Ready.gov

http://www.ready.gov/september

2015 NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH (NPM)

Theme: Don't Wait. Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today.

September is National Preparedness Month.  This year we are asking you to take action now – make a plan with your community, your family, and for your pets.  Plan how to stay safe and communicate during the disasters that can affect your community. We ask everyone to participate in America’s PrepareAthon! and the national day of action, National PrepareAthon! Day, which culminates National Preparedness Month on September 30.

Weekly focused themes

• Week 1:  September 1-5^th            Flood
• Week 2:  September 6-12^th          Wildfire
• Week 3:  September 13-19^th        Hurricane
• Week 4:  September 20-26^th        Power Outage
• Week 5:  September 27-30^th        Lead up to National PrepareAthon! Day (September 30^th )

Public Service Announcement and Videos

View in FEMA Multimedia Library

• Watch: Don’t Wait 60 second public service announcement on YouTube or Download
• Watch: Don’t Wait 30 second public service announcement on YouTube or Download
• Watch: Don’t Wait 15 second public service announcement on YouTube or Download

Digital Engagement Toolkit

• Download the 2015 National Preparedness Month Digital Engagement Toolkit
• Download the 2015 National Preparedness Month Graphics

Logo

• Download the 2015 National Preparedness Month logo
• Download the 2015 National Preparedness Month high resolution logos

Social Media

• NPM Official Hashtag:  #NatlPrep
• America’s PreapreAthon! hashtag:  #PrepareAthon
• Social media accounts to follow:
  • @Readygov
  • @PrepareAthon

Congressional Co-Chairs

• Read the full list of congressional co-chairs

Presidential Proclamation

• View President Barack Obama's 2015 National Preparedness Month Presidential Proclamation

Last updated: 09/09/2015 - 11:43 AM

Hello World

I have had this blog open with a bunch of filler text for about 3 years now and I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with it or where I wanted to take it.  I want to say more with less and resist the urge to repeat myself or the efforts of others who have come before me.

One of my heroes is Benjamin Franklin. I say this based on my admiration for his ability to and willingness to go and learn and do and be so many things in his life. He is a true example of a Renaissance Man. Someone who was able to find solutions for the problems he faced with the tools he had at hand.

It is in this spirit and with admiration for Benjamin Franklin's talents that I seek to add skills to my collection and ultimately afford myself the opportunity to mold the way I interact with and customize the world around me. So I consider myself more of a Renaissance Man than a Prepper.

Preppers are all too often portrayed as paranoid / OCD / nutty / eccentric types who are focused on some future disaster of a certain specificity that may or may not ever happen in their lifetime. You have people concerned about financial collapse, mass sickness, political unrest or even zombies.

The whole 'Prepper Movement" makes me sad. It seems like the focus is more on gadgets than mindset. More on what I can a collect and hoard and stash that is going to make my life more comfortable.  That is a neat idea for the short term but unless you wealthy and have resources to pack away a lifetime supply of food, clothing and fuel eventually all of the stuff you squirreled away is going to run out and that is only if you are so lucky that you don't robbed or killed for it first.

So that has been my quandry. How do I come up with a blog that addresses my thoughts on this in a way that is both practical for me and in a way that meshes with the reality of how poor people in the developing world survive everyday. Because lets face it, you take away electricity in the 1st world and things go 3rd world status pretty quickly.



In my next entry I am going to debate waiting for rescue vs. self rescue and the pros and cons of both ideologies.