originally published on the NNEMA website on Jan 14th, 2007

Emergency Survival Kits

Here's the Reno NNEMA preliminary emergency survival kit. It's pretty basic, and probably needs refining, but that's something you can help with. A two gallon plastic jug of water with a handle. Cooking vessel of some kind with a lid 5 Lbs. rice and 5 Lbs beans. (soybeans are good for this) Waterproof matches, and/or a magnifying lense, in a breakproof case. Waterproof tarp and blankets/sleeping bag/extra warm clothes. Small backpack or rucksack to but this all in.

Pretty basic and crude, but it's portable and won't set you back an arm and a leg. Either stow it in your car, or somewhere you can access it quickly and easily. Not too heavy for the average person to carry, and it is certainly better than being unprepared at all. Your first task whenever you get to where you're going, is going to be to find a source of water. Common literature suggests a gallon of water a day per person is sufficient for survival. Probably a little less is needed in a pinch. The cooking pot is needed to purify your new water source by boiling, as well as (obviously) cooking your food in. 10 pounds of rice and grains per person is enough to live on for several weeks. The body can go quite a while without food, but not without water. Surely a cup of rice is not what we're used to eating, but hey, in an emergency let's be thankful for that. Most of us overeat. In fact, it is suggested that we throw away enough food daily to feed another 300 million people, so living a temporary low-food diet probably won't kill us. Most of the world goes to bed hungry anyway.

While this kit ain't pretty, we certainly sleep better at night knowing it's at hand. And so should you. Of course this is a pretty spartan kit, so you might want to start on kit part B. Part B is a little more refined and cultured. Part B can include such things as: A container of salt. small bottle of cooking oil. a few rolls of toilet paper. Flashlite and batteries. Dehydrated fruits. A good book to read, also one on native edible plants. Medical kit. Extra sox, undies and your toothbrush. Rope, duct tape, fasteners. Portable radio, extra batteries. Bottle of Vodka for bartering purposes, disinfecting, and getting a buzz on. Stash an extra. Any meds or prescriptions that you need. Whatever else you think is missing. Please post what is missing....

We personally have never (knock on wood) had to face a disaster, so suggesting that we are authorities on this would be foolish. However, it is important to get some kind of dialog going, so that's what this is all about. And, preparing for a disaster is kind of like tilting at windmills. We don't know what kind of disaster will befall us until it gets here. If the Stampede reservoir breaks (because it is on an earthquake fault), then many of us here in Reno will find ourselves washed up against the hills east of Sparks. Not a lot can be done about that. If the terrorists launch those thousands of WMD's against our cities, not a lot can be done about that. If a giant meteorite hits the planet, there're not a lot of places we can go. If the rapture happens, some of you will be fine, but most of us will not be at all. (or we'll be in a real hot place for a very long time -- depending on your upbringing and how kind of a person you were). So, the best we can do for short-term sudden emergencies is to try to be minimally prepared to survive for a few weeks until help gets here. FEMA? Probably not going to happen.

So get your NNEMA chapter going, do some dialog with your neighbors and friends, and get back to us with your recommendations.

Long Term Lingering Disasters. You know the kind: the stock market crashes, all our jobs go overseas, our 401K's are found to be without sufficient funds, Global Warming takes a great big bite out of our agricultural productivity, declining oil reserves make everything much more expensive, the health care system goes belly-up, we start a war in the middle-east which brings on the burning of oil wells and refineries, Bush is exposed as an alien bent on enslaving the Earth, or the social security system collapses. Long term emergencies are something we can put some thought into how to prepare for. We can prepare for a slowing down of the global economy, for the end of suburbia from $10 a gallon gas, or the general collapse of our culture because of apathy. Can't we? We can turn off the TV, get our gardens ready for next spring, start a compost pile, insulate and weatherproof our houses, ride that bicycle once in awhile, call city hall and demand that they fix our traffic flow, make our next new car more fuel efficient, quit charging on our credit cards and pay them off, start putting a little money in the bank every check, buy a silver coin once in awhile, get a 60 lb. sack of soybeans or whole wheatberries, start to conserve a little bit, and, most importantly, read those important books coming out about our energy insecurities. These are the things that NNEMA should be about. Learning about the perils of overconsumption, and learning how to deal with it. Realizing that fossil fuels are FINITE. Learning to become more self-sufficient as a nation and culture. We Americans use 5 times the energy of everyone else. We are overfed while the rest of the world is hungry. We spend more on medications for our upset tummies and erectile dysfunction than the rest of the planet spends on all their medical needs. We spend enough on make-up and pet food to give the rest of the world clean water, and thus prevent those 2 million child deaths a year from impure drinking water. We spend enough on war to provide the whole country with clean alternative non-polluting power, thus eliminating the need for war. We continue to build ugly box houses above ground, when underground and bermed dwellings will substantially cut down our heating and cooling costs, while eliminating the threat of fires and conflagrations, and even lowering our insurance costs. We live in cities where half of the available land is paved, and our streets have become nothing more than mobile parking lots. Our business ethics are now based on short term profit -- at public expense -- instead of the public good. Our slick quick-profit obscenely overpaid CEO's are looked up to as sharp operators, rather than reviled as they should be for being thieves. Capitalism and endless growth are seen as essential to our survival rather than as threats to all humanity. We throw away millions of disposable bottled water containers, when in most cases our tap water is just as pure. The packaging on much that we buy costs more than its contents. Genetically altered foods are routinely included in our foodstuffs, and no labeling is required. Isn't it time to stop this madness? Go ahead open up that window and shout into the street, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" Go ahead. Then come back and get out your pencil, and put down your solutions. And share them with us. We'll wait. We're counting on you.

Here's some homework. Part one: put down your ideas for survival kit part C. (hints: pressure cookers, solar ovens, a community grain grinder to share with the neighbors, survival libraries, a list of (shareable) hand tools) The second part of this homework is to calculate how many of these items you can share with your neighbors and other local NNEMA partners, and do a cost analysis of the shared costs per person for these items. The third part is to calculate how much more of your yard you can put into a garden this year. The fourth part is to calculate the size of a semi-dwarf fruit tree (your choice of fruit), where you can put it for best growth potential, and when is the best time to plant it. Part five is to locate the shut-offs for your home's water, electric, and gas supplies. This homework is due at the end of the month. If you don't hand it in in time, you may fail.

And no, the dog ate your homework is not a legitimate excuse....