Appropriate Technology - Go Bags, EDC & Cards

Appropriate Technology - Go Bags, EDC & Cards

Definitions first. A "go bag" is something you carry that contains what you need to survive. EDC is an acronym for Every Day Carry, or what people carry on their person or in their pockets to get through daily life. Card: one of the most used, and least thought about, possessions of modern life is the lowly card, whether credit or debit. Until you misplace one.

All three are solutions to one of life's most basic problems - how do you keep yourself warm, dry, watered, fed and in reasonable health while going where you need to go and what you need to do.

The Go Bag is this concept to an extreme, carry all the stuff you need because you might need it suddenly. A money card is the exact opposite: the world is full of waterproof ponchos, toothbrushes, bottles of water and tasty meals, you just have to find a pile of them next to a cash register and help yourself. Every Day Carry is somewhere in the middle ... those things you choose to carry with you, useful enough to not be disposable.

All three strategies have their merits. The goal here is to start thinking about what you carry, what skills you have, what ability you have to access goods and services, etc.

Note that I haven't talked (yet) about disasters, natural or otherwise. That changes things. If you can't find anyone to take your card or cash, that's not a good approach. If desperate people help themselves to your Go Bag, or a mugger relieves you of the contents of your pockets, that $40 you tucked in a sock might get you out of a jam.

I've used all three approaches, in my home town and on the other side of the country.

My suggestion is merely that people think more about not merely what they put in their Go Bags, carry in their pockets, or are ready to buy with their credit cards from the gas station -- but also think about being ready to shift strategies if your card is stolen, you leave your jacket at the restaurant, or your Go Bag suffers sudden integrity failure and dumps its contents on a busy sidewalk.

Flexibility trumps preparedness sometimes.