Why opt out?
Posted: July 3, 2009 Filed under: 1. Philosophy | Tags: emergency preparedness, prepper Comments Off on Why opt out?
I’ve been going down this path for the past three months. Here’s my thought process to date on the frequent question of “Why did you start thinking about this?” that I get from close friends when they ask me about my current project load…
All of this falls into a broad category of what you might call “emergency preparedness”. I actually had a family member involved in an EP company for a decade, so you would think this might have occurred to me earlier, but no.
What is motivating me? Positive, solution-seeking thinking/planning in these areas:
1. My kids
As soon as we began having children, my instincts went way up in terms of protection, provision, and training. I want to raise well-rounded, positive-outlook children that are equipped to help others and change the world for the better. IMO, that takes *alot* of work.
2. The movements of Green + Peak Oil + Go Local + Beyond Organic
Although everything “green” is sexy these days – usually leading to shallow change, unfortunately – there is actually quite a bit of authentic change happening. I’m a big believer in “technology as savior”, although I’m skeptical we can catch up with our environment before a major correction happens (read: worldwide plague, ocean level rising). History tells us these corrections do happen.
However, we are seeing some exciting technologically-based solutions coming to market. Rapid, significant improvements annually in alternative energy such as solar, wind, and geothermal are happening right now. Witness the re-birth of the oil wildcatter T. Boone Pickens as a wind farm proponent and investor.
One of my organizations is heavily involved in these movements, so I get to see a fair number of inside peaks at these positive innovations.
3. Fair Trade movement
I’ve been involved in this “Fair Trade” experiment to correct our unsustainable economic model for the past six years (I’m currently on the winning end of that unsustainable model, thankfully). Witness China + Russia + India all vying for our spot as Last Standing Superpower. Research movements like Fair Trade Towns and Transition Towns that are trying to get our US cities off their oil dependency and unjust (and thus unsustainable) economic systems that we’ve built over the past couple hundred years.
4. My personal health
I am nearing 40 years old. I catch the flu/allergies 2-3X per season despite eating and drinking quite healthily. So I am reminded daily of my desire to get away from toxic, unnatural products and the system that creates them.
5. My personality as a Planner and Networker
I’ve been described as a “geek with people skills”. I enjoy and thrive on meeting other people and networking via high quality conversations. My desire is to see true lasting positive change on a local, regional, national, and international level. Both my day jobs focus on the international aspect. These personal efforts documented here will focus on the local and regional aspects.
In short, I’m a dork for preparedness, I’ve just never applied it to potential emergencies before. What kind of emergencies? Next post…
Opt Out En Masse 