Survivalism is Making a Come Back

Old & busted: depending on the gub'ment for law & order.
The new hotness: survivalism.

Faced with a multitude of threats - from global warming to housing crisis to a declining economy, and spurred on by what they saw happened during Hurricane Katrina (and even the movie "I Am Legend" with Will Smith), some people are turning on to good ol' survivalism:

They stockpile or grow food in case of a supply breakdown, or buy precious metals in case of economic collapse. Some try to take their houses off the electricity grid, or plan safe houses far away. The point is not to drop out of society, but to be prepared in case the future turns out like something out of “An Inconvenient Truth,” if not “Mad Max.”

“I’m not a gun-nut, camo-wearing skinhead. I don’t even hunt or fish,” said Bill Marcom, 53, a construction executive in Dallas.

Still, motivated by a belief that the credit crunch and a bursting housing bubble might spark widespread economic chaos — “the Greater Depression,” as he put it — Mr. Marcom began to take measures to prepare for the unknown over the last few years: buying old silver coins to use as currency; buying G.P.S. units, a satellite telephone and a hydroponic kit; and building a simple cabin in a remote West Texas desert.

“If all these planets line up and things do get really bad,” Mr. Marcom said, “those who have not prepared will be trapped in the city with thousands of other people needing food and propane and everything else.”

Here's an interesting NY Times article by Alex Williams: Link

Now excuse me while I stock my bomb shelter with ammo. You never know how soon those zombies will come ...


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why would i go and live in the wild and work my ass off while the elite or the people responsible live it up FU#K that
ill raise an army and kill them all!!

NO JUSTICE! NO PEACE!

and if they go hide in thiere underground bunckers ill make the surface of the earth inhabitable and they would have dug their own graves

:) but thats just me

you can go ahead and live of pigeons for all i care

its better to die on my feet than live on my knees
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I don't think stockpiling food will work, so i'm stock piling useful tools, like hand saws, chisels, bows and arrows, mussel loading rifles, fishing hooks and line, cooking gear, flint and steel strikers, sewing needles. Also useful skills like wood working (building shelter), hunting, fishing, fire starting, leather craft, sewing, and similar skills. Oh, and Books. Eventually if the whole world goes to pot people will run out of bullets and that point guns are just clubs. It's not that hard to make gunpowder, charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur...
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part of my near future revolves around becoming as self-sustaining as possible. i don't have the financial stability that would allow me to do so at the moment because i'm in school, but as soon as i get a full-time job and start making a steady pay-check, you better believe that i'm gonna start taking myself off the grid. 50% of this decision has to do with our current state of affairs.. the other 50% has to do with my distrust of corporate america and my lust to be independent. i don't want my life to rely on anyone else but me. i want to build my own house out of recycled materials, install solar panels or build a windmill or maybe even a water-mill, have a greenhouse and grow my own food, hunt for my own meat, have a compost heap, make my own clothing and convert my car engine to run on water (which i'll collect from the rain). and the funny thing is, i probably want to stay in the suburbs! i hate people, but i can't live without the social interaction and i'm probably going to work in the city anyway. but enough about me...
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@ Munky and Christophe

Thanks for the kind words. It took me a moment to remember who Lord Baden-Powell was until I recalled a picture my Scout Master used to have in our Den of Lord BP standing next to the British flag.

I think kids should get Scout or Camp life activity skills down because in the short term it's a fun experience to enjoy camping and in the long run kids will begin to appreciate the environment and live in a more sustainable fashion.

However, if folks are really serious into learning skills like this ask your Grandpa or someone who used to camp, be in the Armed Services, or even your own kid who maybe a Scout! :) Or if you want a book to read a good one I'm always pointing folks towards is the "SAS Survival Guide" by John Wiseman.
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To those questioning the value of precious metals... they have traditionally been what currencies are based upon going back far longer than our current worthless bits of paper scheme. YMMV.

As far as stockpiling, it boggles my mind that so many people have less than a weeks worth of food, and virtually no water, in their house. Katrina? Heck we've had snow storms around here that have stranded people for two weeks, and any responsible person living near me is prepared to spend at least a month in their home without assistance. Common sense really, bad things sometimes happen.
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