See, by being here, you guys are WAY ahead of 98% of the population. If you've got your stuff squared away with even 2-3 weeks of food and water, and an alternate form of heat, you are way ahead already.

We do need to recognize the problem unprepared neighbors and even friends/relatives may present. You need to be VERY careful how you broach this subject to the unprepared, or else you come off as a tinhattted lunatic. Trust me on this. Fortunately, we have good, concrete examples we can point out thanks to the activities of the current administration. You can use the economy as a way to bring up the subject of the importance of being prepared, or how close some of the calls have been lately with the recent terrorist attacks. Or if you're not a fan of the last administration, you can bring up Katrina.

Trying to get your neighbors on board can be tricky, but I've heard of some people doing it under the guise (initially) of setting up a Neighborhood Watch program. You can start there, then bring up other eventualities. One guy I know personally has set up a radio net inside his neighborhood ( I believe they are using FRS or GMRS base stations and mobiles) and they actually have tests every week where they all check in on the radio. Anyway, it's kind of neat since when they take walks around the neighborhood, they carry the mobiles with them and then can call whoever is assigned to monitor their base station that night if something pops up. Anyway, that's just one example. One thing you do not want to do is advertise what you've got to just anyone. I'll start a thread about some ways to deal with the unprepared tomorrow.