Beginning to prepare

My beau and I have been hearing about Peak Oil a lot more recently and it's giving us the jeebies!

There's now no denying this is happening.

Lyndon's dad is a geophysicist who worked for a multinational oil exploration company. He's telling us to seek alternative power sources.

We are using our common sense. Oil is clearly a finite natural resource. There has not been a major oil basin found since the 70's. I think we are very close to the top of Hubberts Curve. Then what are we going to do?

Eek scary stuff I know. I'm not going to go into all of the details of Peak Oil. If you don't know about, research it if you'd like, if not that's fine it's up to the individual to decide what they want to know about.

But now that I have researched it extensively, I am absolutely 100% convinced that one day we will run out of oil. We're oil babies. Born into an era where everything is based on the supply of cheap oil. We don't know any other life. So when we run out we will be forced into finding alternative ways to transport ourselves, our food, create electricity, etc.

This is one of the main reasons we are working on becoming self-sufficient. We are a long way off but I feel better knowing we are doing something.

While discussing Peak Oil on the weekend, we came to the conclusion that emergency preparedness was an area we were severely lacking in. And not only for the initial effects of the peak oil crisis, but also for weather emergencies or any other reason that we would be trapped in our house without the luxury of going to the shops to get supplies or have to leave the house quickly and live in the car for a while.

Funny that we were talking about it on the weekend. This is the local stream that seperates our house from the city this morning after almost a week of constany heavy rain

Usually this is a metre wide stream. This raging torrent is only a few metres below the road that I use to get home and it's still raining! Don't worry I'm leaving work shortly to get home before it goes over.

So what if I couldn't get home? Or what if I was home and cut off from all shops? Or worse still what if there was a major catastrophy that meant all services were down, roads were cut and if was unsafe to go outside?

I know that sounds really drastic, but I would rather be prepared than not prepared.

Have you discussed an emergency plan?

When we started discussing things like "where I will go if I can't get home after a disaster and can't contact my partner?", "what should we take with us if we have to run out the door, get in the car and just drive?" I started feeling very under-prepared! We hadn't ever discussed anything like that. The Government agencies tell you to have an emergency plan in place, why hadn't we listened?! Because you don't think something like that will happen to you. The news reports with all of those terrible natural disasters, wars, conflict, social upheaval happen overseas, not here.

But I think it is a very responsible thing to think about. I've started looking at stockpiling, what should be in  emergency packs that you keep near the door, in the car, or even at work, and I'm starting to get together lists of items I should start collecting.

We are only beginning to really think about being properly prepared for an emergency so I'm feeling a little uneasy should anything happen in the meantime.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on if you have an emergency plan and the details. What's on your list of essentials? Do you keep a pack near the door or in the car 'just in case'? I'm such a newbie at this and would love to hear any info you may have learnt through your research.

Be safe
x
Kim