Preparation

Preparedness is something that most of us practice in one form or another. We might prepare our families for an unforeseen death by buying life insurance, or prepare for retirement by stashing a little money each month in our retirement program. However, there are many events for which many Americans are woefully unprepared. Certainly this was highlighed by the approach of Hurricane Katrina to the southern United States in 2005. New Orleans was a city below sea level, in an area of the country where hurricanes were frequent. Nonetheless, the city was completely unprepared to deal with the devastation that Katrina left in its wake despite the obvious danger. One cannot predict every act of God, but communities can prepare themselves in general for a variety of "unforseen" circumstances so they do not get caught not knowing what to do when a disaster like Katrina hits.

Over the last two decades, businesses have used information technology to better manage their working capital, implementing what are called "just in time" inventory systems. As a result, a bare minimum of what is needed is generally kept on the shelves because excess inventory drains a company's cash reserves. This practice makes an economy run a lot more efficienty; yet, at the same time, it leaves localities extremely vulnerable to interruptions in transportation. In any natural disaster or economic emergency this is the most significant vulnerability in the local economic infrastructure, particularly given our reliance on global trade. Since businesses are not stocking adequate inventories in the event of an emergency, it is up to individuals in the communities themselves to stock up in case unforeseen circumstances hit their region.

Food and water are key to any preparedness program. Many things are luxuries--food and water are NOT. They are the essentials of survival. We live in one of the most agriculturally productive countries in the world and probably take this for granted. But if the grocery store shelves were emptied what would the average American do? What if the power went off and water could not be pumped into your houses? Water and food are so abundant and relatively cheap right now, it makes sense to store up a modest amount for a rainy day. If the effort is not taken, your family might be forced to rely on outside help, that quite frankly, might never arrive if the calamity were spread nationwide.

Many might be under the impression that a food storage program is out of their budget. Freeze dried food, while providing great variety with a long term shelf life, can be a rather expensive option for many individuals who do not want to invest $1,500 upfront for a year's worth of food. There are more economical ways of acquiring a viable food supply. For example, while flour has a limited shelf life, people can buy wheat which when stored properly (food grade plastic bails, with a dessicant to get rid of the moisture and a pinch of dry ice to displace oxygen) can last well over ten years. The same can be said of other bulk storage items such as rolled oats, beans, and rice. When bought in bulk, one can save a substantial amount of money on your food supply which can be reinvested into a family preparedness program or be used to help deal with stricter budgets dictated by the economy. In fact, if you integrate these foods into your diet, you can save yourself a lot of money on day to day food costs given that there is a significant markup on the pre-made, pre-processed foods that we have all been accustomed to. Chances are that cutting out the processed foods from your diet will also improve your general health.

Then there are the other things we take for granted such as sanitation, electricity, and power. Everyone needs to go through an exercise on what life would be like if most of the utilities they count on could no longer be relied upon and the stores were empty. Do you have plenty of spare batteries on hand? Do you have an emergency radio? What about flashlights or candles? How about a well insulated cold weather sleeping bag if the natural gas is unavailable in the cold? How about emergency medicines or a first aid kit? Most people never think of these things, but in the event of an emergency going through this exercise could save your family much trouble and heartache.

One of the goals of Arm in Arm is to educate people about the need for such prepartion and some guidelines as to how it can be done as completely and economically as possible. In most crises, the first few days to weeks are crucial. If the majority of the people in a comunity are prepared to survive in the midst of this period, they can make it through to the rebuilding phase after the community has time to coordinate longer term solutions.

Preparing people for the longer term recovery periods is also very important. While storage of short term food is important, most people are not going to have the disposable income necessary to store enough to carry them through an extremely long term dislocation in the economy or food supply. Arm in Arm also wants to teach people now the skills they might need down the road to help produce their own food. Back in World War II, "Victory Gardens" were a common method of providing civilians with food while supplies were rationed during the war. Unfortunately, gardening was an art that was much better understood by the general populace back then than today. There is more to growing food than throwing seeds in the back yard and hoping they will grow. There is the issue of chosing the right crops for the climate, the right time to plant, the right type of makeshift fertilization to use, etc. If people get into the practice of gardening beforehand they will ensure they have all the tools they need on hand and have a much better chance of being successful in a long term crisis. The additional benefit is that food grown in the garden does not have to be purchased in a supermarket, easing the financial burden in troubling times, not to mention giving yourself access to fresher organic food.

Coordinating with local farms ahead of time makes sense as well. We have a lot of productive farmland in the area. However, if these farms only have hybrid seeds or genetically modified seeds, neither of which can reproduce, the region will have a significant problem if cutoff in an economic emergency. In the old days, farmers could save their seeds produced from one planting season to plant the next season. This is the type of environment we want to be able to preserve in an emergency. As a result, we need to ensure that people not only have a store of self sustaining non-hybrid seeds for their own garden, but that farms in the surrounding area also are aware of the dangers of not having a backup supply of non-hybrid seeds for their own operations. Additionally, we could network with farmers and livestock producers to establish local cooperatives that cut out the large corporate middlemen to the benefit of the local producers and the consumers. By coordinating such plans in our local areas now, we can be best assured that we are prepared for whatever event might strike our community.