Be Prepared     why this is important

Be Prepared is the Boy Scout’s motto. Humanity definitely is not prepared right now. It is too late to stop climate change but we can definitely become more prepared for living through it.

Currently some people are still in denial that climate change is even happening. Most believe it but have no idea what they can personally do. It has already started and the problems are escalating but exactly when we hit the tipping point is still a guess. Some say next year, others say 2026, some say 2030 or a little later.

It would be great if governments stepped in and started helping by taxing corporations which are the worse offenders of pollution, starting programs to help prepare communities, invest in slowing the devastation and training people on how to cope. Historically governments around the world are usually too corrupt, incompetent and greedy to really be effective. We need to rely on grass root campaigns and handle this ourselves.

Act Now

Do not hope and wait that someone else is going to save the day. The government has known about these problems since before Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth in 2006. If the government was going to save us... it would have already happened.

You cannot personally save the world. However you can take steps to make your small circle better. Make the earth around you clean and healthy, make the air clear and fresh, and stop participating in activities that are damaging Earth. Plus you can become ready for when/if utility companies go dark or food sources become scarce.

Teach the Masses

Pounding into people information about how bad the situation is does not help. We do not want people to fall into depression. Depression paralyzes and now is a time for action! People need to be self-reliant, creative and resilient. Information needs to be disseminated widely and quickly in a manner that people will be able to absorb and remember.

Preparation Gamified

I propose gamifying the process of preparation. It does not even need to be promoted as a “prepare for climate change” event and if done correctly people from all mentalities (depressed realists, those in denial, the oblivious, and the preppers) would attend. Done properly the event would be fun, educational and lead to long-term networking between people.

I’m envisioning something like a Renaissance festival except it would have hands-on exhibits where people can learn skills like how to grow microgreens at home, DIY vertical gardens, husbandry, and some composting/farming tricks. There would be cooking contests using basic ingredients that anyone could grow easily. Everyone could learn how to grow their own potatoes from Grow Bags.

Not everything would be low-tech. There would also be all the basic knowledge to generate electricity, store it in batteries, and solar panel information. Supplies would be available so people could build battery power-walls with professional supervision. Even showing how to make a micro metal foundry is easily possible. One workshop could show people how to build a small electric power generator from easily found parts and cranked by hand or pedals.

Frequency of Events

This needs to start soon, happen often, and spread far and wide. The sooner something like this starts, the sooner it can grow, enhance methodologies, and spread to new locations. If funds and human resources are invested into this it could grow much faster. Even with minimal time and money investment this could at least be started with the following conservative timeline:

Yes, that is an aggressive timeline. The opportunity to leisurely plan and grow has long past. I used to produce, manage and host an event many years ago and I know how much effort something like this takes. Someone needs to step up and start doing something like this. It would be even better if lots of people started events like this and shared information.

Note that there are a lot of people and organizations out there that would be willing to help. We could recruit a lot of resources, ideas and intelligent people from organizations and events like the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism), PrepperCon, and Renaissance festivals. We could take our best exhibits to their events also - probably swap free promotion for their events in exchange for free promotion of our event.

Frankly I would prefer it if someone else took on this project. I’m extremely busy but if nobody else steps up to put on an event like this… then I will.

If you would like to put on an event like this and want my contacts and ideas, let me know.
If you would like to be a vendor or exhibitor at an event like this, let me know.
If you have a facility or location available to host an event like this, let me know.

Possible Event Name

The name should be easily marketed to several different markets and mindsets. You don’t want any name that would possibly scare or make uneasy a market segment. Ideally one name would be used for the event concept but multiple promoters could have the event in their local area. I propose the name CrowCon with the tagline Survival Living Essentials Festival but I’m open to suggestions.

If you can think of a better name or want to help let me know.

Why and Why Not?

Some people believe that continuing as-is will work out fine. Maybe the collapse will not happen for 50 or 100 years. Maybe some brilliant scientist will find a way to reverse all the earth’s problems… and governments and the people will actually follow the scientific advice (which historically has never happened).

If we get lucky and all is fine… it would still be beneficial to you, me and the world if more people started providing their own green electricity, growing their own food without pesticides, and became less reliant on big pharma.

Global climate change, solar flares, political unrest, impending financial collapse… hopefully these are all just fairy tales. Whether any of these happen or not, living on your own electricity and eating food you are 100% certain does not have GMOs or pesticides just makes sense.

A friend of mine said we’re on the brink of civil war, climate change is imminent, and with the expedited rate of insects and animals going extinct, it is a short matter of time before humanity expires in a blaze of glory… therefore any preparation is moot. My response is we don’t know for certain it will be that bad nor do we know how soon this may all happen. In the meantime living healthier and more in nature with less dependence on government, big pharma, oil companies, and big corporations is actually wonderful. It feels good and that is a good enough reason all in itself.

Here is a list of recommended skills that could be trained at the festiaval and more information.