The Role of Openprepper

I had a great chat yesterday with some like-minded locals and that clarified some things for me, so I wanted to share here.

Going forward each of us is going to face increasing challenges in meeting basic needs. An incomplete list of these are:

1. Air
2. Shelter
3. Water
4. Food
5. Clothing
6. Health Services
7. Entertainment

Openprepper cannot directly provide any of these - it can only seek to share information that helps others to achieve their own needs. For example, information on how to insulate houses, techniques for collecting and managing water, information on food growing methods would all be suitable (though many of these areas are well-covered in existing books and videos - see our ever-growing Resources for links).

Many people will already have most of their basic needs for air and shelter and clothing met, but will struggle to meet their needs for air conditioning, water and food in the event of disaster or failure of societal systems. As such, some priority areas will be in water collection and water saving, and food growing, cooking and storage. In addition, electricity will be helpful for many existing systems (though air-conditioning will likely require too much power).

War and Peak Oil

Oil is a non-renewable resource. The conditions required for formation of oil simply don't exist now. While we continue to find new oil, it is inevitable that at some point production of oil will decline - because there is a finite amount of it, with no more oil being made.

Factoring in the amount oil that is used in extraction and production of oil, we have already passed peak oil. Also, we have passed peak oil per capita. Perhaps most importantly, have have passed the peak in diesel production (see here, Figure 5. Diesel is cruicial for road transport and farming. Shortages of diesel will lead to rising food prices and food shortages.

A Quick Word on Preparedness

There are many resources discussing preparedness or prepping online, but a quick summary here: Prepping means planning and preparing to stay safe and self-sufficient during emergencies (or longer-term).

The highest priorities are:

1. water (3 litres [1 gallon] per person per day for 3+ days)
2. nonperishable food
3. shelter/warmth/cooling
4. first aid
5. sanitation

Then consider building skills (first aid, fire safety, navigation), creating emergency plans and evacuation routes, and assembling a grab-and-go bag. Prioritise community and household needs, then expand for longer-term resilience (months) if feasible.

See our prepping resources