Survival Skills Final Paper

Survival Skills Final Paper

How to Make Pemmican The Ultimate Survival Food

Invented by the natives of North America.

Pemmican was used by Indian scouts as well as early western explorers.
These people spent a great deal of time on the go and depended on having portable, high-energy, highly nutritious, and filling foods that would last for long periods of time without refrigeration.

Click HERE to Learn How to Make Pemmican The Ultimate Survival Food !

People really should avert their gaze from the modern survival thinking for just a bit and also look at

How folks 150 years ago did it

These guys were the last generation to practice basic things-for a living-that we call survival skills now.

Survival Things Our Great Grandfathers Did Or Built Around The House!

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The Story of my Search

The topic for my search was Survival Skills. I wanted to research this topic is because I had always thought that being in a dangerous situation would be terrifying. Natural Disasters, plane crashes, they are all things that you never see coming. I think that without the proper instructions or a calm mind only a miracle could save you. I already knew about some survival skills thank to many evenings, well-spent of course, watching the Discovery Channel. Here people would practice something called bush craft, where they willingly lived alone in the wilderness for a period of time and documented their experiences trying to survive.

I think this did gave me an idea of what I should do should my time come to experience this situations first hand but there’s always more to learn. During the search I realized this was too vast of a subject to become a master in like 3 weeks so I decided to narrow my search. My main priorities and focus were natural disasters and wilderness survival. I chose these two sections of survival skills because I think they are the most common and therefore useful skills to have. Luckily I managed to find a webpage about wilderness survival and natural disasters really quickly thanks to Google.

I checked for reliability with the CARS method Ms. J taught us and found really useful information in those 2 articles. The next day Mr. Andrea showed us what EBSCO was all about and I found 2 articles from a magazine about survivors to natural disasters and also a book that talked about wilderness survival. This book was kind of like a handbook to the wilderness so it proved to be very useful.

I made 30 note cards about the information I found on those sources and this way I was able to organize my information easily in an outline. With this new information I think that survival skills are very useful to have in today’s society because you can’t really anticipate a natural disaster or getting lost in the wilderness. Having these skills will increase your chances of survival. 3 weeks are definitely not enough time to become a master at survival but I do think my chances of surviving a natural disaster or being lost in the wilderness have improved. If that doesn't work out I can always earn some money by making those fancy posters you see besides elevators and in buildings that say "What to do in case of a (insert natural disaster here)"
The Results of my Search

It's a Sunday evening; you have nothing better to do, so you decide to watch a movie you just found in the T.V. Tom Hanks is in it, so you think "Why not?" The movie has kind of already started, but you can clearly see that his character is stuck on an inhabited island after a plane crash. I'm talking about the movie "Castaway". Chuck, Tom Hanks' character, has to find a way to survive in the island and hope someone rescues him. As you watch him struggle you probably think "Oh come on, if I were to be stranded on an island, I would have a shelter and food in 5 minutes tops" But could you? Could you survive in a situation like that? That was my initial question. Humans are susceptible to many natural disasters. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, they are all very real things that can't be stopped, just endured. When the time comes, I want to be prepared, both physically and mentally, and I want to help others be prepared.

Survival Skills are divided in many sections: natural disasters, urban survival, bush craft, wilderness survival, and many others that cover dangerous situations you might find yourself in. In this paper the main focus will be wilderness and natural disasters, because I think those are the most common yet unavoidable situations you can be in. This makes them the most useful set of skills to acquire from my point of view.

“A recent study in Psychological Science also suggests that your own perception of illness and the potential for treatment has an effect on the outcome.” (Klosowski, “Be A Grown Up Boy Scout”) The first thing you should do in a dangerous situation is to STOP.

§  Stay put (It is easier for rescuers to find a stationary person than one who is moving.);
§  Think (Consider what resources you have should the situation extend into overnight.);
§  Observe (Take note of your surroundings; is there shelter from the cold or storms?); and
§  Plan (Determine what you can to do to conserve energy and be as comfortable as possible.).

(Survivor Kid: A Practical Guide to Wilderness Survival.)

Doing this will help you calm down and start planning what are you going to do to survive.

In case of a disaster you should have your priorities arranged to be faster and more efficient:

1. Immediate security: If the building is on fire, get out. If someone is shooting at you, move to cover. Whatever the immediate danger, get away from it.

2. First aid: Attend to any medical problems that may have happened in the original event. Check yourself for injuries and treat them.

3. Self protection: If you are at risk from predators, two-legged or four-legged, you must arm yourself. This might be a sharpened stick, a knife, machete, shotgun, or banjo. Just have something to attack the zombies with.

4. Physical needs (in order): Shelter, fire, water, food, and hygiene. (Klosowski, “Be A Grown Up Boy Scout”)

This priorities are designed for if you were to be lost in the wilderness but they also work with other situations like a natural disaster occurring.

"Never underestimate the weather," warns Bear. "You don't have to be exposed to the heat of the Sahara or Antarctica's cold. When Mother Nature is unleashing her fury, if you don't act decisively, the trip you're on could be your last." (“Environmental Extremes”, 20) In case of an earthquake you should hit the ground, get under cover and hold onto something. This will prevent objects from hitting your head. Another common natural disaster are hurricanes or tornadoes. The first thing you should do in case of any of this is to search for a designated shelter in the city. If one is not available, you should go to a low level room with no windows and cover yourself with a mattress or something as heavy.

If you were to be out on the open you should go to the lowest point you can find and lay down (Klosowski, "MacGyver, Survivalist, or Stockpiler: The Urban Survival Skills Everyone Should Know."). In case of a cyclone, flying debris is the most dangerous thing you should look out for. Lie or crouch with your back to the wind in a cave, ditch, or anywhere less windy. Dig into snow, sand, or mud to protect from the wind. In case of a hail storm you should take shelter under a fallen log or anything capable of shielding your head.  If you find yourself near a wildfire you should move downhill and downwind. Next, find a safe area with no fuel and cover your nose and mouth with a dry cloth. Finally, lay face down on the ground. (“Environmental Extremes”)
 
Reflections on my Search

I believe that I have learned a lot from the research process about my topic. I have    learned what to do in case of a wide arrange of natural disasters, from common ones to rare ones. I have also learned the techniques used in wilderness survival such as how to make a fire, basic first aid, and what your priorities should be. These techniques are not only used by boy scouts but also by the army and navy which just proves how useful they can be. I do think that my chances of surviving a dangerous situation in any of the 2 sections I focused in has really increased and I hope I can teach others about what I learned so they can survive as well. 3 weeks is not enough to become a master at this topic so I will have to keep on searching and practicing the new techniques I have learned.