Exothermic is the leader in self-reliance brand marketing, but we like to share our wisdom with the world. Here are the top stories we’ve identified this week in our markets:

Survivalism

• Survivalist expos are drawing thousands, Companies that make bulk emergency supplies, like ready-made meals and water purifiers, have seen an uptick in sales. Prepper conventions are drawing thousands of people, and the American Preppers Network says membership increased to 40,000 this year, the highest it has ever been.
• American Farmers Are Still Fighting Tractor Software Locks, Manufacturers lock consumers into restrictive “user agreements,” and inside “there’s things like you won’t open the case, you won’t repair,” complains a U.S. advocacy group called The Repair Association. But now the issue is getting some more attention in the American press.
• Texas plans to designate official state gun along with other weapons, The cannon could become the next Texas symbol in state known for lax gun control laws, as lawmakers also consider selecting a state handgun and state knife.
• Kovea’s electric induction camping stove lightens the camping load by ditching propane, The best part of cooking in the woods with a camp stove is arguably whipping up some delicious bacon and Dutch pancakes. The worst part? Dragging along throngs of cumbersome propane canisters. the outdoor gear company Kovea has come up with a solution to the problem: a portable electric induction cooker.
• Liberals joining survivalist ranks in age of Trump,Survivalism — the stockpiling of food and otherwise preparing for a possible end of civilization — is often associated with isolated, rural and conservative Americans. But liberals are now joining the movement in growing numbers, especially wealthy residents of Silicon Valley, thanks to fears fueled by Donald Trump’s election in November.

At Exothermic, we define self reliance as a lifestyle where you can identify what you’re relying on and make changes where you see fit. Want to be a more self-reliant individual? Here’s five ideas to taking those steps forward.

Acknowledge what you rely on in life

Not everything you rely on is a negative thing, nor can any person become entirely self-reliant in every aspect of their life. We live in a global economy and we’re just human beings – we have vices and needs.

Surviving is what we do every day of our lives. We eat, drink, sleep, work to keep a roof over our heads, and repeat.

If you check out Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs, you can see that as humans, we typically want to do more things than just survive:

We’ve built up societies and civilizations to collectively support those lower needs at economies of scale and focus more on supporting the higher ones, the psychological and self-fulfillment ones, more readily.

Survivalism, at its core, asks “What if those sociological structures fall away and we are left on our own? What if a catastrophe happens and we enter a period of uncivilization?” Or, in their terms, “what if shit hits the fan (SHTF)?”

Exothermic is the leader in self-reliance brand marketing, but we like to share our wisdom with the world. Here are the top stories we’ve identified this week in our markets:

Survivalism

• Tesla starts taking solar roof orders next month, It’s still unclear exactly how much they’ll cost or when the orders will be delivered. Musk did mention in an investor call back in October that a full set of power-generating tiles would likely cost less than a roof made of shingles. This is going to be a huge advancement for off-grid living.
• Smart home system uses predictive algorithms to warn of impending disasters, Thanks to machine learning, connected devices, and the growing range of available sensors, our homes are getting smarter all the time.
• This ready-made tiny home can be shipped to any destination, Those looking to go off grid hassle free can order it to be delivered to their desired location – perfect for a bug-out location.
• Norway Gets a New Doomsday Vault That Stores Data, Officially known as the World Arctic Archive, the vault opened this week and has already taken submissions from two countries. This time, instead of storing seeds that will survive the apocalypse, the vault is archiving data using specially developed film. As long as the internet and servers are still functioning, the data will remain searchable online.
• Companies start implanting microchips into workers’ bodies, the company offers to implant its workers and start-up members with microchips the size of grains of rice that function as swipe cards: to open doors, operate printers or buy smoothies with a wave of the hand. This is insane and hopefully not the future of modern workplaces.
• Graphene sieves are a cheaper way of making saltwater drinkable, A graphene-based sieve developed by a team of researchers from the University of Manchester could give millions of people access to clean water.
• Incredible edible landscape map shows you where to find free food, Falling Fruit, a massive collaborative mapping project, provides foragers with the tools they need to track down a nutritious snack.

Survivalism Jobs

If helping people prepare for the wilderness and the unknowable future is exciting for you, check out the Survivalism Jobs on the Exothermic job board.

This week, we’ve highlighted jobs from REI in Kent, Washington. REI is a a co-op born in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest in 1938 – their goal is to help people have amazing experiences outside. They’re looking for a Manager of e-Commerce Programs, a Director of Talent Management, an Editor of Product Content, a General Accountant and more.

For months, we have been casually polling people – what do they think the term “self-reliance” means?

The formal vs informal definition

The dictionary defines it as “reliance on one’s own powers and resources rather than those of others,” which, you know…isn’t vague at all.

Personally, we define it more in terms of enabling independence. Self-reliance is a difficult thing to pin down because of the fluid nature of our own abilities and how others impact us, directly or indirectly through the resources and commodities we consume.

So at Exothermic, we view it as a lifestyle. A lifestyle fueled by several different forms of motivation, but still a lifestyle. It’s being able to step back, identify what you’re relying on, understanding the good and the bad, and then making steps – large or small ones – to becoming a more independent, self-reliant individual.