Weathering the storm

So, here we are in the midst of the highest level of solar activity since 2005 (the last time that the aurora borealis was visible as far south as New Mexico). My internet access has been extremely spotty for the last few days with major network outages reported over New Mexico and parts of Texas over the weekend. Friends of mine lost cell phone acess for days. Computers have been downright churlish. Other electronics like printers, copiers and faxes have seemed sluggish and uncooperative.

This is nothing new. Given the intensity of the current activity it’s exactly what we’d expect [see earlier post].  After all, there’s been plenty written about the impact of these events on our technology.  Farraday’s experiments showed the power of magnetic fields to induce an electric charge to move through a wire — effectively recreating the impact of geomagnetic storms on a tiny scale. Now that we have a huge power grid, the current from these magnetic disturbances has plent of room to run — often with disastrous results. In 1972, a near quarter-million volt transformer of British Columbia Hydroelectric exploded due to such a spike in current caused by fluctuations in the earth’s magnetic field. In 1989, millions of citizens in Quebec experienced a blackout due to solar activity.

The good news and the bad news is that there seems to be no defense against the X-ray bursts, geomagnetic storms, solar radiation, radio interference, or current spikes that are a product of solar activity. Oh sure, we can influence EMF on a very small scale — say, room by room, or building by building (EMF Services). But blocking larger, more powerful magnetic fields? or solar radiation? or those x-ray bursts? Forget about it.

Why is that good news? Well, if you can’t do anything about it, you might as well let it go. Good news: one less thing to fret over. Why is it bad news? Aside from the self evident, the bad news is that we don’t really know what all this solar activity does to us. Sure, there’s been copious research on the effects of EMF, radiation, etc. on the human body. But no one’s really concocted a solid way to study the impact that these solar events have on our cells, our brains or our behavior. Sure, someone with more time than me could study hospital admissions, police reports, psych ward records and probably find correlations between solar activity and various spikes in certain events, injuries or illnesses. But it would be a correlation at best (if it panned out), there would be no proof of a causal relationship.

I’m not the only one who believes that such a relationship exists. Goodness knows that the Air Force studies geomagnetic activity and its potential effects on our technology in all its permutations (AFRL SVD KAFB). It seems to me, if something is powerful enough to impact the functioning of electronic gadgets and even the power grid, powerful enough to penetrate the planet, well… it’s got to be impacting my functioning as well… right? Well, to my mind, it stands to reason.

What those effects might be is the subject of someone’s research project. Heck, maybe mine. Certainly, if I dig it up I’ll post on it. For the time being, the activity that Yahoo.com called a “solar hurricane” is buzzing along outside in the atmosphere. People in the high latitudes are grooving to Mother Nature’s Lava Lamp. Cell phones are getting crappy reception. Printers are losing jobs. Internet Explorer cannot display the page. And computers are inserting errors into office memos.

What’s a girl to do? Simple. I’m turning everything off: router, computer, television and phone. In a day or so I’ll surface with a shrug and say, “Sun spots.”

 

 

References

AFRL Space Vehicle Directorate, Kirtland AFB. “AF-GEOSPACE Fact Sheet.” Retrieved from: http://www.kirtland.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=7899

EMF Services. “Magnetic Field Cancellation (Active Shielding).” Retrieved from: http://www.emfservices.com/afcs.htm

 

 

Book Review: Scott B. Williams’ Bug Out Vehicles

Scott B. Williams has done it again. Bug Out Vehicles and Shelters is the latest in a line of books designed to help you save your hide (and your family) should disaster (or mayhem) strike. Unlike other survival authors who may claim to have all the answers, Williams may actually have them: understand your needs and situation; think for yourself; plan and prepare ahead of time; the world doesn’t have to end for you to be forced to face a nasty scenario and make tough decisions; the more homework you do now, the less stressful it will be later.

Bug Out Vehicles is not a book that will tell you to “do this” or don’t do that.” Instead, Williams walks readers through the thought processes of true preparedness. He wants readers to learn how to think about survival situations, develop skills ahead of time, and get things in order before it’s too late to do anything but panic. Unlike other survival books that seem bent on getting people ready for an influx of zombies or invading aliens, Williams’ books offer sound, common-sense advice on being ready to deal with real world situations: like evacuating ahead of a hurricane or wildfire, for example. The S*** doesn’t have to hit the fan for Williams’ books to be useful.

Williams’ series of books is like a course in preparedness thinking. In Bug Out, he introduced readers to the idea of bugging out, getting them to think in terms of leaving as opposed to trying to stick it out when things go bad. In Getting Out Alive, he introduces the concept of thinking through scenarios ahead of time, in order to think through how you might react in similar situations and what you might do about it. In Bug Out Vehicles, he’s on to the next step, “So, how are you going to get there?”

Bug Out Vehicles begins with the premise “So, you’re leaving for ________ [your bug out shelter, another state, an area not impacted by the disaster, etc.]. Have you given much thought to how you’ll get there?” Along the way Williams covers various sorts of bug out vehicles and runs through lists of pros and cons for each one under various circumstances — what works in an orderly, low-key evacuation for a family of four, might be deadly for a single individual trying to get the hell out of an urban area in the midst of violent civil unrest. And he provides “don’t forget this” checklists for each type of vehicle he discusses.

Williams, to his credit, offers ideas and starting points for many modes of transportation (from human-powered, to internal combustion, to hay powered) and for every income level. The ability to escape in order to survive should not be limited to those with an unlimited budget. Being able to get out, Williams’ says, doesn’t depend on going out and buying a new vehicle. And he makes a compelling case for why your four-door family sedan (as unattractive as you may think it is) may not be such a bad bug out vehicle after all. He offers suggestions for modifications and accommodations for every mode of transport. Again, always with the implied questions, “What if ________?” and “Have you thought about ________?” Williams, if nothing else, wants his readers to get their minds right about being prepared.

Would I recommend Bug Out Vehicles and Shelters? You bet. For most of us, transportation is an afterthought at best. All too often, we take for granted that we’ll hop in ours cars and SUVs and take off. Williams give his reader plenty of food for thought, and readers should be biting.

Letting go but not giving up

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted here at Legitimate Citizen.

 

We sort of got washed away in the overwhelm that followed the Honshu quake and the Fukashima Daiichi reactor crisis.  We continue to monitor radiation levels in the states via EPA RadNet and RadiationNetwork. We have struggled with the math as we tried to make sense of the reporting on the incident. After months of conflicting reports and journalistic slight of hand, we have come to a few conclusions.

 

1) The reporting of radiation releases in the various scales is confusing and probably intentional. We heard rads and sieverts, rems and millirems. Each scale finds use for different purposes and distinguishing between the various scales and which should be used under what circumstances is an arcane science to those of use who don’t work with this stuff every day. We feel that authorities have no interested in provided the public with accurate information, so they kept us confused and scrambling with their nuclear shell game.

 

p.s. – when numbers get reported in terms of Sieverts that’s usually a very bad sign…

 

2) If we really knew and understood the magnitude of what has happened to us, we would be enraged and outraged. However, once it’s out, it’s out. There’s not a lot you can do about it. You can take measures to try to protect yourself from radiation. And you can take steps to try to support your body with the tools it needs to mitigate and repair radiation damage. But, mostly, if you’ve been radiated, you just have to do the best you can and wait to see what happens in a couple of decades.

 

There is a ton of “information” and pseudo-science on the internet about what to do in the event of radiation exposure. Some of these things seem pretty extreme and I’m not certain that they wouldn’t be more harmful than the radiation itself.

 

Myself, I stick with miso and   teas that contain stinging nettle. Miso contains a compound called dipicolinic acid that has been shown to protect cells from certain forms of radiation. There is anecdotal evidence that it affords considerable protection… but, again, that’s anecdotal evidence. The research on it is limited. But I like miso, so it’s no big deal for me. It’s already part of my diet.

 

The stinging nettle tea… I can’t remember where I got it. The University of Maryland Medical Center website has a good article on the medicinal properties of stinging nettle. It states, in part:

“Stinging nettle has been used for hundreds of years to treat painful muscles and joints, eczema, arthritis, gout, and anemia. Today, many people use it to treat urinary problems during the early stages of an enlarged prostate (called benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH), for urinary tract infections, for hay fever (allergic rhinitis), or in compresses or creams for treating joint pain, sprains and strains, tendonitis, and insect bites” (University of Maryland, 2010).

 

While none of that speaks specifically to radiation exposure, nothing I read in there sounds like it’s going to hurt me. Stinging nettle figured prominently in the ingredient list of an “anti-radiation tea” a friend of mine drank religiously after being exposed to radiation from Chernobyl.

 

3) More than likely, there has been more radiation released than we will ever know. Over the past few months, our casual monitoring has shown us that radiation levels frequently spiked to over a hundred times our normal background level here in Albuquerque. Spikes in other areas were much higher. While this was going on, all we heard in the media was that there was no cause for concern. We may never know directly exactly how bad this event has been. We will see its effects in sea life, in cancer clusters, and in abbreviated lifespans. 

 

4) There is no such thing as healthy radiation (the relationship between sunshine and vitamin D notwithstanding).  Ionizing radiation is not good for you. It is used to treat cancer because it is deadly for cells — and cancer cells are more fragile than normal, healthy cells. Ionizing radiation is always bad for you — and for every other living organism.

 

5) Ionizing radiation dosages are cumulative. It doesn’t wear off like a dose of aspirin. You can get away with smaller exposures over longer periods of time because your body comes closer to being able to repair the damage to its cells as this damage happens. When the doses are larger and/or closer together, your body can’t keep up. There is the chance that damaged cells will not die, but will replicate with their damaged genetic material. Ionizing radiation doses are cumulative.

 

The lessons of the crisis in Japan are hard. I’m not talking about the lessons for society about energy, or for policy makers concerned with nuclear waste. I’m talking about the lessons for you and I. The lessons are hard: there are things which are completely out of our control; there are events from which we will be unable protect ourselves regardless of our plans and preparations; control is an illusion; we cannot separate ourselves from the rest of the world – we are all interconnected. We’re all in this together.

 

Since I am seeing that there are things I cannot control, in order to better cope with this crisis, I look at things I can control and the choices I make. I can choose to use less energy, or choose to generate some of my own power through wind and/or solar (we’re not there yet, but it is on the table). I can take care of myself in a way that supports my body to maintain and heal itself – regardless of what I may or may not have been exposed to. I can make choices that reduce my dependence on a system that is not sustainable (like raising some of my own food). I can make choices that help sustain the world as it repairs itself (like planting plants, trees and shrubs that support wildlife or installing bat houses and bird houses or keeping bees). I can choose to do things that bring me peace in the face of the anxiety caused by so many unknowns and so many things that are out of my control: prayer, meditation, study. I can make my voice heard with my elected officials: voicing my opinion about sustainable energy, sustainable agriculture, opposing big-pharma & giant mono-culture agri-business, opposing ramapant insecticide and herbicide use, opposing GMO’s at every level.

 

Essentially, I’ve been looking at this crisis and I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s not a damned thing I can do about it directly. Here I am. There they are. I’m not a nuclear engineer. I am one woman. I’m going to do what I can where I am and let God, the Universe, the Great Pumpkin or whatever Higher Power there may be take care of the rest.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

~ L.

 

References

 

University of Maryland School of Medicine. 2010. Retrieved from: http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/stinging-nettle-000275.htm

Radiation angst… see for yourself

Until the recent earthquake in Japan, the resultant tsunami and the looming nuclear situation, I had been working on a post about utilities. Specifically, how it is that people in New Mexico didn’t have natural gas to heat their homes during the coldest days in recent memory. It’s a fascinating story with many maddening twists that people who live in this state really ought to understand. But, it’s been pre-empted by another utility situation: Fukashima Daiishi.

I don’t know about you, but my radiation knowledge is not what it probably should be. I mean, I know my “friends” are time, shielding and distance. Limit exposure time. Shielding material can help protect from additional exposure. Get as far away as possible when it’s safe.  Simple right? Sure… until you factor in an unknown radiation source (how much? how fast? what kinds?) and things like the jet stream, prevailing winds and rain. What did it all mean?

Radiation is not as straighforward as natural gas. some radiation, alpha and beta particles, are actual particles. A piece of paper would stop radiation emitted from an alpha particle. Beta radiation is blocked by the dead layer of skin cells, the outermost layer of your epidermis. So you’re safe…? Maybe… unless an event involves gamma or neutron radiation. Then, save for distance or lead shielding, there’s no defense against it.

So, how do we know?

Mostly, we don’t. The public does have some access to government and private radiation monitoring information [see links below]. But, accuracy varies widely. Government officials are notorious for taking a detector offline to “determine its accuracy” when it registers a reading they consider abnormal. In this situation, with five nuclear reactors about to crap out their cores at the other end of the jet stream, who’s to say what’s abnormal?

At our house, we’ve been monitoring radiation levels almost since the start of the incident using the websites below — and charting the trends. Tonight, on the evening news, we heard the first announcement that radiation from Japan was passing over the United States. It was nice to feel like we were on top of things. It feels nice to know that we know (or think we know) what’s going on.

So far, we’re not overly alarmed about the radiation levels we’re seeing. They’re elevated. Sometimes sharply so. The highest reading to date has been about five times our normal background level of radiation… but even that was only two and a half times the normal background radiation on a sunny summer day in Denver. Even at that level, even at five times our normal level, it wasn’t at a level that anyone considers dangerous. At least, not acutely dangerous.

The thing with radiation… is that sometimes your body is able to repair cellular damage than can be caused by radiation exposure. If the exposure is slight enough and occurs over a long enough period of time, it has virtually ZERO impact on your lifespan, or even on your odds of getting cancer. It’s really high, rapid, all-of-a-sudden, sorts of exposure that get you into deep trouble. When the damage occurs faster than your body can compensate and repair it, you end up with all manner of nastiness. Still, long term radiation exposure is generally no good for you (UV and vitamin D relationship aside). You want to avoid it if you can. That’s why your doctor tells you to wear sunscreen and sunglasses (cataracts are the most common form of radiation damage).

So, in the weeks to come, I’ll try to work up some charts to give you guys some numbers on radiation exposure, what the numbers in the media mean, how radiation is measured and why that should be important to you. And we’ll talk about radiation and preparedness: the duct tape and plastic drill, when and why to stock up of potassium idodide, that kind of thing.

Suffice to say, our advice is not to panic. We’ve been watching this thing unfold for awhile. We’ve seen radon detectors pawned off as radiation detectors… $400 geiger counters selling for thousands… and $20 bottle of potassium iodide tablets selling for hundred of dollars. In every situation like this, there are going to be people who prey on your fears. Being educated on the real risks is your best defense.

Here are the links we use to monitor radiation:

EPA website for radiation monitoring: click the link. In the center of the first paragraph, there is a link labeled RadNet Map View. Click that link. It will take you to a page where it displays the EPA’s permanent and mobile radiation detectors.  http://www.epa.gov/cdx/

Radiation Network: a really level-headed guy who runs a grassroots radiation monitoring network. The monitoring stations are all volunteer efforts. Check it out. http://www.radiationnetwork.com/

Black Cat Systems: online ionizing radiation network. Another private endeavor. Although I think his map is a little cumbersome, he has great information on different type of detectors, why readings vary and tons of other reasons not to panic.  http://www.blackcatsystems.com/RadMap/map.html

So, there you have it… our first two bits on Fukashima and radiation. Obviously, you have homework. You’re going to need to know the normal background radiation levels for your area… and you’ll need to know how to convert UTC to your local time zone in order to figure our when a particular reading came in… So, you can either wait for this info in coming posts, or you can make yourself feel better by actually DOING something rather than waiting for some talking head to tell you what you already suspected. Now go get ‘em!!!

Thanks for reading… we’re all in this together.

~L.

Book review: Getting Out Alive

I’ve been off the radar for awhile. It’s been a busy time with school work and general “stuff” around our micro-homestead. Hopefully, things will level off a bit and you’ll be reading more of us soon.

This weekend, I was thrilled to find Scott B. Williams’ Getting Out Alive: 13 Deadly Scenarios and How Others Survived in my mailbox. I have been waiting for it since I read his previous book this summer. I teach Disaster Psychology for our local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training weekends. In these trainings, we cover the importance not only of nuts-and-bolts preparedness, but of the mental aspect of emergencies as well. Scott B. Williams’ books are on my recommended reading list for trainees.

Scott B. Williams’ latest work Getting Out Alive, is an excellent contribution to the field of emergency preparedness literature.  Coming as it does, on the heels of his successful book Bug Out: The Complete Plan for Escaping a Catastrophic Disaster Before It’s Too Late, you might expect Getting Out Alive to be targeted at the survivalist crowd – but it’s not. It’s a literal survival and preparedness book for people who don’t like thinking about emergencies and who certainly don’t like books about preparedness. And, in this, it excels.

I’ve often joked that civilization is a veneer. A veneer is a thin layer of wood bonded to a an inferior or less attractive substrate to improve its appearance. Very little furniture nowadays is, at its core, what it appears to be on its surface. Civilization is like that. It is a thin layer of civility held in place by the glue of modern conveniences and the ephemeral presence of authority. Take away our lights, our water, our sensory stimulation (television, radio, cell phones) and we don’t know what to do with ourselves. Take away the deterrent of law enforcement or government and people revert to their more primal natures with alarming speed. The reverse is also true. Most people have become so far removed from their more primal selves that when they find themselves in situations like those in Williams’ latest book, they don’t know what to do with themselves either.

Getting Out Alive is a collection of potentially deadly scenarios that deftly demonstrate exactly how easy it is to find yourself between a rock and a hard spot with no hope of escape or rescue. Each one of Williams’ 13 deadly tales could begin with the words, “It all started innocently enough.” Each scenario presents plausible circumstances that any of us could find ourselves in without warning and presents potential options for escape and survival. Each scenario is accompanied by real life tales of other victims who endured similar survival situations – some of them made it out, many didn’t. Each scenario is also accompanied by snippets of wisdom related to the particular scenario circumstances (like forest fires, or being snowbound). Most valuable, however, are the Ten Tips for Survival that appear at the end of each scenario. If you read nothing else, be sure to read the Ten Tips at the end of each chapter. If you read nothing else out of this book, you’ll regret it, but at least you’ll be slightly better armed for an encounter with unforeseen circumstances.

The greatest strength of Getting Out Alive is that it demonstrates that any one of us can find ourselves in a bad place without any warning  –  yet it also explains exactly how simple it is to be prepared. This is a great book for your friends who think that emergency preparedness is for paranoid survivalists. It drives the point home that anyone can be a victim in a disaster or an emergency and that it’s everyone’s responsibility to take steps to be prepared. Getting Out Alive is not a step by step guide to being prepared, it’s something more important – a book designed to change the way people think about emergencies.

I know that I get concerned that people I know and love just don’t think anything can happen to them.  And I know that not one of these people will tuck away an extra can of soup or roll of toilet paper or bother to pack a bug-out bag until they really buy into the idea that they are not immune to emergencies.  I can only hope that the light bulb goes on above their heads and they take measures to keep themselves safe.

If you’ve been worried that people you care about just aren’t ready for an emergency, Getting Out Alive would be a great gift that might just change the way they think.

As always, thanks for reading.

~L.

Disaster Psychology – psychological footprints and secondary stress

Why do I keep harping on the psychology of disaster? Why do I keep bringing up this principle of good self care as part of preparing for an emergency?  Because I believe it’s important. Gosh, why is this so important? Dr. J. M. Schultz, of the DEEP Center (Disaster and Extreme Event Preparedness Center) at the University of Miami has this to say, “In a disaster, the size of the psychological ‘footprint’ will greatly exceed the size of the medical ‘footprint.’ “¹ He goes on to say, “The psychological fallout from a disaster can be widespread and pervasive.”²  The implications for psychological impact will exceed the physical and medical impact. Every time.

Is that right? Can the mental and emotional fallout exceed the medical impact? You bet.

Let’s take a look at an event from recent memory  ̶  long enough ago that we(hopefully)  won’t traumatize anyone by bringing it up again, but recent enough so that we have solid and reliable data. Let’s consider the 1995 Subway Sarin Incident in Tokyo.  Members of a terrorist group released Sarin gas (a nerve agent) in the subway system.  A dozen people were killed, dozens more required critical care and several hundred sustained injuries that required emergency treatment or hospitalization.

All told there were 1,053 victims in the medical footprint: 12 dead, 63 critically injured , 978 other injuries.  Within hours of the event 4,023 people walked into emergencies rooms all over the city complaining of symptoms of Sarin exposure. Each and every one of these individuals was examined and then released – none of the 4,023 had actually been exposed. Yet, they walked into ER’s all over Tokyo nearly overwhelming  already taxed resources.

When we consider the psychological footprint of an event on the healthcare system, let’s consider how an event would be perceived by a single hospital.  It could be a hospital that is one of several similar institutions in a city, or it could be a single hospital that serves a far-flung rural area. Their map of impacted persons demonstrates the potential pervasiveness of the psychological impact.³

As you can see, hospitals must be prepared to deal with a great number of people who were psychologically impacted by an event  ̶  regardless of whether they were present at the time of the event, or not. Beyond the medical casualties, there will be people who are psychological casualties, people who break down, people who suffer panic or anxiety attacks, people with mental illness whose challenges are exacerbated by the event.  Hospital will also have to deal with: families of the victims, families searching for missing loved ones, aid workers who are injured or distressed, media,  hospital volunteers,  bystanders, patients who were already in the hospital whose services are impacted by the event, families of existing patients who are inconvenienced by the event (or by not being able to enter or leave the hospital because of the event), and distressed staff (whose distress may range from frustration at being forced to work longer hours to concern about their family outside of the hospital).  The potential psychological impact is far reaching.

Now, even if you aren’t one of the directly impacted, and you don’t find yourself in or near a hospital after a disaster, you should still understand how far reaching the impact can be – because you’ll be dealing with people who have been impacted. And in your dealings with them, it will help you  if you have at least some understanding of what they’re facing.

What does psychological impact mean to you personally? A number of things. If you are directly involved in an event, you could be personally traumatized by it. This is not a forgone conclusion. Many people seem to “weather the storm” without suffering negative long term effects. Others, however, are traumatized by their experiences. Unable to cope with what they have been through, they develop post traumatic stress disorder and their response to what happened to them is no longer a one-time event   ̶   it becomes chronic. 

There is also the phenomena of vicarious trauma. According to the Vicarious Trauma Institute, vicarious trauma is the result of negative changes that can occur from empathic engagement with victims and their suffering and needs. ⁴  You can be personally overwhelmed by what others have been through.  This is especially true when you are in direct contact with victims and survivors.

Long term traumatization, both direct and indirect, can lead to a condition known as compassion fatigue.  The Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project defines compassion fatigue this way, “[It] is also sometimes called Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder.  It is a lessening of one’s ability to feel compassion toward others, a desensitization to the suffering of other beings.” ⁵ In form and function, it is much the same animal as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but it results from repeated engagement with the trauma of others. In Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder you become numb to the suffering of others.

So, what makes an event traumatic as opposed to just stressful? Researchers have discovered that humans seem to respond better to disasters and emergencies when they’re “natural”   ̶   tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, etc. People seem to be able to rationalize these things more effectively. These things are obviously beyond our control. Ironically, this seems to make it easier to deal with.

When disasters are manmade (like the BP oil spill, the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, the Three Mile Island incident) they have greater potential for psychological trauma. When the disaster is caused by human error or laziness, its traumatic potential is greater.

Greater yet in traumatic potential yet are terrorist events.  

There are certain factors in any event which can increase an events potential for psychological trauma. If an event is unexpected and many people die (especially children), or if it lasts a long time, the potential increases. If the causes is unknown the potential for mental distress increases. This is one of the reasons that authorities often rush to get out reports about an event. Even when the early reports are contradicted by later information, the goal is to give people some assurances and mitigate a little of that psychological impact. It’s also well known that excessive conflicting reports can have the opposite effect. Events that are poignant or meaningful (say, for example, it occurs on the anniversary of another disaster or on an important holiday) can be especially traumatic   ̶   as can events that cover a large area.

Individuals also have their own personal factors which can increase the psychological impact of an event.  The impact has the potential to be greater if the person has some personal involvement with the event  ̶  if, say, they worked in the same building where the event took place, or if they knew someone who worked there.  Having a history of previous mental health issues increases risk   ̶  as do previous significant loss (like a death in the family), social isolation (like older people living alone), and poverty.

 What’s the solution? How do you mitigate the potential psychological impact of an event? You guessed it, it begins with the good self care we discussed in the previous post.

If you’re not already practicing good self care, the time to start is now. Now is the time to build the knowledge you need. Now is the time to “get right with God” or the Great Pumpkin, or whatever helps you understand your place in the scheme of things. Now is the time to start getting enough rest and eating right. Now is the time to start getting some exercise. Now is the time to reinforce those support relationships that are so critical to you emotional and mental well being – let your friends and loved one know how you feel. Now is the time to build the skills and stock the supplies to help you feel in control and in command of your problem solving faculties. Now is the time to do these things to build your personal resilience. 

Remember: pre-existing resiliency is the best predictor of how you will fare in a disaster.

 As always, thanks for reading.  

 ~ L.

References

¹ Schultz, J.M.  2010. “Psychological footprints.”  Disaster and Extreme Event Preparedness Center, University of Miami.  Retrieved from: www.deep.med.miami.edu/…/(2_0)%20SFA09%20BRIEF_ DISASTER%20BEHAVIORAL%20HEALTH.pdf

² Ibid.                  

³ Carlson, Nancy. “Psychological First Aid.” Minnesota Department of Health.

⁴ Vicarious Trauma Institute. 2009. “What is Vicarious Trauma.” Retrieved from: http://www.vicarioustrauma.com/        

⁵ Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project. “What is compassion fatigue.” Retrieved from: http://www.compassionfatigue.org/

Why taking care of yourself NOW is good preparation for LATER

In my copious spare time (Ha ha ha!) I sometimes teach the Disaster Psychology module in my local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) trainings. Why? Because: I believe that what happens in your brain during and after a disaster is fascinating; because I believe that understanding what happens in your brain during and after a disaster is a critical piece of coping during the event; because I believe that this understanding is critical to developing mental and emotional resilience; because I believe that mental and emotional resilience are critical to being able to have a healthy recovery following a disaster.

But, I hear you say, how can that be right? Being prepared is about guns and gear and stockpiling food and water, right? Isn’t it about hoarding medical supplies and precious metals? Isn’t it about stockpiling all the stuff, all the conveniences of modern society that we won’t have after the poop hits the fan? Right? Actually, no.

Truth be told, the “stuff” is perhaps only about 25% of what goes into being prepared in the event of an emergency or a disaster. The other 75%? It’s you: your brain, your mind, your emotions, your mental and emotional resilience. We’ll cover psychological footprints of an emergency in a subsequent post, but for now, suffice to say that  taking care of yourself on many levels is a primary part of preparing for an emergency.

The greatest predictor or your ability to recover from a disaster or an emergency is your level of resilience prior to the event. Let me say that again, a little differently. How together you are right now, mentally and emotionally, is the greatest predictor of how well you will fare during and after a disaster. This is not to say that some people don’t rise to the occasion during emergencies – because we’ve all seen that. It is to say that your resilience is directly related to the probability that you will come through a disaster without (or with fewer) mental and emotional scars.

What is resilience? According to the American Psychological Association: “Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or even significant sources of stress… it means ‘bouncing back’ from difficult experiences.”¹  The APA goes on to say that resilience isn’t like having blue eyes or brown eyes. It’s not a trait that you did or didn’t inherit. Resilience is something that you can build – like muscles, or your vocabulary.

How do you build resilience? If you wait until something happens to try to build your resilience, it will be too late. Building resilience should start now. And, it’s based on skills you already have. Building resilience begins with good self care. George Everly, of the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health Preparedness, teaches that you can build resilience, and mitigate the impact of traumatic events and of vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue through good self care.²

This is George Everly’s Self-Care Pyramid. I use it in CERT, to teach folks how to begin building resilience. Actually, I use it to show them that they have already begun to build their resilience and that’s straight forward and not rocket science at all. Let’s take a closer look at the pyramid.

Look at the capstone of the pyramid. It’s labeled “CONTROL & Problem solving.” Why is CONTROL at the capstone? Two reasons. One: in a perfect world and the best of all possible circumstances, we’d all be in control and would be able to wave our proverbial magic wands and just fix things. Two: if the other building blocks are in place, you will be able to remain in control and figure things out. Now. Let’s look at the building blocks that make the capstone possible.

Look at the foundation of the pyramid: FAITH. “Faith” in this instance doesn’t necessarily mean “Higher Power.”  It can, but not necessarily. Everly defines faith as that which helps you understand your place in the scheme of things. It is that intangible thing from which you draw strength. It may be a Higher Power. It may be science. It may be a little of both. It could be a class you take to learn a skill that will serve you in good stead in an emergency. Everly firmly believes that everyone must have something that helps them understand things, come to terms with thing. It forms the basis of good self care.

The next building block of the pyramid: ATTITUDE. Your attitude, your outlook builds upon your faith. If you don’t understand what’s going on, if your faith can’t help you make sense of what’s happened (or what’s happening) to you, you’re not going to have a the kind of attitude that will help you help yourself in an emergency. If you understand the underpinnings of the event (say it’s an earthquake, or a flood), if you understand the causes of an event (faults, or ancient levees), if you understand why something happened, and why it make take the authorities so long to get to you, your attitude is naturally going to be better than that of somebody who doesn’t have a clue.

The next building block is made of two parts: REST and NUTRITION. Good nutrition and hydration are critical to your physical and mental functioning. It’s the fuel for your body and your brain. If you load up on junk food and processed sugars, you’ll get the sugar rush and then you’ll crash & burn and have to seek out more cheap, fast-burning fuel. Also, junk food is made up of excess empty calories that are easy for your body to convert to fat. Good nutrition is critical to optimum functioning. The other half of this building block is REST. In a emergency, we all think we need to be hyper-vigilant. We need to pay attention to everything, all the time. We cannot take a break. What would happen if we’re not paying attention every moment? REST is critical. Rest allows your brain to rest and reset. Your mental health depends upon getting an adequate amount of, not just sleep, but REM sleep. Rest also allows your body to enter a rebuilding and assimilation phase where it can repair itself and assimilate the vitamins and nutrients you’ve been scarfing down all day. Rest helps you be more alert the following day. Adequate rest is imperative – especially in an emergency.

The next building block is EXERCISE. Exercise helps you in many ways: cardiovascular fitness; stress reduction; body mass index. There are a myriad of reasons why exercise is important. But, on a really basic level, we’re not designed to be sedentary creatures. We’re designed to walk and run, hunt and gather. Without exercise we get obese and soft. We lose our core strength and we open ourselves to the risk of a host of health issues. Exercise is a key piece of good self care.

The next building block is SUPPORT.  Support can be found in the form of friendships, faith communities, family. Support is that network of relationships that forms a basis of emotional support you have before, during and after a disaster. Support can be a shoulder to cry on. Support can be hand holding while making a difficult decision. Support, emotional support in one form or another, is a key part of good self care.

And that takes us back to the capstone. If the building blocks are in place, you are more likely to remain in control, more likely to make good decisions, more likely to get things done, more likely to get through a crisis in better mental and emotional shape.

A big part of preparing for a crisis, is good self care before SHTF.

As always, thanks for reading.

~ L.

 References

¹ American Psychological Association. 2010. “What is resilience?” Retrieved from: http://psychcentral.com/lib/2007/what-is-resilience/

² Everly, George. 1995. “Self Care Pyramid?” Retrieved from: http://www.jhsph.edu/preparedness/training/online/self-care.html

So how’s it goin’? An update…

So, here we are just a couple of months into our preparedness foray. We’ve done some research and some reading. And, as of last week, we had socked away three days’ worth of food for two women.  We  had about $10 invested in 12,000 calories and four gallons of water. We felt pretty cool. But we knew then, as we know now, that we are just getting started.

This week, we added more calories to our shelf (it’s WAY too early and too small to call it a stockpile). And we added some “medicine cabinet supplies” as well.

For food this week we added about 21,000 calories to the shelf:  10,000 calories in pasta (a whopping $6), 1,000 calories in tomato sauce (for making marinara – at another $6), 5,000 calories in peanut butter ($2 – we caught a sale) and 5,000 calories of Nesquik (for $6 – chocolate in my coffee or hot chocolate will be sources of comfort in an emergency). For $20 we added five days’ worth of calories. Add that to the three days of food already on the shelf and we’ve accomplished our first prepping goal: being able to weather out a week or so at home without access to the store.

A week's calories

You’ll note that we have feminine hygiene products on our emergency supply shelf. Of all the survival provisions we’ve stocked away, these are the most expensive. Those three packages cost almost  as much as everything else put together.  About $36 for what you see in the picture (not including the water). As much as that costs, it’s enough for two women for two months. What are feminine hygiene products worth? For the right woman on the wrong day, they could be priceless.

This week, we started the “medicine cabinet” section of our shelf. First aid kits aren’t pictured here. As I said, this is the medicine cabinet. There are two quarts of hydrogen peroxide (for treating wounds – $3), two quarts of isopropyl alcohol (for wounds and sterilizing things = $2), ibuprofen (for those times when it hurts = $9), a bottle of stool softener ($5) and a couple of bottles (in the box) of anti-diarrheal medication ($5).  This section of the shelf set us back about $24. We added the anti-diarrheal  just to be on the safe side. We added the stool softener because emergency situations are incredibly stressful. And nothing messes up your normal bowel functions quite like stress, an irregular diet (or a bunch of MRE’s) and an abnormal routine. It’s important for your health as well as your comfort to keep your elimination working as normally as possible.

At this moment in time, we have four gallons of water on the shelf. It’s tough to judge how much water we have on hand by what we have on the shelf since we usually have three or four gallons on the shelf at any given time, plus a gallon or so in the car, and a  gallon in total in the form of smaller water bottles here and there. But, we have four gallons of water on the shelf. At our current customary rates of consumption, that’s enough water for the two of us for two days – not including bathing and toilet flushing. To have enough water for a week , at our current levels of consumption, we’d need to store another ten gallons at the minimum.

Truth be told, I should probably drink more water. My sensei was fond of saying that you should drink a couple of ounces of water for every pound of body weight – more if you were exercising strenuously in hot weather. For me, that would mean close to three gallons of water a day. I don’t drink that much water a day. I probably should but I don’t. My actual consumption is much closer to one gallon. Cody Lundin recommends drinking three gallons of water per day at minimum. Drinking more water every day is one of my New Year’s resolutions. But, right now, I hover around drinking a gallon a day. If we were to store three gallons per person per day, we’d need to store 42 gallons to get us through that week we were planning on. We’re not there yet. But this is a process, not an event.

A few years back we had quite the winter storm here in Albuquerque.  I had two feet of snow in my front yard.  My neighbor claimed he hadn’t seen anything like it since 1959. The city pretty much ground to a halt for the better part of a week. At the time, we had plenty of food in the pantry and the deep freeze. The power stayed on and the water mains didn’t break so we did just fine. We stayed home,  watched movies, played games and periodically went out to knock the ice out of our trees so that they wouldn’t take out the power lines. Now we still have plenty of food in the pantry and the deep freeze. But we’ve added the dimension of mindfully preparing in case something like that winter storm happens again.  So, our first prepping goal was to be ready for a week – and to know that we were ready for a week.

And well, here we are at two months in, and we have a little under  $100 invested in emergency food and supplies.  We have a week’s worth of food (plus a little), a couple months’ of feminine hygiene supplies, some basic medicine cabinet items, and a couple of days’ water. It’s a start.

Remember, if you don’t start, you’ll never be ready. And, however far behind you may feel like you are, you’re miles ahead of someone who hasn’t done anything. And however little you feel that you have set aside, you’re still better off than the guy who’s doing nothing.

As always, thanks for reading.

~ L.

 

Solar Radiation – when there’s too much of a good thing

In a previous entry, we covered geomagnetic storms and their potential impact on the power grid and electronic devices here on Earth. To recap, geomagnetic storms are caused by gusts of solar wind interacting with the Earth’s magnetic fields and atmosphere. Depending upon their intensity they can create power blackouts by triggering false alarms in system designed to protect the grid. At their most intense they can actual damage power transmission equipment. At higher levels of intensity, radio transmission suffers, navigation beacons become useless for the duration of the storm – and you can forget that line about “fewest dropped calls.”

Even though geomagnetic storms are very interesting, they are not the only space weather that effects our planet. We also experience the effects of solar radiation storms (which we’ll cover today) and radio blackouts (which we’ll cover in a later entry). Solar radiation storms are spikes in solar radiation emissions from the sun. Radio blackouts are caused disturbances in the ionosphere that result from x-ray emissions from the sun. Both can impact our electronic devices and solar radiation has the ability to impact human life directly as well.

Map of annual average solar radiation

Solar radiation is not necessarily a bad thing. People who depend upon the sun for power, rely upon it. The profitability of companies that install solar power systems, or utilities that generate power for the grid from the sun make their living by knowing how to harness available solar radiation in their regions. Yet, while a spike in solar radiation may sound like a not-so-bad thing for the guys with solar panels on their houses, it can have a detrimental impact. Solar radiation, even though it can be useful, is still radiation. Even moderate solar radiation storms can subject airline passengers flying at higher latitudes to what NOAA calls “elevated radiation  risk” (NOAA, 2005) and solar power equipment can be functionally impaired or permanently damaged.

Average frequency is based on an 11 -year solar cycle. Solar radiation storms also have similar intensity ratings: from S1 (Minor) to S5 (Extreme). Let’s break the intensity scale down.

S1 – Minor Solar Radiation Storm. Happens about 50 times per 11-year cycle – or once every 80 days or so on average. According to NOAA there is virtually no biological impact and no impact on navigation. People using HF radios in the polar regions may notice, but for most of us, it’s a non-event.

S2 – Moderate Solar Radiation Storm. Happens about 25 times per solar cycle – or about once every 160 days. NOAA states that these solar radiation storms subject airline passengers flying at higher latitude to “elevated radiation risk” (NOAA, 2005) and goes on to state, “Pregnant women are particularly susceptible” (NOAA, 2005).  How many pregnant women think to check the space weather forecast before booking an airline ticket? It’s something that most of us don’t even think about. Satellites may experience “single event upsets” (NOAA, 2005) and HF radio signals and navigation in the polar regions will degrade.

S3 – Strong Solar Radiation Storm. Happens about 10 times per solar cycle – or about once every 13 or 14 months. During these events NASA requires astronauts to take radiation exposure precautions. Those airline passengers and crew who were are now exposed to even more greatly elevated risk from radiation exposure. Again, pregnant women are at greatest risk.  NASA says this exposure is roughly the equivalent of getting a single chest x-ray.

S4 – Severe Solar Radiation Storm. Happens maybe 3 times per solar cycle  – or once every 3 – 4 years, give or take. Astronauts on space walks are exposed to “unavoidable radiation hazards”  even when taking precautions (NOAA, 2005).  Satellites will experience imaging noise and memory issues – perhaps even orientation problems. And if the satellites are having issues, all those services we use that depend upon efficient satellite performance are going to be impacted. The problem with your Garmin, may not really be a problem with your Garmin at all. Expect navigation errors. On the ground, solar panel efficiency will decline. Do we even need to mention the radiation risk posed to airline passengers and crew in the higher latitudes?

S5 – Extreme Solar Radiation Storm. Happens on average less than once per solar cycle. Astronauts face unavoidable high radiation exposure risk. Those airline passengers and crew? Even more greatly elevated risks – especially to pregnant women. Satellites can be severely impacted or even “rendered useless” (NOAA, 2005). Navigation using electronic systems will be challenging at best. Expect HF radio trouble, and perhaps complete radio blackouts in polar regions. On the ground, solar panels may suffer permanent damage.

As near as I can tell from my internet research, the last solar radiation storm of any significant intensity was in the summer of 2000 and it was an S3. When are we due from another? Or a bigger one? No one knows for certain. Solar radiation storms are difficult to predict. Currently, about the best we can do is see the event,  and brace ourselves for the impact of the solar radiation storm that will arrive 15 minutes or so later.

While we’re  super careful about exposure to x-ray radiation during pregnancy, most pregnant women who are clear to fly don’t think twice (or even once) about solar radiation.  Even though prediction is dicey, if I were pregnant, I would want to know about the solar radiation forecast before I got on an airplane that would be taking a flight path through a higher latitude.

There are two main points I hope you’re walking away with today.

1) The Earth is part of a solar system that functions within a larger universe. We are not immune to what happens in space, or with our sun. Solar generated events, like geomagnetic storms (covered previously), solar radiation storms (covered today) and radio blackouts (to be covered later) all have an impact on our planet. Sometimes that impact is not limited to our electronic devices, but can extend to our bodies as well.

2) Sunscreen cannot protect you from all wavelengths of solar radiation. It only blocks some of the ultraviolet rays that are responsible for sunburn – and only for a limited amount of time.  If you’re flying through higher latitudes during a solar event, you have no protection at all.  As always: forewarned is forearmed.

As always, thanks for reading.

~ L.

References

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  2005. “Solar Radiation Storms”  Retrieved from: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/NOAAscales/index.html#SolarRadiationStorms

Images: Solar radiation map © 2010 greenchipstocks.com

When All Hell Breaks Loose, grab a book

People who know me (and know that I am by nature a laid back storyteller) know that I appreciate the literary prowess of Cody Lundin. His writing style is super colloquial yet no-nonsense. He’s a long time survival skills instructor who teaches and makes his home in Arizona. He’s the founder of the Aboriginal Living Skills School and has published a number of books on survival: 98.6 Degrees (published in 2003 and dedicated to the importance of maintaining your core temp) and the one I review today: When All Hell Breaks Loose (first published in 2007 and focused on surviving in an urban environment). 

When All Hell Breaks Loose covers basic survival principles (food, water, shelter, fire, etc.) while also addressing circumstances unique to urban and suburban environments (where most of the world’s population now resides). The sections I found particularly useful dealt with determining how much water you need every day, and how many calories you actually need to function (let me tell you, THIS is an eye-opener even if you’re not in a survival situation as he tells you how to figure out how many calories your body needs based on your body and your activity level). His advice on which foods to sock away is a breath a fresh air in a time when vendors are quick to tell you what you ought to be doing (i.e. buying their products).

Even if you’re not interested in prepping, the information on food and water is worth a read. And, whatever your school of thought on survival and preparedness, if you were to use some of the information from When All Hell Breaks Loose you might save a little on your utility bills. And, if you have kids in Scouting (or if you’re just in touch with your inner child) you’ll love the section on cooking with solar ovens.  

Lundin, to his credit, doesn’t hand everything to you on a silver platter – or a paper plate. You have to work for it a little. You have to figure out how much rainwater you could catch from your roof every year based on average rainfall in your area. You have to do the math to figure out your basal metabolic rate based on your numbers. You have to do some thinking about how prepared you want to be for which potential emergencies. Then, it’s not as easy as going to a website and handing over your credit card number. You have to do the work. And I appreciate that. Too many people suffer in an emergency because they can’t or won’t do what’s necessary to protect themselves. You might as well get some practice in before you need it.

When All Hell Breaks Loose is copiously illustrated. Illustrations and photographs provide good visual information as well as comic relief. That may be the strongest quality of the book: it communicates sometimes fearsome information in a really non-intimidating manner. It doesn’t make the concepts themselves any less frightening, but it does break stuff down for you in a way that makes prepping seem manageable and survival seem possible.

Now, the only downside for me, was the section on self-defense. It’s not that I don’t agree, mind you.  But self-defense is a HUGE topic to try to capture in a single chapter in the latter half of a book dedicated to the nuts and bolts of urban preparedness. It’s not that it’s not important, but the chapter felt a little forced  - as if Lundin himself wasn’t completely comfortable with it. I think that Lundin could’ve handled it better by making the point that you ought to have some martial arts knowledge, maybe making some basic recommendations about where to start looking for information and instruction and left it there. It’s not bad, but that section isn’t his strongest work.

All in all, I really enjoyed When All Hell Breaks Loose.  I highly recommend it. It’s available almost everywhere, or directly through Cody Lundin’s website:  http://www.codylundin.com/  You won’t be able to beat it for no-nonsense survival advice.

As always, thanks for reading.

~ L.

Images © 2007 Cody Lundin