From the desk of Editor Michael Knight.

This week: How you can prepare for looming food shortages.

The dollar goes further south.

Salmon fishing canned.

News about the new ECR

And a list of goodies to have on hand before the food crisis hits.

But first, as always but most importantly, a sincere welcome to new subscribers.

Let me just say real quickly that the documentary I directed (“Contact Has Begun”) is the foundation for this newsletter. If you have it, my newsletters make a lot more sense.

Now we’re building on that introduction, going several steps further, looking as best we can toward a future that is fast approaching. A future for which we should prepare spiritually, mentally, and physically. Body mind and spirit.

The best way to prepare in any of those departments is to start by gaining information – knowledge – experience – wisdom – truth.

So let’s move on.

Having been in the information dissemination business (news, PR, documentaries, election campaigns, international essay competitions [only second place dangit] and consultancy work) for quite a while, I know that not all information is truth.

But without it, and without a willingness to at least consider it, we can be very ignorant and very arrogant. Since you opted to subscribe to this newsletter, obviously you’re interested in the subject matter.

By that I mean subjects and matters that are about the many aspects of earth changes – but in particular, the things that will affect you (all of us) very personally. It’s my chosen job to deliver the goods.

If you’re new here, it’ll likely take time for you to develop any trust in what I say or write. That’s as it should be. That’s wise.

But when you do, and if you can afford it, you should consider switching to the new paid version of Earth Change Report. (More on that later).

For now – today – let’s look at the headlines for this week.

In the US, A Reuters article tells us “*non-petroleum import prices are advancing at a roughly 33% faster rate than general inflation, (and) non-petroleum import prices are rising 80% faster than the nominal growth of GDP. And if we add energy back to the mix, import prices are, well, let's just say they're skyrocketing.”

Baked beans sound good?

The US Pacific Northwest salmon fishing industry is suddenly dead in the water (is that karma?).

As of today all commercial salmon fishing has been banned from California to Washington.

Reason? “Dismally low” numbers of salmon returning to river breeding grounds; the lowest numbers in 40 or 50 years.

River dams, irrigation and overfishing share the blame, along with the absence of “ocean upwelling” which normally stirs up food for the young salmon heading out to sea.

Isn’t that where salmon come and go from? Or is it the place where ‘they’ want to avoid any confrontations with reliable voters who think it’s okay to exploit every natural resource on the planet…to the point of extinction?

One thing the report does not mention is that it may well be the death of their food sources in polluted oceans that is starving salmon to death.

Just like our food chain, their food chain is developing some very broken links.

Fish swim in an ‘atmosphere’ of water, just as birds ‘swim’ in the air.

Both the oceans and the air are becoming unstable and unpredictable. In either case, both heat and cold play their part. And if they get out of kilter, bad things happen to wildlife (and eventually to people).

Just a couple of weeks ago tens of thousands of swallows died in South Africa a week before they were due to migrate to Europe.

BirdLife South Africa says unusually cold March weather resulted in the quick onset of hypothermia and hypoglycemia.

Meanwhile, in Australia, migratory bird numbers are also dropping like…dead birds.

…the first major long-term survey assessing shore birds from Broome to Sydney has found that Australia's massive migratory population has plummeted by up to 75 per cent over the last 25 years.”

The good news – our swallows arrived this morning. I’m not sure from where, and I’m not sure if they’ll accept the new bird boxes I’ve put above the chicken run, but I hope so. Swallows are great skeeter eaters.

Aussies are also waking up to how vulnerable they are to tsunamis and large scale natural disasters.

At a preparedness conference in Darwin this week, Charles Darwin University's Dr David Cooper has said northern Australia and the Asia-Pacific are particularly vulnerable…and that "People thought the (Bandah Aceh) tsunami was the worst disaster since biblical times.

"Terrible as it was, there is a similar event every ten years since the 19th century….disasters will continue to occur and we need to practice to respond to them."

(Note that he is talking about “responding.” That’s after the event. Wouldn’t it be wiser to prepare before it happens? Like we used to do in Western Australia – put up steel shutters before the cyclone hits…or move to high and safer ground far from the coast. Too simple?).

"In the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, the worst in recorded history, the most famous of hurricane forecasters was way off the mark when he predicted there would be 15 tropical storms. There were 28."

Now think about that in conjunction with statements by scientists who say earth changes will be gradual. Gradual means what, as opposed to abrupt?

But as I’ve said before, we’re not in a right/wrong debate here.

Be it 15 disasters – or 28 – it only takes one to visit your place and if you’re unprepared, who’s responsible for that?

Another questionable thing about forecasting is that they talk about an “average” season. “An average season has about 10 tropical storms, of which about six become hurricanes.”

Maybe you have to dig deep to see this, but “average” is just as wrong, every year, as anything else. In fact, when you get right down to it, it’s meaningless, because “average” looks to a past that is long gone, and in fact never really occurred in an “average” fashion at all.

Fortunately, you’re an above average student – possibly even in that upper 13% of the population who think for themselves. Nice to meet you.

In this case, it’s ‘my’ advertising about a very interesting follow-up by Dr Miceal Ledwith to his appearance in “Contact Has Begun.” In that docko, we had him explaining what orbs are.

Orbs?

Yes, those little glowing mysterious balls that you might have captured on your digital camera and wondered what they were.

Well, Miceal has taken over 100,000 photographs of them. And he has learned what (and who) they are.

In this 55-minute presentation, accompanied by 500 of his best shots, Miceal explains all that – and how any of us can also take pictures of them as well.

If you want answers to questions like "where did I come from" and "where do I go" and "why am I here" then you should really want this DVD.

There’s also a trailer on this page. But don’t get too distracted. (Just buy it, especially if you want to know where you came from and where you go….honestly).

It will do its best to bring out its next earth changing report…when?....soon?....no…in 2014…six years and $12m from now. (That’s allowing for their budget of $2m a year).

Is this a big deal?

It will be – if the world as we know it still exists then.

“Chairman Rajendra Pachauri …speaking to journalists during the body's 28th congress in Budapest, said that the IPCC would attempt to make as big an impact with the next report as it had with the previous one.”

I don’t think we’ll need to cover our ears. The IPCC has been around for about 20 years already – and its main focus is on helping industry make more money by trading “carbon credits.”

(Maybe I’m too harsh here. But it’s my planet they’re screwing up – so I find it reprehensible that they should be able to ‘trade’ and pollute at the same time!! Still – maybe there’s a spin-off worth thinking about? Maybe smokers could trade ‘cancer credits’ and pass the cost on to non-smokers?).

Okay, so I’m tough on the UN. That’s because I know it’s a front for an agenda that most are not aware of. And when you have one of those, if you’re smart (and they really are) you disguise it with lots and lots of truth.

"We have enough observations, made over decades, from which we can see...the whole cycle of water is changing as a result of climate change." Pachauri said. He also once again warned of “extreme weather events, flooding and drought in many areas across the globe in the future, with areas such as sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia particularly vulnerable to drought.

"This is a serious concern, because globally we have a problem of food security. We may see decline in agricultural production - this is a problem as with increasing populations comes a higher demand for food."

Beg pardon? We “may” see declines in food production? Food riots have already occurred in Egypt, Haiti (five shot dead) and several African nations.

Famine is a fact of life in many countries right now. Four million are starving in Ethiopia (a UN aid agency has just asked for $8m in new aid money – that’s $4 per person…).

Plus the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Jacques Diouf told a conference in New Delhi Wednesday that high prices and shortages of rice, wheat and corn could help spread the riots to many developing countries.

Which brings me to some serious suggestions and I truly hope you'll take them to heart..

It’s easy to slough off this information about people dying elsewhere, but the reality is that your food comes from elsewhere. And if your food source dries up, what happens to you?

Are you thinking about that? Right now? Wisely?

It does not matter which country you live in. This is a looming possibility.

In fact, I had a letter from a subscriber this week saying that the US Government has bought up or ordered almost everything in the way of long-term storage food items from at least one of the major retail companies. (Ask your own questions about why that should be). Joe Blow now has to wait three months for his order to be filled.

Regardless of what the sudden changes might be, and it could be anything from a major power outage to a total collapse of the world economy or even the imposition of martial law if food riots get out of hand….you’re going to need food.

Martial law? Well, they're distributing rice in the Philippines right now with soldiers acting as armed guards. Is martial law as a next step entirely unbelievable?

Civilization as we know it can obviously disappear in a heartbeat when people find themselves starving - no matter what country you're in.

But let’s go with the long power outage scenario for now. How long? Oh well…pick a number…12 months?

Joking aside, these are the things a person should be getting right now, especially assuming a situation in which your cooking facilities stop working and your fridge and freezer go on the blink.

You’ll want foods you can eat cold, straight out of the can or jar or package.

Consider cartons of baked beans and canned chili. Nothing wrong with those at all. (I lived on them for a month or so at one time). Add some rice (cooked of course) and you have a great source of protein.

Want fresh wholesome greens? Quart canning jars with sprouter lids and 12lbs of sprouting seeds will be fine. I like mung seeds, but radish, red clover, broccoli and alfalfa are good too. I’ve sprouted these in a dark fairly warm closet.

Once sprouted they’re good for at least seven days – hence you need several jars to give yourself a change in diet, or enough to eat, with some growing while some are being eaten. (Just rinse and pour off water once a day, and they’ll taste as fresh as anything).

Don’t forget water storage. Pumps don’t work in a power outage, so think about 5 gallon potable water containers.

Nuts, dried milk, packaged cereals, raisins, honey, apple sauce – no cooking, almost instant eating. Olive oil has essentials in it (not the others) that you can get with a tablespoon a day.

Canned fish (gagggg)…shellfish, even stews need no cooking. Get plenty of crackers as well.

Which reminds me….Knackebrod…which is whole rye crisp bread – keeps almost forever. It’s great with peanut butter (unless it’s your only grain intake because of wheat allergies. It sustains, but gets boring after a year).

There’s a lot more to food storage than that, especially if you’re looking ahead to real food shortages and even riots like they’re experiencing in several countries right now. (Remember, five shot dead in Haiti recently).

Just imagine your local supermarket being plundered and emptied in a couple of hours. Would that make you wish you’d done something about this TODAY?

(I’m writing an e-book that addresses the long-term personal food shortage scenario under different possible circumstances, but this will get you started. I’d suggest TODAY. But it’s your life. Your choice).

And don’t forget the M&Ms.

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Now, an update on The New Earth Change Report.

It’s coming along quite nicely folks.

The paid version I’m talking about – and thanks again to those who’ve subscribed. (If you haven’t, you should give it some serious thought. I’ve been preparing for earth changes for 20 years, and as a reporter since 1960 I’ve seen a lot of what’s going on behind the scenes).

Special guest editorial will be by Dr David Barber who is currently lead scientist in a multi-national study in the Arctic.

It’s part of the International Polar Year. And the title of his essay is “Is Anybody Listening”.

Why – because while we’ve had snow and ice cover at the poles for millions of years….and he’s been studying the Arctic for 30 years….it looks like all that will change dramatically in less than 60 years. (D’you think Earth Change Report might be right on with its ‘abrupt’ approach to climate change?).

You can subscribe to the paid version here. (Or if you’re one of those who said ‘yes’ in the poll and haven’t yet got round to following through, please do so. A yes is a yes).

The new ECR is a bargain at $24.95 a year, because it goes into serious depth on many subjects – all of them intended to inform you in a meaningful way so you can make some educated decisions. Educated choices beat cognitive dissonance every time.

Cognitive dissonance?

Well, cognition is “the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning.” Which means you use perception, learning and reason to make up your mind. (Please do. I can’t, won’t and don’t do it for you).

Dissonance on the other hand means conflict, as in music, or between people's opinions.

Ergo, cognitive dissonance (as James Gilliland explains it in Contact Has Begun) is the act (a choice really) of not allowing new information to supplant what you already believe you know. In other words, a closed mind.

Good luck to those who have such a malady….I don’t think you should subscribe to the new Earth Change Report, because it will not just expand your mind, it will quite likely blow you right out of your box.

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Lastly – how about passing this newsletter on?

Just forward it to your friends (although you might lose some, so be sensible. Not everyone is in the 13 percentile).

On the other hand, anyone who is interested in the future – as it will affect them personally, which this increasing shortage of food is bound to do – might welcome this information so they can make a start on finding out a LOT more…if they choose.

They could start by subscribing to the free edition, right here..click click.

Sincerely.

Michael Knight.

Editor.

Earth Change Report

Director - "Contact Has Begun."