Survival and disaster preparedness are not new things. They’ve been around since the dawn of man and readying your home for disaster was made famous during the Cold War when Americans were terrified of nuclear warfare with the Soviet Union. But since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the level of awareness had not risen to great heights until the attacks on 9-11. What was different after those terror attacks was a new awareness of all things “survival,” including entertainment. Les Stroud was made famous for his hit television show, Survivorman because it was the first of its kind. Les paved the roadway for survival entertainment, but what set Survivorman apart from many others was that Les, for most intents and purposes, was the sole cameraman on his expeditions. Additionally, Les remains a purist at heart when it comes to survival and doesn’t necessarily buy into the survival craze that had hit America, but rather found himself a spokesperson to find ourselves in nature. The rest, with some good training in the woods, would take care of itself.
After I sat down with Les for a phone interview, I have to admit that I was a bit embarrassed to not have been raised in the woods and connected with the pillars of nature that partly make us human. From the pioneer of disaster-based television comes the realization that disaster preparedness starts with your mind and heart before it ever starts with plans, gadgets, and budgets. True survival is holistic and very human at its core. Read on to find more from Survivorman, Les Stroud:
DISASTER INITIATIVES: What is your overall view of survival in the 21st century?
LES STROUD: The most obvious way that survival has changed is in terms of technology. In older times, everything revolved around being able to read the sky and using a compass to navigate through the wilderness. The technology today has changed the survival field massively. In the olden days, we were wearing leather, fur, and wool. Now you can shop at REI and spend a lot more money, but wearing material that weighs 1/5 of what it used to weigh. The same goes for our gear as well. In the old days, you were pulling a lot of gear, and not as far, but you had some wonderful nights with the wood stove crackling away and be sitting in your t-shirt in -40 degrees and be happy! The newer way I find a little more miserable where you sit in a small North Face tent that’s wet and covered in snow and you’re freezing!
It’s a very interesting time to be in survival and the motivation to get into survival has changed drastically. I think that it’s changed starting where my show, “Survivorman,” began. Survival TV has become a part of American culture today. Up until then, survival was always a matter of learning the skills. People were much more into the romanticism of the old-time skills of bushcraft and primitive survival skills and how those translated to survival techniques. Right now, it’s partially turned into a joke and a punchline, where people do for some sort of game or challenge. It takes away from the romanticism of old-school survival.
DISASTER INITIATIVES: How do you think we get past any negative connotations that surround 21st century survival?
LES STROUD: For me, it’s always going to be about connecting to nature. I’ve taught a lot of nature courses over the last 35 years, but I’ll be the first one to say to walk away from the rock climbing and the rope courses. I’d rather you just go walk in the bush, and connect with nature! I think people make it feel, for themselves, like they’re getting in touch with nature, but they’re masquerading it with games and entertainment. One of the biggest differences between now and several years ago is that people think survival is recreational. There is nothing recreational about survival. Ask anyone who’s had to go through it. It’s horrible, it’s painful, it’s scary, and it can be humiliating. The main thing that people want to do in a real survival situation is just go home. Do I think that it’s all negative and dark when it comes to recreational survival? No, because you still are learning valuable skills. I just think that it’s morphed into an ego-driven industry where it’s more about the game and the challenge in today’s society. Just remember that the way around that is to connect with nature and the natural world, and that is where the real power of being able to survive comes in. Real survival is about interacting with nature, and modern day survival is about conquering that.
DISASTER INITIATIVES: What methodology do you instill in your instruction techniques? How can that be incorporated in various levels of preparedness (governmental, community, individual)?
LES STROUD: That’s a tricky one, and it takes me back to the very beginning of our interview. I’ve got over 15 years of survival training and teaching under my belt, but in doing all of that stuff, it was kind of geeky. I was a survival geek, but then I endeavored to put it on television and create “Survivorman.” I was savvy enough in terms of being a communicator to recognize that it was a great concept for the survival geeks like me, but “how can it be cooler than that?” On a community level, when you tell someone that they really should put together a survival kit, that sounds geeky at first! You’ve got to find a way that endears people to the cold, hard reality of being prepared. The general population tends to focus on the shiny objects of life, so if you can be the shiny object for the moment and hold their attention, people can take notice of disaster preparedness. The cool thing with “Survivorman” was that I was gaining the ability to teach, all the while I was showing the audience something cool and dramatic. It was the teaching that I was in love with, but no one realized that they were being taught.
DISASTER INITIATIVES: Do you think that since 9-11, that it’s instilled more of an interest in disaster preparedness in American Society?
LES STROUD: Absolutely. We’re all complacent until something big happens, and then we all try to play catch up. That’s a real problem, because that’s not preparing. That’s reacting. When I do an interview for CNN or some other news agency due to some storm in the Northeast, what I really want to shout out at the top of my lungs is “PEOPLE…YOU LIVE IN THE NORTHEAST! What did you think could happen?” All of us tend to get complacent and miss some obvious signs of potential disaster where we live. Every year, people act shocked about the disasters in their area. If you live in a flood plain, then you should be prepared that it’s going to flood. When a big event happens, it lights fires under us all, but how long will it actually last for us? How long will it take for us to stop being prepared and become lackadaisical in our preparedness efforts?
"Real survival is about interacting with nature, and modern day survival is about conquering that."
DISASTER INITIATIVES: Do you think that since 9-11, that it’s instilled more of an interest in disaster preparedness in American Society?
LES STROUD: Absolutely. We’re all complacent until something big happens, and then we all try to play catch up. That’s a real problem, because that’s not preparing. That’s reacting. When I do an interview for CNN or some other news agency due to some storm in the Northeast, what I really want to shout out at the top of my lungs is “PEOPLE…YOU LIVE IN THE NORTHEAST! What did you think could happen?” All of us tend to get complacent and miss some obvious signs of potential disaster where we live. Every year, people act shocked about the disasters in their area. If you live in a flood plain, then you should be prepared that it’s going to flood. When a big event happens, it lights fires under us all, but how long will it actually last for us? How long will it take for us to stop being prepared and become lackadaisical in our preparedness efforts?
DISASTER INITIATIVES: While there are many skills that must be incorporated into survival and preparedness, is there one skill that all students and practitioners should hone?
LES STROUD: That’s easy. Being able to get a fire going anywhere, anytime, is the essential skill. People don’t realize what it’s like to go without fire and how much we use it. Even if we don’t use fire in our daily circumstances, in an emergency, it becomes pretty damn important. Whether you’re stuck in suburbia and you need a good solid fire in your backyard because the power is out everywhere and there’s no running water, it would be good to know how to start a fire. For me, if it comes down to one choice, it’s always having the ability to get a fire going.
DISASTER INITIATIVES: What is the importance of disaster psychology during times of crisis and survival?
LES STROUD: If there was anything that takes priority before fire, it would be that. Understanding disaster psychology is vital. I wrote a book called “Will to Live,” and I dissected a lot of survival stories. One of the main attributes to survival is the will to live. People have perished, even equipped with enough supplies to get them through. Other people, on the other hand, have survived under insurmountable odds, and still survived. Disregarding luck as a factor, survival is very much based on our mental state of mind. No matter what the disaster scenario is, you’ve got to have a strong mind. It’s not something that you can teach, but you can develop it.
DISASTER INITIATIVES: How can fear play a part in disaster response?
LES STROUD: It’s an incredible devil on the shoulder. I used to describe that fear when you are in the forest, and you just realize that you’re lost. It’s like a big, green monster chasing you and making you run faster. And you may think that if you run faster, I’ll find my way out quicker, which of course is wrong. That wrongful mentality is all based on the fear factor. I have a system called the “Zones of Assessment,” and the first thing to realize that it’s okay to take a knee and calm down. If you don’t, then fear is right there on your shoulder. Fear is dealing with the unknown with nothing on your side. The way to calm that fear is always through knowledge, because knowledge changes everything and puts it in the right perspective to making better decisions.
DISASTER INITIATIVES: What role does situational awareness play in everyday life to prepare for unthinkable disaster scenarios?
LES STROUD: That’s a really interesting question and I’ve never been asked to consider it before. As you were asking it, I was thinking of my own skill sets. Situational awareness is something that you can train yourself to have, is vital. But what is it? It’s an easy phrase, but what is it practically in today’s society? Let’s take a school shooting for example. It’s the ability to assess a situation, and do so quickly. It’s about opening your eyes wider and taking notice of everything in the periphery of your vision. If you take stock in your surroundings, it’s amazing what your brain can handle when you do that.
DISASTER INITIATIVES: Are there any forms of disaster that concerns you more than another?
LES STROUD: That’s a good question. Part of me wants to answer massive contagious fear, which can be a personality-based societal disaster. Any kind of disaster that isn’t physical in nature concerns me. If a pandemic would hit, or a nuclear attack is launched in the U.S., that scares me because I can’t build a shelter in the mountains and hide. Human-made disasters are circumstances that I fear more than geographical disasters.
The 4-11
Many times, we get caught up in the frenzy of disaster survival and preparedness. For some, it’s a way of life. For others, it’s a non-sensical gimmick to scare others into paying their hard-earned cash for useless gadgets. Then there’s the truth…that true disaster preparedness, at its core, is good common sense and a return to our humanity. Les Stroud is not only a proponent of common-sense preparedness, but a true advocate of returning to nature to connect with ourselves. Could it be that’s what’s missing from America today? Maybe connecting ourselves with the natural creation that surrounds us is a first step toward a humility that screams “we are small, yet we are loved and important nonetheless.” Maybe humility and love set the course toward grace and healing between us. I think that Les Stroud is on the right track in figuring us out, and his prescription is not only free…but freeing.
About Les Stroud
Best known as the Canadian Screen Award winning producer, creator and star of the hit TV series Survivorman , Les Stroud is the only producer in the history of television to produce an internationally broadcast series entirely written, videotaped and hosted alone. Les is known as the original genre creator of ‘Survival TV’, and Survivorman is one of the highest rated shows in the history of OLN Canada, the Science Channel US and Discovery Channel US and remains the highest rated repeat show on the Discovery Channel. He has been nominated for 24 Canadian Screen Awards and has won for Best Writer (twice) and Best Photography.
About the Author
Mark Linderman is the owner of Disaster Initiatives, an online company that provides communication leaders with the tools needed to address their communities and the media throughout a crisis, and teaches the communicator to approach crisis communication from the listener’s perspective. He is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) and nineteen-year veteran of Public Health. He instructs Crisis & Risk Communication within the field of disaster preparedness for seven universities, including Indiana University’s Fairbanks School of Public Health. Mark is considered a Subject Matter Expert in the field of disaster-based communication and is a widely received public speaker and advocate for disaster preparedness.
Mark Linderman,
MSM, CEM, CSS, CCPH
Visit DISASTER INITIATIVES for more information.