The Christmas season is wrapped in forgotten Christian symbols where each symbols tells a story of hope, love and the ultimate gift given to us. Take some time with your children and family members during the Christmas holiday to remind them what this season is really about. Help them keep these symbols alive.

1. Fir Tree – The pure green color of the stately fir tree remains green all year long. This symbolizes the everlasting hope of mankind. All the needles point heavenward, making it a symbol of man’s thoughts turning toward heaven.
2. The star was a heavenly promise from long ago. God promised a savior for the world, and the star was the fulfillment of that promise.
3. The wreath symbolizes the nature of true love. Real love never ceases, like God’s love which has no beginning and no end.
4. Santa Claus represents the generosity and kindness we feel during the month of December.
5. The holly leaf represents immortality. It represents the crown of thorns worn by our Saviour, and the red holly represents the blood shed by Him.
6. Gifts are a representation of the ultimate gift God gave the world – His son. And we should thank God for his precious gift.
7. The candy cane represents the shepherd’s hook. The crook of the staff helps to bring back lost sheep to the flock.
8. Angels announced the news of the birth of Jesus. The angels sang, “Glory to God in the Highest, on earth peace and good will towards men.”
9. Bells represent the sound that sheep would here to help them find their way back to the herd. The bell symbolizes guidance and return and it reminds us that we are all precious in eyes of God.

When all we have have is hope, we must remind each other why this season is so important. It’s not about how many gifts that are under the tree, how bright our yards light up at night or how pretty our homes are decorated. Christmas is a season that reminds us that miracles are all around us and that we can always fall upon hope to carry us through just a little longer. 

There has been a lot of derogatory talk lately about “preppers” and “survivalists.” Here are 10 reasons why preppers and survivalists have always been vital to the United States and why it is essential that we have as many as possible to survive future disasters.

To start with, the titles “survivalist” and “prepper” would have seemed redundant a couple of generations ago. When the Greatest Generation was growing up, preparedness was simply a way of life. Before the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other Federal aid programs were around, people knew that they had to be able to take care of themselves in the event of natural and man made disasters.

At the core, that’s what survivalists and preppers are. They are people who are aware that life is full of uncertainty and who have decided to put things into place for when bad times happen.

With that, here is the top 10 list of why America depends on survivalists and preppers:

1. FEMA: The cost for local, state and Federal agencies to plan, equip and staff for every disaster that might happen is cost-prohibitive. When disasters strike, government is quick to talk and quick to “ramp up,” but government help is slow to come and inefficient when it arrives. The irony is how often highly qualified and motivated front-line first responders are prevented from doing as much as they could by top-heavy bureaucracies.

Survivalists and preppers, on the other hand, are able to act quickly and efficiently to take care of their own houses and provide stability, structure and assistance for their streets, neighborhoods and beyond. Because they know the terrain and the players in the areas where they live and operate, they can quickly establish stable micro-environments for recovery to grow from.

2. Stable base: An organization (or nation) of people with narrowly focused, specialized skills may accomplish great things when everything is going smoothly, but it quickly falls apart when trouble comes and key people are knocked out.

The survivalist and prepper mind-set of jack-of-all-trades makes for a stable organization (or nation). If the specialist falls or needs help, others can help pick up the slack — even if it means they’re doing it at a slower speed or lower level of proficiency.

3. Joseph in the Bible: Preppers and survivalists have been around saving the day since the beginning of time. In Genesis 37-50, Joseph sees trouble coming and prepares for seven years. At the end of seven years, a severe drought and famine hit that last for the next seven years. Because of Joseph’s preparations, Egypt survived the drought and famine and was able to help the surrounding nations.

4. Founding Fathers: With the Constitution and Bill of Rights, our Founding Fathers pushed responsibility from the Federal government down to the individual citizen and promoted a survivalist/prepper mentality. They did it with the 2nd and 4th Amendments, they did it by example (Washington leading a mostly barefoot army across the Delaware), and they did it throughout their writing.

5. Siege warfare: Many of the things that happened after Hurricane Katrina are textbook examples of why siege warfare is so effective. The normal city has a three-day supply of food. The normal prepper has a six- to 24-month supply of food.

Which do you think is more stable in the event of a siege that is due to disasters or war?

If you focus only on food and water supplies, a city, county, region or country with many preppers will be much more resilient to being cut off from outside help than one with few preppers.

6. Independent from the government: How much leverage does an energy tax (or most other taxes) have on a family that’s living partially or completely off the grid? The more self-reliant you are, the less control the government can exert over your life through taxes.

7. Criminals fear the aware and prepared: This is fairly straightforward. Preppers and survivalists gradually become more aware and prepared than the average person. This will show itself in your walk, in your eyes and how you carry yourself. In short, you stop looking like a wounded gazelle and more like a badger… cute and cuddly, but ready to do anything necessary to stop a threat to himself or his loved ones.

8. Tyrants fear survivalists and preppers: In addition to living a lifestyle that insulates them from siege, some taxes and being nannied, survivalists and preppers are usually well-armed and seek advanced training. Good men have nothing to fear from an armed populace, but tyrants who seek to control the lives of others will always try to disarm them first through confiscation, taxation or pressure through media and the education system.

It worked for Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong and many more narcissistic, mass murders throughout the ages. It worked so far back, in fact, that Aristotle spoke extensively about how, in any society, those who control the arms control the state.

9. More preppers means fewer refugees and faster recovery from disasters: After a local, regional or national disaster, the number of refugees will be inversely proportional to the number of preppers and survivalists in the area. In other words, the more preppers you have in an area, the less strain the hospitals, volunteer organizations and government-run refugee centers will have.

10. More able to help their fellow man: After a disaster, you’re not going to see very many refugees donating their food, supplies or time. It’s not that they don’t want to, but rather it’s because they are in a fight for their lives and may be dehydrated, hungry and tired.

Preppers and survivalists who have food storage, water or water-treatment tools and who have prepared themselves psychologically for disasters will be able to help in several ways. First, they are less likely to become refugees or use the time and resources of first responders. Second, since they are prepared for disasters, they can help the people in their immediate area, which will lessen the load on first responders and reduce the number of refugees. Third, by helping themselves and their neighbors, preppers will increase the quality of care for people who do need first responder care or who need to relocate to a refugee center.

In short, the more survivalists and preppers we have, the more stable our families, cities and the country as a whole are.
 

This article was previously posted at Personal Liberty Digest

We are quickly running out of time to prepare for what may be the biggest collapse we have seen in our lifetime. History has always repeated itself, and if we sit idly by and ignore these historical repetitions, then we have wasted the precious time we have left. Take notice of these significant signs and be ready for their impact:

1. Wars over resources
2. Exorbitant debt for country and countries around the world
3. Hyper inflation
4. Government corruption
5. Currency manipulation
6. Stock market manipulation
7. Bank corruption
8. High unemployment rates
9. Civil unrest
10. Bank runs
11. Barriers around country’s borders
12. Militarizing the police force
13. Food shortages

I am terrified for our future, and frankly, fear that many of our dear friends and family members will fall victim to the dismemberment of our economic system and be caught in the crossfires of economic unrest, poverty and third-world country conditions. Like it or not, we are in an economic depression and a large percentage of the population is completely ill-equipped to survive it. Not only do many members of our community lack the resources and the knowledge to survive, but, as a whole, our nation is complacent, lazy, and lacks the values that those individuals had to get them through the first economic depression. Only the prepared will have a fighting chance at surviving what is to come.

Despite my current state, I believe that a true optimist is the one who recognizes the current reality for what it is, imagines a better future, and then has the strength, courage and willingness to dig in, make choices and do the work necessary to bring about that desired outcome. In order to recognize our reality, we must have our eyes opened to it in order to see the signs of change.

One day enough signs will occur and there will be a complete and utter collapse. And only then will people wake up to their new reality and wonder how this could have happened. How many signs do people need to witness before they begin to see the chain reaction of a collapse? The signs are here folks, what are you going to do?

Whether we’re talking about earthquakes, snow storms, hurricanes, floods, electrical outages or terrorist attacks, government officials, as well as individuals, have demonstrated time and again that we have a psychological inability to cope with high stress situations, a lack of foresight to stock emergency reserves, and have failed to prepare effective emergency response plans.

It Can’t Happen To Me Mentality

In my opinion, although this population is a caring and sympathetic one, many are living in an illusion that they are untouchable. They haved not learned the lessons from previous disasters because they simply cannot relate to them and believe that even if something bad were to happen, they will somehow be taken care of. Because of their inability to relate, many will simply turn a blind eye to their present situation until they are in an emergency situation of their own.

Ignoring or denying the warning signs of emergencies that are present (be it natural, man made or economic) is something this country does best. From a psychological standpoint, this coping mechanism gives you time to adjust to distressing situations — but staying in denial can interfere and even deter you from actively pursuing a solution to the problem. Procrastination and complacency could come at a high price. In an article about the unprepared population, I explained why it is important to have supplies on hand before a disaster threatens:

There is a mass rush to the stores to stock up on supplies.  Some people are able to buy a surplus of goods (if they get to the stores in time), and some people get there too late and walk home empty handed.  The supply of food has run out because everyone is buying the same types of foods.  Foods such as basic food pantry, canned goods, bread, condiments, water, batteries, flashlights, emergency supplies… The unspoken truth is there is simply not enough food in the stores to supply a large population all at once.  As a result, many families will go without food and chaos will ensue.

Even though emergency organizations have suggested that each family should have at a minimum a two week supply of food, how much of the population listened this advice? Maybe 10%. And with most of the population living on the East coast, those that are planning on riding out Hurricane Irene are going to take a beating if they are not prepared.

Learning the Hard Way

Sadly, many will learn that not being prepared for emergencies, having emergency items in the vehicle, and plans for emergency evacuations can cost them dearly. However, let’s not lose sight of the fact, that those that go through these short-term emergencies may have their eyes opened and see the importance of being prepared. Learning from previous mistakes could make a profound change in their lives. They will learn that having emergency supplies prepared and ready for use will eliminate the stress of fighting the hoards in the stores. Further, if a prepared family had to evacuate, the one’s who are prepared ahead of time will be able to expedite their evacuation and ensure a more safe trip than those who are unprepared and waiting until the last moment.

Staying Ahead of the Game

Ensure that you are ready for emergencies by preparing ahead of time. Below are some additional articles to get you started on your road to preparedness:

• Beginning an Emergency Food Supply
• Emergency Plan Checklist
• Short Term Emergency Checklist
• Evacuation Checklist
• 72-Hour Bag

Emergencies typically occur with little or no warning. As a result, many are caught off guard and are ill-equipped to handle such a sudden crisis. The underlying reason why we prepare is to be self-reliant and have the peace of mind knowing if an emergency were to arise, we can care for our loved ones. Repeating past mistakes of not being prepared is a costly gamble that many have learned not want to take a chance on.

Habits form after 14 days and being prepared is a habit that does not need to be broken.  By simply suggesting to your friends and family to take 30 days and focus on their personal preparedness efforts, you are motivating them to become more self reliant, helping them prepare for unforeseen disasters, and assisting them in creating a preparedness plan that will ensure their safety and well being. I urge each of you to encourage family members and friends to be more self-reliant and get prepared. Let’s try and break the pattern of an unprepared society and help them see the logic in preparing ahead of time.

To begin, farmers in Oklahoma and in Texas are already bracing themselves for what may be their largest TEOTWAWKI event ever experienced. These two states are the largest producers of hay and cattle in the United States.  However, due to persistent drought conditions plaguing this part of the country, the outcome has the two states seeing the smallest hay crop in over a century, thus creating a shortage of feed for livestock.  ”Farms may harvest only one crop from alfalfa and Bermuda grass this year, compared with three normally”, said Larry Redmon, a state forage specialist at Texas A&M University. (Source) 

The Perfect Storm

The hay shortage is leading many cattle ranchers to sell off their herds prematurely to make any type of profit. Cattle that usually graze on fields through September or October, are instead being sold to feedlots, where they are confined in pens and eat mostly corn. Steven Kay, publisher for Cattle Buyers Weekly admits that beef producers are culling cows and young females, which means smaller supplies [of cattle] for the next two years or longer. Don Close, a market director with the Texas Cattle Feeders Association in Amarillo, TX agrees with these sentiments and adds that liquidating the cattle herds is “going to make a tight supply even tighter, as we get down the road.”

Long-term drought conditions and hay shortages are not the only SHTF events farmers need to worry about. Fred Duvall, a cattle rancher for over 50 years suspects that if the drought continues for another three months it will finish off some cattle-raisers. “They’ll have to completely sell out.”  (Source) 

The implications of these issues will be felt by the entire country through shortages of meat and surging prices for years to come. In fact, the USDA forecasts that retail-meat prices may increase this year as much as 7 percent and dairy products may jump 6 percent, more than the rate of overall food inflation at 3 percent to 4 percent.

A Modern Day Disaster

As much as we would like to hope and pray for the weather conditions to change, this could be the beginning of a long-term disaster that the entire country will feel. This devastation is very similar to the drought conditions experienced during the 1930′s that brought about the devastating dust bowls which only intensified the suffering during the Great Depression. 

Increasing food prices, food shortages, droughts, families losing their homes. Does any of this sound familiar? We all know that history can repeat itself. Whether or not we choose to see history repeating itself is the real question. However we decide to view this scenario, it is a modern day disaster that will be hard to come back from. Preparing for harder days to come is inevitable at this point, especially for those in the farming and cattle business.

Just like everybody else, I am unique. In the disaster prepper field I am unique in that I am both a diehard personal prepper and a college trained emergency management professional. I did not become one because of the other; my personal preparedness mindset comes from my parents, as well as my internal system of ethics and belief structure. My career path grew out of my military and correction background. However, even though they are separate, I find that my skills in one translate to the other even though the goals of the two are not always identical.

I would like to take a few moments and describe how you can take government emergency management doctrine and personalize it as well as scale it to your needs.

The first thing I grabbed from my training manuals to apply to my personal emergency plan is the all hazards approach. I have seen people jump into panic mode over single issue events like Y2K, 2012, New Madrid, CME, or whatever is going to kill us all on exactly 12 pm Sunday whatever…. These people then run around and throw money at their fear, and then feel taken when whatever disaster failed to occur. But just like government evacuation orders – If they call for an evacuation, and people leave, but nothing happens, the next time nobody wants to evacuate. In the case of Y2K so many people that prepped for it, that once it did not happen they now have a bad taste in their mouths about prepping and won’t “fall for that again”. With an all hazards approach, rather than spend all your energy prepping for a specific event, you build capabilities that help with ANY event. As I tell my students, When your doing CPR on me, I don’t care if my heart stopped because I was electrocuted, was shot, or ate too many hamburgers with too little exercise – I just want you to keep pumping…

The next thing I took was the cyclical nature of disaster and the 5 phases of emergency management. You have a planning phase where perform a risk assessment and then make plans based upon your threats and hazards. Once you begin planning, you move into the preparedness phase where the planning takes shape – you take training to better prepare. The lists you wrote in the planning phase become deep larders and tangible goods. Along with preparedness and planning you need to worry about mitigation. What can you do to make the disaster either less likely or less disruptive? Personally I have to plan for the New Madrid Earthquake, so I make sure my water heater is strapped down, and my shelves of glass mason jars are secured so that the jars cannot fall off and break. Appropriate amounts of insurance are a mitigation step we all can get. When disaster strikes (We don’t know WHAT or WHEN it will happen, but rest assured you will have an emergency at some point in your life) you enter the response phase where you have to deal with your incident priorities of

1. Life Safety (Pull the people from the burning building)
2. Incident Stabilization (Keep the fire from getting worse and spreading)
3. Property Conservation (Put the fire out and save as much of the building as possible)
4. Environmental Conservation (Keep the runoff of water from polluting the creek)

Once the emergency phase is over, recovery mode begins. At some point you have to get back to normal. Even if it’s a catastrophic event that ends in TEOTWAWKI, you have to create a new normal. It’s critical to understand that these phases blend into each other and the lessons learned from one disaster turn into the planning phase to improve your plan. But keeping the cyclical nature in mind, as you create a plan of action based upon your most reasonable estimate of your hazards you need to test and refine, then retest and refine some more. The more you sweat now, the less you bleed later.

Mutual Aid Agreements and Memorandums of Understands is common among government jurisdictions and agencies. During a disaster everybody wants to help, but knowing who is responsible for what and what their capabilities are is very helpful. Its also important to spell out how damaged or used equipment gets replaced. Two weeks into a multi year grid down disaster is not the time to get into a fight with your neighbor over who gets to use the tractor first. Of course OPSEC is a priority, but no man is an island. The time to network is now.

Have a plan, but be willing to scrap the plan if it does not work. I tell my students that before you can think outside the box, you better understand everything about the box. The very act of planning helps with response. The more you think about your capabilities and what you would do in situations the better prepared your brain is to react flexibly to a situation. Your mind is a wonderful creation, but you have to program it to work. If you’re worried about disasters your program it by creating disaster response plans.

The last concept of emergency management I will share today is incident command. This system came out of the California wildfires in the 70’s. Military vets turned fire jumpers created a management system called fire scope to deal with the rapidly changing fire situations. After the attacks on 9/11 the lack of communication, coordination, and chain of command was identified as areas we needed improvement on. ICS was then adopted as the national standard and all responders in all disciplines were mandated to be trained to a basic level. Free training in the incident command system is available online at the FEMA training website. The ICS system is a flexible system geared toward emergency events. This flexibility is derived from a few essential concepts:

• There is only ONE overall commander.
• The incident commander is responsible for everything, but can delegate roles to qualified staff based upon incident complexity and size.
• Span of control for optimal leadership is 5-7 individuals under a supervisor.
• Everybody reports to only one supervisor, and everyone knows who their supervisor is.

Obviously there is more to the system, but it allows anyone trained in incident command to rapidly integrate themselves into the command structure because it has clear roles and responsibilities. Knowledge of this system is important because EVERY responder has been trained in this system and it will provide the basis of ANY response. It does not matter if your dealing with a volunteer fireman or a military civil support team, any agency with a role in emergency response has to have this training to receive federal funding. While I don’t agree with the mandate, I have seen this system work several times, and the disasters I have worked that were not as successful as others also deviated from the plan more than the others.

The more you understand about the ICS system the more you will know what to expect from the government. The other reason you should learn about this system is that it works if you apply the fundamentals. It does not matter if you’re working in a government agency, a local neighborhood preparedness group, or a family these concepts are timeless and reduce confusion.

Besides concepts and theory on emergency management FEMA has also created many courses in disaster preparedness. Many of these are geared to first responders, but at this time, most of them are available free of charge to civilians. If you visit the FEMA training website the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) has a distant study program, and has classes in Radiological Response, Hazardous Materials, Guides to Disaster Assistance, Active Shooters, Dam Failure – literally almost any aspect of interest to Federal emergency officials. I have personally taken several hundred hours worth of their courses and while distance education is not as good as hands on with a qualified instructor, the materials are a very handy and inexpensive resource to put back in your binder.

For neighborhood organization and home preparedness, don’t overlook the Citizens Emergency Response Teams. I wish this program would have caught on in more areas, but you can download the training materials for free without any sort of login or identification.

Knowledge is power, and by taking the concepts our federal government has spent billions developing and testing in real life incidents in both large and small scale will give you a head start in creating and employing your own personal preparedness plan.

This article was generously contributed by David Nash

• In February of 2011, a Vallejo city worker was attacked and robbed by a mob of teenagers.
• In May 2011, teenage mobs began shoplifting in Chicago on Michigan Ave.
• Again, in May 2011, mobs swarmed a Las Vegas convenience store and stole $600 worth of goods.
• Just recently in New York, a teenage mob stole food and damaged a Dunkin’ Doughnut store.

 Many stores in the surrounding areas of the above mentioned attacks, say the same type of attacks have occurred in their store; however, out of fear of retribution, the stores will not give their names or press charges. 

Understanding Mob Mentality

These teenage hoodlums know there is power in large numbers and they are using it to their advantage.  To announce a pending mob attack, they use their cell phones to electronically organize and communicate through social networks.  Once a large number arrive, they end up looting the store, and damaging private property.  Many believe this is nothing more than teenagers seeking some fast thrills and public notoriety.  However, knowing they will get some sort of media attention, only further escalates these mob-type attacks.  To combat this, police officers are monitoring social network sites attempting to stop the mobs before they strike.  However, due to the spontaneity of this type of crime, police officers are finding it very difficult to be proactive. 

It seems as if these teenagers are not concerned with getting caught as they obviously could care less about the security cameras catching their every move.  Could it be that their lack of concern is because the penalization of a juvenile is nothing more than a slap on the wrist?  

To further understand this phenomenon, scientists at the University of Leeds have researched and believe they have found the source of why humans flock like sheep and birds.  In an article regarding this subject, they indicate that we are merely subconsciously following a minority of individuals. 

Researchers discovered that it takes a minority of just 5 percent to influence a crowd’s direction – and that the other 95 percent follow without realizing it… We’ve all been in situations where we get swept along by the “crowd,” says Professor Krause.  “But what’s interesting about this research is that our participants ended up making a consensus decision despite the fact that they weren’t allowed to talk or gesture to one another.  In most cases the participants didn’t realize they were being led by others.”

Whether or not this is the case, these young adults are making poor choices that are affecting the livelihoods of others.  Their careless acts and lack of moral judgement leads this author to believe we do have an epidemic on our hands.  An epidemic of poorly raised children with no direction towards making themselves better individuals.  How can we put the future into the hands of these juvenile delinquents?  What is it that makes them choose this way of life?  Are their basic needs not being met?  Do they feel under pressure about the bad economy?  Do they even know what the economy is?

Future Trends

 It is a fact that when people’s basic needs are not met, they will act out.  Therefore, it is only a matter of time before these senseless acts of violence will not be limited to only misguided youth, but reach out to others who feel they need to take their own desperation into their hands.  Due to the recent increase in unemployment, and under stimulated economy there will be an increase in crime, and violent mob attacks are surely to increase.  That being said, what will the local and state police force do to deter these attacks?  Will they create a police state and place a police officer on every street corner? Is that what this is coming to?

Why not put the power back into each individuals hands?  While the teenage mobs are looting the stores, what were the witnesses doing?  Did they call the police, did they try and stop them or were they one of the many onlookers?  Instead of looking around and wondering what can be done, start taking personal responsibility for your city.  It’s time Americans start acting in accordance to what our Founding Fathers would have wanted for this great country.  We must protect the freedoms that we have by fighting fire with fire. 

To cure any epidemic, doctors must take a hard stance on fighting the disease.  Even though the problem of violence has the ability to spread like a wildfire, in this case, there is no tough stance.   For decades, juvenile detention centers have made failed attempts at turning these misguided youth around through counseling, boot camps, they have even tried to re-educate teens.  The problems are only escalating and need to stop.  Juveniles must begin taking personal responsibility for their actions.  Simply put, that means, no more slaps on the wrist.  It is time they were taught the phrase,”If you do the crime, you do the time.”    

In summary, what happened to this generation?  Each generation is supposed to be better than the previous one.  The individulas who were involved in these senseless crimes are revolting, ill- equipped to handle adult situations and in all honesty, have the mental capacity of a 4-year old.  It’s like watching children have temper tantrums when they don’t get what they want.  I can’t believe this is even an issue!  When these delinquents organize their next mob attack, they need to be held accountable.  Instead of citizens idly watching, they need to take action.  The cure for this epidemic rests in each citizen’s hands.  You hold the key to stopping this.

Reports from the FDA indicate that BPA has been present in hard plastic bottles, canned foods and canned sodas since the 1960′s.  Some organic labels of canned foods are also guilty of containing traces of BPA.  The FDA is aware of this concern, and are currently debating whether or not this is safe for our food supply.  An organization dedicated to BPA suggest that there is no known risk from human consumption.  Simply put, any harmful effects that may occur from BPA are seen later in life, so it is hard to say if this chemical poses harmful effects.  However, with the vast increase in cancers, many wonder if it is something in our food supply that’s the culprit.  There is also some debate regarding whether BPA leaches out of plastics (especially from heat exposure) and how much BPA is considered too much.

So What is a Safe Level of BPA?

An FDA report suggest that a safe exposure of BPA is 50 micrograms per kilogram of body weight.  However, any testing that has been done for BPA has been done on rodents, not humans.  Tests have concluded that when BPA is in the bloodstream, it tends to mimic estrogen.  For girls, this means earlier puberty, and for boys this can lead to infertility problems.  According to a test conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG)  who targeted and tested the BPA lining in canned goods and drink cans, the tests found:

• Of all foods tested, chicken soup, infant formula, and ravioli had BPA levels of the highest concern. Just one to three servings of foods with these concentrations could expose a woman or child to BPA at levels that causes serious adverse effects in animal tests.
• For 1 in 10 cans of all food tested, and 1 in 3 cans of infant formula, a single serving contained enough BPA to expose a woman or infant to BPA levels more than 200 times the government’s traditional safe level of exposure for industrial chemicals.  The government typically mandates a 1,000-3,000-fold margin of safety between human exposures and levels found to harm lab animals, but these servings contained levels of BPA less than 5 times lower than doses that harmed lab animals.

Common sense tells us that the best way to prevent exposure to BPA is to limit or stear clear from canned goods, foods in hard plastics and canned sodas.  Eating fresh foods, or frozen foods would be a healthier approach.  This is easier said than done considering most of our food comes pre-packaged in cans or plastic containers.  Perhaps now would be a good time to consider growing a vegetable garden.

It must be stated that the FDA is supporting reasonable steps to reduce human exposure to BPA, including actions by industry and recommendations to consumers on food preparation.  At this time, the FDA is not recommending that families change the use of infant formula or foods as the benefit of a stable source of good nutrition outweighs the potential risk of BPA exposure.  it’s nice to see the FDA looking out for our best interests.

I have suggested to readers that setting aside 10% of your monthly budget and using it for emergency preparation is an advantageous investment for your future well being.  Many have remarked that with the economy on the down slope, they simply cannot afford to use a portion on their budgets towards preparations.  My response back to them is, “Can you afford not to be prepared?

FEMA  Wants Every Home To Have 2 Weeks Worth of Food

As a whole, most of the population is not prepared for an unforeseen disaster.  Many emergency websites such as FEMA has stressed how important it is to be prepared.  Specifically, FEMA  has suggested that each family should have at a minimum a two week supply of food.  Statistics state that the average family household has only 3 days worth of food in their homes.  With that knowledge in hand, it is safe to say that most of the population is ill equipped to handle an unforeseen emergency, and the result is a formula for epic disaster.  

Simply put, when human beings basic needs are not met, their once passive natures dissolves and a more aggressive side replaces it.  When an entire population’s needs are not being met, what do you think will happen?  4 words. Complete and utter pandemonium.  The unspoken truth is there is simply not enough food in the stores to supply a large population all at once.  As a result, many families will go without food and chaos will ensue.

 Point and fact, many who live in areas where extreme weather occurs knows that when a storm is imminent, there is a mass rush to the stores to stock up on supplies.  Some people are able to buy a surplus of goods (if they get to the stores in time), and some people get there too late and walk home empty handed.  The supply of food has run out because everyone is buying the same types of foods.  Foods such as basic food pantry, canned goods, bread, condiments, water, batteries, flashlights, emergency supplies, etc.  Having these supplies at home will eliminate the stress of fighting the hoards in the stores.

Preparing Provides Peace of Mind

Accumulating an emergency food supply can be acheived even on the most modest of budgets.  This author bought a 6 month food supply for 1 person with $115.  If this amount is too much for your budget, try breaking up the emergency food list up into different categories such as breakfast foods, grains, water, baking needs, etc.  Each time a person goes to the store, they can buy a portion of their food supply and store it away for later use.  As a result, in a matter of a few weeks to 1 month’s time, a modest amount of food has been stored.  To find how much food a family needs, many preppers use this food storage calculator.  Although, many of our budgets are dwindling due to the bad economy, there are ways of stretching your budget and changing your lifestyle in order to prepare. 

Being prepared can put a person way ahead of the game.  While many who are unprepared for disasters will be battling the lines at the grocery stores, those that have prepared can concentrate on other matters at hand: their families well being.

Food shortages, unemployment, 43 million on food stamps… and they say we are in a recovery period?  People, it is just beginning. 

In, Now is the Time to Redouble Your Families Preparedness Efforts an article written for SHTF Plan, I urged readers to begin preparing for harder times.  Despite, sneers and snickers by disbelieving friends and family members, many of us continue to press on with our preparedness efforts.  We see the signs and know that hard times are on the horizon.

In the above mentioned article, economic signs of a failing economy were discussed, and instead of acceptance of the problem at hand, many citizens turned a blind eye because they did not want to end their complacent existence.

Our terminally ill economy is just another symptom of the much larger problem that looms in the distance.  We have all heard whispers of a global food crisis.  In fact, in the past 3 months food prices such as wheat, sugar, and coffee have all increased exponentially due to failed crop seasons and the monetary stimulus being pumped into the economy by the Federal Reserve.  These symptoms that have reared their ugly heads are the beginning of the end – the end of the carefree American existence and the birth (and reality) of harder times…

You must begin preparing for your family’s future.  Investing in hard assets such as sugar, flour, silver will sustain a family in times when they may need it the most.  Start researching to understand the basic premise of preparing for disasters.  Most American households are feeling the effects of the Great Recession… ahem Depression.  A large percentage of households are already living below poverty line, and more are to follow…  

A year and a half ago, the government announced that America is in a recovery period.  There was no need to worry anymore because Washington had everything under control.  Perhaps the government withheld a few minor details.  It seems that a percentage of the citizens in this country are still feeling the economic burn. 

In a report by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 43 million citizens continue to use the food stamps program.  In other words, more than 14% of the American population cannot afford to buy food without assistance from government programs (Source). 

Those that have prepared realized early on that they could survive more abundantly by mimicking our pioneer ancestors way of life.  They have also learned ways to simplify their lives and their finances, and learned essential skills.  There is no doubt that each and every one of you have noticed your budgets dwindling little by little each year.  It is becoming more difficult to stretch a dollar.  Now is time to accept the problem at hand and prepare for it. 

Prepare by starting a short term food supply.  FEMA recommends having a two week food supply in the event that an unforeseen emergency occurs.  Even though many consider emergency preparation to be weather related, any unforeseen disaster such as unemployment can be also be classified as an emergency.  Start investing in gallons of water and non-perishable food items.  From there, you can begin investing in other emergency needs that suit your basic needs.  Challenge family members to begin their own preparedness efforts by doing a Preparedness Challenge for 30 Days.  You will be surprised how much you accumulate in 30 days time.

You know what your family needs to thrive during a disaster.  Start investing in those needed items and buy in bulk quantities.  The more you have, the more prepared you will be when you need those items the most.

(To read a beginner’s guide to prepping. click here and here).