Urban Outdoor Skills

What are Outdoor Skills?

When we speak of Outdoor or Wilderness Skills we usually mean specific skills and techniques designed to provide the basic necessities of human life in the outdoor or wilderness such as water, shelter and food.

The range of typical outdoor skills includes things like emergency shelters, fire making, hunting, navigation, tracking, using makeshift tools to name a few.

Those skills can be extremely helpful if you like camping or do a lot of outdoor activities such as hiking, climbing, offroading, etc... They're also good to know if an emergency situation such as getting lost while hiking or finding yourself stuck in specific environments (desert, mountains, forest) should occur..

Primitive skills go even further.

Primitive skills are those skills that relate to living off of the wilderness.

Examples of primitive skills include: knowing and foraging native plants (Wild Food) and hunting/trapping animals for food, skinning and preparing game, bow making, creating stone tools such as knifes, basketry , pot making, fire making and water filtration.

In America, most of the primitive skills emulate Native-American skills while in Europe, Bronze Age and Prehistoric techniques are often used

What are Urban Outdoor Skills?

Urban Outdoor Skills are basically outdoor, wilderness and primitive skills adapted to city life and urban environments. They are meant to provide the city dweller with the basic necessities, should the need arise.

Examples of scenarios where those skills could be helpful include: earthquakes, long term power outages, flooding and potential extreme situations such as economic or social breakdown (New Orleans and Katrina, Los Angeles riots, etc...).

Obviously, as a city dweller, skills such as basketry, pot making and knife making are not true necessities. In urban environments you find pots, baskets and knifes in abundance.

But, for example, in a situation combining all the aftereffects of a major earthquake such as power outage, lack of drinkable water and food supplies, the ability and skills to use alternate sources of energy (solar for example), purify water, knowing and foraging native plants as well as growing your own, can become vital. It can make the difference from being a victim or being able to help oneself and others.

You actually don't need extreme scenarios to benefit from knowing urban outdoor skills. A simple desire to cut down on the utility bills by using alternate energy sources or lowering food expenses by supplementing your diet with wild and home/apartment grown food can be incentives in our current economy.

If you are into cooking, unusual gourmet food can be made using wild food and it is often a sure way to intrigue or impress your guests.

Some of the Urban Outdoor Skills are not just for survival/preparedness. Another goal is also to enable the city dweller to be in harmony with the world around them and reach a inner balance between the urban and natural environment. The natural ressources existing around us are a fascinating source of interesting crafts that one can learn as a hobby or to complement one's income.

Examples of Urban Outdoor Skills include:

Ability to use alternate sources of energy should the need arise (i.e. solar cooking) or simply to save money.

Knowing and foraging local native plants.

How to create your own garden, even if you live in an apartment.

Understanding and using the natural environment for various crafts.

Skills to survive in the city if you had to leave your house/apartment for a undetermined length of time. (i.e. earthquake or fire).

Knowing the various water purification methods and where to find drinkable water sources.

Etc...

What is Preparedness?

Preparedness is simply being prepared for specific or unpredictable events or situations.

Proper emergency planning WILL make the difference between being a complete victim (and dependant on others or the government) to being independent and able to help others through the emergency.

For example, if you live in Los Angeles and don't have the proper emergency planning for at least a few days, you are at high risk of becoming a victim and part of the overall economic/social breakdown should a major earthquake occur.

I personally believe that a minimum of personal preparedness is a social obligation. In an emergency occurring in a densely populated urban environment, you can thus be part of the solution instead of being part of the problem.

Learning Urban Outdoor Skills

Check out the schedule for the Urban Outdoor Skills classes being offered.