sidebar to our Millennium Research Project report in Soaring Spirit Magazine #70, September 1998: * * * * * 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 followed -- a 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, 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 a five day intensive. 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 hypothermia, dehydration and hyperthermia. 7) Seventy-two hour kits. 8) Chemical and biological terrorism. 9) Altered-state sessions exploring 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. “Do 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 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, short-wave radio, camping equipment including a stove, fuel, sleeping bags. Tools and supplies to rebuild could be important, including nails, screws, etc. Purchase a gun and learn to use it, if not for any other reason than protection from dangerous and possibly diseased packs of animals hunting for food. Good luck. |
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