Switzerland Is Well-Prepared For A Civilization Collapse

More than perhaps any other nation, Switzerland is prepared for a massive civilization collapse. In fact, if the government itself collapses in Switzerland, most people who live there probably won’t even notice.

A decentralized government (the kind America was supposed to have been founded on) makes it possible for Switzerland to be prepared for a collapse. The mountains and valleys mean that Swiss towns and villages are geographically independent of each other, yet linked in a spider-web of robust connections. But that isn’t all.

The Swiss towns are prepared for water system failures, which would affect the ability to access clean water. According to Marginal Revolution, all around Switzerland, there are thousands of water fountains fed by natural springs. Zurich is famous for its 1200 fountains – some of them quite beautiful and ornate – but it’s the multiple small, simple fountains in every Swiss village that really tell the story. Of course, they look elegant, but if and when central water systems are destroyed these fountains are a decentralized and robust system for providing everyone in the country with clean, pure, drinkable water.

Despite being at peace since 1815, Switzerland is still prepared for a war. Swiss males (and perhaps females in the future) are required to serve in the military (those who cannot pay a special tax) creating a robust reservoir of trained citizens ready to serve in case of an emergency.

As a further example of how ridiculously well prepared the Swiss are for any and all threats, there are things like hidden hydroelectric dams built inside of unmarked mountains so that in the event of mass bombings, they’ll still have electricity from these secret facilities. And, remember, these are the things the Swiss government has let us know about. It is thought that there are probably more fortifications and hidden goodies scattered about the country’s landscape. –Marginal Revolution

Buried deep alongside the hydroelectric dams, shelters, and food stores, the Swiss also have libraries ready to reboot civilization. In one underground bunker, there are detailed instructions on how to build devices for reading all known data storage formats, even older formats like floppy disks. If that knowledge is otherwise lost, future generations can still decode our current and past data storage devices to access the data within correctly. Essentially, the researchers involved in this particular project have attempted to create a “Rosetta Stone” of data formats and are using a ridiculously secure Swiss bunker as the storage point for that knowledge.

Not only do the Swiss have thousands of military bunkers permeating the Swiss mountains, there are also several hundred thousand private and public fallout shelters the largest of which can hold about 20,000 people. Some of the largest installations have been decommissioned and even turned into museums but there is little doubt that they could be rapidly re-purposed in a SHTF scenario. As the Swiss continue to improve their already fantastic railway system it’s standard practice to convert old railway tunnels to security shelters.

Switzerland is famous for being the place to store wealth in times of crisis. That remains true today. The “old-rich” store their gold in heavily guarded Swiss banks, the “nouveau-riche” store their bitcoins in Swiss underground bunkers built to withstand cyber- and nuclear attack. It’s no surprise that Nassim Taleb likes Switzerland because this is a country that has made itself anti-fragile in order to survive the black swans of civilizational collapse.

H/T: [Zerohedge]

The 2 Most Important Tenets Of Prepping

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“Someday it’s all going to come down to whether or not we can feed ourselves,” I told my son one day, not long after my husband and I began to realize the importance of being prepared for an uncertain global future.

“No,” my son countered, “it’s going to come down to being able to defend ourselves from those who can’t.”

We were both right, of course. In the several years since that simple conversation, I like to return to it occasionally just to keep myself on track and remind myself of why I do what I do. I am setting the stage for being able to both produce my own food and defend myself from those who are unable to do for themselves.

Nobody knows for sure how close we might be to the end — of our civilization as we know it, or our particular form of government in the United States, or the general world order, or the planet. But if we are indeed teetering on the brink of imminent disaster as some people believe we are, then those two questions will continue to be important to our survival as individuals and as a society.

There are plenty of other human needs, as well, in both present day and whatever the future may bring. Shelter, heat, clean water, clothing, medical care, tools, security and community are but a few of the things which most people consider vital to a desirable quality of life. While those are indeed significant, many of us preparedness-minded people focus on food.

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In an era when so much food comes in boxes and cans, many Americans have little connection to actually producing their own food. They shop for it, carry it home, open the package, and perform finishing touches before eating it — or maybe just go buy it ready-to-eat at a restaurant.

‘Our Food Supply Is Precarious’

But if an emergency happens, what then? How many times have we all seen images on the news of people having to go without basic staples when a disaster rolls through their neighborhood — not just in Third World countries, but right here in America? And it’s not usually because of an end-of-the-world event, but more likely due to temporary power outages and severe weather. It is possible and advisable to store food, but no stockpile lasts forever.

Our food supply is precarious, and people who are aware of that reality know it’s valuable to be able to produce at least some of their own nutritional needs. Agriculture is one of the most common ways to do this, by way of growing vegetables, berries and other perennials, and fruit trees, as well as keeping poultry and livestock for eggs, milk and meat. Fishing and hunting are other effective ways to procure one’s own food, along with foraging for wild plants and mushrooms and tapping trees. Being able to grow, raise, catch or find food for oneself is not only a key component of a self-sufficient lifestyle in the present day, but possibly could end up playing a crucial role in survival one day.

The ability to protect one’s food also might be necessary someday. There always has been and always will be a segment of society who, for whatever reason, see stealing as their best option for acquiring goods. In the case of a major societal meltdown, there are likely to be more people than ever with fewer choices and more urgent needs, making the ability to defend one’s household and one’s possessions more crucial than ever.

Self-defense can be about weapons — from the latest in automatic rifles to homemade bows and arrows and sling shots — but it includes so much more than that. The ability to avoid exposure in high-risk situations, outrun danger, detect the presence of intruders, evaluate others’ intentions, and determine when and how to cooperate with others are all excellent methods of protection, too.

Conducting our everyday lives while being mindful of these two tenets — being able to provide for one’s own food and basic needs, and being able to protect oneself from those who cannot do for themselves — can be challenging sometimes. And when observing the relative ease of how others thrive without expending energy or resources today on preparing for the possibilities of tomorrow, it can be tempting to follow suit. But when food and other goods are in short supply, due to a hurricane or cyberattack or drought or one of hundreds of other possibilities, those of us who have been practicing the basics all along will be glad we did.

Do you agree? Share your thoughts in the section below:

5 Fun Activities To Create A More Prepared Family

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It’s the reason many big companies today are advertising to kids. It’s the reason app developers have stopped pandering to adults as a middleman to the children. It’s in the actions taken by nonprofits and institutions around the nation to create junior ambassadors. The children are the future. Their power simply cannot be denied.

But if we are not growing our own little ambassadors to fight for the cause of liberty and freedom, then how can we expect that heavy torch to be carried into the future? How can we expect the kids to be more self-reliant and independent? The answer is we cannot.

In this age of technological convenience, we must be creative if we hope to grip our children with seemingly ancient ideas of freedom and preparedness. With services like Amazon that deliver anything you ever could want to your doorstep, how can you convince them that doing things the hard way and the old way is needed?

So, what can we do to create a more prepared family?

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Here’s one solution: Blend their interests and desires into activities that bring them closer to self-reliance and preparedness. You see, to be an effective teacher or parent you must carry at least a bit of deception in your arsenal.

Here are five activities:

1. Geocaching.

If you are looking to get the family outside and hunt for some “buried treasure,” there is really no substitute for geocaching. It’s a game of following coordinates via GPS on your smartphone to a location where someone has hidden a cache.

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These caches contain very small items … and sometimes contain nothing. You can trade for items in the cache or just sign the booklet inside to let the next explorer know who was there before them.

Geocaching gets the kids outside and teaches them about the powerful method of hiding survival caches. Your survival caches may be filled with bullets and food storage, but these are a little more kid-friendly.

2. Self-defense.

Gone are the days when martial arts were exclusively for the tough guys. Even MMA gyms have incredible kid’s programs that teach them self-defense, among other great lessons. There is simply no better method than to throw them in a class with people their age who will quickly become their friends.

Spend time teaching your kids the good stuff. There are a lot of martial arts out there, but the fact is some are just more effective than others. Consider getting your kids into the following disciplines:

• Muay Thai


• Jiu Jitsu


• Krav Maga

3. Minecraft.

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Minecraft is a totally creative buildable universe where your characters can work together not just to build cool structures but also to craft all the tools you’ll need to do so. This crafting element helps kids understand the manipulation of base materials and how they can be turned into something useful.

Example: If you are going to put glass windows in your home, you must collect sand and place it in your furnace. To power your furnace, you either will have to mine coal or make charcoal from wood.

The survival mode also requires you to hunt or farm to feed yourself. You must build shelter to protect yourself from many of the enemies.

In Minecraft, you also will have an inventory to manage. This means you will only have so much room to keep items that you collect.

The game is a blast with kids, and there is no other outlet where you can combine so many survival principles in a fun and enjoyable night-in. All the while, they will be learning about things like resources, crafting, farming, disaster, recovery and adaptability.

4. Shooting.

If your kids are old enough to shoot, then this is one of the most important things you can do as a family.

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Our Second Amendment rights are constantly under fire, and we need a generation of responsible gun owners to take our place. If our kids are going to fight for our rights, they must understand the truth about what a gun is, what it’s capable of and — most importantly — how to safely own and use one.

5. Camping.

You can mutate your camping trips into bug-out trips. It’s a very easy scenario to pose to the kids. Make your camping adventures a little more impromptu and try to utilize as little convenience as possible. Take your bug-out bags and use what’s inside of them.

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Challenge your kids to leave the electronics at home and bring with them only their wits. Of course, this will put more pressure on you to keep them entertained. Don’t worry; I have answers for that, too.

• Navigation with a compass.


• Finding wild edibles.


• Firecraft.


• Fishing.


• Watching wildlife.

Camping is a no-brainer, but you can take it to another level if you are smart about how you spend your time.

There is an old saying: “Bait your hook with your heart and they will always bite.” When it comes to your family, it’s no different. Show them your passion and then compromise to make it fun for them.

What advice would you add? Share your tips in the section below:

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It’s Gonna Doom Many Preppers (And They Don’t Even Know It)

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People who are serious about preparedness have a lot to be concerned about. The considerations of post-disaster survival range from food to water to hygiene to self-protection to transportation to emergency medical care.

But there is one area of what we call “prepping” that is often overlooked: personal health and fitness. If sudden disaster were to strike, it is possible that your most valuable prep might be your own body. Those who are unfit and unhealthy might be limiting their capacity for independence both now and in whatever future.

I am not a health care provider or a fitness expert. Rather, I am an ordinary citizen with a personal testimony to share. Over the past several years, my weight has crept up and my overall health has deteriorated. When my blood work reported results so high that my provider wanted me to begin a regimen of medications this past spring, I resolved to turn things around by eating better and exercising more.

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Five months later, I have lost 26 pounds and am closing in on my goal weight. But it is about far more than numbers on the scale. A follow-up with the laboratory and my provider revealed drastically reduced lipids and sugars, lower blood pressure, and increased lung capacity.

For many people, the side effects of physical fitness are at least as rewarding as the actual numbers on the scale and lab report and clothing sizes. In my case, my weight loss also has resulted in more self-confidence, a higher energy level, and feeling generally more positive.

Making the time and doing the work to increase my fitness level has made me a more able homesteader. Long hours on my feet during canning season, racing to the chicken house to investigate a sudden commotion, and weekend firewood-processing marathons are less taxing now.

And if disaster strikes, I will be more capable of keeping myself and my loved ones safe. While there are a lot of other factors that are important, the ability to walk, run, climb, push and haul might be some of the most needed.

Too many of us are obese, or lead sedentary lives, or live with addiction, or suffer from conditions that are exacerbated by lifestyle. This will not serve us well in the event of a disaster, and could possibly even jeopardize the welfare of those we love.

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Consider the many scenarios in which physical fitness would be crucial. People may need to run to save a child or slip quietly out of sight in a forest. They might be called upon to walk long distances, climb a tree or ladder, rappel, pound a nail, heft an axe, operate a scythe, paddle a boat, swim, carry heavy loads, and work long days — all of which are possible for unfit people but will be more challenging.

Dependence upon cigarettes, alcohol, legal or illegal drugs, or even technology could possibly result in placing oneself at risk for a fix. Nobody wants that. Nobody wants to land in a post-disaster scenario with a bad knee, poor dental health, or gout, either.

None of this is to say that everyone has complete control over their own health. Accidents happen. Diseases happen. Genetics happen. But for the rest of us, it makes sense to do all we possibly can to be fit and healthy.

Nobody is perfect, and thank goodness we do not need to be. We all struggle with issues — my family history of heart disease and diabetes and my fondness for Dr. Pepper and Little Debbie’s will always be present in my life. But facing our health challenges head-on and dealing with them now instead of later is a win-win. We win now, we win in the event of a disaster, the people around us win because we will have fewer special needs and instead will be able to help others, and we win in terms of comfort and longevity if disaster never happens. The only people who really lose out if Americans become fit and healthy are the big pharmaceutical companies.

We do not need to look like body-builders or run like track stars. But we do need to reach for our personal best and make health and fitness a central component of our prepping goals.

Do you agree or disagree? Share your thoughts in the section below:

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