Interview with the Survival Podcast

News & Current Events Public News & Current Events
,
1

Yesterday, I was interviewed by Jack Spirko of The Survival Podcast. We had a meaty exploration of the core tenets of the Three Es in light of recent developments, then delved pretty deeply into strategies for building personal resilience, which is the main focus of Jack's regular podcasts. I enjoyed myself and think the discussion is worth listening to.

The podcast of our interview is now posted on TSP. Click here to listen to it.

A note on TSP:  While it has a "survival" theme, it's not "survivalist" in its approach. Jack is focused on helping his audience learn how to increase their degree of personal preparation - much in the same way that we are focused on it here at PeakProsperity.com. His mantra is, "Helping you live the life you want, if times get tough, or even if they don't." Like me, he is interested in guiding people to take steps that will improve their quality of life no matter how things unfold in the future. Speaking with him before and during our interview, I found him to be thoughtful, measured, and passionate about making a positive difference.
 
Given the interview's resilience focus, I'm posting links below to our ongoing "What Should I Do? The Basics of Resilience" series, which offers more detailed guidance than I was able to get into in the podcast:
 

Enjoy the interview. 

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://peakprosperity.com/interview-with-the-survival-podcast-2/

2

Really nice , heart felt interview .    If people do not understand this message they just do not have an ear to hear .
  FM

3

btw - haven’t heard the interview yet, but have been listening to the survival podcast for about one  year.  I’ve stated this before, but will state again… The Survival Podcast is a great adjunct to Chris Martenson.com and I highly recommend it.  The main strength of the survival podcast is gaining practical skills and knowledge.
Brian

4

Super stuff!

5

This’ll be my driving-home listening tomorrow night…

6

Great conversation with Jack, awesome insight.  Thank you for coming on the show.  The TSP community would love to hear from you again soon.

7

Great interview.
Chris keep on doing those podcast interviews and talks.  We love to here you speak.

Brian

8

I listened to your interview on Jack Spirko’s Survival Podcast site and learned a lot from the two of you.  I had already grasped the basics of what you were presenting, but you opened my eyes to a whole lot of reality. Thanks, it will affect my on going decisions and perperations.
Thanks, I am looking forward to viewing more of your videos.

9

Excellent stuff.  You two have fine chemistry.  Apart from all the agreement you two have in terms of specific subject matter & opinions/beliefs, you both take the “what can we DO about it approach” and that is a great strength & will appeal to people as they come into contact with the huge issues currently at stake.  
Viva – Sager

10

Yesterday a friend sent me a link to your Crash Course series, followed by these words:
“This is brilliant!”

So of course I couldn’t resist, and clicked the link. Three hours and twenty-three minutes later I sent her the following reply:

“Brilliant? That’s an understatement!”

Coincidentally, while watching it, I wondered if you were familiar with Jack Spirko’s Survival Podcast. I was about to send you a link to his website (in case you weren’t) when I saw the notice on your sidebar that you’d been his guest the day before!. Well, I’ve just finished listening to that episode and, if anything, it exceeded my expectations. Between the two of you, I can’t help but think that awareness of critical sustainability issues has clearly reached ‘hockey stick’ status.  It’s obvious that you both ‘get it,’ and together did a beautiful job of making IT clearly understandable to anyone listening to the discussion. In fact I very strongly suggest that the two of you consider putting together a joint presentation outlining  the practical steps both individuals and communities can take to achieve the kind of “parallel track” you’ve described (i.e., we should plan for the best…but do it in a way that also anticipates the worst).

I can see a video, imaginatively done by the two of you, going ‘viral.’  Especially considering how the media would tend to characterize such a presentation; e.g., “Baseball-cap wearing, gun-toting “red neck” from Texas joins with a suited, MBA-PhD scientist-businessman from New England to project an eye-opening vision of the road ahead.”  The kind of presentation, in other words, that would stimulate main-stream media coverage, and thus generate a broad national audience. 

So maybe consider talking to Jack about the possibility of making a short sequence of creative, visually rich videos that define the problems, but put the primary emphasis on what people can do to achieve practical step-by-step solutions. Do that, and you’ll likely find yourselves–and the importance of your understanding–the ‘talk of the nation.’ 

And rightfully so!

As you’ve said, we’re all in this together. The problem is…most people don’t quite know yet  what “this” is.  Your followers do, as do Jack’s. But put the two together…and I think you’ll see the short end of that hockey stick rapidly begin to grow…

11

I was struck by a comment on George Soros and others buying tens of thousands of acres of midwest prairies, presumably for the “perfect complement/storm” of wind, grain, building materials (straw bales).
Chris is elegant in describing that the relationship between a geometrically driven trend (multiplying) and an arithmetically driven trend (adding) is a potential train wreck.

In nature, those relationships abound. Some of them resolve by cataclysm, some by limits (maximum feasible lifespan for example). The common example of algae covering a pond, doubling, does not result in every pond on the planet suffocated.

In my studies and professional practice, I’ve long been concerned with issues of concentration of wealth as a similar relationship of multiplying returns transferring property from those that add (working and saving are additive more than multiplying).

I don’t know how to resolve that train wreck resulting from a segregation of capital flows into a bubble of invested capital for speculative ends or just return on pre-existing securities or even rents, versus the suffocated Main Street capital requirements for productive use serving the delivery of actual needs.

When the question of debt is raised in Chris’ analysis, it inevitably opens the questions of what are the patterns of transfers. Its not just a question of “usury”, but of any transfer driven by the urge for a % return on investment.

Both borrower and lender, renter and landlord, owner and worker, consent to their individual relationships. They are contracts.

I see that necessity of relative economic equality for social health as conflicting with libertarian views of the breadth and permanence of rights of property.

How is that circle squared?

 

12
I can see a video, imaginatively done by the two of you, going 'viral.'  Especially considering how the media would tend to characterize such a presentation; e.g., "Baseball-cap wearing, gun-toting "red neck" from Texas joins with a suited, MBA-PhD scientist-businessman from New England to project an eye-opening vision of the road ahead."  The kind of presentation, in other words, that would stimulate main-stream media coverage, and thus generate a broad national audience.
I love it!  I hadn't thought of that marketing angle.  we do cover a wide swath, don't we.  Now to find the articulate, liberal single mom, the conservative grandmother, and a representative of every other socio-demographic you can find.

This story is not about left/right or any other duality you can imagine.  It’s about making the right choices or the wrong choices.  Which will it be?

There’s a lot of common ground here, namely the desire to leave behind something worthwhile for our children, and maybe claw back a better life for ourselves in the process.

I am ready, willing and able to try anything and everything that could be effective in helping to create a tipping point of awareness.  

13
This story is not about left/right or any other duality you can imagine.  It's about making the right choices or the wrong choices.  Which will it be?

There’s a lot of common ground here, namely the desire to leave behind something worthwhile for our children, and maybe claw back a better life for ourselves in the process.

I am ready, willing and able to try anything and everything that could be effective in helping to create a tipping point of awareness. 

Exactly!  But how does one arouse a national 'Tea Party' movement on such a critical subject, without first getting--and then focusing--widespread attention.  Imagine, for example, the impact of a 'meeting of the minds' presentation on future sustainability by Glenn Beck and Al Gore on the Oprah Winfrey show.  Imagine that they begin their presentation by showing brief segments from the video clip you'll see here.  And then begin a serious discussion (with creative graphics) about how best to define and achieve a sustainable (yet genuinely desirable--and thus 'marketable') middle ground between the opposing lifestyles portrayed in the video.

Stark, dramatic contrasts easily gain attention (as does your very creative “Eyes Wide Open” slideshow).  Apply that same creative ‘drama’ to the urgency of change…but at the same time couple it with an ‘eye-opening’ vision of the extraordinary ‘quality of life’ improvements that could be gained in the process, and you’ll easily gather the level of national interest and engagement that this subject deserves.

I have no doubt that you are capable of doing it…once you fully understand that convincing people ‘the world is round’ is not nearly so attention-getting as showing them how ‘prosperous’ they’ll become once they accept that vision as reality.

And, of course, solicitate as many creative, articulate people as you can to participate. Perhaps including a member of that small group in the Kalahari.   :wink:

 

 

14

Chris, let me add to the others who are saying what a good combo you and Jack Spirko made on that interview!  I finally got the time to listen to it, and it was very informative, and very compelling in the way it drew the listener into the conversation between the two of you.  You played very well off each other, in terms of bringing up and communicating important points clearly and succinctly.  I love the written word, but there was something very personal about how this venue pulled those of us in the listening audience in.   I agree with the other folks here who suggest it would be great for you to do more of these!.
Also, as one of probably many people who feel “alone” in our beliefs where we are at, there was something very reaffirming/reassuring about hearing such a personable and animated conversation between two (count 'em!  2!) people with such similar beliefs and perspectives about what’s going on. It was replenishing.

Nice podcast, Jack, if you’re out there!  It is good to know about it, and will be checking it out regularly in the future!