August 2nd, 2011 
rob in the pagé family 
The question was: How can people survive in the city when the power, gas and water get turned off or is unavailable? I was asked the question from many individuals who feel it is not practical to move out of the city and build an earthship. So I’ve asked the creator for an answer to the question. I’m looking for some feedback in response to the answer I received. This would easily be augmented by survival kits that you can purchase separately. I believe the time will come when individuals in the city will need to consider these options, especially in northern cities like Edmonton.
Shelter
If you have a basement, then pick about 500 -700 square feet of basement (for a family of 4). Frame in the space and insulate it well – including the space between the basement and the first floor! Don’t forget the vapor barrier as it is now a cold wall and you don’t want humidity issues in your emergency space. Insulate the wood walls only. In fact, peel the rug off the floor and the wood wall / insulation from the cement walls so that you can access the heat store of the earth and cement. Area rugs are ok so that you can have some comfort. Similar in concept that we use for our earthship. Use a fireplace to start heating the space and “charging” the cement and dirt. You need to do this as you don’t have a solar heat source like we do, so you have to replace it with heat from another source – wood. You may need to insulate the outside of the cement wall if the basement sticks out of the ground. Another option is to back fill the cement, insulate, vapor barrier and then finish the backfill. This will help keep the frost out of the cement or the warm dirt. The rest of the house will freeze, so steps will need to be taken to empty the water pipes, toilet tanks, etc to prevent further water or frost damage. Wood can be stored right inside the house (on the cold side) so that it stays dry and nobody will steal it. Fresh air intake for the fireplace will have to be done, but you could use the fresh air intake from the furnace or the vents for the bathrooms to get fresh air in. Otherwise the fireplace will suck up all the hot air in the room and send it up the chimney.
Not sure what to suggest for those who are in apartments or have no basements. I’ll keep meditating on that one. The message I did get though is to have your shelter react to extreme cold like our body does. Our body restricts the blood flow to the limbs and will actually sacrifice the limbs in order to keep the core warm. Letting the majority of the house freeze will save the use of a tremendous amount of energy trying to keep it all warm. You may also need to get plywood to board up the windows to keep them from being vandalized and to protect the occupants.
Light tubes will be important to install as it will be very dark in the basement and that will have a significant emotional impact on the occupants. Pick south facing windows and ensure those are in your space as this will also help light up the space.
Food and Water
Food and water are going to be the biggest challenges. I find that with our 2 – 2000 gallon tanks, we have enough water to get us through the periods where there is no rain or snow melt. 125 gallon will not be enough. Perhaps one should consider a much larger tank or a bunch of small ones since a big tank will not fit through your back door. 
Gardens will also be important, but one would have to convert the front and back yard into a huge garden to grow enough to feed the family through the winter.
Water
Picking up a 125 gallon tank and collecting water from the pipes, toilet tanks, hot water tank or even off the roof will ensure you have water to cook and clean with. Toilets may have to be removed and the holes plugged to prevent sewer gas from entering the house or toilets from freezing and breaking as there is water in the traps. Or you can pour anti-freeze down the toilet to prevent damage. Don’t forget about the water in the traps for the tub and sinks too. Also don’t forget about the water in the pumps for the washing machine and dish washer. Having hydrogen peroxide will be useful for sanitizing the water should you be collecting rain water or snow melt. Having the tank in the warm area of the house will keep it from freezing. Water can be heated on the wood stove. For survival, there are no showers or baths as water is extremely precious. However, one can have a sponge bath with a small basin of water and still be clean. The water in the tanks will also act as a heat sink and help regulate the temperature of the space, absorbing heat when it is warm and releasing it when it is cool.
Food Storage
Dry goods is best but if it’s -35 out, you could setup a fridge in the wood wall partition in the basement, ½ outside the wall in the cold and ½ inside in the warm part of the room. The -35 temperature should keep the fridge cool but not frozen. The fridge compressor does not have to work as the cold will do the work, so even a dead, throw away fridge would work through the winter. It will have to work to keep the food fresh through the summer. If you want to keep food frozen then have a deep freeze in the cold part of the house, not plugged in. Obviously in the summer time that will not work but in the summer a small solar panel should suffice to keep the deep freeze running. The freezer technically only needs to run for a few hours a day. We only run ours during the day time when we have lots of solar power to do so. At night it is not running at all.
Power
Most people will not have power, but even in your case, your solar panel and UPS will provide you with some power. I suspect that the high priority will be for food storage or communication (cell phones or radio).
Outhouse Hole
This is important to ensure there are no problems with dysentery or any other diseases. If you need a hole for long term (more than a year) then make sure it is at least 7 – 7.5 feet deep. This needs to get dug now because in the middle of winter the ground is frozen and that is not the time to dig holes. Oh, and call before you dig to ensure you don’t cut any gas, electrical or phone lines. Two problems; water is extremely limited and too important for “flushing” and the water will freeze in the toilet. Black water should go down this hole only. All grey water can be dumped onto the garden. Use soaps that will not harm your garden.
Ironically I find that the solutions for those in the city mirror almost exactly what we had to do here when we first moved out. Living in the garage is no different than what most folks will have to do if or when the utilities get turned off. I anticipate that it may cost a few thousand dollars to get this setup should one be interested in retrofitting their house, or at least having the materials sitting in the garage so that when it happens you have the materials. If it does not happen you have not gutted your house and reduced its value.
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Rob, How do you stay off the grid if you have a FB and website? Are there also legal ways to keep off the main grid and still maintain social networking systems? I also found you on FB and sent you a message. I think You and your wife are amazing people, and I think its great that you research your rights and gain knowledge about things that people have no idea of. What are your thoughts about mainstream media, and also Ron Paul and how they portray him or what your personal thoughts are about his views? Because he defends the rights and constitutional law of the American people. Please get back to me! Thank you!
Laura-Lee
Wonderful questions. thank you for asking them. First off, I have facebook, website and Internet access because I am using the service from friends. I have friends who are still ‘in’ the system and willing to be in the system because we need people there to help. If you saw “The Matrix” you see Morpheus and others going in and out of the matrix to help those in the matrix. However, there are also others who are completely out of the matrix too. I have friends who are jumping in and out as need be to help guys like me. My wife is one of them. Our phones are still through her strawman. I have NOTHING. No bank account, no government issued documents, no Drivers License, no birth certificate, no nothing. So it is not possible or extremely difficult for me to get these accounts setup to interface with people like yourself.
My thoughts about mainstream media is that most of the people involved in those corporations are blind or aware but complicit. There are a few good people in those organizations and at times they slip up and tell the truth. For the most part they are the mouth piece of the elite and I don’t trust them. I do watch them from time to time as it is good to see where they are at and what they are doing. Ron Paul is making some huge gains in the primaries. I suspect that the election there will be interesting to say the least. I still caution people though because he is not going to ‘save’ you. I believe ‘you’ will save ‘you’. Like Gandhi said “be the change you want to see in the world”. There is a high probability that Ron Paul may not even make it to be president. My thought is that Martial Law will be declared soon and the election canceled. The FEMA camps are being outfitted and staffed. It is but a matter of time now.
Most of what you say is good. However, there will never be peace in the world so you have to fight to stay ahead of others or else you will end up being a slave once again. I’m glad there are people becoming independent. Beware of letting the authorities know your location. Once there are FEMA camps you will be one they will want to get rid of. We still have some time left, I predict at least until the end of the year. Good luck after that. Put not your hope in others, but in yourself and strive for real prosperity living as your ancestors would want you to and how you really want to.
Regarding shelter if you live in the city or do not have a basement: I remeber years ago friends had their heat shut off in a rental unit they were in. They pitched a tent in their living room, in the middle of winter. It was quite cosy. Though it was in Toronto, not as cold as Northern Alberta or Manitoba. But a relaticely inexpensive way to stay warm if you do not have the facilites to build.
Sharon; That is a brilliant idea. Thank you for sharing that.
I believe that once you have fully accepted your own physical mortality, you gain the power to live the life that is sacredly yours to live. So I fear not what others will do, fear not the FEMA camps, fear not the role that god has given me to play in this part of the story. I believe that when the veil lifts completely and the fog clears, we will see how silly some of our actions truly were. I think it is good to prepare, but to hunker down in a city for an extended period of time doesn’t seem like a very viable solution. The city only exists in your mind. Cities are a poor attempt to cater to our physical needs while rendering the earth sterile and our spirit stale. You want to prepare? Here are few suggestions:
1) let your body feel nature again. Expose yourself to the elements in greater and greater increments. You would be surprised the environments your body can thrive in when your train it to.
2) eat less, but better quality. Experience fasting, or better yet, challenge yourself to limiting yourself to only food that was not available through money exchange for a couple of days at a time. I did this once, and was surprised how much food I found growing around town for free just going to waste. It was fall, which really helped, but I found apple trees, and plum trees, vine leaves and more. Even managed to exchange a small bag of apple for a an espresso and a scone at a small family owned coffee shop. Also, look up window farming on YouTube. I’m experimenting with this at the moment and getting decent results. Also, I think raising small animals for consumption is possible in the city. Rabbits and guinea pigs are both delicious and require minimal care for feed and reproduction. I use them to help me with composting at the moment, but if times get tough, they’ll be great over an open fire!
3) look up composting toilets for waste management. They work great, don’t stink, and eventually provide good soil for growing food. (takes 2 to 3 years, so start now). Also, it turns out that diluted urine (1/10) makes a great fertilizer. Works good in combination to window farm.
4) I used to winter camp for 5 to 8 days a few times per winter back in Quebec. With proper sleeping bags, I’ve stayed out at temperatures below -40 degrees celcius. The first couple of nights are always the toughest, after that, your body adapts and you can be comfortable in the -25 range. Don’t underestimate the human body, we’re much tougher than we are led to believe. Working as a rescuer, you quickly learn that some people can survive the craziest things, while others will die of the most benign events. The only thing that links the survivors together, is their will to survive. Age, experience, strength, and other traits were not a common factor. Believe in yourself, put your hand on your chest, feel your heart beating? That’s purpose, your alive for a reason, believe in yourself. (ok, I stole that last part, but I think it applies)
In short, if you do what you feel you should be doing now, then I’m pretty shure you will find yourself doing what ever is necessary later as well. If you put off doing what your heart tells you to do, chances are, it will be too late to start when your needs become great. To me it becomes so confusing when I try to analise it too much, but I know I can trust my instinct. The true instinct, not the panic that comes from finally paying attention to the things I knew all along but was in denial about. Stay strong my friends, enjoy this wonderful challenge God has given us. Love and peace to all. Rob, thank you for creating this forum. I look forward to meeting you in person (the natural one!)
I am, in spirit, body and action,
Claude