Comments in my previous thread have inspired me to write this one. I thought every person here is a prepper. If you are a prepper, why are you preparing? For example, if you live on the west coast of the United States, you may be prepping for a significant earthquake. At the very least I hope you are for those living in that area.

Jeanette Isabelle

We'll start off with the USGS
https://www.usgs.gov/news/natural-hazards-2016

I don't really consider myself a "prepper"... I've lived on the central west coast of Florida for 60+ years, attended a relatively good school in the South, toured parts of Asia and South East Asia, and have gone through multiple tropical weather events, and have some firearm skills... as I age, I understand I can't do some of the physical work I once did....as a former classroom teacher, I incorporated a hurricane prep discussion, and always included an after action report when we encountered such events...I think it is prudent to have at least a month's supply of canned food, and some way to extend this with stored rice, beans, or pasta...I have the ability to solar cook, pressure can, and dehydrate... once upon a time I had a uniform badge that said "be prepared"

"Be prepared,that's the Boy Scouts marching song,
Be prepared, as through life you march along,
Be prepared to hold your liquor pretty well,
Don't write naughty words on walls if you can't spell...

Be prepared to hide that pack of cigarettes,
Don't make book if you cannot cover bets...

If you are looking for adventure of a new and different kind..
and you come across a Girl Scout who is similarly inclined,
don't be nervous, don't be flustered, don't be scared,
BE PREPARED!!!"

lyrics from Tom lehrer's "Boy Scout Marching Song" (1954 or so)

I ROLFL listening to this in high school, and it clearly made an impression. My family legends involve a tale of Mom and Dad concocting a glorious Depression-era Sunday dinner from road kill chicken.

Much later, working in the National Park Service, there were routine assignments where the nearest grocery store would be 50-100 miles away. I ran up my first $100 + grocery bill during a 1967 stop in Gallup, NM, while proceeding to a summer at Chaco Canyon....

By then, SAR involvement had dunned into me the need to think of possible complications on an outing. Doing archaeology and history,
I was involved in understanding tales of abandonment and misadventure, etc.

So it is perfectly normal to have a well stocked cupboard, along with a stock of TP, beer, and ammo because the stores are not always open or convenient.

Prudence ="prepping". But like any human activity, it can be carried to ridiculous extremes, but, still

"Be prepared, as through life you march along..."

I am an ISTP personality. My preparation is heavy on the skill side. Sometimes I think it would be interesting to have a certain skill an often I end up to learn it just for fun. The range goes from cooking, baking sourdough bread over amateur radio and lockpicking to reloading, shooting muzzle loaders, CAS, hunting, fishing and extended first aid skills. New skills also require new toys badly needed equipment.
Somehow having some supplies seems just natural.
So in conclusion the driving force behind my preparedness might be a personality flaw.

Max, how do you cook sourdough bread over amateur radio? That is a skill!

We prepare for things that happen somewhere on a regular basis, as has been stated in other threads, tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, power outages, loss of water supply, etc. ..etc... Things happen in life, and relying on someone else to help you out of it is dangerous, especially when you are expecting the government to handle it. Even the government has limited resources, many of their people lack training, their communications may not work effectively, or they may be overextended in handling large scale emergencies.

Should you worry about security? Yes. Should you be paranoid and live in fear of societal breakdown? No. Living in constant fear is counterproductive. A realistic threat assessment, based on factual historical information, is the basis of a good plan for preparedness.

Real radios glow in the dark and produce enough heat for slow baking pumpernickel (it´s baked at about 120°C). I am not a fan of pumpernickel though .
Apart from that I bake my sourdough bread in the oven just like everybody else.

We need to prepare for the things you mentioned.

I also look at historical examples such as the Armenian genocide, the Great Depression and Europe during World War II.

Jeanette Isabelle

Not for any specific event; We just like being self-reliant.

Montanero...USAF Security Service SIGINT intercept and reporting units, at the time I served, used dual racks of Collins R390A radio receivers... they would generate enough heat that hot dogs wrapped in foil could be cooked on them...