Defining prepping and survivalism (an attempt anyway)

[NorthernRaider]

Defining Prepping and Survivalism
There is an interesting few threads running on SUK about WHAT IS PREPPING and SURVIVALISM
As compared to Camping / Bushcraft / Wilderness survival

So in MY opinion I would describe it thus

PREPPING AND SURVIVALISM is the term used to describe an entire LIFESTYLE or SKILLSET(s) a sub culture of mainstream society if you wish.

PREPPING or SURVIVALISM is the COLLECTIVE term used to describe people who adopt in full or in part a lifestyle involving self-reliance, self-determination and mastering to a modest levels as many practical skills as they can.

In no particular order the SKILLS and CRAFTS that Survivalists and Preppers tend to learn or adopt are things like

Growing as much of their own food as possible
Small Scale Agriculture such as raisng chickens and rabbits for food
Small scale brewing
Jam and preserve making
Permaculture skills
Food preservation
Home Security risk assessing and adaptations
Self Defence skills
Researching and archiving skills
Medical skills and Homeopathic skills
Designing, building, operating and maintaining their own off –grid power generation systems
Building their own wind turbines
Vehicle adaptation and Maintenance
Vehicle fault diagnosis
Tyre Changing
Making their own biofuels
Wilderness and Bush craft survival skills
Urban foraging and survival skills
Political sciences and risk asessment
Ploughing and tractor driving
Winter driving skills and winter vehicle preps
Reconnaissance and report writing
Knitting, weaving and cloth making
Rappelling and abseiling and other mountaineering skills
Light engineering such as building their own wood burning stoves and DIY water treatment systems
Skill at arms with various tools from Bows to rifles, to staffs to bare hand fighting
DIY skills for adapting the home to be more suited to prepping
Off road driving skills
Sail and power boat operation
Canoe and Kayak use
Mountain biking skills and bike maintenance
Angling skills
Horse riding
Emergency dental repairing skills
Communications and Signalling skills (EG CB / Ham radio setup and use)

In summary the skills and crafts list can go on and on, but as you can see Bushcraft and Wilderness survival are only individual PARTS of a greater skillset that make up the whole sub culture known as Prepping and Survivalism.

And as a wise chap pointed out to me in an E mail only last night, not only is Bushcraft and Wilderness survival NOT Prepping and Survivalism (it’s a part of the whole or an ingredient in the cake).

Very often those who are such strong advocates of learning Bushcraft and Wilderness survival in some (not all) cases they do so as people who live in large towns cities and ignore the greater need to master URBAN survival skills first.That is a concern the community needs to address.

Hope that helps clarify the occasional confusion