Editorials - Editorials

I have a question for you: Have you ever given a friend or loved one the gift of survival preparedness? Before you answer, I’ll explain how this thought came into my head. 

Lately, news coverage has been giving attention to Tropical Storm Ernesto, which is now Hurricane Ernesto. It’s picking up strength in the Caribbean and apparently toward Mexico, although hurricanes are as changeable as Jennifer Lopez’s mood, so it could easily move toward the Gulf States afterward. Out in the Pacific, Hurricane Emelia has now strengthened to a powerful Category 4 storm, with winds of over 130 mph. And now there’s word of a new storm system off the coast of West Africa, which may eventual be called Tropical Storm Gordon. (It’s still too early to tell yet.) 

As always, it made me ponder who will be prepared when a hurricane strikes and who won’t. Which people will have a go-bag ready if the order is given to evacuate and get out ahead of the traffic jams and chaos? Or if they have to hunker down, will they have sufficient supplies to stay safe if emergency services are completely overwhelmed? 

Obviously, I practice what I preach about preparedness. But while my own situation is well thought-out, I’m always concerned about my friends who may or may not understand the importance of being prepared, and what can I do to help them. Some of them know the dangers, but never get around to doing anything about it, while others just don’t think anything is going to happen in their neighborhood. 

You know how it goes: Whenever there’s an approaching storm, you always see all the unprepared people rushing to the store and cleaning off the shelves of all the food. (A lot of good that canned food is going to do them when their electric stove doesn’t work!) It makes me worry for my friends and relatives down south – especially the ones who say, “We’ve been through hurricanes before. It’s no big deal.” 

Oh really? Sometimes storms end up being considerably more devastating than people expected, like Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Camille and Hurricane Andrew.  

My point is this: You might be a person who has learned about urban survival in during a natural disaster, but have you talked to your friends and loved ones about getting themselves prepared? Do they know what a go-bag is? Do they know why they should have a First Aid kit on hand and know – at the very least – basic First Aid skills? Do they understand the importance of emergency water and how much emergency water is necessary for their household? 

Rather than wait until after a natural disaster to see if they need anything, you might consider being proactive and just send them supplies. Maybe some MRE will help them realize that boxes of dry pasta won’t feed their family if there’s no clean water available to boil it (MRE can be eaten even without heating.) Or a go-bag as a gift will get them to understand that there’s not always time to rummage around the house packing up items during an evacuation.  

I often remind my friends and family about disaster preparedness because I want to know they’re ready for any situation that might occur. Most of them are already somewhat prepared (I like to think it’s because of my influence!), but some situations may cause their needs to outstrip their resources. For instance, a three day supply of food and water sounds great, until you find yourself in the middle of a seven day power outage.  

So whether you have relatives that are in Ernesto’s path or not make a commitment to talk to your friends and family about survival preparedness. And even if you don’t buy them gifts of emergency supplies (or send them a CampingSurvival.com gift card), you can still direct them to the resources where they can acquire the items to help them survive without panic. Chances are, you’ll both sleep better at night.

Tom Sciacca

Editorials - Editorials

If you like food as much as I do, it’s hard to imagine that our body can actually go weeks without food. It wouldn’t be fun, of course, but it can be done. But without water, our bodies can get into serious trouble quickly – just a matter of days before dehydration can set in. So why is it that many people keep lots of extra food stored in their houses, but neglect to store any water?

This subject came to mind recently when my cousin told me about having to endure a power outage with no drinkable water. Since power outages often impact water treatment facilities, tap water can be unsafe for drinking. The situation was made worse by the fact that her child had vomiting and diarrhea, which meant that there was an even greater need for drinking water, as well as water for cleaning, sanitation and hand washing.

For instance, a mixture of water and chlorine bleach would have greatly assisted in sanitizing around her child, helping to ensure that others didn’t also get sick. And obviously, you wouldn’t want to clean up after such a mess without being able to thoroughly wash your hands. (As a dad, I know that’s NOT fun!) Finally, water for food preparation is a supply you’ll need over and above what you plan to drink.

Now if you look at the conventional wisdom out on the internet, you’ll find guidelines such as the following:

• A normally active person needs to drink at least a half gallon of water every day. Hot environments can double that, and children, nursing mothers and ill people will need even more.
• Additional water should be stored for use in food preparation and hygiene.
• Store at least one gallon of water per person, per day. You should have at least a two week supply of water for each member of your household.

This is all well and good for the most basic needs, but I recently contacted a very knowledgeable ecologist and cultural anthropologist about her opinion of these recommendations, and she recommended much more. Back in the times when people hauled water from lakes and wells, she told me, a normal household used over 2 gallons of water per person for cooking, cleaning and drinking. Nowadays, people are so accustomed to having plenty of fresh water around that it’s used at a much higher rate. (Don’t forget that people only bathed once a week in olden times!)

So my latest philosophy is that it is better to plan on 2-4 gallons per person per day. Sure, you may use less, but what if the situation lasts longer than you planned? You’ll be happy you had the additional safety margin.

Now, where should you get the water? Well, for a while, I sold canned water, as it can be stored easily for long periods. But after a time, I began to realize that the shipping cost of canned water made it very expensive for customers to acquire (plus, it’s not exactly a “green” practice to ship water that you can get from the tap), so now I just give advice on how to store it on your own.

• You can buy jugs of bottled water or you can fill up old milk jugs (which you’ve thoroughly cleaned, of course). Make sure it’s a plastic that is safe for food use and don’t use them for an eternity. (I’ll cover safe water storage later.)
• Store the water in a cool dark place, such as your basement, if you have one.
• Rotate your water ever six months or so, by using up what you have in your cooking, washing or even flushing the toilet, then replenish the supply.

Keeping water on hand is not simply a preparation for TEOTWAWKI, but a smart precaution against power outages, storms or any other time we lose basic services. It means you’ll be less likely to panic (like all those unprepared people) and less likely to be demanding assistance from already-overtaxed emergency services.

Of course, having an adequate supply of food is important too, but without water, you’ll be majorly uncomfortable in an awful hurry. Fortunately for my cousin, she and her family came through okay, but the anxiety she felt during the situation helped her recognize that you can never have too much water on hand.

For a follow up to this editorial check out the Camping Survival blog, where Tom will talk about what types of containers are safe to store water in and how to make sure bacteria growth doesn’t ruin your day. See you then!

Tom Sciacca is President of CampingSurvival.com, specializing in wilderness and urban survival.

www.campingsurvival.com

Editorials - Editorials

As some of you may know, our Associate Editor Tim was diagnosed with leukemia 11 years ago.  Thanks to the advent of new technology and advances in medical research, Tim is still with us after being orginally given only five years to live.  Two years ago, he underwent bone marrow transplant surgery and is doing very well.  At one time, the success rate was around 60%, and today it's now above 80% with the advances made in medicine. This is the time of year where Tim and his family do a fundraising activity called "Light The Night Walk" for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society does a great job of helping out patients and their families while they're going through transplant, as well as investing in research into cures as well.

Tim and his family usually solicit donations from friends, family, and other well wishers so that even more advances can be made so that others might enjoy the same kind of success with their own treatments.  But, this year Tim is doing something a little different with Scott's Knots.  If you'd rather have something to show for your money, Scott's Knots is selling their Leukemia and Lymphoma Survival Bracelet for the sole purpose of splitting the proceeds with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  So, in this case, "Survival Bracelet" takes on dual meanings.  Besides being a ready resource for cordage that's "on hand" at all times while you're out in the woods, it will also mark the contribution you made to help someone else with their own battle for survival.

We don't often place articles or requests like this on our site, but as you can imagine this really hits close to home.  Besides, it also ties in with the gear and tools we use in the outdoors on a regular basis.  It's hard to imagine a more worthy cause than to help someone else live a rich and full life as was intended for each of us.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great year!

Editorials - Editorials

Today marks the first leg of our journey across the country to the 2010 SHOT Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Woods Monkey will have several contributors at the show, so we hope to provide some good coverage for our audience.  Our official coverage will begin on Monday the 18th which is Media Day.  That's when we get to go out to the range and play with some of the newest toys from the industry.  We get to see what's new, and try them out for a little while.  We'll upload the news and photos as quickly as we can.  SHOT Show actually starts on Tuesday the 19th, and we'll also be uploading news and pictures throughout each day of the show.

So, make sure to stop back in next week and take a gander at some of the new stuff hitting the streets this year.  We hope you enjoy our coverage!

Editorials - Editorials

One thing that we haven't talked much about here at Woods Monkey is self defense while you're in the great outdoors.  When the words "self defense" come up, the first thing we think about is an attack from another individual or a group of people.  But, while enjoying outdoors recreation like hiking, backpacking, camping, boating and so forth, you have to also add wildlife to the equation.  There is a sad Chronicle Herald article about a Toronto woman that fell victim to coyotes while she was out on a day hike.  This particular story has been discussed in a couple of forums I've visited today, and one of the first things talked about is having the ability to protect one's self from such an attack.  I thought it might be worth discussing here as well.

Read more: Self Defense On The Trail

Editorials - Editorials

I learned about the 7 P's in my youth from the colorful words of my father.  "Proper prior planning prevents piss-poor performance".   A little crude, but accurate.  I took that lesson to heart and it's always in the back of my mind when I go about doing something.  In the past, I used to have people make fun of me during our day hikes because I always carried a substantial pack filled with just about every piece of gear I think might be useful in case of an emergency.  Admittedly, I probably overdid it most of the time, but I always erred on the side of caution.  The sacrifice for that choice was struggling with a heavy pack when I should have been focused on the fun.  After a while, I pared back the gear, but I always made sure I had the bare essentials on hand in case something did actually happen.  Unfortunately, a gentleman in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania met with such a situation and died as a result.  According to this news article, the 64 year old hiker died from hypothermia.  Apparently, he got lost while on his hike and had to spend the night outdoors.  Not being dressed appropriately, he fell victim to the near-freezing temperatures.

Read more: The Woods Monkey Version Of The 7 P's.