Latest news with #preppers
The Guardian
3 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
How doomsday prepping went mainstream
Read more: 'Do I need to purchase camels?' Australian preppers have found their voice since Covid, but tough questions remain
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.'
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Silver could be the trade of the decade. This is how to play it so you don't miss out.
Silver doesn't get headlines. It gets mug shots. It's gold's GC00 shifty cousin — the kind that disappears for a decade, then shows up unshaven with a smirk and a suitcase full of contraband. While gold enjoys polite applause at central bank banquets, silver SI00 hangs out in Florida with preppers, pirates and guys who bury things in their backyard. S&P 500 just saw its first 'golden cross' in more than 2 years. Here's what comes next. My wife and I have $7,000 a month in pensions and Social Security, plus $140,000 cash. Can we afford to retire? My wife and I are in our late 60s. Do I sell stocks to pay our $30,000 credit-card debt — or do it gradually over 3 years? 'Finance makes me break out in hives': I inherited $240K from my parents. Do I pay off my $258K mortgage and give up my job? This income fund pays more than a bank account while keeping price volatility low But here's the twist: silver's back in the game. The industrial world needs it. Monetary rebels want it. And state governments are whispering about silver as 'money' again. Silver's like that underachieving kid from your high school who flunks algebra, skips prom and then sells a startup to Google. Most of the time, silver just sits there — tarnished, pouting and doing a convincing impression of a paperweight. But then something snaps, and it turns into a caffeinated ferret with a rocket strapped to its back. Silver's outperformance typically follows a predictable pattern: quiet accumulation, skepticism and then a breakout that catches markets by surprise. Fred Hickey, author of The High-Tech Strategist, puts it succinctly: 'Silver can become a wild animal once it breaks out.' Today's setup for silver mirrors these historical patterns — perhaps on an even larger scale. You know things are out of whack when the world's silver supply starts to look like your checking account — running a deficit four years in a row and still pretending everything's fine. In 2024, total silver demand exceeded total supply by 148 million ounces. This year, the shortfall is forecast at 118 million ounces. Recycling has barely plugged this gap. Mines' supply, responsible for over 80% of annual silver production, peaked in 2015 at 891 million ounces but has steadily declined, dropping to 820 million ounces by 2024— an 8% contraction. The problem isn't only supply and demand — it's a lack of capital investment in mining itself. More than 70% of silver is mined as a byproduct of copper HG00, gold, zinc and lead — industries seeing an investment drought. Thanks to a cocktail of ESG guilt trips, regulatory red tape and investment firms with the backbone of a chocolate éclair, nobody wants to fund mining anymore. Which means that silver supply is being throttled. Gold is content to be admired — tucked away in vaults, fondled by central bankers and hoarded like secrets in a Cold War bunker. Silver? It works for a living. In 2016, just over half of silver's global supply went to industry. Today, it's more than 80%. The rise of electronics, all things electric and solar panels has transformed silver from a monetary relic into a modern necessity. And solar? That's the game-changer. Photovoltaic demand has doubled in the past decade, pushing the demand for silver ever higher. This isn't the silver of your grandmother's candlesticks. This is the silver of circuit boards and green revolutions — indispensable, irreplaceable and fabulously underpriced. Incrementum AG's influential In Gold We Trust report forecasts that by 2030, solar demand alone could triple from today's levels. Even conservative scenarios imply consumption of nearly all available supply slack. Critically, industrial demand is price-inelastic. Unlike investors, companies don't stop ordering silver because it hits $30 or even $50. They buy what they need, when they need it, at whatever price. Last May 27, while most investors were busy watching interest rates and pretending to understand Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's press conference, Florida quietly lit a silver fuse. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation declaring gold and silver coins legal tender and eliminating sales tax on them. The law takes effect on July 1, 2026 — giving the state time to write the rules, issue the guidance and brace for the effects. But markets move on signals — not bureaucratic calendars — and that signal has already been sent. Florida is the first major state economy to re-legitimize precious metals as actual currency. Texas recently followed with a similar law. Not collectibles. Not commodities. But real money. The implications are immediate. Investors take note, collectors become participants, and silver — long dismissed as a speculative relic — starts acting like currency again. Several states are on similar paths. If even a few follow Florida and Texas, the result isn't just a policy change — it's a demand shock layered onto an already tight market. And that's how silver stops being an overlooked asset and starts being a monetary insurgent. Since 2021, more than 800 million ounces of silver have drained from global inventories — the equivalent of almost 10 months of mine supply. Recycled silver, historically a buffer against rising prices, has become notably less responsive. Despite average silver prices increasing 46% over the past five years, recycling volumes rose just 18%, suggesting exhaustion of easily accessible scrap or that prices must surge higher to stimulate greater recycling. The gold-to-silver ratio (GSR), a reliable valuation indicator, currently sits around 90 — 50% above its historical average of 60. The last two times the GSR reached these heights, silver soon staged enormous rallies. A simple mean-reversion scenario suggests silver prices would rise by more than 50% just to return to historical norms. If gold moves higher — as many analysts expect — the upside for silver compounds significantly. Meanwhile, industry insiders aren't waiting. A spate of mergers — such as Coeur Mining's CDE $1.7 billion bid for Silvercrest, Pan American Silver's CA:PAAS PAAS $2.1 billion move on MAG Silver, and First Majestic's CA:AG AG acquisition of Gatos — signal smart money betting on silver's imminent rise. When industry leaders consolidate aggressively, investors should take notice. Silver's all-time high is $50 — hit once in 1980 when the Hunt brothers tried to corner the market, and again in 2011 when the world briefly thought then-Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke was going to print money until the sun burned out. So yeah, $50 isn't just within reach — it's starting to look like the floor instead of the ceiling. Gold will keep its crown and headlines. But silver? Silver's putting on work boots, breaking out of its price prison and lighting a cigar made of ESG compliance reports. The real question now isn't if silver explodes. It's whether you're still watching gold reruns when it does. For serious investors, this moment calls not for fanfare, but for strategic positioning. A few recommendations: 1. Own physical silver: Start simple — U.S. Mint Silver Eagles are liquid, recognizable and tax-advantaged in some jurisdictions (especially under Florida's new framework beginning July 1, 2026). Hold them outside the banking system, in secure storage or a home safe. Not everything needs to be an ETF. 2. For market exposure, create a silver barbell: The silver market is notoriously volatile. A smart approach uses a barbell strategy: Garcia holds positions in gold and silver. . Read: Gold and platinum are proven stock market predictors. Here's what they're saying now. Plus: America just imported a mountain of gold. Here's why that should scare you. Fourth of July holiday highlights 4 reasons 'American exceptionalism' isn't going anywhere I'm a stay-at-home mom. Do I take a part-time job to spend more time with my kids — or get a job for six figures? The last holdout bears are Democrats, these strategists say. Their capitulation could fuel the next leg higher for stocks. 'My whole financial world is upside down': I'm 'medically retired' at 51 with $428K in stocks. Is this enough to live on? 'Today is my 61st birthday': I have my ex-spouse's Social Security benefits. Should I retire at 65 and travel?
Daily Mail
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Meet the 'doomsday preppers' ready for World War III: Survival enthusiasts have secret bunkers and 'months of supplies' to outwit the apocalypse
A group of individuals known as 'preppers' have revealed how they believe if the apocalypse comes, they'll be more than ready for it. As death tolls from war in various parts of the globe rise, the threat of nuclear weapons being unleashed continues to hover and fears of another pandemic are never far away, preppers have taken matters into their own hands. The survival enthusiasts, seemingly increasing in number as political unrest and tensions between nations continues across the globe, say they're preparing now for the worst case scenario - by stockpiling food, tools and weapons, burrowing bunkers and training themselves to survive in the harshest conditions. In Britain, social media pages for UK-based preppers suggest the community is quickly expanding, with some groups having more than 23,600 members. When Russia invaded the Ukraine, UK shop owner Justin Jones told The Guardian he did more than a month's worth of trade in a day-and-a-half as fearful Brits stockpiled survival gear including 'gas masks, nuclear protection stuff and potassium tablets'. The latter, potassium iodide pills, are billed as a survival aid that could counter the thyroid gland from absorbing radioactive material in a nuclear attack. Across the Pond? The same is happening. In the US, more than 20 million Americans engage in prepping, with a 2023 survey revealing that 51 per cent of the country were 'prepared for disaster'. Indeed, one constructor of survivalist retreats, Drew Miller, told The New Yorker, he was completely inundated with membership requests following the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, as Americans increasingly feared civil unrest. Bunkers, just one of many ways some engage in 'prepping', have even more recently become a status symbol for celebrities, with Mark Zuckerberg, Kim Kardashian and Post Malone among those said to have splashed the cash on post-apocalyptic accommodation. The extent to which preppers engage in the habit appears to vary. At one extreme, there's the doomsday preppers 'readying for war, martial law and a complete deconstruction of society' while others take a more moderate approach. Melanie Williams, a wellness advocate and mother-of-six from the UK, is less worried about total societal collapse, but say she preps to always ensure she's 'one step ahead'... Her well-stocked larder means she is prepared to combat most 'everyday disruptions' such as 'rising food costs, supply issues, and power cuts.' 'We have all seen how quickly things can change, whether it is global events or local emergencies. It is not about panic, it is about peace of mind and staying one step ahead,' she said. With six mouths to feed, she says she takes a 'slow and steady approach' to stockpiling, simply by 'adding one or two extra items during my regular grocery shop, things like beans, oats, or a bottle of oil.' She says she 'decants many everyday items into glass jars and containers' so that she can see what she's got, and what might be going off, all of which she documents in written records. 'Bulkier items like large bags of rice, oats, or flour go into food-grade storage buckets to keep them safe and organised long-term. 'I regularly update a detailed inventory to cross off what has been used or add anything new. 'I keep a main pantry for everyday use, a separate one with surplus items, and a bulk pantry for long-term storage.' Melanie also 'preps' by growing her own food and by investing time in reading up on and learning life skills. 'We are also learning how to raise goats, chickens, and other animals to support our self-sufficiency,' she said. 'My boys tend to be more into survival skills, so I balance practical life skills with their interests.' It's something she's been doing for a long time, having grown up with a mother who always had at least three to six months worth of food and supplies. Though she has always taken an interest in being 'prepared', times of turbulence has also kept her motivated. She described the Covid-19 pandemic as a 'wake-up call' that amplified her approach. 'When people were queuing outside shops, I rarely had to because we already had what we needed at home. I have always kept a backup of essentials, something I learned from my mum growing up, she would always say to me have at least 3-6 months' worth of food and water.' While it's a lifestyle she invests a lot of time in, she acknowledged that there is a broad spectrum of people who prep and their ideologies. 'Some people are private about prepping because they worry others might judge them or see it as extreme,' she said. 'Some may also keep quiet because they do not want to draw attention to themselves, and that includes being private about what they have. 'You never really know how someone might act if they are hungry or desperate,' she said, highlighting a common fear among preppers who worry about others stealing their stock.' But for Melanie, her children are at the heart of her motivations for prepping. She said her main aim is to ensure they will be 'secure' and can have their 'needs met'. Charley Storey, a 27-year-old mother from the UK, takes a more extreme approach to prepping. She lives with her four-year-old daughter, Molly, and her partner, and constantly fears disaster. She has spent the last two years prepping for 'all worst-case scenarios', which to her could be anything from natural disasters, to civil war, job less, illness, or the enforcement of martial law. Her main reason for prepping is to ensure she can keep her daughter safe, something she believes is more important than ever given 'the situation we're in at the moment'. Justifying her reasons for prepping, the self-described 'doomsday prepper', who works in care, said: 'Seeing how scary the world really is now. Even the government is telling people to get prepared. 'They have a page on their actual website,' she said, referring to the official government website where advice is issued on how to prepare for emergencies such as 'flooding, fires and power cuts'. 'Everyone thinks the UK is really safe and it's not. People think nothing is going to happen.' Charley doesn't trust the news, and believes official bodies are downplaying the severity of the situation. 'The news doesn't always tell you everything. It tells you what you want to hear. It's dishonest about the true reality of the situation. That's my own opinion,' she stated. At all times, she has a three-month supply of food - including tins, noodles and other long-life consumables - water, and medical supplies, a stash that she hopes to build to last several years. Charley keeps her supplies in her utility room and also 'rotates' to keep things fresh. 'I take old stuff and rotate it so nothing ever goes bad,' she explained. She first became interested in prepping two years ago when, afraid for the future of her daughter, she began actively stockpiling food, brushing up on her camping skills and learning how to purify water. Now, she shares advice on her TikTok channel, with videos entitled 'the five most important things to have in your preps' and 'how to prep on a budget'. Important to Charley is being able to prep on a budget. She manages to do this by following the rule of 'buy one now, two for later', always ensuring she is topping up her supplies. 'This is the thing that people don't realise, it's not expensive. I don't buy branded food. I buy cans that are like 28p or 40p. Its all about being affordable and being in a budget,' she said. If the worst comes to worst, the mother-of-one has a 'bug out plan' in place. This containing instructions on where to go and what to do in the face of disaster. While she isn't able to afford a bunker, Charley has other places she could seek refuge, though she didn't disclose where they were. 'It's all in my head. If you write it down, you're as risk of everyone else knowing,' she said. Knowledge is also important. On her TikTok account, she urged her followers to 'research and read as much as possible', as well as attend first aid courses. Unlike many other preppers, she isn't so secretive about prepping that she doesn't discuss it, regularly engaging in conversation and sharing tips online with others. However, she is paranoid about what she described as 'werewolf preppers', who are 'basically looters' that form their disaster plans based on stealing the stashes of other preppers. One of her main concerns, in the event of a disaster, is being able to protect herself without the help of guns, which Charley thinks should be made legal in the UK. 'The problem in the UK is we don't believe in the second amendment so how do we protect our families?' she said, something which she would like to see change. Nevertheless, she has found other ways of making herself feel protected. Rather than guns, she has stashes of bow and arrows and knives, both of which are legal to own in the UK. 'I have things here that will protect my family,' she said. She thinks the current laws on guns are 'unrealistic' and hopes that things will change so she can be armed for potential disaster. And while it is true that there has been a surge in interest for building and hiring underground doomsday bunkers, in reality, there is a far broader range of individuals prepping for a less 'Hollywood' kind of disaster. One of those is Ryan, who hails Ohio from the US and is a father-of-two who has been actively prepping since he was a child. He told MailOnline that he has been preparing since he was 'in single digits', having seen firsthand the impact of disaster while growing up in a small town called Joplin in Missouri, located in the infamous 'Tornado Valley'. Ryan, who now works as an IT administrator said: 'Tornadoes are very fast and you need to be ready for them. Being prepared emergencies was always something I was mindful of.' Growing up in a motorhome meant his family needed to be 'prepared' for the worst. To ensure their safety, they made arrangements with neighbours and made sure to have a well rigged 'plan' in either instances of staying or leaving. In addition to having a plan, Ryan emphasised the need to have community. 'You can have all the stockpiled like beans and rice and water that you want. But if you don't have anyone else and you fall and hit your head, there's not going to be anyone else to take care of you.' Beyond a strong network, Ryan's style of prepping is less 'Hollywood', and more focused on 'being educated on things' such as having first aid and radio training. He also owns several weapons, including a rifle, pistol, and bow and arrow, which he practices to 'keep up proficiency'. 'You can have a thousand bandages, but if you don't know how to correctly apply one, what good is the bandage.' That being said, in the event of disaster, Ryan's basement is well stocked with food and water, both which he regularly replenishes for freshness. In the event of the worst, he also has printed out plans of what he would do, with step by step guides to confronting certain instances, such as the event of a natural disaster, instructions of skills such as how to purify water, and lists of amenities to try and secure. He also owns solar panels and batteries that can can charge radios, computers, phones, and provide light in a pinch. Beyond typical prepping techniques often associated with doomsday preppers, Ryan also spends several hours a week 'reading and exercising' as part of his preparation. 'Most problems have been written about. Might as well get first-hand knowledge on what to expect,' he said. The father-of-two also runs between 12-20km a week as well as going to the gym. 'If you aren't taking care of your health you are going to be far less successful in any emergency where medical resources are stretched thin,' he said. He referred to prepping as a 'hobby' that he 'habitually' practices. In doing so, he also practices using firearms an is 'currently learning to hand sew'. Not only looking out for himself, one of Ryan's single biggest motivator's for prepping for to secure the safety of his wife, Cortney, and his two sons, Elliot and Sam. Having shared an interest in the 'hobby' of prepping, Ryan revealed his first ever gift to his wife was an emergency backpack filled with medical supplies, a change of clothes and tools to change a tire. Ryan is more pragmatically minded that many might assume of doomsday preppers, foreseeing how he would cope in the aftermath of disaster rather than thinking of the 'Hollywood' version portrayed in fiction. He said: 'In a hypothetical zombie apocalypse, after the initial craziness of 'there's zombies and we have to fight them and stuff', that's scary and dangerous but there's also living long term after a disaster which is insidious because it's not what you think of. It's not the sexy Hollywood thing. 'You don't need to buy a thousand cool gadgets or loads of food,' he said. Within the community itself, Ryan noted a ramping up in 'conspiracy theories' being shared on online forums such as Reddit and Facebook. He blamed political turbulence, at home in the US and in other parts of the world, for increased interest in prepping. 'We've spent the last 10-years watching norms being shattered, and when norms are broken, people get nervous. People like the same, even if it's terrible but they still like it because they're used to it.' Closer to home in the UK, Jon is preparing for a more extreme fate. Asked what he envisions ensuing in the coming years, he had an arm's length list of potentially horrific eventualities. 'The world is changing quickly, and the veneer of a civilized society is very thin,' he said, adding that he foresees anything from 'economic downturn, world war, civil unrest, natural disasters and climate change.' 'The UK has been insulated from serious issues for a long time but the world is changing. I highly suspect something is going to happen. I want to be prepared for whatever this is,' he said. Wanting to secure his future against what he views as a probable outcome of disaster, Jon insisted that his main goal is to 'become self-sufficient as much as possible', which takes any number of forms, from food to DIY and car repairs. He said: 'We have a supply of food, fuel, first aid supplies. We have a remote cabin to escape to if needed. We have weapons and train to use them. not because we want to, but in a situation were the police are unable or unwilling to help we will need to defend ourselves or our property.' Anticipating global disaster, Jon believes 'everyone should have at least three weeks of food available' just in case. This is on top of stockpiling cash, spare parts for repairs and medical supplies. It's advice that is no longer merely the thoughts of doomsday conspiracy theorists, but that being given by officials as global tensions continue to dominate headlines. Earlier this year, The European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, urged people to prepare survival bags. They advised nearly half a billion people across 27 countries to prepare a 72 hour survival kit, stocking up on bottled water, energy bars, a torch and waterproof pouches for IDs. For British-born Jon, preparations aren't something he does alone. Ensuring his family is also ready for the worst, he encourages them to 'train' and 'learn skills'. 'We practice fire lighting, camping, tracking and hunting weekly,' he said, adding that physical fitness and medical training were equally as important. Not only does this ensure he and his family can survive, but it gives them skills that could prove useful should disaster strike. 'Having a tradeable skill such as welding will help you,' he insisted. 'For instance, being able to stitch a wound or repair a car in return for a meal for your family, or a spare part you need.' He said he 'always believed something was going to happen', and initially thought this would be Covid, a period which he said opened his eyes to 'how all around the world governments were not prepared, and did little to help the people'. 'It really highlighted how alone you are. Your family's survival is down to you alone.' That being said, his rigorous prepping is not something he is open about with others. Choosing to keep his identity a secret, the Jon said there are two primary reasons for keeping the habit hidden. 'Preppers are considered crazy by many, and subsequently shunned as conspiracy nuts. 'They were blamed for the COVID shortages because of stockpiling. In reality the preppers were the ones not going to the stores because they prepped months in advance.' Not only does he fear judgement, but Jon predicts the inevitable knock on the door from friends and acquaintances when disaster strikes, a scenario that would lead to rapidly depleting resources. 'If people know you have food and supplies, in a grid down situation, they will be knocking on your door asking for stuff, or worst-case using force to take it. This is the primary reason for weapons. We need to defend ourselves against these types of attack.' Secrecy is common among preppers, Bushra Shehzad, who is researching prepping for a PhD in marketing and consumer behaviour at Newcastle University, told The Guardian. 'They are sceptical of people who aren't part of it asking questions, which I think is because they're portrayed in a manner that many of them don't agree with,' the expert told the publication. Chris, who chose to remain anonymous, from Canada, is also preparing the for the worst. The 24-year-old works as a public servant in project management and has been emergency prepping for for the last five years. Much like Ryan, he is less concerned about the possibility of a zombie apocalypse and rather the more realistic possibility of 'day-to-day emergencies' such as 'house fires and flat tyres'. He told MailOnline he has laid the groundwork for disaster by preparing stores of 100+ gallons of drinking water, as well as three months worth of food and a multitude of firearms 'and other weapons in the unlikely event they're needed'. He also has stores of small currency in case internet outages block bank transfers, passports 'to flee the country as a last resort when things seem dire', and even a 'Get Home Bag' packed with 'several days of supplies', to come 'in handy for sudden evacuations.' More concerned with the realities of severe weather and other more 'every day' potentials for disaster, Chris's preparations take a less extreme form, such as monitoring the Environment Canada weather app on a regular basis. Despite having a system in place for if things go wrong, Chris is secretive about his prepping, largely out of fear that others will turn to him and demand help in the case of disaster. 'I do not tell people about my prepping unless there's no chance they'll come to me in the event of an emergency (e.g., a colleague on the other side of the continent), and I still keep things vague in case word spreads,' he said. 'The family members I talk to about prepping usually start off thinking I'm paranoid until they need my help such as jump starting their car, getting a flat, or during over the counter medicine shortages. 'Most won't take these incidents as a wake-up call to start taking their own preparations more seriously.' For Chris, the pandemic hitting in 2020 was the start of his trajectory into prepping. 'The COVID-19 pandemic opened my eyes to the fragility of the systems we rely on,' he explained. 'I never thought I'd be in a situation where the government could force us to stay at home and stop working for months at a time, and see significant disruptions in the supply chain. This was a pretty mild disease too.' Being prepared is more than just having a 'fully stocked bunker', Chris said, adding that many of the more traditional doomsday preppers 'over emphasise' prepping for 'unlikely events'. One of his many methods for ensuring he is prepared is to maintain physical fitness, adding that 'most people in the US and Canada die from health related issues, like heart disease, and not nuclear war or the electrical grid permanently going down.' He said: 'What's the point of preparing for a nuclear war if you're so out of shape that you die of a heart attack in your 40s? 'What good will your fully stocked bunker do you when you lose your job and the bank forecloses on the property because you didn't get your finances in order? Where's your house's water shutoff valve if something starts leaking?'
Washington Post
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Minnesota shooting suspect and wife were ‘preppers,' FBI affidavit says
Hours after a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband were fatally shot in their home, Vance Boelter, the man charged by authorities for the killing, texted his wife instructions to prepare for the worst, according to an affidavit unsealed on Friday. Boelter had sent a message in their family group chat stating 'something to the effect of they should prepare for war, they needed to get out of the house and people with guns may be showing up to the house,' FBI agent Terry Getsch wrote in the affidavit. Getsch added that Boelter and his family were 'preppers' — people who go to extreme lengths to prepare for catastrophic events that could require survival skills and stockpiles of supplies.
