Meet a group of people who believe we should all know how to start a fire without a match, dye our own clothes, and not be afraid to make things with our own hands.
Like we used to. This group came together at the Reskilling Expo in Santa Cruz County, CA
in order to relearn survival skills, and some fun things, that people used to know how to do.
They are not all predicting gloom. Even if there are no great catastrophes in store, if these skills are not life saving -- striving for self- sufficiency is a worthwhile and satisfying pursuit for many reasons. It's fun. It brings community together. It feels good to know a few things that all the humans that came before the last 100 years or so have known!
Participant Becca Hiatt: "I think the argument can be made that if we learned how to do more for ourselves we could be home more, have more time with our families and friends, rather than just working all; the time for the money to pay other people to do everything for us."
Another participant makes the point that reskilling connects us with our past and our future.
"There is something very instinctual about trying to deal with food and water and transportation and all sorts of topics at a more basic, more fundamental level." says LeAnne Ravinale.