Hi! Long time TP reader here. If you’re going to post about a health risk, how about 70% or more of the articles posted are on how to increase your health and general well-being? Topics like: Anger management techniques, ways to reduce stress (stress = reduced immune system functioning), building healthy intimate relationships, eating foods that boost the immune system and general well-being, using herbs and supplements that support natural health, etc… all these and more are invaluable to boosting the immune system and prepping for biological catastrophe. Covering articles about how to find a strong reason for living will save lives and, more importantly, make the saved lives worth living. You’ve said many times to invest in QUALITY not QUANTITY. So please help guide your viewers to find out for themselves how to increase the quality of their lives (with connection, love, sense of belonging, etc). Thank you!
Sources: https://www.cdc.gov/injury/features/global-road-safety/index.html https://www.worldhunger.org/world-child-hunger-facts/ https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm
Every year, 1.35 million people are killed on roadways around the world. Every day, almost 3,700 people are killed globally in road traffic crashes involving cars, buses, motorcycles, bicycles, trucks, or pedestrians. (WHO, 2018) *Why is the Economy not shut down to force cultural and infastructural shifts away from individual automobiles and towards public transportation, walking, cycling, etc? Approximately 3.1 million children die from undernutrition each year (UNICEF, 2018a) *The billions of dollars spent to develop vaccines for Covid are not being used to get food to where it is needed most. Why? @cosmicpixle please be mindful of the headlines you write and picture you draw by connecting dots that can be connected many different ways. Is 1 million global deaths by Covid a “horrible milestone” worthy of striking fear into the hearts of Americans? Or is about 655,000 Americans dying from heart disease every year a more realistic call to action? Considering chances of developing heart disease increase with lifestyle choices such as physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, overweight & obesity, excessive alcohol use, smoking, and largely preventable health conditions such as high blood pressure… “fast food” should be shutdown (not small businesses), soda pulled from the shelves, and government subsidized gym memberships given to all citizens (instead of high fructose corn syrup and cane/beet sugar crop subsidies). In addition wide scale public health campaigns to educate our populace in how to cultivate active lifestyles as well as prepare fresh, whole foods grown in nutrient rich soils. If social isolation, economic shutdown, statewide lockdowns, revocation of freedom of assembly, and forced quarantines are “for the health and safety of the public” doesn’t it seem kinda backwards given the info cited above for conditions that have already been present for many years…? For protection against a virus (illness), why is our government/media/peers/ThePrepared not providing as many tools to live the healthiest life possible, as are being provided to live in fearful isolation?
Hi! Could you add articles/links on growing and raising food as the next bullet point whenever you write about “food shortages?” I believe this would offer tools to empower people to take appropriate action after reading potentially panic inducing comments such as “food shortages could be imminent.” It could illuminate ways for people to take control of the situation besides more panic buying their way into a sense of security. ‘…teach a man to fish…’ and all that. Plus, local food security is a pillar of prepping anyway, imo. Not to mention all the possibilities of supporting local agriculture and economy by directing people to sites like https://www.pickyourown.org (a website to find local farms where you can pick your own fruits/veggies) and https://www.localharvest.org/csa/ (find Community Supported Agriculture projects near you). With farmers losing their immigrant and seasonal workers, who will pick the food that would otherwise rot in the field? The answer ought to be: you.
“Food Supply Anxiety Brings Back Victory Gardens” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/dining/victory-gardens-coronavirus.html
https://charleseisenstein.org/essays/the-coronation/
Thank you, Kelsey, for bringing attention to this potential shift of normalcy of tracking and surveillance of US citizens. If you’re not yet familiar with Charles Eisenstein’s writings, I think you’ll find his latest, “The Coronation” to be very fascinating. Among many other thought provoking perspectives, he raises good questions similar to your ponderings: “What among the things that are being taken away right now – civil liberties, freedom of assembly, sovereignty over our bodies, in-person gatherings, hugs, handshakes, and public life – might we need to exert intentional political and personal will to restore?” ”A frightened public accepts abridgments of civil liberties that are otherwise hard to justify, such as the tracking of everyone’s movements at all times, forcible medical treatment, involuntary quarantine, restrictions on travel and the freedom of assembly, censorship of what the authorities deem to be disinformation, suspension of habeas corpus, and military policing of civilians. … Lest we institutionalize distancing and reengineer society around it, let us be aware of what choice we are making and why.“ ”Covid-19 is showing us that when humanity is united in common cause, phenomenally rapid change is possible… What else might we achieve, in coherency? What do we want to achieve, and what world shall we create?“ Check it out and let me know what you think!
One more that looks interesting, but I have not played (copied from BoardGameGeek.com): “Aftermath is an Adventure Book Game in which players take on the role of small critters struggling to survive and thrive in a big, dangerous world… In the game, you play as a misfit band of critters known by their colony as “providers”… You’ll leave the safety of your colony and venture out into the abandoned world on one of 20+ story-driven missions and side missions. Scavenge the ruins of mankind in search of food and supplies for your colony, but beware — the world is filled with bandits and predators, and you must fight or flee to stay alive. Return to your colony with resources and information that will help your friends and family survive. Grow your colony and keep it safe by building structures and improvements with the spoils of your adventures, but plan accordingly, for the colony will face hardship each time you leave it…“
Be sure to have at least one cooperative game. Two of my favorite: Robinson Crusoe is an exploration, building, crafting, survival game where you play as survivors of a ship wreck on a deserted (or is it?) island. Each character has specializations that make teamwork necessary for survival. Do you bandage your wound now, or use your valuable time/resources to build shelter before the storm hits, risking infection later…? Spirit Island is an area control, strategy, “settler destruction” game where you play as the spirits of an isolated island. Using surprisingly deep strategy you must grow the power of your spirit to scare off or outright destroy the invaders. Some spirits focus on defence, others fear, and others yet on offense. Every turn the settlers explore deeper into the island, building towns/cities, attacking the natives, and bringing blight to the land. Work together to save the island!
Please add that an essential part of being prepared to bug out to the country is impeccable personal hygiene & ingrained habits for preventing transmission of respiratory illness. Bugging out from the city and coughing into the air of a grocery store in the country is NOT helping anyone, it’s actually just spreading the disease to the country. **Personal protection goes both ways: you sanitize the gas pump handle to prevent virus from entering your body, but you also MUST keep your microbiology to yourself (cover coughs, wash hands, etc.) to prevent virus from leaving your body- “healthy” or not. Also, my advise is to bring 2 weeks of the food you will eat, with you. If the cities starts trickling into the country with only snacks and a couple bottles of water, we need your preparedness to buffer the increase in food demands. If not, we’ll find ourselves in the tragedy of the commons <—google it if this is new to you.