When Technology Fails

Table of Contents

I. An Introduction to Self-Reliance
An uncertain Future | Why This Book | Preindustrial self-sufficiency | Old-Fashioned Self-Reliance and Modern Sustainable Technology

II. Present Trends, Possible Futures
Current Trends | Sustainability and Limits to Growth | Oil Reserves | Water and Food | What about the Weather? | Systems Modeling and Systems Response | Trees | Greenhouse Gases and Global Warming | Depletion of the Ozone Layer | Ozone and Plankton | Polar Ice Caps | Earthquakes and Volcanoes | Prophecies | What Can I Do? | Planning for the Future | The “Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon” | Effective Action

III. Supplies & Preparation
Are You Prepared? | Planning for the Short Term | Short-Term Preparedness Checklist | 72-Hour Survival Kits | First Aid Kits | Earthquake Precautions | Longer-Term Planning and Storage | Basic Supplies and Portable Equipment | Calculating a Year’s Food Supply | Storage Tips | Dry ice Fumigation and Vacuum Packaging | Shelf Life Guide | Tents | Clothing | Sleeping Bags | Insulating Sleeping Mats | Backpacks | Stoves | Cookware | Footgear | Planning for the Long-Term Future

IV. Emergency Measures for Survival
Survival Strategies | Basic Strategies | Compact Survival Kit | Developing a Survivor Personality | Typical Survivor Personality Traits | Intuition: A Survivor’s Powerful Ally | Water Requirements | Dehydration | Conserving Water | Fire | Starting a Fire with Matches | Starting a Fire with Flint and Steel | Starting a Fire with Bow and Drill | Starting a Fire with a Hand Drill | Starting a Fire with a Fire Plough | Food | Basic Guidelines | Plants | Insects, Grubs, and Worms | Shelter | Squirrel’s Nest | Building on Fallen Trunks and Trees | Scout Pits and Coal Beds | Snow Shelters | Emergency Snow Shoes | Cordage | Recommended Plant Fibers | Fiber Test | Preparing Fibers | Spinning Fibers into Cord | Simple Tools | Discoidal Stone Knives | Bone Tools

V. Water
Water Requirements | Stocking Up for Emergencies | Guidelines for Coping with Disaster | Water Pollution | Types of Contamination | Disinfecting Your Water | Heat Sterilization | Portable Water Filters | My Filter Recommendations | Chemical Sterilization | Preserving Water | Using Silver to Preserve Water | Treating and Finding Water the Low-Tech Way | Wells | Modern Water Treatment | Chlorine Treatment | Ozone Treatment | Activated Carbon Filtration | Reverse Osmosis | Distillation

VI. Food: Growing, Foraging, Hunting & Storing
World Population and Food Supply | Agricultural Productivity | Irrigation Gains and Losses | Soil Health and Soil Losses | Sustainable Agriculture | “Grow Biointensive” | Double-Dug, Raised Beds | Intensive Planting | Composting | Companion Planting | Seed Propagation | Pest Control | Extending the Harvest in Cold Climates | Sprouting: Your Own Mini-garden on a Windowsill | Foraging for Food | Brief Guide to Wild Edible Plants | Poisonous Plants to Avoid | Preserving and Storing Food | Root Cellars and Other Cold Storage | Drying and Smoking Food | Preserving Meat | Dairy, Tofu, and Tempeh | Making Butter | Ghee | Yogurt | Cheese | Making Rennet for Cheese | Raising Animals | Hunting and Trapping | Bow and Arrow | Traps | Skinning and Cleaning | Fishing | Angling | Catching Fish by Hand | Spearing Fish | Fishing with Nets

VII. Shelter & Buildings
Green Buildings | Rammed Earth | The Process | Basic Soil Test | Rammed Earth Forms | Wall Systems | Modern Adobe Methods | Adobe Blocks | Adobe Walls | Adobe Roofs | Cast Earth | Straw Bale Buildings | Load-Bearing Straw Bale Construction | Finishing Straw Bale Walls | Building with Insulated Concrete Forms | Pumice-Crete | Passive Solar Design | Passive Solar “Rules of Thumb” | James Kachadorian’s Patented Solar Slab | Traditional Low-Tech Structures | Log Cabins | Timber Frame Construction | Tipis, Yurts, Wickiups, and Wigwams | Earthquake Resistance | Improving Earthquake Resistance

VIII. First Aid
Initial Evaluation | Survey the Scene | Consent and Liability | ABCs of First Aid | Treatment Priority | Unconscious Victim | CPR | Survey for In juries and Control Bleeding | Pressure Points | Tourniquets | Wounds | Abrasions | Incisions | Puncture Wounds | Abdominal Wounds | Head Wounds | Chest Wounds | Choking | Heimlich Maneuver | Bandages and Dressings | Shock | Symptoms | Treatment for Shock | Fractures and Dislocations | Treating Fractures | Reducing Dislocations | Sprains and Strains | Animal Bites | Snake Bites | Spider Bites | Tick Bites | Stings | First Aid for Foreign Object in Eye | Moving Injured People | Clothing Drag for Single Rescuer | Multi-Helper “Stretcher” Rescue | One- and Two-Person Carries | Emergency Childbirth | Signs of Impending Delivery | Stages of Labor | Emergency Childbirth Supplies | Delivery | After Delivery

IX. Low-Tech Medicine & Healing
The Holistic Health Movement | The Low-Tech Medicine Cabinet | The Essence of Healing | Genetics and Cellular Growth | Body Energy | Colloidal Silver | Healing with Herbs | Types of Herbal Preparations | Powerful Herbal Combinations for Better Health | Dr. Clark’s Herbal Parasite Cleanse | Kidney Cleanse | Liver Cleanse | Detoxification | Naturopathic Healing | Fasting | Supplements and Food | Homeopathy | Healing with Energy | Shamanic Healing | Hypnosis for Pain Control and Healing | Visualization and Mind-Body Healing | Mending Broken Bones | Egyptian Healing Visualization | Some Notes on Death and Dying

X. Clothing & Textiles
Fiber Arts | Preparing Fibers | Spinning | Weaving | Knitting and Crocheting | Furs and Skins | Brain Tanning Buckskin | Dealing with Furs | Bark Tanning Leather | Patterns and Custom-Tailored Clothing | Footwear

XI. Energy, Heat & Power
Shifting to Renewable Energy (RE) | Why Renewable Energy? | Energy Conservation | “Negawatts” and RE | Net Metering | AC Versus DCvBatteriesvBackup Generators | System Sizing | Photovoltaics | Insolation | Panel Orientation | Maximum Power Point Trackers | Wind Energy | Micro-Hydropower | Solar Hot Water | Solar Space Heating | Solar Water Pumping | Steam Energy | Fuel Cells | Heating with Wood | Energy, Power, and Electricity Primer

XII. Metalworking
A Brief Introduction to Metals | Casting Metal | Make Your Own Sand Casting Furnace | Forging | Low-Tech Heat Treating

XIII. Utensils & Storage
Making a Simple Wooden Cup or Bowl | Basket Basics | Growing, Curing, Cleaning and Sealing Gourds | Storing Fluids in Skins and Other Animal Parts | Primitive Pottery | Pinch, Coil and Slab Pottery | Throwing Pottery on the Wheel

XIV. Better Living Through Low-Tech Chemistry
Soapy Plants | Lye Soap | Making Candles | Alcohol | Malt and Mash Fermentation | Distillation | Vinegar | Pitch Glue | Hide Glue | Vegetable Oils

XV. Engineering, Machines & Materials
Forces and Statics | Stress and Strength | Fluids | Materials | Mathematics | Trigonometry | Logarithms