Nyerges - How to Survive Anywhere: A Guide for Urban, Suburban, Rural, and Wilderness Environments, 2nd Edition

OTHER BOOKS BY CHRISTOPHER NYERGES

Guide to Wild Foods and Useful Plants
(with Ed Begley, Jr.)

Foraging California

Squatter in Los Angeles

Till Death Do Us Part?

Self-Sufficient Home

Extreme Simplicity: Homesteading in the City
(with Dolores Lynn Nyerges)

Enter the Forest

Testing Your Outdoor Survival Skills

Wild Greens and Salads: A Cookbook

Urban Wilderness: A Guidebook to Resourceful City Living

Copyright 2014 by Stackpole Books

Published by
STACKPOLE BOOKS
5067 Ritter Road
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
www.stackpolebooks.com

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to: Stackpole Books, 5067 Ritter Road, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055.

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Second edition

Cover photograph of fire Corbis
Cover design by Caroline Stover
Photographs by the author unless otherwise indicated

Cataloging-in-Publication data is on file with the Library of Congress

ISBN 978-0-8117-1418-1
eISBN 978-0-8117-6042-3

Foreword

by Ed Begley, Jr.

There is a widely held belief that nature is somewhere out there. That, when we speak of the environment, were speaking about Yosemite or Yellowstone and certainly not talking about a city like Los Angeles or New York.

Christopher Nyerges shows us that the natural environment is all around us, wherever we live. And that we can soon master the skills that we need to better understand it, and even more importantly, to survive nearly anything that nature OR civilization can throw at us.

He also shows us that its not just the environment that benefits from a path of greater simplicity. He points out that the rewards of this life style have less to do with a number on a bank statement and more to do with the number of hours spent in enjoyment with your family.

So, enjoy!

Introduction

Survival. What is survival? In the narrowest sense, it is simply the ability to resist all the forces of nature that seem to conspire to end or shorten our life. In one sense, survival is a relative concept, since the very nature of life on earth means that everything dies.

Survival means different things to different people. To a wilderness explorer, it means having the skills to stay alive for a nightor much longerusing only what nature has provided. To an urban dweller, it means having the wit and wisdom to protect yourself and your family from all the predators that seek to end or shorten your life. These can be of the human sort (terrorists, burglars, hijackers, scam artists, rapists) or they can be of the natural sort (earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, drought).

We will address the basic skills needed to keep you alive and healthy in the woods and in the city. We will address these skills so you can be prepared, so you can act appropriately after a disaster strikes, and so that you can hopefully avoid a life-threatening survival situation in the first place.

In this book, we are not particularly interested in the very specific details of how to deal with a certain type of disaster. That has already been addressed in worst-case scenario type books.

We will focus upon the basics in the primary areas of concern: fire, water, food, shelter, clothing, tools and weapons, and more. In most cases, the skills and methods we describe can be practiced in either the city or the woods. Keep in mind that in severe urban disasterssuch as Hurricane Katrina that wiped parts of cities right off the landscapeurban survival and wilderness survival became one and the same.

Additionally, we will go a bit further in this book. We willin the last chapterattempt to identify those behaviors and choices that inevitably lead us into life-threatening survival situations. We will provide real solutions that you can apply in your own life, in the wilderness or a rural setting, or in the city.

Survival is at least two things. First, it refers to those basic skillspurifying water, making fire, identifying plantsthat can be applied by anyone, anywhere, under most circumstances. Those are the basics of individual security and survival. Second, survival also refers to the identification of those practices and principles that we can practice in our daily lives to enhance our survival and lead to full and productive lives. By necessity, this second aspect of survival leads us into the realms of economics, sociology, human relations, politics, and, yes, philosophy, religion, and spirituality.

Survivalin its fullest senseis our most basic instinct. It is not merely a topic for a junior college adult education course. It is a way of life, a way of thinking, a way of living that enhances everything you do, and it prepares you for whatever the uncertainties of life may bring. True survival is not selfish, greedy, racist, or hateful. Following this counterfeit survival is ultimately counterproductive to our individual and group survival. Real survival is expansive, giving, inclusive, and loving. It is this latter real survival that I hope to pass along. Please join me in this adventure.

Water

WATER EVERYWHEREBUT IS IT SAFE TO DRINK?

Water is an extremely complex element. There was a time when I had a full file drawer of test data from water purification device manufacturers, all supposedly written by scientists, and all full of contradictory data. Unfortunately, each manufacturer of a water purification device had its own paid scientists to prove that its product was the best.

But I was constantly seeking the bottom line. What product is, objectively, the best? It wasnt an easy answer to find. In part, this is because of waters enormous complexity and the various components that contaminate water under different circumstances.

Plus, to the best of my knowledge, no company, agency, or government had ever taken all the water purification devices and tested them all with control water that contained measurable amounts of known pathogens. Such a test would not only be time-consuming and expensive but would still perhaps leave many questions unanswered.

I was eager to read about a field test that Backpacker magazine had conducted of several top water purification devices. This was not a test, however, of how well the devices actually purified water, but rather how easy the devices were to use in the field. It was an interesting test, but close to meaningless from my perspective.

As far as water purification devices are concerned, Id concluded that the Katadyne products were the best you could buythe Cadillac of water purification devices. They are generally the most expensive, they meet all federal guidelines, and they are typically carried into the field by Red Cross emergency workers under primitive conditions. Yet, spending the most isnt necessary, since nearly all water purification products meet the same federal guidelines.

In my classes where I taught (among other things) how to purify water in the wilderness and in the aftermath of an earthquake, I had to settle upon some basic advice that would be reliable in most situations.

Even though there are countless variables, on the next page is the twenty-five-cent version of water purification that I have taught my students for nearly thirty years.