Urban Danger: How to Survive an Economic Collapse (Full Movie)

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UK Family Living Off-the-Grid Facing Prison Over Faux Environmental Issues

Injunction to move by the end the of month

Dinah and Stig Mason to be evicted from their own land

Devon Gazette

A COUPLE living an "off-grid" lifestyle say they face prison unless they move from their own land in Willand and return to an existence in the benefits trap.

Stig and Dinah Mason bought Muxbeare Orchard after a sudden windfall allowed them to quit their impoverished lives on a Hertfordshire council estate two years ago.

The Masons have transformed what they described as a derelict four-acre plot into a haven of self-sufficiency boasting a 400 sq m allotment, a polytunnel and greenhouses to grow fruit and vegetables, chickens for egg production and an orchard they have regenerated by planting around 14 new apple trees of various species.

The couple, who have two boys, aged eight and nine, say because they moved onto the site in order to work the land, Mid Devon District Council is turfing them off as officers do not consider them to be conserving an agricultural area.

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8 Easy Steps to Building Your Barter Network

Barter economy - Wikimedia image

Brandon Smith
Alt-Market

The trading of goods without the use of paper currency is not a difficult concept. People all across the country do it everyday. Barter, in its simplest sense, is not dead, and never will be. However, the organized use of barter as an alternative to the mainstream economy; THAT is something America has all but forgotten. One serious problem that I consistently seem to run into is the assumption that barter needs “backers”, meaning, many people believe the existing methodology of business must be the driver for barter to become “big” again. For decades, barter organizations of every shape and size have been so focused on pursuing a centralized corporate profit model that they forget the foundation of success in barter is the strength of the individual participants. This is why we have seen so many false starts and failures in localized commerce initiatives. It is the same reason why many existing barter groups remain in a sort of stasis, unable to grow, frustrating organizers and members alike. Liberty Dollar, for instance, was so centralized that a single federal raid was all that was needed to dismantle Bernard von NotHaus’ accomplishments and his years of effort.

Why 'Self-Sufficiency' Should Replace 'Sustainability' in the Environmental Movement

Jeffrey Green
Activist Post

The environmental movement is in love with the word 'sustainable'. Admittedly, it's a wonderful word in the purest sense, meaning;  1. capable of being sustained, 2. capable of being continued with minimal long-term effect on the environment.

Who doesn't want those capabilities? Yet, 'sustainability', like everything else good and pure, has seemingly been hijacked by the ruling oligarchs as a way to impose more top-down control of society. Passionate environmentalists are beginning to realize that the only way to affect real change is by becoming sustainable individuals through self-sufficiency. This focus on individual empowerment will naturally lead to increased liberty, as it minimizes the tactics used by mega-cartels and government to control our core needs of food, electricity, or medicine.  Living in an environmentally and socially sustainable world should be an obvious goal, but it won't work if imposed at the barrel of a gun.

10 Tips to Simplify or Survive During Hard Times

Activist Post

Many of us are caught in the precarious position of being intellectually aware that we are heading into a worsening economy with signs of a looming global food crisis, and feel as though we must simplify or streamline our lifestyle to prepare for possible disruptions in our standard of living.  In a world where consumption has become a sport, you may actually find it more satisfying to shed some material weight.  Even if your financial situation is not too dire, it is still a sensible idea to keep preparedness in mind.

An increasing segment of the population is already feeling the pinch from losing a job, while the cost of living continues to increase.  This group has no choice but to get creative in the way they manage their limited resources for optimal survival.  The key to becoming a content minimalist/survivalist is to develop the most efficient ways to provide for basic necessities.  The goal is simple: reduce your daily, weekly, and monthly expenses without giving up items that keep you sane.

We can look at the extreme examples like The Moneyless Man, Mark Boyle, for inspiration.  His book is an essential guide into the techniques, as well as the lifestyle that has enabled him to live completely and happily off the grid, without money, for more than 2 years.  His radical path is not one that many people would choose, however he proves that you can survive with very little money if that is your goal.

Outlined below are some relatively painless and often rewarding tips to survive hard times on a shoestring, or to free up additional funds for discretionary spending.

Turn Off the TV: Why does anyone with an Internet connection still pay for TV service?  You can get your news and sports fix, and find all of your favorite movies and shows online.  The rest is just expensive noise. Join the growing trend and cut out your paid TV service.  You'll find the financial savings is just a minor part of the benefits to unplugging.  If you absolutely need to watch your favorite team's important games, you may have to get to know your neighbors or socialize at a friend's house. 

Make Your Own: With the TV now turned off, we'll have plenty of time to produce things we would normally purchase.  Our modern world of conveniences has stripped much of our knowledge of how to support ourselves. One of the costliest and least healthy areas of our daily lives are cleaning and personal care products. Using very basic ingredients you can minimize most toxic chemicals in your household, as well as save money for items that help optimize your simplicity.  Personal care products such as soap, shampoo, and deodorant are simple and cheap to make at home. Three ingredients to keep on hand; baking soda, distilled vinegar, and Dr. Bronners.

Minimize Transportation: Cars are one the most expensive items we think we need to be functional or happy. They've also become one of those staple luxury items that shows your status in society.  Let this illusion go; it's far more important to have your simplicity and the extra savings. Understandably, personal vehicles are necessary in many areas that have inadequate or no public transportation, and cars also represent a tool of trade, as well as personal freedom.  But if your family has multiple cars, consider if it is feasible to eliminate one of them. If not, budget and plan wisely for limiting all costs related to the car; fuel, insurance, maintenance, etc. 

Reduce Household Energy Use:  Conserving energy is one of the most obvious ways to reduce monthly bills.  The topic has been written about and promoted for years.  You already know the easy stuff like turning off lights, turning the hot-water heater down or off when not in use. But now it's finally time to get conscious of your precise energy use and begin to turn the meter back using all tactics.  Look into supplementing with solar power or other alternative sources to become as self-sufficient as possible. 

Produce Your Own Food: The most important step that anyone can take, immediately, is to design a simple garden.  With 15% to 20% of the average household budget spent on food, and prices skyrocketing everyday, discovering ways to prepare for food inflation is vital to survival. A low-cost way of producing food off-the-grid is always a great investment no matter the economic conditions. Nearly everyone can engage in some level of food production to save money and increase independence.

Boycott Big Box Stores:  There's a belief that big box stores like Wal-Mart provide the only option available to those on a tight budget who need to get cheap items.  Although Wal-Mart does indeed sell many items at low prices, a recent study shows that Wal-Mart stores have repeatedly destabilized the economy of local communities where they are located.  Therefore, we should consider the larger picture and support small, local businesses in our quest for simplicity.  We also should do our best to avoid frivolous boredom shopping altogether, which big box stores encourage, and resist our culture's tendency to to make unnecessary impulse purchases based solely on an item's "special" price. 

Buy Local: If we hope to restore prosperity to our communities, and ourselves, we can start by supporting truly local producers instead of mega-corporations.  In many cases you'll find that essential items like food, used tools, and other items can be found far cheaper than at big box stores -- if not free.  You can begin giving true support to your local community, while obtaining healthier food, by searching for farmers markets and family farms close to where you live.  Local Harvest has a database that can be searched by zip code.  By connecting with a local farmer, you can obtain healthier produce, often at a much lower cost, while strengthening your local economy.

Foraging: We should re-learn the ability to forage.  There is no shame in foraging and many items can be found in our throw-away culture. Even if you can afford to buy something new, discovering a vintage used item for less, or perhaps free, is something to be extremely proud of.  This isn't middle school anymore where you must have shiny new brand name items to be accepted.  Your current friends won't disown you for being more frugal.  In fact, when they see your pride of accomplishment on an amazing deal or find, they will likely be envious.  As they say, one person's trash is another person's treasure.  Happy hunting! 

Freecycle Bartering:  Beyond the "green" trappings of the Freecycle Movement lies the heart of the best survival technique of all: cooperation.  According to Recycling Group Finder, there are nearly 5,000 groups with over 8 million members in 85 countries looking to trade or give away items that are otherwise may be destined for the landfill.  On Mark Boyle's website, Just For The Love of It, he has a wealth of resources to live within what he has termed the Freeconomy.  Here you can meet people, learn skills, trade tools and survival items, and even write about your own experiences to help educate others.

Do it Yourself: If you absolutely must have your nails manicured or get frequent haircuts, why not do them yourself? Is it that important to have a "professionally" groomed hairdo?  Determine what services that you pay for that can be done yourself.  Mow your own lawn, wash your own car and change your own oil; hand wash your dishes instead of piling them into the dishwasher; and learn other new skills for increased self-sufficiency.

We are eager to hear your ideas about what has worked in your own life.  Please leave a comment, or submit your own article that can help others to gain independence. 

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Surviving the Food Crisis

Empty Shelves in Mexico During Swine Flu Scare

Giordano Bruno
Neithercorp Press

Food production is one of the most essential concerns of any society. Without direct availability and ease of consumption, without the consistent flow of agricultural goods, every nation existing today (except the most primitive) would immediately find its infrastructure crumbling and its people in a furious panic. It’s strange to me, then, that long term independent food planning is the one concern that many Americans seem to take most for granted. Firearms and ammo, camping gear and bug-out-bags, MRE’s, beans, and rice; these are the easiest part of your survival foundation. The hard part is not storage of goods, but devising a solid and practical plan for sustainability in the long term. This starts with the capacity to support your own agriculture regardless of how long the grid is down, even if it is down indefinitely.

Understandably, there will be some people who do not have enough land to implement many of these strategies. They should still know the fundamentals and be ready to apply them at a retreat location or within a community should the opportunity arise.

In the first chapter of our ‘Survive Anything’ series, we covered all the consequences of a nuclear attack on American soil, and how to not only make it out alive, but even thrive after such an event.


The reason Neithercorp covered survival tactics for a nuclear strike first was simple; we wanted to make it clear that the title of this series is not an exaggeration. Truly, ANYTHING is survivable with the right knowledge and preparation. Those who promote a ‘doomer’ view of economic collapse or global war are on average people who have simply given up before the struggle has even started. Therefore, their opinions on survival are empty, and barely worth the effort to ignore. Life goes on after collapse, as it always has since the beginning of organized civilization. It is YOU who decides whether or not you will be a part of that life. It is you who decides your chances of success.

With that success in mind, let’s dive into the most important aspects of food survival in a country where infrastructure has ceased to function…

Emaciated Grocery Chains

Last winter, I witnessed perhaps the most incredible snow storm I have ever seen in my life. A low pressure system punished the Northeast with downpour after downpour, stopping most road travel and cutting power to millions for at least a week. Being that the average family has only a week’s worth of food or less in their pantry, you can imagine the chaos that unfolded. Those grocery stores with backup power were flooded with customers buying armloads of batteries, water, ice chests, and, of course, foods that don’t require refrigeration. Now, what I want you to imagine, is what would have happened if no grocery stores had been open that week. What would have happened if they had never reopened? How many people would have been in the very real position of starving to death? From what I observed that winter…far too many…

The problem of storage and backstock is widespread in the U.S. and the culprit is actually one which we have been trained to admire; efficiency. It is because of the over-application of efficiency in grocery models and in the freight sector that most outlets carry little to no backstock in goods. Instead, they order goods as quickly as they sell out, refilling shelves on a product by product basis. This means that in most grocers, what you see on the shelf, is all that they have. The speed of trucking deliveries makes this business model possible, but its operation suffers from a seriously fatal flaw…

Grocery stores may seem like a bounty of goods at first glance, but if freight shipments shut down, or even slowed, those aisles would empty within the span of a few days. Many households in America operate on the same faulty “efficiency”. They rely on the weekly trip to the grocer to maintain the pantry while also attempting to save money by reducing backstock. It’s a frayed rope holding up too much weight, a completely inflexible system that cannot withstand any deviation from the set routine. One unexpected disaster could render the entire food and agriculture distribution network immobile.

Many grocery chains also function on a line of credit from banks while operating at a loss. Profits are poured directly into the liabilities the companies incur from loans and then more money is borrowed to continue ordering goods. Some stores in the chain (flagship stores) usually bring in enough money to cover the red ink of the other branches, however, what if banks were to cut off credit completely to a grocery chain? Or maybe ALL grocery chains? The cycle of debt, to sales, to profit, to debt, becomes disrupted. Any stores that rely solely on credit to stay open for business would immediately lose the ability to bring in new stock. Again, we are faced with empty shelves in less than a week.

This scenario is entirely possible in the U.S. today, especially in the event that big banks institute capital retention in order to protect themselves from a further collapse of investment markets. Banks have already restricted loans to consumers down to the bare minimum. A restriction of loans to the business sector in the near future is not that far fetched.

Must Read - Full Article HERE

RELATED ARTICLE:
10 Skills to Thrive in a Post-Collapse World
10 Ways to Become Self-Sufficient

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10 Skills Needed to Thrive in a Post-Collapse World

Knowledge is something that no one can take from you. It's the eternal wealth that will help you thrive in a Post-Collapse world.

Mad Max: Village Roadshow Pictures

Jeffrey Green
Activist Post

Some experts see the perfect storm emerging for a dramatic collapse of Western civilization claiming we've reached environmental, economic, and geopolitical tipping points. Clearly, some skills will be far more valuable than others if this societal breakdown occurs.  Sorry bankers, lawyers, and accountants, there won't be a need for you in a post-collapse world. 

Before we quantify the skill sets that will be viable, it is important to define the severity of a "post-collapse" scenario. When taken as a whole, together these tipping points could potentially converge to create a post-apocalyptic Mad Max-type world for the vast majority of humanity.  However, given the advanced technology that we possess today, it is unlikely to ever become quite that primitive ever again. Surely there will be pockets of energy and food independence no matter what possible scenario unfolds, but the vast majority may be left to fend for themselves.


It would take a serious cataclysmic earth event like a super volcano, a meteor impact, major electromagnetic pulse event, or dramatic pole shift to effect the entirety of humanity.  Man-made events like nuclear war, environmental damage, or total economic collapse, no matter how devastating, will be somewhat isolated and contained to specific areas and populations. Incidentally, every nation or territory that has experienced these man-made catastrophes has roared back to life in less than one generation. The only example of nuclear survival was in Japan, while the largest recent big economic collapse was the break-up of the Soviet Union.  In both cases those countries went through a very tough period, but ultimately they persevered.

For sake of this article, let's assume that some level of devastation is caused by each type of tipping point in the United States.  Our ever escalating wars finally reach our shores by way of long-range nuclear missiles, total economic collapse occurs rendering the dollar worthless, and we would likely have less electricity and water than Iraq did after Bush's "shock and awe" campaign. Gasoline and oil supplies would likely be down to a trickle, halting all supply lines of food and other goods to big box stores.  Factory farming will be impossible without cheap oil products readily available.  The suffering will be dramatic.

The only question will become, how do the citizens react?  Both the USSR and early 1950s Japan were far more agrarian, and far less dependent on big box stores than America currently is.  American dependence on long supply lines, interconnected yet vulnerable electric grid, and pharmaceutical-based healthcare may lead to a more severe breakdown of society than witnessed in those countries.  Although, innovative technology for alternative energy and agriculture practices will play a part in surviving; but they can only help the few with the knowledge, means, and stability to use them.  And stability will be in low supply for some time, resulting in only small groups with relative comfort -- those who planned for the worse. However, as an optimist, I believe that after the initial chaos Americans will rediscover solidarity for one-another, much like they did after 9/11, but this time it will be more sustained out of absolute necessity.

Many articles have been written about how to survive the coming collapse, or what is needed to survive, but not many articles have been written about what skills will have value in a post-collapse world.  Imagine fulfilling human necessity without consistent fuel or electricity, large-scale food production, or fully-stocked pharmacies and hospitals.  The only form of wealth in a collapsed civilization is the knowledge and skills to produce something of human value.

Here are 10 invaluable skills that will likely help you sustain yourself in a hand-made local world:

1. Organic Gardening and Seed Saving: Skills involving food production will be the most valuable in a post-collapse society. Learning to grow your own food is a must.  Obviously, it is necessary to feed your family, but you will also be able to trade your abundance for other items. Additionally, learning to save seeds will also provide another excellent means of trade.

2. Food Processing and Preservation: Learning to process and preserve foods will be another huge skill in a post-collapse world. Taking seasonal abundance and preserving it for future consumption or trade will be vital.  Remember, learning to do this with limited electricity is a must. This can also include learning to brew beer, mead, vinegar, or other alcoholic beverages from meager ingredients.

3. Hunting, Fishing, and Gathering:  Learning to fish and hunt are essential to survival. Having the proper gear and training will be priceless after the collapse of modern civilization.  Having reference guides for edible plants in your region, repairing weapons, trapping wild game, and fishing are great tools to have if you haven't the time to learn them now. In regards to weapons, your ability to use them also gives you the skill of working security.

4. Animal Husbandry: Notice the first four categories are related to food production.  It's that important.  Just gaining knowledge of one of these categories will give you an invaluable skill to thrive in a post-apocalyptic world.  Knowledge of animal husbandry can provide endless amounts of sustainable meat, eggs, and milk to you and your tribe.

5. Construction: Construction skills will be very important in a shattered civilization.  These skills, especially without power tools, are not something you learn overnight.  If you have some basic skills it may be worth learning a few techniques for building small structures with crude hand tools.  There are many books teaching anyone how to build basic cabins, sheds, and composting outhouses.

6. Alternative Energy and Fuels: Having the knowledge to implement alternative energy systems will make you a wealthy survivor in a "dark" world. You can learn to build your own alternative energy systems, or you can purchase back up solar generators in preparation for emergencies. There are also small fuel refinery systems available like the biodiesel Fuelmeister, and the new invention from Japan that turns plastic into oil.  Knowledge of how to create energy would be invaluable when oil is scarce.

7. Water Purification: Since it's difficult to pump well water without electricity and with surface water likely to be contaminated, clean water will be in very limited supply.  Learning to purify water will allow you thrive during this time. You can also purchase water filters for your go-bag that will last weeks, and you can have back-up tablets should you need them.  However, the skill and knowledge to purify water should be the goal as that can never run out.

8. Basic First Aid and Natural Medicine:  This is another skill that can take years to develop and learn, but that will be crucial when supply lines of pharmaceuticals are cut off and hospitals are over-run. Knowledge of growing herbal gardens for making medicine at home will prove to be very important.  Learning basic procedures for stitching wounds, CPR, and more will also be of great assistance.  Being the tribe's shaman with a natural medicine chest is a prestigious position

9. Mechanics: Mechanics for cars, motorcycles, tractors and other machinery will likely be in high demand.  In addition, bicycle mechanics will also fair well in world where fuel is very expensive or hard to come by.  These are also skills that are not learned over night, but it will be wise to at least have access to books or how-to videos.

10. Soap and Candle Making: With long supply lines decimated and electricity on the fritz, soap and candle makers will provide a valuable product. Clearly some preparation of storing raw materials may be needed to achieve trade-able levels of these goods.  Even if you just had the knowledge to make soap or candles just for your immediate tribe, you will be much better off for it.

You'll notice that many of these skills also fall into the category of what you would need to be self-sufficient. Again, learning all of these skills will be virtually impossible, especially if the collapse isn't that far off as many predict.  Determine which skills that most appeal to you and focus on them by studying and acquiring the tools needed. Since you can't become an expert in everything it may be wise to recruit tribe members with various survival skills.  It will also be beneficial to build up your library of "how to" books and videos for tasks that you are not proficient in.  You can download any video from Youtube by using Keepvid.com and build your library into an external hard drive.

Remember, knowledge of and skills to produce human necessities will be the only form of wealth creation in a hand-made world. Knowledge is something that no one can take from you. It's the eternal wealth that will help you thrive in a Post-Collapse world. Get Prepared Now!

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Ten Reasons to Become Self-Sufficient and Ten Ways to Get There

Michael Edwards and Jeffrey Green

Activist Post

We are now three to five generations removed from the rural backbone that strengthened America.  The world at large has undergone a similar transformation as the promise of easier work has created a migration to big cities.  These mega-cities could be seen as an experiment gone awry, as general well-being has declined, with suicide rates increasing across the world.  Crowded conditions and economic strife have led to rampant crime, pollution, corporate malfeasance, and a dog-eat-dog type of competition that can be described as a temporary insanity.

The economic crisis we are living through has been the final straw for many people, as promises of a better, easier, and more creative life seem to have been sold to us by carnival-style tricksters who are laughing all the way to (their) bank.

Here are the top reasons for becoming self-sufficient; these are based on fundamental, systemic concerns for why undertaking this life change will not be a fly-by-night fad, but rather a long-lasting means for personal independence.

10 Reasons to Become Self-Sufficient

1. Freedom from market manipulation - The traditional market-driven investment vehicles are more and more obviously controlled by traders and banking institutions.  The debacle of the private Federal Reserve Bank is just the icing on the cake to a previous decade full of Ponzi-type schemes.  Now, the institutionalized looting of retirement money is being planned.
   
2. Hedging against inflation - Have you noticed the price of goods lately?  Even Wal-Mart issilently raising its prices.  People might have a choice whether or not to buy stocks or gold, but people have to eat -- the current increases in basic goods portend hyperinflation, and will not ease anytime soon.  Food shortages could make the problem exponentially worse.
3. 1. 3. Increasing health and wellness - It has now been revealed that some "organic" items have been falsely labeled.  In addition, a host of "GMO-free" brands have been exposed as deceptive.  GMO food lacks the nutritional value of what can be grown in the average backyard.  GMO mega-corporation, Monsanto, has a sordid history and has continuously trampled on our trust.  It is time that we do the work ourselves.
      
      
   2. Building community strength - We constantly hear people say, "I don't even see my neighbors, let alone know anything about them."  Of course not:  80-hour workweeks and grabbing meals-to-go doesn't exactly promote community interaction.  With such little time to interact with our immediate community, it is no wonder why many people report feeling disconnected.   In these trying times, it is a local community that can offer the best support.
      
   3. Working for yourself - Working hours are increasing, pay is often decreasing, and corporate executives are taking bigger bonuses than ever.  This is leading to a prevailing disgust, as people are being forced to admit that they are living lives of near-indentured servitude.  Even for those not working in corporations, working for someone else is rarely as satisfying as creating and working for something where every minute you spend is yours alone.
      
   4. Having more free time - We have been taught to believe that life on a farm is arduous sun-up to sun-down drudgery where you collapse at the end of the day.  This is not so much the case anymore.  Sure, the setup of any farm or self-sufficient endeavor is often time-consuming and laborious, but new technologies and new skills of manufacturing food viapermaculture and aquaponics are offering low-cost start up and minimal maintenance, as these techniques serve to create symbiotic systems that are remarkably self-governing.
      
   
   5. Generating food and energy security - The planet is running out of food and traditional energy.  Climate volatility, market forces, GM foods, and rising costs of harvesting and transporting food are all conspiring to create food shortageseven in the First World.  This trend will not reverse.  And our oil-soaked way of life is being threatened by mounting evidence that the oil lifeline could be disconnecting rather soon.  We should be looking to the air, sun, geothermal, and wave power to wean us from the energy grid.
      
   6. Acquiring an appreciation for life - As one gets closer to life-giving forces, there is a natural appreciation for how things come into being.  When you have created your garden, toiled there, selected the best for harvest, and have prepared that food for your family and community, the significance of what you have taken part in can be transformative.
      
   7. Restoring balance - Nearly everything in our society is at a peak, or is drastically out of balance.  The systems and governments to which we have looked for balance restoration are missing in action.  We must take it upon ourselves to restore our own financial and environmental balance sheet.  The best way to do that is to reduce our overconsumption.
      
   8. Becoming a producer, not a consumer - This is the best way to reduce your cost of living and increase your self-sufficiency.  In the U.S. over 70% of the economy is based on people buying things.  This is a clear sign of imbalance and, by extension, it is not sustainable.  Furthermore, we also have seen corporations race to the bottom to find low-cost production on the backs of desperate people.  The exploitation of the Third World to clothe, feed, and entertain the First World is something that most people do not want to think about, but it is abominable.  Again, new technologies are making it easier than ever to produce your own food, and even your own clothes.

   As the cliche goes: Freedom is never free.  But it sure beats the alternative.
   
   
   10 Ways to Get to Self-Sufficiency
   The global economic collapse has become an eye-opening experience for many people. The ongoing crisis continues to create more joblessness at a time when the cost of essential items like food and energy continue to rise.
   
   Inflation is only expected to continue due to excessive printing of money to compensate for the bursting economic bubbles, which were arguably created by printing too much money with artificially low interest rates in the first place.
   
   The 2008 price shocks in oil followed by the financial collapse have led many people to begin taking measures to become more self-sufficient.  And recently the ominous signs of food shortages, the weakening dollar, and the rising price of oil all point to a similar atmosphere as 2008.  Some have taken steps to conserve electricity, reduce spending and consumption, while others are planting kitchen gardens and installing solar panels on their homes.  Even living off the grid is becoming a mainstream concept for those seeking independence.
   
   Indeed,  becoming more self-sufficient is proving to make common sense whether one anticipates more hardship to come or not. Sure, many of us would love to live completely off the grid without giving up everyday comforts, but this is not practical for most of us.  However, there are many steps that can be taken to move towards self-sufficiency which can be relatively painless and quite rewarding.
   
   The following are 10 suggestions that can lead to independent living:
   

   1. Reduce your debt: Especially get your credit card debt under control, since it is entirely corrupt.  Call your credit card companies and ask for a work out plan similar to what they received from the taxpayer bailout.  If they don't cooperate to your satisfaction, there are some reasons not to pay at all.
      
   2. Reduce your consumption: Evaluate your current budget and determine absolute necessity. Push your comfort level to find areas where you can scale back, and then identify comforts that you’re willing to sacrifice.
      
   3. Reduce energy use: Change light bulbs, have entertainment systems plugged into a splitter that can be shut off completely to reduce phantom charges, etc.  Carefully plan shopping trips and other transportation needs.
      
   4. Store energy:  Always have back-up propane storage and a large wood pile for a rainy day. Investing in a generator of some kind (even a solar generator) will be money well spent.
      
   
   5. Invest in food storage: With a falling dollar and rising food prices, why not create a food savings account?  Get some good books, dehydrators and vacuum sealers for storage methods. Best storable food items are grains (rice, beans, flour), canned goods, seeds, and some prepackaged items.
      
   6. Produce your own food: Replace your lawn with a garden, fruit trees, and keep chickens. Go on hunting and gathering adventures for nuts, fish, and wild game.  Store extra garden seeds!
      
   7. Learn new skills: Surf the Internet, read books, and take courses in practical skills like gardening, cooking with whole foods, composting, carpentry, alternative energy, natural health and wellness etc.
      
   8. Start a side business: Turn your passion or hobby into a small side business to make some supplemental income.  Who knows, it may become your path to full financial independence.
      
   9. Install alternative energy: Start with small installations like a solar hot water system, a solar freezer, a solar attic fan, or a wood stove etc. If you have limited funds, tip-toe your way to independence.
      
   10. Suggest solutions for your community: Start or join a local cooperative for food, products, and services.  Engage your local community in discussions to take steps for self-sufficiency. Share your story and build support.

   These steps will save money as we move closer to the ultimate prize of independence.  Each action we take to live more simply frees us from the control systems put in place to make our lives more complicated, more toxic, and less independent.
   
   Related Articles:
   Mimicking Nature to Feed the Masses
   Dare to Prepare: Collapse of Civilization Now Guaranteed
   Using Local Organic Cooperatives to Defeat Globalists
   USDA Reports Food Shortages: Wall Street "Caught Off Guard" by Severity
   The Government Has a Seed Bank Savings Account, Why Shouldn't You?
   
   
   

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Live Superfoods It is time to Wake Up! You too, can join the "Global Political Awakening"!

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