November 11, 2013
Resilience Fashion
prepping movement” manifests the ultimate effort towards resilience. Preppers believe that there will be cataclysmic world events that will leave modern society in chaos. It will only be through their preparation and forward thinking, that they and their families will survive. National Geographic runs a weekly TV series on their cable channel on Preppers and their recent made for TV broadcast, American Blackout, portrayed a cyber terrorist event that took down the US energy grid for 2 weeks causing mass chaos in the US
Lest you think that the Prepping Movement is for extremists, we actually see signs of it all around us, even at some of our favorite stores. Costco offers both on-line and in-store products that are prepper-geared. Dried food stocks that can last upward of two or more years, water purification systems (BPA free) that make potable water and power generators that can run on gasoline or natural gas and can be used to power your furnace, refrigerator, TV and of course your smart phone (although no one else will have any power for theirs).
And to show you how main stream it has now gotten, French fashion designer Marie-Elas Batteaux has just released a new “apocalypse-resistant” camouflage jacket that provides cold protection for when the nuclear winter arrives, has an oxygen mask and eye protector in case of chemical warfare, and even has internal liners for food and water. Batteaux believes that the prepping movement will grow much has sustainability over the past several years.
Should you be prepping? From a resilience perspective, getting ready and anticipating potential dangerous events is central to building personal and family resilience. Could you anticipate a time where you could be without water for 5-6 days (It just happened to some friends of mine in Murrysville, PA when when their water was out and they had to boil water. Kristy’s comment,” you can’t imagine how much water it takes to brush your teeth”.). What about a hurricane, earthquake or snowstorm that knocks out power to your house for 3 days or more? We know this happens every year all around us and that our time is somewhere up in the schedule.
Being resilient does mean that you prepare for contingent emergencies—like holding fire drills with your family, or keeping a few hundred dollars stashed in your house in case you need some quick cash. Whether or not you start shopping Costco’s crisis page is up to you but being resilient does mean that you are ready for what you think could be the worst possible events.]]>