“Perhaps most concerning is the warning about possible disruptions in essential services such as telecommunications, banking, water, power, gasoline, medicine, and even the food supply.
“In more extreme situations, (expect) possible disruptions in other services such as telecommunications, financial/banking, water, power (hydro), gasoline/fuels, medicine or the food supply.””
Feds urge businesses to prepare for “new virus” pandemic gas & food shortages
The manual discussed is linked to here. The quote mentioning “extreme situations” is on page 10.
Why would businesses be encouraged to come up with a plan, but not the ordinary citizen? I’m remembering back during the “vaxx” roll-out days after I’d left FB in early ’21, when people were sharing how FB was asking users if they knew someone who was “too prepared”, and sharing how they could report them.
Here in Canada, we are facing two potential rail staffing lockouts in BC, along with a potential port strike in Vancouver. Action by the railway companies could come by the 22nd if negotiations with the unions fail. Fear-mongering by transport management companies claim this could be worse than when we were under lockdowns and take longer to pull out of should the action proceed.
The foodbank network across Canada is calling for the Federal Government to take more action to ensure needy people are fed. This is because the cost of living is continuing to rise, and more and more people are having to choose between food and bills, or food and rent. Unfortunately, getting people hooked on government handouts isn’t the answer, so when I saw the foodbanks calling for support to lobby the government for more handouts, I cringed!
I have a better idea, one that I’ve tried to encourage people to do since mid-2020, but that is very slow in catching on. Others out there with this same idea have packaged it in more flashy ways, different presentations, some free, some fee, but I’m not sure how many are actually doing it yet.
That idea is to build local, in-person, actually sustainable communities. By actually sustainable, I am referring to everyone in the community bringing a skill or talent to the table. One might grow a garden. Another might sew clothing. A guy might be an all-round handyman. Someone else may keep livestock including sheep the sewist can get their wool from. Just as examples. I created a pdf spreadsheet to help people figure out what they offer and what others around them offer, to kickstart building such a community.
The concept of survivalist training or homesteading needs to get off the “every man for himself” bandwagon, get off the post-apocalyptic mindset, and start making these skills and abilities normal again. Get them out of the novel emergency status, and bring them down into everyday life, mundane status! When you cut through the survival, novel, cute cottage craft mentality, you end up with skills and abilities that were in daily use before the days of mass-production and commercialization. This is a lifestyle change that needs to happen sooner than later, so that society weathers onslaughts from the string pullers with as little unnecessary upheaval as possible. The founder of Gab keeps pointing at the Amish, but they allowed themselves to reach a certain level of technology and drew the line to go no further. I’m not saying we need to live as the Amish do, but I am saying we need to wean ourselves off mass-produced commercialization if we expect to have a more even-keeled social existence on this side of eternity.
For many, the biggest change in this method of community is the drastically reduced ability to have what you want the moment you want it. Not just hopping into the car to run to the store, but taking the time to make what you want, or waiting for someone to make what you want. Get used to repairing rather than tossing. Needs come first in this type of community, with wants taking a decided back seat and engaged in as time and materials allow. But this kind of community is necessary.
The days are getting rougher ahead. What are you doing to get ready?
