For Scott Hunt, helping people prep isn’t a way to capitalize on fear, but rather a way to help people reduce their fear of the unknown.
Scott Hunt, 53, is a prepper. He prepares his property to withstand the many terrors of the climate, both natural and man-made.
Scott is one of the oldest members of Generation X, but his preparation habits are anything but extra.
When hearing the word prepper, many think of someone with an underground bunker stashed with non-perishables, wind-up flashlights, and weapons, ready to fight off zombies or survive the collapse of the world. Scott isn’t trying to cheat death, and frankly, if a nuclear attack were to happen, he says he wouldn’t want to survive anyway.
Scott says he’s more focused on being self-sufficient and making sure people are prepared to meet their basic needs no matter what the scenario is.
“It comes down to designing a little self-sufficient retreat or this island of a place where they can take care of themselves,” he says.
From 2007 to 2009, when the Great Recession hit, Scott was cooking on a wood burning stove and prepping food and water. Being prepared took no extra effort for Scott to instil in his day-to-day life because he’s been doing it for the last 25 years.
On his land in South Carolina, he and his family have daily tasks: caring for their cattle, pumping water, and fixing fences. If there were an instance where his family didn’t have access to food or the power went out, he and his family would be able to survive through his efforts and knowledge of conserving solar energy, maintaining live-stock, and growing fresh crops.
In 2008, he started his company “Practical Preppers,” which helps others become more self-sufficient through consultations and looks at taking advantage of what one has from a resource standpoint. The company also sells self-sustainable equipment such as solar power panels and water pumps.
The demographic of Scott’s clientele he says is typically the “patriarch” in a family. When meeting with a potential client, Scott is more interested in making sure the client is able to create a plan that they can incorporate in their day-to-day life.
“I kind of take them away from the event and say, ‘Alright, you can theorize about what’s going on, but you really don’t know, so what can we do that you have control over within your budget and what makes sense,’” he says.
Scott defines survivalists as having a “lone wolf” mentality, whereas preppers are more community based. He says there isn’t just one skill that could save you in a disaster;, it’s important to be surrounded by others with many skills to help you in a scenario. There isn’t an ideal situation to be prepared for, but for Scott, the worst situation is an EMP.
Aside from wanting to be prepared for inclimate weather, most of his clients seek him out with a common concern of economic downturn and electromagnetic pulse (EMP).
EMP is a high-intensity surge of energy that has the potential to destroy electronic systems on Earth and in space by overloading them. Recently, President Trump issued an executive order designed to protect the United States from an EMP.
According to that executive order, there are two ways an EMP could potentially cause a threat to U.S. security: A high-altitude EMP (HEMP), which is a type of human-made EMP that could occur if a nuclear warhead detonated at a high altitude or through a natural solar eruption, known as a geomagnetic disturbance (GMD). According to NASA, GMD only has a 10% chance of occurring every decade.
Scott’s personal plan to combat an EMP involves using his storm shelter which he uses in instances of wind storms. His storm shelter is equipped with apples, potatoes, and other root-based crops.
From a historical standpoint, the environment has gone through stages. For Amy Gregg, associate professor of environment, geology, and natural resources at Ball State University, there was a lot of talk about conservation when she was growing up in the 70s, but it didn’t take into account economic or sociopolitical factors. A sustainable approach to conservation, however, looks at the environmental, social, and economic factors.
Some believe sustainable living isn’t possible because an individual can’t make an impact and so there’s no point in making an effort to try to live more sustainable. However, Gregg says people can feel “ecological guilt,” which comes from not taking action.
In her classes, Gregg promotes active lifestyles: getting outside, walking every day, and using trails. As a way to get people to transition into more sustainable habits, she highlights the positive effects it can have on an individual’s life.
“I would hope that people would feel healthier. That’s what I’ve observed. People sometimes don’t care about the environment and killing it affects their health or their kid’s health. And sustainability I think, hopefully, would gain some ground because people would feel healthier,” she says.
Scott and Gregg both agree that staying active is one way to reduce fear of the unknown. This may help combat the association many have between fear and prepping. Scott does not believe in promoting fear with his clients, instead focusing on incorporating day-to-day practices toward preparedness.
“Do something to mitigate the fear factor of what’s going on in the world. And it really helps people. They find it’s a new hobby, they get off the couch, they do something, they lose weight, they start doing physical things like, ‘OK, if we didn’t have power, we would actually have to do this,’” he says.
There have been moments in history where people thought the world was going to end: 1910 Halley’s Comet, Y2K apocalypse, and 2012, the end of the Mayan Calendar which was said to trigger the end of the world. However, we are still here. And in those instances which brought global fear, Scott says he just laughs.
“There’s just some things you can’t prepare for and there are things that you shouldn’t prepare for.”
Just as he did with the Great Recession, Scott is again preparing for the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to regress. According to Bloomberg Economics’ recession model, there is a 27% chance of a recession hitting the U.S. in the next 12 months.
