Be prepared.
This is the scouting movement's motto and we'd all do well to heed it.
Our world is changing, we're about to hit 400 parts per million in atmospheric carbon dioxide, a level that has not been seen in the 3 million years. No one really knows what effect this will have on our world.
We're all well versed in the disasters we see gracing our television screens and filling our news reports, but are we prepared for them, if they happen to us? In our neighborhood? In our city?
Growing up in the North Island of New Zealand, earthquakes were something we were so familiar with, we barely took much notice. Earthquake drills were held regularly at school and everyone knew the safe places to shelter whether they be indoors or outdoors when an earthquake struck.
We were always waiting for the big one, the one that would send Wellington airport, built as it is on land originally pushed up by an earthquake in 1460, tumbling back into the ocean.
It hit Christchurch instead, decimating the historical city in 2011.
Volcanoes and hurricane winds are familiar history to New Zealand kids, the Tangiwai disaster and the Wahine disaster leaving scars on the national psyche and scars on the landscape.
Now I'm living in Australia and the odd earthquake we get tends to be much milder...though not all of them.
Bush fires and floods, hurricanes and landslides are the disasters that hold Australia to ransom.
Kids are not given earthquake drills in schools, but they know how to write a bush-fire-preparedness plan with their family.
Be prepared. Do you know how to prepare for any events that may unfold in your area?
Natural or man made disasters, civil unrest, the collapse of civilization as we know it.
Ok, that may be a little overly dramatic, but knowing what to do and having some resources in the event of 'an event' , will allow you to rest easy at night and know you're trying to do the best for yourself and your family.
