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The Guardian
09-08-2025
- General
- The Guardian
‘Do I need to purchase camels?' Australian preppers have found their voice since Covid, but tough questions remain
Shortly after Israel announced its attack on Iran in June, Trevor Andrei sent a message to some of his fellow Australian preppers telling them to stock up on petrol and buy a few hundred dollars' worth of groceries. 'I was like, OK, this is super significant, there's going to be a response … shit's going to go down,' Andrei says. 'Most years, [Australia is] lucky if we've got 28 days [of petrol reserve] so … if anything hits the world's oil supply, we can be out of petrol in a month.' Andrei describes himself as Australia's most famous prepper and is one of the few happy to speak publicly about a famously secretive subculture. The survivalist runs bushcraft courses (two hours for $299), makes and sells soap with his daughter, makes his own jerky, and has a property with fruit trees and a dam full of rainbow trout. He has great relationships with his farmer neighbours, he says – he'll process lambs mutilated by foxes so that the meat can be shared around the community for pet food, and when a tree comes down on one of their properties, Andrei will chop it up in exchange for some of the haul. He has formerly worked as a landscaper specialising in edible gardens and a tour guide in the outback. In short, when shit hits the fan (SHTF, in prepper parlance), Andrei is going to be all right. He's not so sure about the rest of us. 'Shit hits the fan every day,' he says. 'It just matters how close you are to the fan and whether or not it splattered on you, right? But the real shit hits the fan is what we call a fire sale, right? And that's where it's literally everything that could go wrong has gone wrong … So the pointy end of the scale is, you imagine like a cyberwar: there's no gas, there's no water, there's no electricity, you can't flush your toilet, there's no radio. 'Every single day of your life you have expected to … put some food on a plate and stick it in your mouth. So why would you not prepare for that ahead of time? There are so many people who don't do it.' And yet increasingly, it seems, there are more and more people across Australia who do. Global instability and the abrupt arrival of AI are among the factors that have pushed prepping towards the mainstream. But the biggest driver was the pandemic, when people experienced empty supermarket shelves and the pain of disrupted global supply chains – some for the first time in their lives. For preppers such as Andrei, who see how most urban Australians live, this move towards preparedness cannot come soon enough. 'Prepping is becoming super super super popular. I've got schools that want me to teach it,' he says. 'You'd be mad, anybody would be mad if they're not sitting there going, all right, what's going on? And what should we do?' Sam and Candice Johnson are not preppers, but they deal with preppers almost daily. 'We're just country-prepared, as we say,' Candice says. 'We've always got that little bit of extra in case you get flooded in or you have to leave home quickly in case of fires, but other than that I wouldn't consider ourselves preppers.' The couple run a camping store in Beaudesert, Queensland, an hour west of the Gold Coast. A little over a decade ago, they saw a gap in the market and began stocking emergency kits – containing items such as wind-up radios, torches, batteries and glowsticks – to have on hand in the event of natural disasters. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads But over the years, customers began asking if they could stock more serious survival supplies. Now the store supplies most of the country with everything from freeze-dried foods to mylar bags, fire-starting kits, camouflage netting, snares and traps. 'The majority of our customers are those who want to be long-term prepared, so they're the people who've got, you know, a couple of months' worth of food stored away, or they've got emergency water filters,' Candice says. 'When we started … [prepping] was a really underground, quiet kind of thing. But that's increased 10-fold, twentyfold, thirtyfold.' Covid was a big factor, she says. 'People who didn't understand what the whole thing was about previously, now had some kind of context as to why other people were doing it.' That removed some of the stigma as well. 'People are seeming less quiet about it. Before we'd get lots of customers who wouldn't give us their name and they'd only pay cash and all this sort of stuff, but now, people are much more open and accepting of it and willing to admit that it's something that they do.' Bradley Garrett, a geographer who has researched preppers around the world, interviewing more than a hundred of them for his book, Bunker, says there is a distinct difference between Australian preppers and those in the US, that seems to stem from a different level of trust in the government. 'My experience talking to preppers in Australia is they're much more concerned with practical prepping, as we call it – prepping for a wildfire or a blackout for three days or a week, or the taps turning off, or whatever. It seems to me like there is an expectation that help is going to arrive at some point … whereas with American preppers, they're much more concerned that help is not going to arrive and you're on your own. And that's certainly become exacerbated under the second Trump administration.' Garrett says there is a lot more openness towards prepping in Australia than in the US, largely because of a culture 'of loading up your overland vehicle and going out to campsites and staying out for multiple days'. But there is also a huge split between the preparedness and resilience of people in cities and those in rural areas. 'In cities, God, there's so many fragile people that are totally dependent upon the next paycheque and systems being in working order … There are a lot of people who really would not fare well in a dire emergency.' Garrett says when he started researching prepper culture he was one of these typical, fragile, middle-class Sydneysiders. 'When I had my position at the University of Sydney and I had a steady paycheque and we went to the gym and we did all the things that you do as a middle-class Sydney person, it was fine, there was nothing wrong with it, but the more I talked to these people, the more I realised, if something went wrong with this, I couldn't deal with it. Like we had no reserves, we had no resiliency.' Garrett eventually adopted some prepper practices: he came up with a plan for what to do if he turned the taps on one day and no water came out. He had a Jeep packed with camping gear and a 'mental map' of his surroundings and a plan for where he could go if his city home became unsafe (drive his Jeep south into the national park) as well as a backup plan – a few kayaks tied up on a nearby beach, so he and his wife could 'take to the water' and get out of the city that way. 'I started thinking more about how much money do we have in the bank, and what resources do we have if suddenly the grocery stores weren't open, you know? 'People don't necessarily need to move, but creating a little elasticity in your existence so you can deal with crisis is a very healthy thing.' On one of Australia's most popular prepper Facebook pages the discussion bounces from the mundane ('Does anyone have any recommendations for good quality but affordable Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers?') to the portentous: 'When China spits the dummy with Australia, the sea lanes will be cut and our imported food will stop. Stock up on all you can.' Sign up to Five Great Reads Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning after newsletter promotion In between posts offering advice on the best storage of rice (white apparently stores much better than brown – 'the lesser of two weevils,' a commenter quips) – and the discussion about the battery life of the Nokia 3210, there are questions about the best mode of transport. 'When the lights go out … do I need to purchase horses? Camels?' Others present detailed plans of how people would or should survive should the worst happen. One user posts an ominous checklist of what to do on 'day one … immediately after the collapse'. The list runs: secure your perimeter, fill bathtubs and bowls with water while it's still running, radio check your crew and decide whether to 'bug in or bug out', but make that decision early, as 'traffic jams and gunfire don't mix'. Whether to 'bug in' or 'bug out' is a key question for hardcore preppers. Bugging in means people plan to stay put in their home, which should be well stocked with supplies, well hidden and whose existence should not be disclosed to anyone, lest marauders come. Bugging out means leaving, with either a 'bug out bag' – a short-term emergency kit – or an Inch (I'm never coming home) bag with supplies to enable indefinite survival. Andrei plans to bug in, but thinks building a bespoke bunker full of supplies is quite stupid. That would make them a 'soft, high-yield target' for 'wolves' – his term for marauders who would seek out a bunker, smoke out the occupants and steal their supplies. Holly Robertson, who identifies as a 'bush survivalist' rather than a prepper, agrees. 'So, I don't identify with prepper culture, but I do see myself as someone who's prepared. When people know that you have a stockpile, that's where they're going to go first. But if you're someone who can literally take a knife or a machete and go into the bush and make your own fire friction kit and make your cordage and make your traps, that's powerful. Like, that's a skill set that people really value. They're not going to try and steal from you, they want to have you in their space. So for me, leading with skill set and knowledge is far more powerful than having a stockpile of things.' Robertson stands out from many in the bush survivalist community for a few reasons: she is 25, female and has an Instagram account with nearly 55,000 followers. She became interested in this world a few years ago when she was holidaying near Byron Bay. She went to a bush survival school run by a man known as Cockatoo Paul, who would eventually become both her life and business partner. Paul died a year ago, and Robertson now runs the Australian Bush Survival School as a mobile business, travelling all over Australia to run everything from children's workshops to corporate retreats, teaching skills such as trapping, tracking, spear throwing, knot-tying, skin tanning, friction fires, water purification and basic navigation. 'At the end of the day, the majority of the skills I teach people, they're probably never going to use again in their life. I hope they're never in a survival situation. But what I do see is a sense of empowerment and confidence through capability. When someone, for the first time in their life, creates a fire out of two sticks, the way their face lights up is phenomenal. 'A lot of people … in my generation … they don't know how to light a fire. And if the power went out, they would have literally no idea what to do whatsoever. A lot of our grandparents, they've lived in the bush and they're super capable … so what I really want to see for my generation is how we can really step up and become more self-reliant.' While many interviewees stress the importance of resilience, capability and community, some also warn there can be a dangerous element to prepper culture. 'Unfortunately some very vulnerable people fall into that demographic and they find a lot of serious consequences down the line,' says John Scarinci, the secretary general of the Australian Peoples Survival League (formerly the Australian Preppers Survival League). Scarinci says for some people, prepping can become a 'life-overtaking exercise'. 'They find themselves in trouble later in life because they've just spent their life savings [and] years roll on, decades … and they've amassed a huge amount of preparatory items and they've forgotten about their own health and wellbeing, and the world has not collapsed and they find themselves in a spot of bother.' Some find they have spent decades preparing for the end of the world, but not for retirement or aged care. For others, prepping comes at huge cost to relationships. 'Their partners may potentially leave them because they're so fixated with their preparations, where they're preparing for the doomsday occurrence and it just engulfs them. They're unable to work, because how are you going to fit in … a career whilst being fixated on preparing your jars of food and your freeze-dried items?' Garrett says he has also seen people who started prepping on a 'low level', dedicating more and more of their resources and mental energy to it. 'Eventually families start to get frustrated [and ask] 'What are we doing here? We're spending more time anxious about the future than we are worrying about the present, or enjoying the present.' 'It happens a lot, because prepping is a thought experiment, so once you start to think, 'How do we escape from a bushfire?' then you start thinking, well, what if there was a nuclear attack? What if all the cyber systems are down and we have to flee? What if AI turns on us? It can become a bridge to conspiracy theory and the guardrails you have to put in place are just understand that, yeah, it's fine to think about these things, but it's not fine to obsess over them.' But Garrett says becoming more prepared has made him far more peaceful, rather than anxious. He eventually moved away from his middle-class Sydney life, returning to his native US, where he lives on a five-acre property in rural California. He and his wife grow their own food, have horses and are gradually taking the property off-grid. 'Things can definitely go wrong in our lives and I'm totally capable of dealing with them … It's given me a sense of solace that not only do we have the resources we need to get through something, but I've spent years now upskilling in various things … I just learned how to lay pipes in the yard … or I learned how to put in an electrical socket or fix our breaker if it goes out. All those sort of DIY practical skills. Every time I learn something, then I think, 'Oh this is fantastic' because if something goes wrong, I don't have to call someone to deal with this – I can deal with it.'
Telegraph
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Influencers stoke World War Three fears to sell ‘survival' tools
'World War Three? I'm scared,' one influencer tells her 1.4 million viewers before promoting a multi-purpose power bank: a must-have 'survival' item. She pans the camera to her TV where a news report shows Iranian missiles raining down on Tel Aviv, before saying: 'This is a recipe for World War Three.' In the same breath, she claims her father is a military veteran who told her the 'most important item to have in your survival bag' is a power bank. 'If you want to get yourself prepared, I'll link it for you,' she says, guiding her followers to buy the device for £10 in a commissioned post. Another influencer, clad in an industrial gas mask, asks viewers: 'If World War Three started tomorrow, would you be prepared?' She directs her 124,000 followers to a link where they can purchase their own breathing apparatus for under £15. 'If you want to keep you and your family safe, don't wait,' the beauty influencer warns. 'The sale ends soon.' A third, prolific World War Three content creator promotes a multi-tool, boasting several apparently life-saving items, from a fire-starter to screwdriver. @vi0letred Replying to @waywardtraveler1848 if World War 3 broker out tomorrow, would you be prepared? #ww3 #worldwar3 #gasmask #fullfacemask #prepper #doomsdaypreppers #preppersoftiktok #tiktokshopcreatorpicks #dealsforyoudays #tiktokshopsummerturnup ♬ original sound - Violet Fear-mongering for views and commissions is part of a growing trend for influencers. Experts say they have lost any sense of reality and are capitalising on fear of foreign states while exploiting TikTok's broad-reaching algorithm. The marketing technique evokes some scepticism, with one disgruntled user commenting: 'Scaremongering for commission. Welcome to 2025.' Yet the clicks – and money – keep coming. The influencer flogging a solar-powered power bank and radio has sold over 75,000 through TikTok Shop, the app's on-site shopping platform. TikTok relies on its commission-paid content creators and algorithm to advertise and sell its products. Influencers are profiting from the fact that war is more widespread today than it has been in decades, with armed conflict touching every major region in the world, according to Telegraph analysis of data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (Acled). Between 2020 and the end of 2024, the global death toll from war exceeded one million, with the increase largely attributed to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war. @theshopguider This is an essential for all bugout bags✅ #survival #camping #light #multitool #dealoftheday #ww3 #foryou #tiktokshop ♬ original sound - theshopguider For Evie Aspinall, director of the British Foreign Policy Group, the younger generation's general misunderstanding and disassociation from the realities of global conflict – from war in Ukraine to the threat China poses to our society – is deeply concerning. She said influencers were taking advantage of young people's ignorance and scaring them into buying 'survival' items on TikTok Shop. Ms Aspinall added that this tendency is being exacerbated by a lack of critical thinking and engagement with reliable news sources, which is leading to a deep generational divide. 'We have recently conducted several focus groups in which the level of generational difference in perceptions of national security have been so striking,' says Ms Aspinall, former UK head delegate to the Youth7, the G7's official youth engagement group. 'Younger Britons are generally much less bothered about Ukraine than older Britons. They are less bothered about China. A huge amount of this disconnect can be attributed to social media.' Fear-mongering online content is pushing Gen Z and millennials further away from the realities of foreign threats and what the future of modern warfare actually looks like, Ms Aspinall said. She added that war in the future will be less about trench fighting and more about complex and nuanced attacks that could impact the British public as a whole. 'The average person does not understand that, for example, a cyber attack on the NHS would be absolutely catastrophic,' she said. When asked by YouGov for a survey last month to pick three of the most important issues facing the country, only 11 per cent of 16 to 25 year-olds chose defence and security. That compared to 43 per cent of those over the age of 65. 'This huge generational divide clearly coming from social media is not encouraging critical thinking,' Ms Aspinall said. Melanie Garson, associate professor in international security and conflict resolution at University College London, stressed the danger of social media users being pounded by 'prepare for WWIII' videos as they scroll through TikTok. 'Creating that hysteria diversion could be a malicious actor's way of putting pressure on the Government not to intervene,' she said. 'This attempt at societal destruction needs to be investigated as it could be part of their playbook.' A broader concern for Ms Garson was the inability of Britons to discern the truth, which she said reflected wider shortcomings in the education of Britons about war and international threats. Ms Garson stressed the need to 'break the algorithmic bubble', with social media an increasingly important provider of news worldwide. She said: 'This starts with teaching people the critical thinking skills of how to engage with sources of information and [discern] what a legitimate source is.' Lessons in media literacy Both Ms Aspinall and Ms Garson said the Government had a key role to play in opening conversations about the real threats posed by foreign states and actors. The Government's Strategic Defence Review last month drew attention to the need to build nationwide resilience in the face of threats posed by states such as Russia, China and Iran. What building national resilience looks like, and how it will target younger generations, is yet to be seen. There are clear examples of how this can work effectively, with Finland instilling critical thinking skills in children as part of their early education. As Britain scales-up national defence, how the military interacts with its citizens on home soil will be the true measure of its strength, Ms Aspinall said.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
'I've been ready for a war since 12 - there are 10 things you need'
A 'doomsday prepper' who has been building his emergency stash since he watch Bear Grylls at the age of 12 has listed 10 items you must always have in case of a global crisis. Shahzad Kayani, 31, first took an interest into survival preparation as a child - after watching Bear Grylls' Man vs. Wild. He began researching what to stock up on - beginning with fire starters, knives and long-life food. But after realising a more likely event would be a natural disaster, another pandemic or a power outage, he shifted from wilderness survival to any kind. He began picking up survival items bit by bit over the years - and now has a room in his home dedicated to them which contains over £21,500 of survival supplies. Shahzad has everything from emergency tents and blankets, to food, stoves, torches and even weapons. He reckons he has enough to keep himself and his four family members alive for over six months. He shared the 10 items everyone should have in their home - which will be most essential for survival if disaster strikes. READ MORE: Major drinks brand to vanish from supermarket shelves after collapse READ MORE: Gregg Wallace rushed to hospital with suspected heart attack Shahzad, a preparedness author, said: "Everyone should have an evacuation kit bag with the basic essentials. At least two litres of water, a medical kit, a water filter. And as much food as you can fit - at least three days' worth in your bag but have more available to take too. A torch, an emergency blanket, a radio for news updates if you lose power. "Some sort of fire starter, and some sort of knife in case you need to sharpen a stick, or use it in self defence. Finally, copies of all your important documents in case you can't go back home." Shahzad said he has prepared survival rucksacks for his whole family to ensure if they need to make a quick exit they can get away. Shahzad said: "I've made one for every family member - each with three days' food and water and the basics." As well as his emergency grab-bags, he has huge stocks of all kinds of different emergency supplies. Shahzad has been building up his collection. His garage and basement contains everything from six months' of food and water to backup power and heating. He also has sleeping bags, tents, spare boots, socks, camping stoves and rechargeable lanterns. Shahzad even has a collection of guns which he has a licence for - in case times get tough following a disaster. He has raw ingredients - such as flour, rice and beans - which can be used for long-term sustenance. He has filled five-gallon buckets with them - as he says they can last for years if stored correctly. Shahzad said: "There's this thing that preppers do, you take your dry foods and put them in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers that you can easily get off Amazon. "The rice - it only works with white rice - and beans will last 25 plus years. And white flour - not whole wheat - will last up to 10 years if you store them that way in a cool dry place inside buckets." And he has litres and litres of water stored up in bottles which he adds to whenever he visits the supermarket. He said: "I just slowly bought things. I would say everyone should have at least two weeks of food and water, basic first aid, a torch, a propane heater and a stove. Backup power too - a foldable solar charger and some backup power banks and batteries." While people may suggest his preparedness is over-caution, Shahzad said he's "70% sure" his supplies will be needed before 2030. He said: "From what I've read, a big power grid collapse will happen in the next five years. Or a catastrophic cyber attack. Or another pandemic - or a natural disaster." water medical kit food water filter torch emergency blanket emergency radio firestarter knife photocopied important documents
Daily Mail
26-06-2025
- Daily Mail
Ideal for a first-time hider: World War II bunker on sale in Kent is perfect for those hoping to getaway from a potential nuclear global apocalypse
A WW2 bunker on sale in Kent is the perfect hideaway for those hoping to escape a potential end days even such as a global nuclear apocalypse. An area of woodland which includes two bunker networks near the entrance to popular Hargate Forest on the edge of Tunbridge Wells is taking offers from history enthusiasts and preppers. The land off Broadwater Down encompasses 4.7 acres and is located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. According to estate agents Savills, it has two separate bunkers which add up to around 7,000 square feet of space. It could make the perfect development opportunity for a new 'prepper', a member of the largely online community which documents how they prepare for natural disasters or global apocalypse. This typically includes stocking months of food and water, back up electrical supplies and medical equipment. Amid current global tensions and conflicts breaking out in the Middle East, the trend is becoming especially popular. The bunkers, some 60 feet below ground, were built during the Second World War and were once home to the Royal Corps of Signals, a combat support arm of the British Army responsible for providing vital communication and information systems. The site is being marketed as an 'investment opportunity for sale with potential for future redevelopment'. The property is located on the southern edge of Tunbridge Wells approximately 1.4 miles southwest of the town centre, 2.7 miles east of Groombridge and 2.25 miles northwest of the village of Bells Yew Green. Drawings and plans of the bunker show the complex had two long tunnels with eight rooms leading off. It was used for around 12 months before it became clear there was a substantial flooding problem, likely due to it being constructed out of sandstone and clay. Urban explorers who have visited the site recently have found chest-height water in much of the complex, meaning it would likely need substantial redevelopment. The bunkers fell out of use by 1942, and the Ministry of Defence sealed off access in 1946. There is however ample evidence the site has been accessed often in the time since, including by social media explorers who typically film their visits to historic sites and post them online. Public footpaths also pass through the area. The bunker system was built during the Second World War and were once home to the Royal Corps of Signals, a combat support arm of the British Army responsible for providing vital communication and information systems Visitors to dry parts of the tunnels have left rubbish and graffiti behind There was speculation the complex was built for Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, the best known British general of the second world war - but he denied this in the 1960s. Regardless it is thought the system was constructed as a potential military command centre in the case of any Nazi invasion onto British soil. The land is currently available for 'unconditional offers'. A tree preservation order is in place on approximately half of it, limiting any purchasers ability to remove the woodland. Savills said: 'Set within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), the land extends to approximately 1.90 hectares (4.69 acres) of woodland, containing a mixture of mainly hardwood species, including standards, coppice, and naturally regenerating young oak. 'The land also contains a subterranean network of bunkers and passages, some 60 feet below ground, built between 1940 and 1941 and occupied by members of the Royal Corps of Signals. 'Three access points are recorded which are triangularly orientated to each other throughout the property and appear to comprise brick with single openings. All three accesses are permanently closed to prevent trespass.'
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Suspect in Minnesota lawmaker attacks was a ‘prepper' who had drafted a ‘bailout plan' for wife, according to court filing
The man charged in the killings of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband one week ago was a 'prepper' and had at some point given his wife a 'bailout plan' in case of 'exigent circumstances,' according to an FBI agent investigating the case. The term 'prepper' refers generally to someone who stockpiles materials and makes plans to survive some future disaster or doomsday event. In a newly unsealed affidavit obtained by CNN affiliate WCCO, FBI agent Terry Getsch wrote that Boelter and his wife were preppers and that Boelter's established 'bailout plan' instructed his wife to go to her mother's home in Wisconsin. The affidavit does not imply that Boelter's wife knew about her husband's alleged plans to attack the lawmakers, and she has not been charged with any crime. After last Saturday's shootings, Boelter's wife was pulled over by law enforcement 'while traveling with her four children to visit friends northwest of the metro area,' Getsch wrote. She consented to a search of their car, in which investigators found two handguns, passports for Boelter's wife and their children and about $10,000 in cash. During an interview, Boelter's wife said that she received a group text message from Boelter in a thread with their kids. 'Dad went to war last night … I don't wanna say more because I don't wanna implicate anybody,' one text from Boelter to members of his family read, according to a federal complaint unsealed earlier this week. The affidavit also revealed that at roughly 9 a.m. on Saturday, Boelter visited a bank in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, and withdrew all $2,200 he had in a bank account in his name. A third party whose name is redacted in the affidavit drove Boelter from the bank. Boelter was driven to the bank by a person listed as 'Witness 1' in a previously unsealed court document, the same person who authorities say sold Boelter an electric bike and Buick sedan, which was found during the 43-hour manhunt last weekend. Authorities said earlier this week Boelter is believed to have carried out the attacks on lawmakers alone, but noted investigators would 'fully explore' to ensure that was the case. CNN reached out to the Brooklyn Park Police Department for an update on the investigation. Boelter, 57, faces both federal and state charges. Investigators found 'voluminous writings' in Boelter's home and car, but no clear manifesto has been uncovered, according to Acting US attorney Joseph Thompson. The notebooks contained the names of more than 45 Minnesota state and federal public officials, 'mostly or all Democrats,' according to the complaint. Some listed had ties to Planned Parenthood and the abortion rights movement. Boelter made his first appearance in federal court on Monday. He faces six federal charges, including murder, stalking and firearms offenses. He has not yet entered a plea and CNN has reached out to the federal public defender representing him for comment. Boelter is scheduled to appear in federal court in St. Paul, Minnesota, for a preliminary detention hearing on Friday.
