Category: Climate Change

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. — A blog reader in Tasmania sent a snail mail letter, warning of a “regulatory change” that will soon go into effect, canceling the long-standing “Exemption 4” for antique guns. The law redefinition requires registration, making an application for a “limited individual exemption”, upgrades to existing firearms licenses, and “gun cupboard” storage of …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly column is a collection of short snippets: practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. We may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. — A video interview and tour with the late, great Mike Oehler: Idaho modern oldtimer builds underground & solar $50 houses. He passed away on February 2, 2016, at age 78. o  o  o Reader J.A. wrote: “Regarding the article “Winning The War On Weeds – Part 1, by St. Funogas” where St. Funogas uses/suggests using carpet, blankets and especially …


Editors’ Prepping Progress

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To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. Note that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy …


Magazine Ban Victory for Californians — Stock Up!

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UPDATE — April 4th: Comrade Becarra got a stay issued, that goes into effect at 5 PM Pacific Time on April 5th.  See my April 5th blog post about this. — There was some great news late last week, when we heard that California’s onerous 11+ round magazine ban was overturned by a Federal judge. The California law had been in effect since January 1, 2000. Finally, a magazine ban victory! The 86-page Duncan v. Becerra court ruling itself is worth reading, since it includes a lot of historical and legislative background. Note: I am not a licensed attorney, so …


Should We Brace for Severe Winters Ahead?

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You may have missed a few brief mentions of an emerging threat in the mainstream news: The face of the sun has gone mostly blank in the past few years, with an extremely low number of sunspots. There have only been sunspots visible on the the sun for 133 days in the past year. The last three solar cycles have become progressively weaker. There is now a legitimate concern that because there have been several very weak solar cycles in succession, that we could tip over into another Grand Solar Minimum (GSM). This potentially developing GSM could be something similar …


Letter: Concerns on Chemicals During Tornados

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Dear editors, Our family includes small, climbing, curious children, and so all our hazardous chemicals are on high shelves in our first-floor utility/laundry room (the one space we have in our home that is currently inaccessible to them). I recently have been wondering what would happen if a tornado were to hit our house – we have numerous chemicals that are not to be mixed with the others on pain of toxic clouds of death. On the other hand, tornadoes are hardly precision instruments (the bleach might as well end up 30 miles away as on top of the ammonia, …


What We See And Believe Is Not Always Reality, by Old Bobbert

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Let’s talk about reality and what we see and believe, but just for a moment imagine this scenario. Visualize the following presumably safe evening event at your home one day soon. A Grateful Situation…Somewhere You are reflecting on the terrible situation in (name any major city, state, or area) and you are very grateful that your home area is not severely affected by that power grid outage somewhere else in the country, specifically about 1,000 miles away from your home. Your area power system is functioning just fine. You’re feeling really bad for that area as you watch the video …


Letter: Drought in Western Retreat Areas

JWR: Has the recent drought in the western United States caused you to change any of your “Recommended Retreat Areas”? – T.I.A. JWR Responds: No, it hasn’t. There is an old saying: “Climate is what you expect, and weather is what you get.” I do not believe that the current drought in the northwest is any evidence of any long term climate change. We are simply in an El Niño weather pattern that most likely will last only another year or two. The El Niño weather pattern has temporarily shifted the jet stream, disrupting seasonal rains, particularly in California, where …


Letter: Drought

Dear James, The biggest current threat to the U.S. food supply is the extraordinary drought that has had a relentless grip on the western half of the country. If you check out the U.S. Drought Monitor, you can see that drought conditions currently stretch from California all the way to the heart of Texas. In fact, the worst drought in the history of the state of California is happening right now. And considering the fact that the rest of the nation is extremely dependent on produce grown in California and cattle raised in the western half of the U.S., this …


Letter Re: Declining Aquifers

Hello Mr. Rawles, I am a great fan of your work and I eagerly anticipate the release of your new novel.   I live in rural Northeastern Colorado, where both sides of my family settled in the 1870s.  The mid-sized ranch, 1,900 acres, that I live on has been owned by my family for 104 years.  I raise cattle, goats, horses and hay along with my dad, my wife and kids.  I also have a “government job” in local emergency services to help make ends meet.    I read the recent article by Denise Chow of Live Science, titled Water Woes: …


Letter Re: Global Warming, Global Cooling, or Just Climate Weirding?

Jim, If climate change people would improve their arguments, it’s not so much global warming as it is climate chaos, or Climate Weirding.   As a Peak Oiler in the Portland area, I’ve also sat through my share of lectures, given by peer-reviewed scientists, on the subject. When you artificially add more CO2 and methane to the atmosphere, you don’t just necessarily get record warmer temperatures (although we’ve definitely seen this, within the last decade in particular). What you get is more unpredictable weather, along with dry areas getting drier (Texas, for example), and wetter areas getting wetter (We had a …


Two Letters Re: Icelandic Volcanic Ash

James, As a geologist (masters degree) I have written for 30 years on issues of geologic hazards for numerous publications and made presentations to governmental entities regarding same. I preach preparedness for disaster as a way of mitigation for the inevitable. This is my heads up for your readers. The unpronounceable Icelandic volcano (Eyjafjallajokull) that is currently erupting and disrupting air traffic mostly over Europe is becoming quite a demonstration of natures ability to mess with our technology. A much bigger worry is a nearby volcano called Katla which is also located under a huge ice cap on iceland. Katla …


Here Comes Winter!, by Peter H.

My brother wrote me recently to ask what we do to prepare for our winters here in the inland Pacific Northwest. He lives in a warmer climate but has been reading about the global cooling underway. For the last two years our area has been colder longer and this last winter we had the most snow in over 100 years. Remembering that Boy Scout slogan, “Be prepared,” prudent people are already looking ahead for the winter soon to come. Here are my odds and ends to get your thinking processes going: Dress to Save Your Life Our heaviest coats are …


Letter Re: Some Observations on Finland from a Finnish SurvivalBlog Reader

Dear Mr. Rawles, I’m a long-time lurker of SurvivalBlog, but thought I’d pass on some links of interest. For the record, I’ve read your novel [“Patriots“], and I am coming from a “Peaknik” viewpoint. But still have my original copy of “Life After Doomsday“. Currently I’m living in Finland, which has its pros and cons. “Russian bombers over your home” is not a theoretical concept to Finns and they don’t grow enough food for themselves [for a self-sufficient economy.]. A Nordic socialist government with high taxes and cost of living might not be of interest to many SurvivalBlog readers, but …


Letter Re: U.S. Climate Data Available Online

Jim, I’m not sure if this has been covered here before, but here are a few links to Government climate data and maps in the US. Microclimate data are represented as well, to a degree limited by the number of stations: Climate Maps of the United States – Lookup Page Monthly Station Climate Summaries – By Station U.S. Climate Normals For those interested in wind speeds and patterns across the USA for whatever reason, the map link above can be supplemented with the data for the major population centers. Thanks again for your hard work, – The DFer JWR Replies: …