Survival Scout Tips
The Risks on the Wasatch Front
When it comes to talking about areas at risk for earthquakes, we tend to discuss the usual suspect--California. This is for good reason--scientists report that there is a 99.7% chance that a magnitude 6.7 quake or larger will strike in the next 30 years in the Golden State. But, unfortunately,...
Stranded: 3 Epic Stories of Survival
Getting stranded can happen to anyone. Perhaps it’s taking a wrong turn in a snowstorm and getting stuck alongside the road. Or falling and injuring yourself while hiking solo on a vacation in the mountains. When it happens, no one wants to be caught unprepared without the knowledge and tools...
1,425 Days: Survival Lessons from Bosnia
Overall view of downtown Grbavica, a neighbourhood in Sarajevo. (Camera Operator: LT. STACEY WYZKOWSKI Date Shot: 19 Mar 1996) As a westernized and modern country, Bosnia hosted the Olympic games in 1984. Only eight years later, the country was almost unrecognizable. It rapidly descended into a brutal war following its...
Lessons from Nebraska to Tennessee: Tips to Survive Flooding Fallout
With springtime here, it’s time to celebrate the warmer temperatures, blooming flowers, and Easter holidays. However, good things also bring about their fair share of downsides. In this case--springtime means a higher risk of flooding. “April showers bring May flowers,” but it also brings risks of damage to your home,...
Living Through the Venezuelan Blackout: One Resident’s Account
Last week, we covered the devastating reality of life in Venezuela while the country suffered through the largest power outage in the country’s history (see that Survival Scout, Surviving Venezuela: Lessons From a Country in Chaos). Looters filled the streets, ATMs were down, and many citizens resorted to drinking polluted...
Surviving Venezuela: Lessons from a Country in Crisis
Imagine your power goes out indefinitely for a week. Maybe longer, with no end in sight. Now, imagine that happening to virtually everyone living in your country. While this may have been a mere nightmare in the past, this was the recent reality in Venezuela. Venezuela lost power around 5...
A Guide to Raising Your Own Poultry
Maybe it’s road closures to your nearby grocery store… Or food shortages related to a collapsed economy and extreme price inflation like we are seeing in Venezuela… Whatever the situation, hobby farming is an essential activity to attain freedom from the industrial food complex and develop true self-sufficiency. On the...
Wildfires and Air Filtration: How to Safely and Effectively Filter Your Air Supply
Wildfires are a very real and dangerous problem--which was really brought to national attention thanks to several in California and the west in 2018. With what is now officially the most deadly wildfire season on record in the state, California experienced widespread fires everywhere from Mendocino to Ventura County. In...
Surviving Valley Forge: 5 Takeaways for Survivalists
There are points throughout our country’s history when true patriotism and the will to survive have helped us prevail as a society. For example, the Valley Forge encampment in Pennsylvania during the American Revolution comes immediately to my mind. As The History Channel explains, “A lack of organization, food and...
Learning from the Past: Haiti, Mexico City, and Alaska
American journalist Charles Kuralt once said, “It takes an earthquake to remind us that we walk on the crust of an unfinished earth.” The surface of our planet has 20 plates that are constantly moving--and inevitably, the resulting pressure from these shifting plates causes the crust to break. But when...
Tsunamis: Are You at Risk & Prepared?
Earthquakes can be a deadly occurrence. When they happen, it’s easy to go into shock. But for those that are located near the coast (and we’re talking hundreds of miles off the coast here), the time period after an earthquake or another sort of underwater disturbance requires critical and thoughtful...
6 Surprising Life-Saving Uses for Alcohol during a Crisis
When you think of a bottle of alcohol, enjoying a cocktail with friends at a party or sipping a glass on the rocks after a long day of work may come to mind. Although libations are a nice addition to good times spent with friends, I’d like to let you...