Preparation List
by Rick T.

Believing that changes are coming due to global warming and to the rise in energy prices (specifically oil and gas) as well as the future scarcity of all the products made from oil is something that has been talked about for well over 20 years. Lately it seems to be reaching critical mass. This is about preparation, what items you will need, what skills you might want to learn or improve.
It can seem overwhelming depending on what you believe is coming, so I’ve tried to divide my list into manageable chunks. I call it my Get it Now, Get it later, and Skills list. A work in progress and of course may change as things go.
Generally the Get it now will be things you could use now, or may take time to acquire, or will only get more expensive, or will take time to learn.
Get it later will be things that you need to research, may improve or become cheaper, might have some kind of expiration or don’t require much practice to use.
Skills. Could be a subset of the get it now column, but I decided to keep it separate.
You may agree/disagree, this is a work in progress. The idea is to organize my thinking and make the move toward a different lifestyle not so overwhelming.
I believe I’m like most people. I’m married, have a house, a job, a car, dogs and stuff. I would like to stay in my house, keep my job, and have transportation (if not my current car) to get to my job. But this may not happen so I’m trying to be flexible. What you believe may happen, may be a lot different and you may decide other things to get or skills to have are different than my list. That’s great, let’s hear about your lists.
.
Here are mine:
Skills: well right off the bat this will be trouble. You can’t have every possible skill you may need and this list may seem woefully short but it is a work in progress. So, in no particular order:
Networking: meeting people who complement your skills and then they and you become mutual resources or part of a new ‘community.
Medical/first aid/CPR training
Gardening /Permaculture – basically how to grow food (including fruit trees)
Water supply, purification, reuse of.
Welding (Alan’s suggestion)
Mechanical (can you fix things)
Home repair (more fixing)
Renewable energy: may move beyond knowledge of various renewable energy options to become a skill depending on do it yourself opportunity.
Tool repair/tool making.
How to sharpen tools.
Sewing/knitting
Salvage/repair: can you make something from something else.
Weapons: rifle, handgun and take training to use them safely and keep them secure.
Basic Survival skills: to me this means things like using a compass and reading a map and how to start a fire and build a shelter if necessary.

Get it now: some overlap with Skills. And all this depends on how much time you think you have to prepare or how far along you already are in your preparations.
A 3-4 year supply of non-hybrid seeds.
Various how to, how it’s made, how to fix books. Examples- general home repair, electricity, plumbing.
1 week supply of food/water along with heat/light/first aid. 3 day supply is so pre-Katrina
Medical supplies/prescriptions (on both get it now/later lists due to possible expiration)
Portable grill (charcoal and/or propane)
Bike(s) (for secondary transportation and good exercise) tire patch kit/bike repair tools
Generator – you don’t want to rely on it as gas may be hard to come by or too expensive, but you may need to use it to charge batteries and you don’t want to try and get one when everyone else decides they need one.

Get it later:
Shortwave radio
Willkie talkies
Pocket knife
Survival/sheath knife
Battery charger
Rechargeable batteries
Medical supplies/prescriptions/multi-vitamins
Solar Oven