We all want resilient and prepared communities This week, I was in touch with a group of citizens who started a non-profit civil defense organization, Civil Defense Virginia. They are approaching emergency managers in their area to talk about the benefits of a grassroots civil defense organization. I was also in touch with an emergency…
Category: Civil Defense
Basement Aquaponics System: Year-Round Food Security!
Tour of my basement aquaponics system A basement aquaponics system can provide your family with year-round food security. This video describes what an aquaponics system is and gives you a tour of the two systems I built in my basement. Because I live in a northern state, having an indoor garden enables me to grow…
Threats to the Electric Grid and the Sense of Congress
Bipartisan agreement about threats to the electric grid There has been little bipartisan agreement in Congress about anything in the last decade. Healthcare, taxes, the budget – you name it, they disagree on it. There is one glaring exception: The threats to the electric grid from a variety of man-made and natural threats. They all…
What is Civil Defense and why don’t we have it?
Civil defense gradually morphed into emergency management. There are several good documents that give us the history of civil defense in the United States. Here is one from FEMA and here is an interesting manual (FEMA 107) from 1986. (Thank you to the Civil Defense Museum for making this available to us!) It can be hard to parse…
Critical Infrastructure Protection – Two Decades of Failure
Why has so little critical infrastructure protection passed congress? I just don’t get it. I mean, I understand why Congress is struggling on health care and tax reform. The reds and the blues have different opinions and different philosophies and apparently nobody wants to compromise. I get that. It’s the same on a lot…
Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Maria were both “best case scenarios”
We have always had hurricanes. We always will. In one very important way, Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Maria were both best case scenarios. Prior to Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans in 2005, we knew that the levy system was only built to handle a category 3 hurricane. And prior to Hurricane Maria hitting Puerto Rico,…
The Civil Defense Book - Second Edition Available!!
The second edition of The Civil Defense Book is out and available on Amazon! Updated and expanded with new material, this is the only plan available for communities to survive when they are on their own. According to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security in 2017, millions of Americans—perhaps the majority of the population—would…
Arizona EMP Law Is An Important First Step
Arizona EMP Law A new law signed by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on April 25, 2014 will require the Arizona Division of Emergency Management (ADEM) to prepare the citizens of Arizona for an electromagnetic pulse (EMP): The division shall develop preparedness recommendations for the public regarding the type and quantity of supplies, including food, water…
Civil Defense: Why We Need a Congressional Resolution
Civil Defense: Why We Need It Here are two undisputed facts: FACT: The electric grid is extremely vulnerable to a variety of natural and man-made threats. FACT: A long-term loss of the electric grid would be catastrophic for the U.S. Everything depends on the electric grid. Food, water, fuel, sanitation, medical services, the economy and…
Community Preparedness: Is Your Town Prepared for a Long Term Blackout?
Congress thinks we need a community preparedness “civil defense” plan for a long term electric grid outage. So why doesn’t your town have one? “Seven U.S. government departments and agencies have now concluded that if our national electric grid is not upgraded to ensure its continuity in the event of a massive solar event —…