Pacific Northwest Becomes Preppers Paradise

Anyone who follows the news has probably heard of 'safe spaces' being organized on certain college campuses where speech is monitored. These artificial socio-political boundaries are nothing compared to the real work of preppers who have been moving into the inland regions of the Pacific Northwest to build practical, self sufficient homes. 

Their lifestyle is generally based upon self reliance and a Constitutional legal system. They come from many areas of the United States, and they come for a variety of reasons. 

Some people feel that Americans have lost touch with nature because of our technologically-based world with virtual reality and instant entertainment. Some want to live a simpler life in the glorious mountains and forests of eastern Washington and Oregon, for instance. 

Others simply want greater control over the education of their children and settle into cities like Coeur D'Alene in homeschool friendly Idaho. But preppers are most known for their emergency preparedness: plans made in advance to provide food, shelter, and safety to individuals and their families. 

One prepper may be focused on weather patterns, having grown tired of hurricanes from living along the eastern seaboard. Another takes the political pulse of Washington, D.C. and doesn't like the diagnosis they read there.

People who have been involved with emergency preparedness are often nicknamed 'preppers', and their heritage goes back a long way. From the pioneering spirit of a home steading family to the rugged individualist who is wary of government oversight in his life, these people usually make their preparations carefully.

 They try to cover all their bases, from extreme weather to civil unrest. They not only store food and water and other supplies, but they seek training and experience that will allow them to live independently. 

Largely this means being able to live off the grid. It means hunting, sewing, food drying, and living a simple life that they can sustain for themselves. It means they tend to own guns and ammunition, and they can grow a variety of foods. Their neighbors may be of a similar mind, or they may feel a little nervous about a community that sometimes keeps to itself and is heavily armed. 

People have been moving to Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming as well as eastern Washington and Oregon for a couple of decades now. Real estate agents in the area have discovered a steady demand for a variety of properties from an acre of undeveloped land to houses that have independent water supplies and room for solar panels.

Don Bradway and his wife Jonna moved from California to Idaho a few years ago and have built their reserve of food storage and safety measures with which to protect it. 

They don't subscribe to any of the extremist viewpoints that often are associated with preppers and instead simply believe in self sufficiency and planning for the future. Theirs is a hands-on kind of insurance policy, one that includes food, life skills, and experience with weaponry. 

Like many preppers tend to be, they are religious, conservative people who have moved away from other states with more intrusive governments so that they can have more control of their personal resources. 

They believe in self reliance that is historically based, and their beliefs are spreading. Prepping has moved into the mainstream as more people slowly build at least a few days' food storage, sometimes a year's worth. They are also looking to build strong local communities as a social safety net in case they need it.

Many countries, including the recent addition of Germany, have issued information and advice on how to prepare on local and individual levels for a variety of potential emergencies. 

Some individuals access the online resources that are exploding across the internet with helpful information for every level of prepping. People who make these kinds of preparations generally make systematic changes in livelihood and lifestyle to take control of their lives. 

This translates into political and cultural shifts, too. From spurning credit card advertisements to voting according to their religious beliefs, people who fall into the prepper category are not a group that bends easily to social and political trends. 

This makes them look unpredictable to others who are generally more accustomed to high levels of media influence driving social behavior. 

The cultural gap can look daunting, but half of it is simple illusion. Prepping is becoming a more accepted aspect of American life as churches, local communities, and national governments ask people to prepare themselves for emergency situations.