International Preparedness Network

By Marc Steven

After a long hiatus due to the illness and untimely death of his beloved Mother Doris Edwards (pictured below at right with her grandson Amen) on August 13, 2011 and other health related family crisis that forced him to significantly scale down his activities, I.P.N. Executive Director,  Aton Edwards is returning to action in a pay-per-view special event featured on www.2012res.com, December 15th 2011 from 6-10 PM to present his National Urban Self-Reliance & Preparedness (NUSRP)  XET-7 (X-treme Emergency Training) & Ready-UP! America programs.

The success of his last presentation called Ready-UP! New York, held in July 2011 & sponsored by the popular 98.7 KISS-FM Open Line radio show featuring Bob Slade, M’tume & Judge Bob Pickett has helped to spark interest in urban preparedness across the nation and Edwards is hoping to keep the ball rolling with this upcoming event.

It will be streamed live from a historic Harlem location, Muhammad Mosque No.7, 106-08 West 127th Street (between Malcolm X & Adam Clayton Powell Blvd) 6- 10 PM.

Admission is $20.00.  Edwards promises to make this an evening that the community will not only remember, but to motivate them to take action and become more self-reliant. He says, “given the problems that our nation and world will face over the next several years, our community cannot afford to remain dependent upon governmental systems that cannot adequately serve them when disasters & other emergencies strike.”

Read more »

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By Mitchel Cohen, No Spray Coalition

The City has announced it will spray dangerous pesticides in crowded residential areas in Brooklyn and Queens on Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011.  The No Spray Coalition is appalled by Mayor Bloomberg’s and the City’s Department of Health decision to renew the mass-spraying — no legitimate reasons given.

We also condemn the New York City government’s advice to residents and visitors that they personally use insect repellants containing DEET on themselves and their children. DEET is especially dangerous for children and should NEVER be used; it is associated with numerous infant deaths. The City knows this; we negotiated an agreement with the City last year that they wouldn’t recommend DEET. And here they are, again, acting in utter disregard of the health and safety of our children, and more generally of all the people of New York.

Furthermore, this year’s spray of choice — Anvil 10+10 — is listed in Local Law 37 (2005 update, see page 1, paragraph 4, discussion of table 2) that states that for piperonyl butoxide and MGK-264 contained as synergists in Anvil 10 + 10, that

“both of these chemicals are classified as possible human carcinogens by the EPA Office of Pesticide Programs. Only 94 products contain pyrethrins without other carcinogen ingredients. Therefore, most products containing pyrethrins continue to be prohibited under LL37 even if the reference to the EPA list was updated”.

Local Law 37 prohibits the use of pesticides by NYC in public places if it contains PBO and/or MGK-264.  Why are they violating their own law?  The No Spray Coalition is also deeply troubled not only by NYC’s reckless spraying of Anvil 10 + 10 to kill mosquitoes, but for the City’s very short notice — around 24 hours, that’s it!

“After years of litigation to stop this reckless spraying of pesticides which has contributed to skyrocketing increases in cancer and asthma, and now the collapse of bee colonies in the New York area, I am outraged that the Bloomberg Administration is renewing its mindless criminal poisoning of the people and environment of our City,” said Howard Brandstein, coordinator of SOS-FOOD, NY State Against Genetic Engineering, and a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit brought seven years ago by the No Spray Coalition and other organizations against Rudolph Giuliani and the New York City government.

That lawsuit ended in April 2007, when NYC signed a settlement agreement acknowledging, among other stipulations, that pesticides:

* may remain in the environment beyond their intended purpose

* cause adverse health effects

* kill mosquitoes’ natural predators (such as dragonflies)

* increase mosquitoes’ resistance to the sprays, and

* are not presently approved for direct application to waterways.

The Department of Health contravenes that settlement by now stating that there are no significant risks of adverse impact to human health associated with the proper use of this product. “That is simply a lie,” said No Spray Coalition coordinator Mitchel Cohen. In fact, the spraying puts many New York City residents and visitors at grave risk.

“These kind of ignorant and lying politicians and bureaucrats apparently have no problem destroying our health in order to ‘save’ us from the so-called West Nile virus,” Howard Brandstein added. “Clearly, the spraying jeopardizes a thousand times more people than the disease.”

The pesticide the City is spraying — “Anvil 10 + 10″ — belongs to a class of adulticides known as pyrethroids, which are endocrine disruptors. They mimic hormones such as estrogen, and may cause breast cancer in women and drastically lower sperm counts in men. Pyrethroids have also been associated with prostate cancer, miscarriages and preterm delivery, asthma, toxicity to many vital organs including the nervous system, liver, kidneys and the gastro-intestinal tract, skin rashes, itching and blisters, and nausea and vomiting.

Anvil contains the cancer-causing chemical piperonyl butoxide, which the Environmental Protection Agency lists as a suspected carcinogen. It also contains Sumithrin — a synthetic toxin, made in the laboratory — as well as benzene-related chemicals (which the label calls “inert ingredients.”)

Thousands of New Yorkers were severely sickened by the spraying in 1999 and 2000. A number of members of the No Spray Coalition, including several of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, died from pesticide-related illnesses.

Many suffer from Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS) or Asthma caused or exacerbated by the spraying. “The City administration must be made to understand that pesticides are extremely dangerous to human health as well as to the natural environment, and have long-term consequences,” Cohen said.

The No Spray Coalition strongly urges the City to stop pesticide spraying immediately, reconsider its entire approach, and seek alternative, safe means to control mosquitoes. There are natural, safe ways for each person to ward off mosquitoes. The City should not be poisoning the entire population.

http://www.MitchelCohen.com

Ring the bells that still can ring,  Forget your perfect offering.

There is a crack, a crack in everything, That’s how the light gets in.

~ Leonard Cohen

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By Aton Edwards, I.P.N. Executive Director

FEMA African-American summit closes today and up to now I’d consider it to be a very productive venture.  Approximately 140 predominantly African-American groups assembled at the FEMA building auditorium to discuss how traditionally under-served communities of color can develop new strategies to prepare themselves for disasters, and interface with governmental entities that can help them develop mitigation, response and recovery programs.

FEMA director Craig Fugate opened the gathering with a very honest discussion about how FEMA operates, and most importantly what it can and cannot do.

Director Fugate was a former volunteer firefighter, EMT and paramedic and his “boots on the ground” experience and approach to tackle problems serves him well.  He’s a refreshing change from the past administration.

I along with Rudoplph Muhammad from the Bed Stuy Ambulance Corps/Save-A-Life, and Barry Crumbley of the Black Farmers Agricultural Association (BFAA) & I.N.T.A.C.T. Community Development Corporation worked together to meet with representatives of other disaster preparedness related groups across the country, and notable Civil Rights activists such as Dr. Ron Daniels & Leonard Dunston of the IBW.

Rosemary Roberts Cloud was also in attendance. She  is Fire Chief for the City of East Point, Georgia, and the first African American Female Fire Chief in the United States. In her position, she is responsible for managing four fire stations and 100 employees, in a city with 40,000 residents.

Joseph Muhammad, President of the International Association (IABPFF) ,was also in attendance and gave a dynamic presentation.

On The Spot Productions was also in attendance to interview the participants.

I along with Barry Crumbley, Rudolph Muhammad and several other participants did have some serious issues with a number of the attendees who we believe are completely under the misconception that FEMA can provide our community with all that ails us, and that many of us have a tendency to get fixated on meetings rather than developing pro-active survival strategies, but all in all, the gathering was for the most part an extremely promising start of a dialogue that I hope will continue.

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Special commentary by I.P.N. Executive Director Aton Edwards.

This is a special note for my kin-folk of African decent across America.

Please pass it on!

I need to speak directly to you about a very troubling and dangerous situation that we have either ignored or dismissed for far too long.

At our own peril–

It is our lack of preparedness for disasters.

You’d think that after nearly 10 years since 911 and six years since the Hurricane Katrina tragedy that we would have learned our lessons and built a mechanism that could help us respond to disasters and emergencies.

We haven’t.

In fact, I can tell you that for the most part we are even less prepared now than we were then.

It’s tragic but true.

This is especially disturbing when I think about what happened to our community when Hurricane Katrina ripped across the Gulf Coast and New Orleans.

I’m sure you all remember that day too, as well as the horrific period that followed after the levees broke.

There aren’t adequate words to describe how awful and helpless I felt as I watched the nightmarish images of destruction and chaos flash across my television screen.

I’ll never forget watching the terrified people huddled together on rooftops desperately trying to escape the rising flood waters, furiously waving their hands, shirts or anything they could find to flag down passing helicopters; or families dragging their possessions in plastic bags wading through the flooded, dangerous, debris filled streets.

If that wasn’t bad enough, nothing prepared me for what occurred at the Superdome and Convention Center.

I’ve always known what could and would happen in that type of situation, and even given numerous lectures on it. However, knowing and teaching classes about hypothetical scenarios pales in comparison to witnessing the real thing.

It was shattering and I’m not ashamed to say that I shed a few tears as I watched it all go down.

I’m sure many of you did too.

Nearly six years later, it is still a very painful memory.

To make matters even worse, not only are we unprepared today, we are still completely dependent on the government to sustain us, despite what we know.

Hear my words … completely dependent

…for our food, water, shelter, clothing, medicine, everything.

Time for some Real Talk …

THIS IS MADNESS!

With the exception of heroic rescue efforts by the Coast Guard, you’d think that after witnessing how the Bush administration completely mismanaged the response and recovery efforts, that we would know better than to allow ourselves to continue trusting the system to protect us the next time disaster strikes.

The plain fact is …

Even with the improvements set in place in our Disaster Preparedness/Response Infrastructure by the Obama administration, the federal government does not have the ability to protect our communities when large-scale disasters strike.

By and large, when disasters strike again we will be on our own for a long stretch of time. If we choose to ignore this hard cold truth, we can expect to see the same things we saw in New Orleans again. In fact, things could be much worse.

Did you forget about the dead bloated bodies floating in streets?

…The people packed like sardines in a can, hearded into sweltering, filthy overcrowded “shelters?”

…Or trailers that exposed them to toxic formaldehyde gas?

Did we forget the images of our elders that were left to die and rot in wheelchairs?

police using people as target practice, survivors searching for and securing food and essential supplies branded as ‘looters;’ hundreds of thousands of victims across the city and state forced to evacuate from their homes, scattered across the country and instantly converted into “the new lost tribe”of America; then, six years later, to add insult to injury, many of the survivors are currently being hunted down and forced by FEMA to repay the financial aid they received to help them recover.

Unbelievable, but all true.

The list of abominations could go on, but I’m hoping you get my point.

The fact is that in our present state, when, not if, we face the next disaster or catastrophe, we are doomed to repeat this very same cycle of misery.

In fact, it will be much worse because we haven’t fully recovered from Hurricane Katrina yet. (Not to mention many other disasters we’ve experienced over the past few years)

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE — because it is PREVENTABLE.

I say to all who read this that it is time to do-for-self and create our own Disaster Preparedness, Self-Reliance and Sustainable Living infrastructure!

Billie Holiday put it best when she sang “Mama may have and Papa may have but God bless the child who’s got his own and we need our own right now!

Here are just a few of the reasons why:

Just suppose…

A major US city was hit with a massive earthquake, similar to the one that recently hit Japan that triggered the Tsunami and nuclear power plant accident. If it did, the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina would pale in comparison. How do you think we would handle that?

Think it CAN’T happen here? Think again. Follow the links below.

http://www.es.ucsc.edu/~ward/papers/La_Palma_grl.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohNsKV3FYT8

What do you think the government will, or even can do if a powerful solar flare destroyed the national electrical grid, shutting down everything, including our computer and communications networks?

Does this sound like a science fiction film to you?

Believe me — it’s not.

Check out what the world’s top NASA scientists and the latest issue of Popular Science say about it.
Click links below.

http://science1.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/21jan_severespaceweather/
http://www.popsci.com/technology/gallery/2011-06/gallery-global-blackout

What happens when terrorists unleash nuclear, biological and chemical weapons in our cities? Someone (or a group) already did release Anthrax on September 18th 2001. What are your plans when it is done again, on a much larger scale, perhaps with a “dirty bomb” or even worse, an improvised nuclear device. See link below.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/23/us-nuclear-security-idUSTRE75M1SU20110623

Can you imagine what will happen in our cities when food and fresh water shortages (droughts) create hunger, misery and desperation? It’s already beginning all over the world. See links below.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/somalia/8670779/Horn-of-Africa-famine-spreads.html

http://www.livescience.com/14447-global-food-shortage-urgent-climate-global-warming.html
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/02/09/officials-warn-of-great-lakes-water-shortage/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/24/global-food-crisis-world-dwindling-crops-national

What will we do if a mega-pandemic similar to the 1918 “Spanish Flu” swept across the globe? Over 670,000 Americans died at the time. If a similar event happened today, it would kill more than 4 million people & make over 100 million gravely ill.

What is your strategy for surviving powerful storms created by global warming that will wreck our towns and cities and environmental pollution that is already choking the life out of the oceans?

There is also another disaster we must all begin to prepare for– a global economic meltdown. We came quite close in 2008 and haven’t nearly recovered.

America is still in the midst of a dangerous economic balancing act — like walking a narrow tightrope in a hurricane. One strong gust of wind and we’ll all be falling headfirst into the jagged rocks below.

Even “Rich Dad” Author, Robert Kiyosaki is worried about what an economic depression could do and is making plans to face it! See link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZAzBDDnhwg&feature=share

Now, do you truly believe that our government, any government, can protect you from these disasters? Keep in mind, I only listed a fraction of what we will be confronting over the next few years.

I shudder to think what would happen if only ONE of the disasters I’ve listed strikes, let alone several at a time.

It can happen people, and it WILL.

WAKE UP!

If you want to survive and remain intact over the next few decades, it is going to be entirely up to you to be prepared to do it.

YOU!

Not the government.

Recognize that the time has come to learn how to DO FOR SELF– or prepare to suffer the horrible consequences.

How bad could they be?

Enough for the CDC to place a Zombie Preparedness link on their web site http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies.asp

It’s not because they think we are in danger of zombie attacks, or are fans of the show,”The Walking Dead,” it’s because they’ve studied the effects of the different disasters we will all experience and they are terrified of what will occur if people aren’t prepared to face them.

The plain fact is this: most of us aren’t– and this is why the time has come for us to come together and begin the process of building OUR OWN infrastructures that CAN sustain us through the coming storms.

We must put aside our petty differences and the trifling foolishness that separates us and GET BUSY LIVING and BUILDING like our lives and future depend upon it– because it DOES! It CAN be done and it MUST be done NOW! If we don’t, we are literally sentencing our communities across the nation to suffer through hardships that could have been prevented if we had the courage to act.

It’s time to MAN and WOMAN up.

There is NO excuse.

I’m proud to say that after nearly seven years of development, the I.P.N. has a comprehensive plan of operations called the Survive Against Fatal Emergencies (S.A.F.E.) Community Protocol & National Urban Self-Reliance & Preparedness Program (N.U.S.R.P.)

The 1069 page three part document features cutting-edge information and strategies that will enable our communities to survive the full spectrum of natural, environmental, civil, technological, cyber and even economic disasters.

It offers all the methods and resources that we need to develop our own community operated disaster preparedness/response and sustainable living infrastructures.

We have the WAY now. All we need is the WILL.

Let’s do this! For all of our ancestors who bravely struggled and died for us, and for our children who will inherit what we will leave them.

With YOUR help, in less than six months, we can prepare our people in the United States & Caribbean for nearly any disaster or emergency.

This Sunday, I will be traveling to Washington D.C. to a F.E.M.A. African-American Disaster Management Summit with Rudolph Muhammad of Save-A-Life & Bed Stuy Ambulance Corps and Barry Crumbley of the American Red Cross and I.N.T.A.C.T. to release S.A.F.E. and N.U.S.U.R.P.

Time to begin! Please pass this email on and leave a comment! If you want to reach out and join us, contact us at readyupamerica@readyforanything.com or readyupamerica@gmail.com.

PEACE!

Aton Edwards,

Executive Director, International Preparedness Network

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By Aton Edwards, IPN Executive Director.

I’d like to inform you about an upcoming event. On Friday, July 8, 98.7 KISS-FM Open Line program & I will present Ready-UP! New York, a preparedness, self-reliance, sustainable living town hall/forum/mini-expo to be held at St. Francis College in downtown Brooklyn.

It will be recorded for radio broadcast and streamed live over the Internet.

The Ready-UP! New York goals are:

1. To provide New Yorkers and all who watch & listen with cutting-edge information and critical resources they can apply to help them prepare for the full range of natural, technological, environmental, civil and cyber disasters & emergencies.

2. To help New Yorkers become self-reliant during disasters and after they strike.

3. To provide instructions on how New Yorkers can adopt sustainable lifestyles that can minimize their environmental impact on the city & state and help conserve the Earth’s dwindling natural resources.

4. To help grow the support base of several New York City based disaster response & recovery related organizations including: The Bed Stuy Ambulance Corps, LifeStraw NOW!, Sustainable Orphanages For Haitian Youth, and Community2Community. This group will also include Urban Divers, an outstanding NYC based environmental organization.

5. All who attend and watch the event online will be asked to sign the Ready UP! New York preparedness & self-reliance pledge.  Viewers online can sign on our Ready-UP! America website.

6. We will identify many of our city’s environmental hazards and provide them with strategies to protect themselves from their effects.

The evening will feature presentations by several experts, personalities, politicians, and other notable local and national figures.  A number of companies that manufacture emergency preparedness/disaster response & sustainable living equipment will also be in attendance. Some will present their products for viewing.

All are united in the task to help Ready-UP! New York make the “Big Apple” the most prepared and green city in America!

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By Aton Edwards, I.P.N. Executive Director

On June 18, 2011, King Simon I.P.N. officer & instructor will stage a special Evac-U-Walk to benefit The Fig Tree.  More info to be posted soon!

RFA!

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