Extinction Rebellion has just released a document /booklet about preparing for climate change adaptation.
My initial overview is that they covered a lot, but not in enough detail, and ignored how the preparedness movement has evolved beyond older approaches and trends among "preppers". Let's be honest about this: This is lefty prepping.
This is a comprehensive document, but it needs a lot more work. It lacks the detail required to make it a little more than a framework. Some of the advice is very limited in its scope, more because of the limitations of the Author (s).
The opening section talks about "Go-Bags", which is from the age-old "Bugging-out" fantasy when disaster strikes. You have a bag ready and you run for the high ground and live out of what is in the bag for a few days. This assumes you have a chosen location to do that and can assume that 100s of other people aren't going to do that too in the same location! The bugging out myth has been largely discredited. Few people actually have the skills, knowledge and experience to live off the land, especially if you are impeded somehow. The sensible way to temporarily evacuate is to go to a hotel or a friend's place to avoid a storm or risk of flooding. But Random High ground in the countryside is the absolute last resort, should be for less than 24 hours unless there is a shelter like a Bothy.
You can only be as quick as your vehicle and the flow, or not, of traffic. A bicycle & trailer are only as good as being able to get through the traffic. On foot, you can only go as fast as the slowest evacuee. Are you really going to take your pregnant wife, toddler, and dog? Of course you are. But how many km on foot?
"Go Bags" are for highly skilled operators. People like Paul Kirtley, Ray Mears, Les Stroud, the late Tom Brown, the late Les Hiddins "Bush Tucker Man", and many other accomplished survivalists and primitive skills practitioners. But ultimately, as practitioners' skills improve, bag contents diminish. "Bugging Out" has been widely acknowledged among American survivalists to be mostly unworkable, but has not yet filtered through to Britain and the prepper community,
Compared to the US, Britain has virtually no wilderness to hide in.
Extinction Rebellion Can Do Better Than This Document
Heat Waves?
Britain now experiences periods of heat that causes crows to die from heat exhaustion. Some trees wilt in the heat and cease to photosynthesise. Wet Bulb Global temperatures are a regular summer occurrance now. But it not even listed as a risk?
"What are Wet Bulb Temperatures?
Wet bulb temperature measures the combined effect of heat and humidity, representing the lowest temperature achievable by evaporating water into the air. It is measured using a thermometer with a water-soaked cloth over its bulb, and it always reads lower than or equal to the dry bulb temperature. A higher wet bulb temperature indicates higher humidity, which hinders evaporation and reduces the body's ability to cool itself through sweating. This makes it a critical metric for assessing heat stress on humans and is often higher than the commonly reported heat index.
Why Wet Bulb Temperatures are important
Humidity and Evaporation:
The wet bulb temperature is essentially a measure of how well water can evaporate into the air.
Human Cooling: Our bodies cool through the evaporation of sweat. High wet bulb temperatures mean less evaporation, making it harder to cool down and leading to dangerous heat stress.
Heat Stress Threshold:
The wet bulb temperature is considered a more direct indicator of the risk of fatal heat stress because it reflects how effectively our bodies can shed heat. A human survival limit is often cited around a 35°C (95°F) wet bulb temperature.
Applications: This metric is important for HVAC systems and in public health warnings about extreme heat, as it provides a more complete picture of heat danger than air temperature alone.
Heatwave deaths are beginning to overtake deaths from cold.
Heat kills rapidly, and once someone is hypothermic, it is more difficult to treat in a first aid situation than hypothermia. Prevention is better than cure for all temperature/humidity-related risks. This is why education is important.
Climate science denial is deadly.
The problem is that large portions of the population are in denial about catastrophic climate change in spite of the evidence.
I have been told that teaching people about Wet Bulb Temperatures is too complicated, it's no more complicated than reading a bus timetable.
You simply need 2 items: A digital hygrometer and thermometer, like the Inkbird and
a wet-bulb global temperature table."
Text Source:
This Blog post on
Wet Bulb Global TemperaturesWet-bulb global table Source:
All my content across multiple platforms on #WetBulb temperatures.
Linktree Collection
Foraging During An Ecological Crisis?
In the UK, when there is no food, nature will just get inundated with hungry people and they will devour everything. Foraging cannot be a passive pass-time where we expect nature to privide our food in a crisis.
English wildlife trusts banned fungus foraging on their land, because of the destruction caused by foragers.
I note the term sustainable being used a lot within the document, without a clear definition. In the context of foraging for survival, we need to be planting more than we can consume. Perhaps rewilding projects could address planting suitable edible wild species such as staples.
"13 Special Scenarios & Long Term Collapse"
We are already in "long-term collapse", and abrupt and irreversible climate change. We are already in the adaptation to ecosystem collapse.phase of collapse.
Right now we are witnessing a global avian flu epidemic.
Doomers & Doomism and Collapse Acceptance.
Some of us have been talking about our preducament for a few years. I would have thought Extinction Rebellion would have invited contributions from people like
Just Collapse or
Kevin Hester.
Collapse Acceptance is a process. Its a grief process and very difficult, especially if you have children. But it is also necessary. This is why connecting with nature through learning really relevant survival skills so we can be in nature as much as possible and at home there. Learning survival skills from skilled practitioners in nature away from electronic devices and in a pro-social environment, learning to work co-operatively to achieve survival outcomes. Nature connects to us through our limbic system. Connection to nature with a discernible philosphy of walking lightly upon the land and giving more than you take is where sustainability is more important than the individual i service to the earth. We need each other, we cannot do this alone, but to evolve we need to relearn those essential skills that helped our ancestors survive and be connected to nature.
We won't be leaving our children a world we could be proud to leave to the next generation, sadly.
We have already overshot the "Goldilocks" climate niche for some agricultural systems in the Tropics. The Ecological collapse unfolding is patchy. Europe is being affected, but even that is patchy.
Radical New Ways To Plan For Collapse:
Famine Gardening With Native Staples.
This is beyond the scope of Permaculture, this practice combines foraged staples with growing them in marginal areas in your garden or as ground cover in flower beds.
Rainwater harvesting using old MDPE food-grade olive barrels. I can store more than 2,200 litres. Enough for a dry summer. Total cost? Under £200.
Water Purification, Advanced Skills
Flocculants
"Flocculation goes hand in hand with coagulation in wastewater treatment. Once the waste particles have clumped together using coagulation, flocculating agents in wastewater treatment are used to remove the clumps. Flocculants are lightweight, medium weight and heavy polymers that cause the destabilized clumps of particles to agglomerate and drop out of the solution, removing them from the filtered water. The weight used depends on the type of particle.
Flocculants are like a high-tech rope that ties all of the coagulated clumps together. Flocculants come in various charges, charge densities, molecular weights and forms, and they have also been around for centuries. Natural polymers, such as crushed nuts, have been used as flocculants since prehistoric times by some central African tribes."
Source:
https://aosts.com/what-is-coagulation-flocculation-water-wastewater-treatment/
DIY flocculants?
Puribag, flocculant based P&G commercial system. I have one.
DIY Flocculant of the ancients: Alum Ticktok
Soon to be available on YouTube. Watch this space.
Straws are not a sustainable way to filter warer.
Xylem water filters are osmotic plant based biodegradable water filters. They are ancient technology.
MIT Xylem water filters.
DIY Xylem water filters YouTube. I boiled that water and drank it, it was nice and I had zero ill effect.
Xylem water filters are, if used properly, are incredible because they are smple to make and very effective and totally biodegradable. Because they are osmotic they capture cystes. Flocculants like Alum also take cysts to the bottom as part of a chemical prefilter.
Cooking With Limited Resources
Kelly kettles run on twigs.
Biolite stove, it's a fast clean burn and it can charge devices
Small metal stoves work well for limited resources.
Trangia cookers use alcohol like methylated spirit.
Connecting To Nature Through Survival Skills & Nature Lore
Tread lightly upon the land and plant more than you are eating or foraging. Mother Earth, guide our feet in the natural way
Core Shamanism is not connecting anyone to Nature or the Web of Life as promised. bow-drill these Shamanic Practitioners have a deep connection with nature. Connecting to nature through survival skills, taught in nature by experienced practitioners, with plants we know well is where the connection starts, tye limbic system doees the rest.
4 basic nature based principles of Survival:
Water as covered above
Sheltenature-based insulating materials, thatch
Firecraft: Learn several plant based tinders. Learn how to use a ferro rod, flint & steel, and bow-drill (friction).
Food: Staples are primary for carbs. Learn to identify food and poisons.
Connection to nature takes more than sitting under a tree and asking it what it wants. It is more than forest bathing. Connection to nature is good for anxiety, because it keeps you busy.
Make things of use like a tinder box & practicing skills. These occupy the mind while connecting you to the plants you work with. The plants are the healers.
An unusual use for nettle fibre, practice perfects these skills until we become experts.
Further reading:
This Blog, my other Blog.
2 YouTube Channels
Skills 4 Collapse
Deep Nature Connection
Tiktok
@SolidarityPrepper
Linktree
@SooidarityPrepper
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