An ex-infantry soldier and married father of two is sharing some of his best survival tips for families in the event of a major or localized disaster and says preparation is possible for everyone.
Michael Major, 42, currently works as a manager at a fabrication company in the Greater Vancouver area of British Columbia, Canada, where he was born and raised. A DIY expert, skilled in building, welding, machining, electrics, carpentry, and home renovation, he joined the military in 1998 as a reservist and served seven years, where he learned how his skills could be put to use prepping for survival.
“In 2000, I volunteered to go to Bosnia as a peacekeeper, and I was there until 2001,” Major told The Epoch Times. “Things that impacted me in particular were just seeing what the aftermath of a war looks like ... the destruction, the devastation. You can see people trying to survive afterwards. That definitely showed me what a post-apocalyptic-type scenario would be, or if there was a societal collapse, a grid down situation, a natural disaster.”
The “social fabric unraveled” in Bosnia after the civil war, Major said. Different ethnic groups fought with one another for power and resources in the absence of the rule of law.
“It’s something that could happen with any kind of disaster,” he said. “When I was there, in some areas, electricity was probably the biggest problem. A lot of areas still didn’t have power ... living as we were 100 years ago.”
“They presented me a list of products or projects, and I just selected the ones I was able to do. I did those in addition to my day job,” he said. “I would write the chapter, do the pictures and the videos, build the actual projects, and then move on to the next one. The book took almost a full year.”
Among Major’s projects for crisis survival and off-grid living are a hydroelectric generator, a greenhouse and hanging wall garden for growing food, meal preparation, a solar panel system, a water catchment system, an off-grid washing machine, and animal traps.
For surviving one week in a crisis, Major claims the “number one thing” is water.
“You need a gallon [3.7 liters] of water per person per day, including your pets,” he said. “I have a family of four and pets, that’s five gallons [18.9 liters] of water per day ... multiply that by seven for a week, that’s 35 gallons [approx. 132 liters]. In the book, I show how to make a 55-gallon [208-liter] drum, and how to clean it and disinfect it.
“Power is definitely another concern,” he said. “You need some kind of off-grid power, even if it’s just a charged device to run radio, charge batteries, power some lights, and keep your refrigerator running.”
Major’s book also includes recipes for two ancient survival foods that can be made and stored for the long term: hardtack and pemmican.
He said: “Pemmican is basically pulverized meat mixed with tallow or lard, you add some berries in there, and it forms, like, a clump of meat and fat. That can keep you going for quite a while. Hardtack is basically a thick cracker that has been cooked or baked to the point where there’s no moisture in it; because there’s no moisture, it’s not going to rot. I’ve got a hardtack I made probably ten years ago, and it still looks exactly the same.”
While Major’s tips, projects, and recipes are applicable to off-grid living, the ex-infantry soldier also believes that the world should be prepared for the aftermath of a high-altitude nuclear detonation or coronal mass ejection from the sun, either of which could send shockwaves that would shut down the power grid completely.
It has already happened, said Major, citing the Carrington Event of 1859, the most intense geomagnetic storm in recorded history that disrupted the United States telegraph system.
“Also cyber terrorism is a big threat, you could easily take down the power grid of an entire country,” Major said. “When the power grid goes down, everything goes down. We lose the banking system, we lose all of our methods of communication, there’s no wheels, refrigeration ... that is basically the worst thing that could possibly happen to us.”
“In case we do have a massive grid down scenario, or even localized disasters, where we’re now cut off from help ... You could probably scavenge a rainwater collection system with a little bit of ingenuity, or you can make water filters, you can cobble together a herb garden,” he said. “It’s a pretty complete guide on how to set yourself up to live off-grid.”
