Are You a Survivalist or a Prepper?

Others worry about terrorism, or our financial system, or the repercussions of Brexit, whatever they may be. And not everyone is rational. The prepping movement contains overzealous elements, particularly in the US, where natural disasters are bigger and badder and, well, the guns.

But those signed up to the movement in the UK are like you and me: When I was 17, Nasa announced the discovery of a far-off planet. News reports hinted at the prospect of the Voyager being deployed, but I never got to hear what the probe actually found. The excitement eventually dwindled and I got on with my life, but the discovery sparked an ongoing interest in space and exploration and, later, in the environment and geopolitics. About 18 months ago those interests led me to prepping. I prep on two levels: But there are more and more like-minded people out there in communities around the country: We offer each other support and keep ourselves to ourselves.

We see prepping as a way to increase our chances of survival if something happens. Eight years ago the leaders of my church suggested I keep a store cupboard. Hurricanes and earthquakes were becoming more prevalent, and flooding was affecting whole villages within hours. I live in a small village in Derbyshire. And with five kids I have to be prepared for everything. I thought it was a good idea. I started to store a tin a week — sweetcorn, beans, tinned tomatoes — and, over time, added cases of pasta, bags of rice, boxes of long-life meat and bottles of water. Most people keep a few tins in their cupboard — soup and beans, things like that.

And I could cut back on the food shop when my husband was temporarily asked to work three days a week instead of five, reducing his pay. My eldest daughter keeps a hour bag in her car. But, realistically, we are mostly likely to be affected by flooding or severe snow. There have been times when we have been cut off, unable to get out.

And if something happened at the house? We can be clear with everything we need for 72 hours within 20 minutes. We have a family go-bag in the loft: We all know the plan. Many years ago, while living in Australia, I was bitten by a snake.

• Beginning Preppers?
• The Prepper's Guide to Survival.
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About 10 years ago I got into prepping seriously. What would I do?

America's midlife crisis: lessons from a survivalist summit | US news | The Guardian

How would I survive? This country is one of the safest in the world. We have no killer animals. There are no major tsunamis. When you go back to the last depressing days when we were in a survival mode, the last one the Y2K of course, before the s, what had happened was you only saw this one element of survivalist, you know, the caricature, the guy with the AK heading to the hills with enough ammunition and pork and beans to ride out the storm.

This is a very different one from that: So survivalism in every way possible. Growing your own, self-sustaining, doing as much as you can to make it as best as you can on your own and it can happen in urban area, sub-urban area or the ex-urbans. And it also means becoming more and more tightly committed to your neighbors, your neighborhood, working together and understanding that we're all in this together and that when we help each other out that's going to be the best way forward.

This last aspect is highlighted in The Trends Research Journal: A number of popular movies and television shows [ definition needed ] , such as the National Geographic Channel 's Doomsday Preppers , have also emerged recently [ when? Following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting the "prepper" community faced public scrutiny after it was revealed the mass murderer's mother was a survivalist.

Survivalism is approached by its adherents in different ways, depending on their circumstances, mindsets, and particular concerns for the future. While survivalists accept the long-term viability of Western civilization, they learn principles and techniques needed for surviving life-threatening situations that can occur at any time and place. They prepare for such calamities that could result in physical harm or requiring immediate attention or defense from threats.

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These disasters could be biotic or abiotic. Survivalists combat disasters by attempting to prevent and mitigate damage caused by these factors. This group stresses being able to stay alive for indefinite periods in life-threatening wilderness scenarios, including plane crashes, shipwrecks, and being lost in the woods. The rule states that a human can survive: This group focuses on surviving brief encounters of violent activity, including personal protection and its legal ramifications, danger awareness, John Boyd 's cycle also known as the OODA loop —observe, orient, decide and act , martial arts, self-defense tactics and tools both lethal and non-lethal.

These survivalist tactics are often firearm-oriented, in order to ensure a method of defense against attackers or home invasion. This group consists of people who live in tornado, hurricane, flood, wildfire, earthquake or heavy snowfall-prone areas and want to be prepared for possible emergencies. While assuming the long-term continuity of society, some may have invested in a custom-built shelter, food, water, medicine, and enough supplies to get by until contact with the rest of the world resumes following a natural emergency.

This group is concerned with weather cycles of 2—10 years, which have happened historically and can cause crop failures. This group considers an end to society as it exists today under possible scenarios including global warming , global cooling , environmental degradation , [22] warming or cooling of gulf stream waters, or a period of severely cold winters caused by a supervolcano , an asteroid strike , or large-scale nuclear proliferation.

This group is concerned with the spread of fatal diseases, biological agents, and nerve gases, including swine flu , E. Monetary disaster investors believe the Federal Reserve system is fundamentally flawed. Newsletters suggest hard assets of gold and silver bullion, coins, and other precious-metal-oriented investments such as mining shares.

Survivalists prepare for paper money to become worthless through hyperinflation. As of late this is a popular scenario. These individuals study End Times prophecy and believe that one of various scenarios might occur in their lifetime. While some Christians and even people of other religions believe that the Rapture will follow a period of Tribulation , others believe that the Rapture is imminent and will precede the Tribulation "Pre-Trib Rapture [40] ".

America's midlife crisis: lessons from a survivalist summit

There is a wide range of beliefs and attitudes in this group. They run the gamut from pacifist to armed camp, and from having no food stockpiles leaving their sustenance up to God's providence to storing decades' worth of food. This group believes that peak oil is a near term threat to Western civilization, [41] and take appropriate measures, [42] usually involving relocation to an agriculturally self-sufficient survival retreat. Followers of James Wesley Rawles [44] often prepare for multiple scenarios with fortified and well-equipped rural survival retreats.

This group has a primary concern with maintaining some form of legal system and social cohesion after a breakdown in the technical infrastructure of society. Hatfield's The American Common Law: The Customary Law of the American Nation.

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Common preparations include the creation of a clandestine or defensible retreat, haven, or bug out location BOL in addition to the stockpiling of non-perishable food, water, water-purification equipment, clothing, seed, firewood, defensive or hunting weapons, ammunition, agricultural equipment , and medical supplies. Some survivalists do not make such extensive preparations, and simply incorporate a " Be Prepared " outlook into their everyday life.

A bag of gear, often referred to as a " bug out bag " BOB or "get out of dodge" G. It can be of any size, weighing as much as the user is able to carry.

‘Come and take’

Survivalists' concerns and preparations have changed over the years. During the s, fears were economic collapse, hyperinflation, and famine. Preparations included food storage and survival retreats in the country which could be farmed. Some survivalists stockpiled precious metals and barterable goods such as common-caliber ammunition because they assumed that paper currency would become worthless. During the early s, nuclear war became a common fear, and some survivalists constructed fallout shelters.

In , many people purchased electric generators , water purifiers, and several months' or years' worth of food in anticipation of widespread power outages because of the Y2K computer-bug. Instead of moving or making such preparations at home, many people also make plans to remain in their current locations until an actual breakdown occurs, when they will—in survivalist parlance—"bug out" or "get out of Dodge" to a safer location.

Other survivalists have more specialized concerns, often related to an adherence to apocalyptic religious beliefs. Some evangelical Christians hold to an interpretation of Bible prophecy known as the post-tribulation rapture , in which the world will have to go through a seven-year period of war and global dictatorship known as the " Great Tribulation ". Similarly, some Catholics are preppers, based on Marian apparitions which speak of a great chastisement of humanity by God, particularly those associated with Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Akita which states "fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity".

People who are not part of survivalist groups or apolitically oriented religious groups also make preparations for emergencies. This can include depending on the location preparing for earthquakes, floods , power outages , blizzards, avalanches , wildfires , terrorist attacks, nuclear power plant accidents, hazardous material spills, tornadoes, and hurricanes. These preparations can be as simple as following Red Cross and U.

Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA recommendations by keeping a first aid kit, shovel, and extra clothes in the car, or by maintaining a small kit of emergency supplies, containing emergency food, water, a space blanket, and other essentials. Mainstream economist and financial adviser Barton Biggs is a proponent of preparedness. In his book Wealth, War and Wisdom , Biggs has a gloomy outlook for the economic future, and suggests that investors take survivalist measures.

In the book, Biggs recommends that his readers should "assume the possibility of a breakdown of the civilized infrastructure. Think Swiss Family Robinson. Even in America and Europe, there could be moments of riot and rebellion when law and order temporarily completely breaks down. For global catastrophic risks the costs of food storage become impractical for most of the population [53] and for some such catastrophes conventional agriculture would not function due to the loss of a large fraction of sunlight e.

In such situations, alternative food is necessary, which is converting natural gas and wood fiber to human edible food. Survivalists maintain their group identity by using specialized terminology not generally understood outside their circles. They also use terms that are unique to their own survivalist groups; common acronyms include:. Despite a lull following the end of the Cold War, survivalism has gained greater attention in recent years, resulting in increased popularity of the survivalist lifestyle, as well as increased scrutiny.

A National Geographic show interviewing survivalists, Doomsday Preppers , was a "ratings bonanza" [80] and "the network's most-watched series", [81] yet Neil Genzlinger in The New York Times declared it an "absurd excess on display and at what an easy target the prepper worldview is for ridicule," noting, "how offensively anti-life these shows are, full of contempt for humankind. Gerald Celente, founder of the Trends Research Institute, noted how many modern survivalists deviate from the classic archetype, terming this new style "neo-survivalism"; "you know, the caricature, the guy with the AK heading to the hills with enough ammunition and pork and beans to ride out the storm.

This [neo-survivalist] is a very different one from that". In popular culture, survivalism has been associated with paramilitary activities. Some survivalists do take active defensive preparations that have military roots and that involve firearms , and this aspect is sometimes emphasized by the mass media. The potential for social collapse is often cited as motivation for being well-armed. The Missouri Information Analysis Center MIAC issued on February 20, a report intended for law enforcement personnel only entitled "The Modern Militia Movement," which described common symbols and media, including political bumper stickers, associated with militia members and domestic terrorists.

The report appeared March 13, on WikiLeaks [88] and a controversy ensued. It was claimed that the report was derived purely from publicly available trend data on militias. Individual survivalist preparedness and survivalist groups and forums—both formal and informal—are popular worldwide, most visibly in Australia, [92] [93] Austria, [94] Belgium, Canada, [95] France, [96] [97] Germany [98] often organized under the guise of " adventuresport " clubs , [99] Netherlands, [] New Zealand, [] Russia, [] Sweden, [] [] [] the United Kingdom, [] and the United States.

Adherents of the back-to-the-land movement inspired by Helen and Scott Nearing , sporadically popular in the United States in the s and s exemplified by The Mother Earth News magazine , share many of the same interests in self-sufficiency and preparedness. Back-to-the-landers differ from most survivalists in that they have a greater interest in ecology and counterculture. Despite these differences, The Mother Earth News was widely read by survivalists as well as back-to-the-landers during that magazine's early years, and there was some overlap between the two movements.

Anarcho-primitivists share many characteristics with survivalists, most notably predictions of a pending ecological disaster. Writers such as Derrick Jensen argue that industrial civilization is not sustainable, and will therefore inevitably bring about its own collapse. Some members of the Men Going Their Own Way subculture also promote off-grid living and believe that modern society is no longer liveable.

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