Last night I got a “crash course” in our energy, economic and environmental crises. At the end was a preparedness sheet that was supposedly designed to help me be “ready” for the madness and mayhem that is most assuredly going to be a reality in the near term. Having cut my teeth in my professional career doing failure modes and effects criticality analyses on complex military systems, I was more than a little taken aback by this supposed well intentioned soul’s messages. It felt more like crying FIRE in a crowded theater. The “crash course” was long on analysis and very short on reasonable action that we can and should be taking ANYHOW to make sure we are prepared for anything.
Lets take a look at some of the elements of the preparedness sheet:
1. Basic living supplies - YES - we all should have a stock pile of food at the ready in the event of ANY disaster. Six months suffices to get you to a growing season where you can replenish your supplies. Don’t have the skills to grow your own? Believe me, you’ll develop those skills FAST if you need them. I went on a kick to become food self-sufficient - it took me less than one growing season. And I had a brown thumb before I started.
2. Financial Liquidity - having gone through three banking crises in the past 12 months, I can speak with some authority on this one. Just what is financial liquidity and how much of it do you really need? Make sure you have several hundred dollars cash on hand - enough to cover groceries and gas until you can get at your money. My main bank went under when I was in Hawaii. They were shut down on a Friday and I had no access to my funds until Monday. This meant I could not return my rental car as I had no way of paying for it. It also meant that I could not pay for anything else. They shut down with no warning so I did not even take out any cash ahead of time. Luckily I was with friends who’s bank had not gone under. And luckily I had developed good enough rapport with my friends that they covered my expenses for the weekend until we could clear up matters on Monday. NOW, I never leave home without several hundred dollars of emergency cash on me, at least $3000 in travelers check, a pre-paid debit card with at least a $5000 balance, and have three banks where I keep at least $10,000 in cash reserves. If you want to get precious metals, I know folks who install fire proof safes in the floors in their garages where they then park a car over. If you are going to go the precious metal route as a way to increase your financial liquidity - make sure that you purchase a silver as well as gold coins. And make sure YOU are the one who takes posession of the coins - NOT a third party broker. ALSO, it is far better to store the coins in your own safe than in a safety deposit box at the bank. You are after all procuring the precious metals for this reason in the event there is a systemic banking failure and the banks go under. Why keep the coins at place where you won’t be able to access them precisely when you most need them?
3. Becoming friends with people within one mile of your house. This is a good idea for a number of reasons that have more to do with just survival - it can increase the quality of your life to have good friends in your day to day life. But just how do you go about making friends with the people who live within one mile of your house? DO BUSINESS WITH THEM. Yes, a lot of people run small local operations. For example, if one of your neighbors runs a small grocery store. Think about shopping exclusively at their store - EVEN if they charge a bit more than the super store a few miles more down the road. This is pretty basic stuff. Get to know what they do and how you can support their efforts (and get the help and supplies you need for your basic living). It’s far better to be generous with your time and money when it comes to making friends with the people within closest proximity to where you live.
4. Energy rationing - Create your own energy where it makes sense for you to do this. Have back up transportation plans that you can use if your preferred mode of transportation is not available. Decide where you want to spend your money. For example, right now with gas at $3 per gallon, and a car that gets 21 miles to the gallon, you can drive 7 miles for a buck. That seems pretty darn good. What is within 7 miles from your house? How often do you need to go there? You could walk there in less than two hours, ride your bike there in under an hour, or jump in your car and be there in less than 15 minutes. How much would gas have to go up for you to seriously consider the walking or the biking option to a place within 7 miles of your house?
Be smart, not scared. If you feel scared by something you read on someone’s website or see on the news - consider why the person who wrote it is trying to scare you? What are they attempting to do with their message? Stop and think about what you could do if the worst case scenario they are proposing did in fact happen. Then go collect your own data to access what the actual chances are of the worst case scenario happening to you in your situation.