SCOPE - Survivalist Coalition Of Puna & Environs?

[Rob Tucker]

Very well put.

Punaweb moderator

[AlohaSteven]

...room to raise crops, distance from big-city crime, and proximity to good hunting and fishing, just in case hard times -or a disaster- made food hard to come by.

Does this description sound more or less like Puna? I doubt Puna's real estate values will be declining anytime soon, unless lava runs across 130 or something of this order were to happen.

Knowing she wasn't alone in her desire to live a "prepared" lifestyle, Moss decided to turn her interests into a business and set up shop as a realtor herself. Her offerings on survivalrealty.com include a five-acre, three-bedroom property with the trappings of practical survivalism: a 10,000-gallon cistern for cultivating organic fruit trees, a 250-foot fire hose, and a dual-use root cellar/fallout shelter with "essential living quarters" and a backup generator. "I've had inquiries from people all over the country, from professionals -- doctors, lawyers, commodity brokers -- to blue-collar workers like mechanics and nurserymen," says Moss. "Some people really do want a lifestyle change."

I wonder, does anyone have a sense regarding what percentage of the population in Puna is genuinely oriented toward local self-sufficiency in food production, cooperative efforts in mutual assistance, and suchlike? To my mind this is much more the litmus test for Puna-style "survivalism" as I think of such than crouching in a bunker behind barbed wire somewhere with a stash of dehydrated E-rations.

"If most people think of a survivalist as an armed loner with extreme views -- there are folks like that out there, but there are many more in America who are simply involved in preparing for down times, lean times, or disaster," says Mr. Rantala, a former US intelligence analyst. "It's logical. It's common sense."

[Quotes from an article describing various businesses selling "survivalism" gear and info at http://www.alternet.org/environment/116916/ ]


)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."

Pres. John Adams, Scholar and Statesman


"There's a scientific reason to be concerned and there's a scientific reason to push for action. But there's no scientific reason to despair."

NASA climate analyst Gavin Schmidt

)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(

[pslamont]

I don't know about needing survival "gear" here in Puna. More like some good books on gardening and animal husbandry, maybe some how-to regarding wood stoves and building with rock. I imagine a local small saw mill would be in order if things get bad and I can imagine we wouldn't need much from anywhere else.. some, but not much. I mean, we won't be building mansions but we can build animal shelters, garden sheds, etc.... We won't necessarily be cooking with gourmet items but there are plenty of purple sweet potatoes, pork, lamb, beef, fish, chicken, eggs, veggies, lettuce, fruit... we would not starve. We might not have rice or flour locally but hey... we can survive here in Puna. We can learn to get sweetner from sugar cane. We can easily have coffee, tea and lemonade, orange juice. Puna gives us wet areas and dry areas.... if we all did the best we could with what we have, we could trade and share and barter and we will be fine. I have all the confidence in the world in Punatics... and if things decline, we will rise!

[gtill]

Mella, you might want to google, "the Raelan Movement", new approach to a lot of what your saying.

[AlohaSteven]

On 26DEC2008 Seeb commented-

There are many groups in Puna involved in community disaster preparedness and response
CERT - the community emergency response team program
The local volunteer fire companies
ARES - ham radio emergency net
MRC - the medical reserve corp.
VOAD - volunteer organizations assisting in disaster (church groups, red cross, etc.)

A co-op to buy supplies (fire extinguishers, first aid stuff, batteries) might be useful.

With thanks to Seeb for pointing the way, here are some potentially useful links to sites, articles, and resources connected with these organizations and describing their efforts as best I could find such. Please do add other links, anyone, if you know of better sources of information (particularly on how to become a volunteer firefighter in Puna- I did not find any useful sites or articles specifically on that topic).

CERT - the community emergency response team program
http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/
http://www.citizencorps.gov/cc/listCouncil.do?submitByState&stateOnly#HI

The local volunteer fire companies
http://www.firedepartments.net/Hawaii/Hi...tment.html
http://www.qsl.net/ah7e/hawaiifd.html
http://hawaii.firedepartments.net/county...ounty.html

ARES - ham radio emergency net
http://www.biarc.net/
http://bigislandsolutions.wordpress.com/...in-hawaii/
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=542
http://ronhashiro.htohananet.com/am-radi...m/net.html
http://www.qsl.net/ah7e/amateur.html
http://www.arrl.org/sections/PAC.html
http://www.chem.hawaii.edu/uham/hfop.html
http://www.punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6510

MRC - the medical reserve corp.
http://medicalreservecorps.gov/HomePage
http://medicalreservecorps.gov/detail.asp?State=38&id=403

VOAD - volunteer organizations assisting in disaster
http://www.pdc.org/PDCNewsWebArticles/20...index.html
VOAD Organizational Manual
http://www.nvoad.org/Portals/0/VOAD%20Or...Manual.doc
THE ROLE OF “THIRD SECTOR” ORGANIZATIONS
http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/docs...ations.doc

Also:

DACB - Disability & Communication Access Board
http://hawaii.gov/health/dcab/home/index.htm
Emergency Planning for People with Disabilities: 2008
Agency Readiness Survey Report --and--
http://hawaii.gov/health/dcab/emergencyprep/index.htm

Crisis Plan Praised
http://bigislandsolutions.wordpress.com/page/2/

Good to know these groups exist, are active, and available for folks in Puna to join up with if they want to learn &/or already have some expertise in those various areas of service!


)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."

Pres. John Adams, Scholar and Statesman


"There's a scientific reason to be concerned and there's a scientific reason to push for action. But there's no scientific reason to despair."

NASA climate analyst Gavin Schmidt

)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(

[Seeb]

Sorry i didnt get around to the link thing. for the cert teams and volunteer fire companys people can contact me and i can to direct them to the contact for their area. I am the point of contact of HPP CERT and a member of volunteer fire company 18-A

[AlohaSteven]

Strength will be in tight-knit communities with a shared pool of resources and skills cemented by strong personal bonds.

At http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/123179/ is an interesting article regarding the book When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability and Surviving the Long Emergency by Matthew Stein.

From the interview: You write, "Emergency preparedness isn't about a bunch of survivalists crawling around in the woods, preparing to fight off the starving hordes in some grim post-9/11 apocalyptic fantasy." That stereotype does exist, but given a rising level of alarm, do you think more middle-of-the-road folks are beginning to think about emergency preparedness?

To which Matthew Stein replies: My book is quite unusual in that it appeals to eco-green types, survivalists and all the average folks in between who simply want to be able to help their friends and families in times of emergency. Emergency preparedness is kind of like car insurance -- you hope you never need it, but when a real emergency does arise, you thank God that you had the foresight to spend a few dollars and a few hours of your time on basic preparedness supplies and planning.

While residents of Puna do not need to worry about being trapped in a barren urban setting of asphalt-and-skyscraper canyons if the electricity in power lines were to stop flowing and gasoline become unavailable, it remains for Puna there is an increasing likelihood of a direct hit by a hurricane someday happening and, of course, nobody ever knows when a lava flow or particularly nasty vog plume may necessitate a fairly swift relocation elsewhere. My thinking has been oriented more toward community-wide systems and networks of preparedness and support among people who are largely individually prepared and self-reliant than toward overgrown-Boy-Scouts-in-the-woods scenarios, but that is part of the equation. This book seems like it might be useful toward accomplishing that latter portion for reals rather than as a diverting weekend campout. Very practical. Has anyone in this Punaweb discussion strand read or used When Technology Fails?

Here is an example of that which he is recommending:

1. Be Prepared: I strongly suggest that everyone put together a basic 72-hour "grab-and-run" survival kit (see page 51 for full list of items). This kit should cover the basic food, water and survival needs for you and your family for at least the critical first three days after a disaster. Most of us could survive for a month without food, but a single day without water in extreme heat is enough to kill a person.
2. Develop Your Intuition: Most survivors credit their instincts and "gut feel" with saving their lives. Natural selection has bred the most incredible survival mechanism into man. It is called "intuition," and primitive man has relied upon it for untold millennia to help him to make life-and-death decisions in a split second.
3. Disaster Plan: See the Short-Term Preparedness Checklist on page 50. Discuss a plan with your family for communicating and responding to a disaster when phone lines may be dead (select a predetermined local meeting area and out-of-town contact; know how to shut off your home's gas and electricity supply, etc.).
4. Learn First Aid: In the back country, as well as in most natural or man-made disasters, knowing fist aid (including CPR) saves lives.
5. Go Camping and Backpacking: Most people have not camped or backpacked since they were a kid, or perhaps never at all. If you are in this category, start with some car camping for a few weekends. I suggest you get comfortable with car camping before graduating to overnight backpacking trips. Backpacking will accustom your body to hiking several miles at a time and carrying whatever you need yourself.
6. Know How To Start a Fire: Being able to build a fire is important for cooking, purifying water, preventing hypothermia in cold climates, keeping wild animals away at night (in some areas) and signaling potential rescuers. Starting on page 76, my book gives illustrated instructions for building fires including: starting a fire with matches; using a flint-and-steel; starting a fire with a primitive fire drill; using a "fire plough;" etc.
7. Learn How To Find and Purify Water: Unless you are in a cold climate, a single day without water will make you quite miserable, and three days could kill you. Bees and birds can lead you to sources of fresh surface water. A primitive solar still can collect enough water for survival from plants and ground moisture.
8. Survivor Personality: Developing the mental traits of the "survivor personality" will help you to navigate and thrive in spite of life's challenges. The best survivors are flexible, tend to keep their cool in stressful situations, don't give up, have a playful curiosity, have a good sense of humor, don't tend to "cry over spilled milk," follow their "gut feelings" and are often "bad patients" and poor rule followers.
9. Learn the "Plant Edibility Test": Most people will not happen to have a guide to wild edible plants on hand when they are thrust into a survival situation. If you know how to perform the "Plant Edibility Test" (see page 81), you will always have a safe way to test local plants for potential edibility.
10. Learn How To Make a Primitive Shelter: Learn how to make a "Scout Pit," "Squirrel's Nest," snow cave and other primitive shelters. In severe weather, a shelter could save your life, and at other times it will make your life far more comfortable.


-------------------------------------------------------------

FAIR USE NOTICE: This post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

-------------------------------------------------------------



)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(

A pleasant slideshow: http://www.thejoymovie.com

)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(

[AlohaSteven]

In years to come will the middle way in Puna be found somewhere between Burger-Kingesque business as usual and fending off flesh-eating Road Warrior zombies?

How to Survive Social Collapse - Hey, it's always good to be prepared.
by Joshua Holland to AlterNet, 12MAR2009.
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/13116..._collapse/

Holland writes:

I know people who think that the economic meltdown is leading us towards some Road Warrior-esque dystopia where we'll have to hole up in the nearest shopping mall and fend off the flesh-eating zombies (yes, I mixed two cheesy movie references into that single sentence).

While no Pollyanna, I'm not convinced that it's going to get quite that bad. But the creaky old economic system was never sustainable and there's a lot of space in which to land between a less-than-cataclysmic recession and zombies roaming the streets.

Which brings us to this talk by Dimitry Orlov that long-time AlterNet reader and commenter OregonCharles sent my way (thanks, Charles!). Orlov, who says he's "not an expert or a scholar or an activist," but merely someone who witnessed the fall of the Soviet Union up close and learned something from the experience, is the author of Reinventing Collapse. It's a pretty interesting read. A few excerpts...

Read the whole thing here-
Social Collapse Best Practices
http://culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=325&Itemid=1

If you have a short attention span, here's a slide show laying out Orlov's argument that the USSR was better prepared for social collapse 20 years ago than the US is today.
Closing the 'Collapse Gap': the USSR was better prepared for collapse than the US
by Dmitry Orlov
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/23259

Also, a somewhat lighter take on the theme: here's Scott Thill's AlterNet piece from last summer, "Massive Economic Disaster Seems Possible -- Will Survivalists Get the Last Laugh?"
http://www.alternet.org/workplace/92706/


-------------------------------------------------------------

FAIR USE NOTICE: This post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

-------------------------------------------------------------

)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(

A pleasant slideshow: http://www.thejoymovie.com

)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(