Trainers are wise people who understand that change is a constant in life. Preppers around the world have snuggled safely at home or in their bunkers during the COVID-19 pandemic. For them, long-term food storage is a baseline, so going through a season or two without venturing out is first and foremost a psychological challenge. I've spent the last three years interviewing people preparing for an ambiguous future disaster, and some of them emailed me in the early days of the pandemic from their strongholds, expressing their ironic frustration as they watched shoppers on TV frantically stacking supplies of sanitizer from hands, bottled water and, yes, toilet paper in your shopping carts.
One wrote to me: “These people are fixing a leaky roof in a storm. There are millions of people in the United States alone who consider themselves preparers. Preparers are those who actively prepare for all types of emergencies, from natural disasters to civil unrest. They often purchase items such as emergency medical supplies, food and water, among others.
While not everyone prepares for disasters like some preparers do, anyone can put together a survival kit that can help you in times of need. For those who are new to preparation, there are many articles and resources available on topics ranging from food to self-defense and more. The following resources will help those interested in preparing to get started. Usually, Prepper Supplies would be enough to hold on for that long, and Mills said they often referred to these caches as more than they would need.
The preparers are ready to purify water to drink, hunt and kill to eat, and scare anyone who tries to get a piece of their post-apocalyptic happiness, possibly through gunfire. To the extent that one exists, the public image of a preparer is that of someone who is preparing for the collapse of society, at which point money and electricity grids, along with all the things that depend on them, will no longer be available. Instead of rampant paranoia, Mills suggests, preparers are motivated by continued media coverage of natural disasters, as well as a government that encourages them to prepare for the worst. A couple of years ago, I flew to Chiang Mai, Thailand, to interview a wealthy Canadian offshore oil rig worker and doomsday preparer who asked me to refer to him as “Auggie.
Businesses serving people who want to be self-sufficient in food, water and energy have increased their revenues by approximately 700 percent over the past decade, and prep products are now offered in places like Costco, Kmart and Bed Bath %26 Beyond. Some old-school preppers followed the Lone Wolf mentality too much, where they kept everything secret and assumed that they would cross the moors alone with their shotgun and trusty dog while everything else collapses around them. That's basically where Preppers Network and The Prepared start, except The Prepared, for example, which then subdivides and expands home readiness to 16 different categories, including mental health, self-defense, and hygiene. It is important to note that, regardless of how popular these prep sites are, they will probably also not produce a full cross-section of the preparer community, nor will they select people based on willingness to speak with a researcher.
To find out, Mills placed ads on some popular preparer websites, recruited his cohort, and began his road trip. Mills went on an American road trip, where he spent time talking (and massacring animals with) 39 preparers in 18 different states of the United States. .
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