An American Perspective

[SoCal92057]

I am an American who has been prepping since before it had the current name. Well over 20 years. I am impressed by UK preppers and compliment those who are thinking and doing preps to care for themselves and family should the need arise. I find myself unable to contribute many comments as my living situation is much different than those in the UK and I am not very familiar with the UK laws that constrain you. Should a SHTF event occur on the European continent, I hope it will for the most part be stopped at the Channel’s edge, although this is a fading prospect as our world grows ever more interconnected.

Here in the U.S., I prepare for many events and do not focus on one. In fact, many SHTF events will easily involve the same preps. Generally, my preps assume no or little government intervention and significant social disruption. Something of a worst case scenario. Other than a worst case event, one of the common localized events we here in the U.S. need to be prepared for, is extreme weather. Hurricanes and winter snow and ice storms are common. Many know of Hurricane Katrina that hit the U.S. Gulf Coast, but how many know of the much wider spread New England ice storm of 1998? Some were without electrical power for more than a month with winter temperatures to deal with. The petrol stations could not pump petrol, home heating systems did not work, pipes froze and burst, food markets were difficult to get to and the markets experienced a disruption in deliveries, refrigeration and freezer operations. Those who survived best were those who lived remotely and did not rely only on modern central heat. Those with backup wood stoves and fireplaces and a large stack of cut and dried logs fared well. In a SHTF event, shelter will be of primary concern and that means warmth for you and the family. Freezing to death can happen in only hours, starving to death will take many, many days. I have attached a link to a YouTube video that someone shot of their neighborhood during the ice storm event. I do not know the photographer. Be sure to watch it to the end as the impacts of the storm worsen.

I live in a heavily wooded valley, 5 miles down a dirt road. The ability to shut the road to refugees is one tree fall away should that be needed. The residence is on a hilltop and is about 25 years old. Hunting is out the door and fishing is about 300 yards away in a fresh water lake. My residence is a bug-in location as I have made preparation for unpleasant eventualities a part of my life.

Should anyone have a question, feel free to send me a private message or ask me on this forum.

Best wishes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epW-BEnl3kQ

[sfcfinchrs]

Hiya,

It's good to see a fellow Yank on the forum.

I'm an American living in the UK.

I and my family are still prepping and have found that there are significant challenges that are unique to the UK. The prime difference is that the population to land area is a great deal higher. So Bugging Out to a hiding place is a major challenge and in many cases insurmountable.

So I have found that most have realized that Bugging In to let the storm pass is the better option.

Thanks

Rob

[SoCal92057]

Hiya,

It's good to see a fellow Yank on the forum.

I'm an American living in the UK.

I and my family are still prepping and have found that there are significant challenges that are unique to the UK. The prime difference is that the population to land area is a great deal higher. So Bugging Out to a hiding place is a major challenge and in many cases insurmountable.

So I have found that most have realized that Bugging In to let the storm pass is the better option.

Thanks

Rob

I agree bugging-in is usually the best choice. It make almost everything simpler and safer. I completely understand the space issue in the UK. It is also of great importance the UK still imports more than 1/3 of all food consumed. Not a good situation in a SHTF situation.

[PreppingPingu]

Aye that import issue is a real doozy. You'll probably have noticed that on here there are a lot of threads that involve a theme of self sufficiency from a food and water perspective. We're not just about stock piling stuff but having the skills and knowhow to produce for ourselves. A lot of us on here lament from time to time about how reliant the general sheeple are on the gov and other people to help them. Self sufficiency and resilience are what we will need in case of any major event. Its always good to get people perspectives from other places in the world. Thanks for swinging by our little prepping home!

[Plymtom]

It is also of great importance the UK still imports more than 1/3 of all food consumed. Not a good situation in a SHTF situation.

That's interesting, it was tough but we up-scaled our agriculture in time of need during WW2, I wonder how much of what we "consume" is simply because we cannot grow it here when we want it, or because so many of us here have migrated here that our favourite food is just not native, I put it forward that the quoted statistics on our "consumption" simply reflect preferences and that of we had to we would change diet more to what we could get than what we wanted

[SoCal92057]

It is also of great importance the UK still imports more than 1/3 of all food consumed. Not a good situation in a SHTF situation.

That's interesting, it was tough but we up-scaled our agriculture in time of need during WW2, I wonder how much of what we "consume" is simply because we cannot grow it here when we want it, or because so many of us here have migrated here that our favourite food is just not native, I put it forward that the quoted statistics on our "consumption" simply reflect preferences and that of we had to we would change diet more to what we could get than what we wanted

Good point about immigrant tastes not being in conformance with UK food production leading to demands for imports. That would account for some of the imports but not all. I did some investigating online and discovered UK food production was trending towards self sufficiency during the 80's but the trends reversed themselves and have left the UK with the problem of today. Agriculture has never been more efficient than it is now. I tend to believe less control by government and more control by farmers would lead to more production.

[Plymtom]

Agriculture has never been more efficient than it is now. I tend to believe less control by government and more control by farmers would lead to more production.

We have an interfering body here called the EU, where all the countries get together and try to screw on another over for the best deals and subsidies, we had been throwing huge quantities of fish caught on our boats back into the sea dead because we had made it illegal to land it, quotas I agree those who manage the land have a better idea ( when not blinded by greed for profit above everything) than anyone else and should therefore have appropriate input into the nations agricultural policies.
Agriculture has indeed never been more efficient than it is now, yet I worry about the potential Pandora's box of GM, and I am concerned that efficiency gets overdone at the expense of sustainability, another one for the pot is the landscape moorland in particular we in this country want to preserve these areas as they are now, yet when you think about it, it was our ancestral agricultural cock ups which created them from forest, were we to leave them to nature what would happen?

[SoCal92057]

Agriculture has never been more efficient than it is now. I tend to believe less control by government and more control by farmers would lead to more production.

We have an interfering body here called the EU, where all the countries get together and try to screw on another over for the best deals and subsidies, we had been throwing huge quantities of fish caught on our boats back into the sea dead because we had made it illegal to land it, quotas I agree those who manage the land have a better idea ( when not blinded by greed for profit above everything) than anyone else and should therefore have appropriate input into the nations agricultural policies.
Agriculture has indeed never been more efficient than it is now, yet I worry about the potential Pandora's box of GM, and I am concerned that efficiency gets overdone at the expense of sustainability, another one for the pot is the landscape moorland in particular we in this country want to preserve these areas as they are now, yet when you think about it, it was our ancestral agricultural cock ups which created them from forest, were we to leave them to nature what would happen?

The only constant is change. Nature reclaims what we do not maintain.

I recall back in the 1960's the "Green Revolution" that was going to feed the post WWII world's population, relied on pesticides to increase productivity. Today, the population is even larger. If not pesticides then GM may be the answer. What I am sure of is organic farming cannot feed the world. That is what we had before the "Green Revolution." An unfed world will result in war.

[Plymtom]

What I am sure of is organic farming cannot feed the world. That is what we had before the "Green Revolution." An unfed world will result in war.

I agree, and many things can upset the delicate balance to the point where more parts of the world are going hungry, like Princess Anne said "I don't think we have a choice in any case GM is here, we may as well try and work with it" and as for war, given that humans would risk all for material gain when there was plenty to go around, what will they risk now when things are running out?

[grenfell]

There's plenty of evidence out there to suggest GMO's aren't the answer we should be looking at
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_a ... he_eu.html
http://www.independentsciencenews.org/c ... gmo-crops/
http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott ... wer-yields
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/05/g ... 2fUrbK9KSN
and there are plenty more out there if anyone cares to do even the quickest of googles .
We produced food mountains in the 70's and 80's without GM and even now produce more food than is needed for the population we have. I've read the figures are actually that we produce enough for 12 billion but add something like 20 odd per cent being wasted and many in the western world consuming far more than they actually need , the obesity figures bear that out , and we find starvation happening.
So no to GM and yes to investing in a sustainable system of food production.
And yes organic methods CAN feed the world
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4060