Jessica, you are uniquely qualified to write this post. Your thousands of hours of research, experimenting and building lets you see the silliness of the designs you cited.
I wonder if the poor thinking inherent in those examples is a reflection of our worsening education system, and the decrease of critical thinking skills that accompanies it.
I was surprised that twenty million Americans are preparing for disasters. It's hard to get that many people to do any one thing, even voting for a presidential candidate.
I decided to just ditch that one example entirely, because now I'm reading that sand at the top is considered normal for longterm filtration bedding. Sigh.
Yeah. Apparently, the idea behind this is creating a layer of bacteria and algae that destroys pathogens. So there's a logic to it backed by studies. I'll dig into it more but I'd be pretty reluctant to do this myself. Seems like a very easy thing to mess up and kill yourself with. In fact, I'm already seeing some notes that this "schmutzdecke" method can go horribly wrong if you're not extremely careful.
I have the physical book by the people who made that post. Just flipped back through it. I can find absolutely nothing about that filter setup. Went to their site and it's very chaotic. I don't know which version of which guide talks about it.
Quick follow-up: I'm finally figuring out what's going on. Apparently, there's the book itself, which I own. There's also a bunch of "affiliate" sellers who bundle this book with a bunch of other stuff. They're not directly connected to the original authors at all, and they're known for pushing tons of hype and half-baked survival solutions.
So, although you can do the inverted filter setup, it requires a lot of knowledge and skill, and it's not part of the original guide. It's probably not something you can trust, and I think the original authors just aren't clued in to what's going on.
Thank you. At the risk of getting this comment thread off-track, one way to clean up any type of water is to distill it. It's energy-intensive, requiring boiling the water and chilling the part of the apparatus that contains the steam vapors. So it would depend on which of two scarce resources is more scarce, water or energy.
Turns out, both are right. These are two completely different setups. The common survival bucket puts the rocks on top and charcoal at the bottom. A longterm DIY biofilter does the opposite.
So, apparently, for longterm homesteading, gravel on the bottom is preferred with sand on top. But countless sources online I trusted do the opposite. Both are right in different situations. And I'm just now learning about this after countless hours. I guess it just illustrates, ironically, how difficult this gets.
Hi, Jessica. I'm curious: where did you get the 20m figure from? USA is 350m (4% of world), so 20m is ~6%? I heard years ago the figures we're way less. Genuinely interested, because mis-preppers will create a big mess and we need to look at that too, I'm afraid. 1) First, let's try and imagine the full iceberg: good preppers don't go on social media unless they are trying to help, so they are not part of the Statistics; the Amish probably don't count themselves as preppers and they are likely the best (maybe?); who else do we need to look at to have the full picture? And how do we guide more into good prepping, multiplying your own amazing efforts? 2) Second, let's look at what happens when the majority are ill-prepped. They don't just die quietly, or do they? That's exactly why, after a few years of being in the FluWiki scene, ~2005-2009, I wrote resiliencemaps.org / files / fluscim. (For that reason, and for the reason that govts weren't even thinking of a panflu that would cause huge disruption. At least openly.) So, what are we going to do with #2? It's a serious question. How can we assist rapid improvisation "amid the noise and haste"?
That's 20 million that'll be found, caught and eaten and no-one will even notice. Because I bet they are all doing it on their own.
Wow! š® reminds me of the 60s and 70s off grid movement! Thx š
Jessica, you are uniquely qualified to write this post. Your thousands of hours of research, experimenting and building lets you see the silliness of the designs you cited.
I wonder if the poor thinking inherent in those examples is a reflection of our worsening education system, and the decrease of critical thinking skills that accompanies it.
I was surprised that twenty million Americans are preparing for disasters. It's hard to get that many people to do any one thing, even voting for a presidential candidate.
I decided to just ditch that one example entirely, because now I'm reading that sand at the top is considered normal for longterm filtration bedding. Sigh.
I'm assuming those systems are for watering gardens. I'd think they would be high in bacteria and algae.
Yeah. Apparently, the idea behind this is creating a layer of bacteria and algae that destroys pathogens. So there's a logic to it backed by studies. I'll dig into it more but I'd be pretty reluctant to do this myself. Seems like a very easy thing to mess up and kill yourself with. In fact, I'm already seeing some notes that this "schmutzdecke" method can go horribly wrong if you're not extremely careful.
I have the physical book by the people who made that post. Just flipped back through it. I can find absolutely nothing about that filter setup. Went to their site and it's very chaotic. I don't know which version of which guide talks about it.
Quick follow-up: I'm finally figuring out what's going on. Apparently, there's the book itself, which I own. There's also a bunch of "affiliate" sellers who bundle this book with a bunch of other stuff. They're not directly connected to the original authors at all, and they're known for pushing tons of hype and half-baked survival solutions.
So, although you can do the inverted filter setup, it requires a lot of knowledge and skill, and it's not part of the original guide. It's probably not something you can trust, and I think the original authors just aren't clued in to what's going on.
Mystery solved.
Thank you. At the risk of getting this comment thread off-track, one way to clean up any type of water is to distill it. It's energy-intensive, requiring boiling the water and chilling the part of the apparatus that contains the steam vapors. So it would depend on which of two scarce resources is more scarce, water or energy.
Probably none of this is sustainable. We're still trying to live under the confines of civilization and keep on buying into capitalism/consumerism.
And ffs stop broadcasting it on social media
Stop broadcasting what?
Your plans eh?
Actually, I think it goes from least fine material to most fine material, so rocks, then charcoal, then sand. Maybe.
Turns out, both are right. These are two completely different setups. The common survival bucket puts the rocks on top and charcoal at the bottom. A longterm DIY biofilter does the opposite.
So, this will have to be a new post.
The cutaway view of the 5 gallon bucket looked AI generated.
So, apparently, for longterm homesteading, gravel on the bottom is preferred with sand on top. But countless sources online I trusted do the opposite. Both are right in different situations. And I'm just now learning about this after countless hours. I guess it just illustrates, ironically, how difficult this gets.
They need to read The Road. But then I guess the premise is literacy which they also lack.
Going to be a lot of americans in real danger if a real disaster ever hits....
Hi, Jessica. I'm curious: where did you get the 20m figure from? USA is 350m (4% of world), so 20m is ~6%? I heard years ago the figures we're way less. Genuinely interested, because mis-preppers will create a big mess and we need to look at that too, I'm afraid. 1) First, let's try and imagine the full iceberg: good preppers don't go on social media unless they are trying to help, so they are not part of the Statistics; the Amish probably don't count themselves as preppers and they are likely the best (maybe?); who else do we need to look at to have the full picture? And how do we guide more into good prepping, multiplying your own amazing efforts? 2) Second, let's look at what happens when the majority are ill-prepped. They don't just die quietly, or do they? That's exactly why, after a few years of being in the FluWiki scene, ~2005-2009, I wrote resiliencemaps.org / files / fluscim. (For that reason, and for the reason that govts weren't even thinking of a panflu that would cause huge disruption. At least openly.) So, what are we going to do with #2? It's a serious question. How can we assist rapid improvisation "amid the noise and haste"?