Author Leah Waarvik is a search-and-rescue professional who works as part of a canine team to find missing people in the wilderness. She wrote “I Sit and Stay” after hearing stories of children who were lost and unprepared. The book is intended to initiate a discussion between adults and children about the main teaching points. The title says it all: Teach your lost children to stay in one place and await rescue

Don’t underestimate the danger of high temperatures. Nationally, more people die of heat-related issues than of any other weather-related illness!

Murphy’s Law, as it relates to survival making, states that the more desperately you need a fire, the harder it will be to start!

A Mora can do about 90 percent of what I need an outdoor knife to do. And while I’ve yet to find the ultimate do-everything survival knife, a Mora can come really close!

SurvivalCommon Sense is about making the right decisions, when everything has turned to chaos in an emergency situation. This the definition of a survival mindset. Here’s a different take on “survival” when a teenager finds out he or she has cancer.

“Hundreds of miles from civilization, two ships wreck on the opposite ends of the same deserted island in this true story of human nature at it best – and worst.”

Psychological responses to emergencies follow a pattern…only 10 to 15 percent of any group involved in any emergency will react appropriately. Another 10 to 15 percent will behave totally inappropriately and the remaining 70 to 80 percent will need to be told what to do. The most common reactions at the onset of an emergency are disbelief and denial.

If you just stuck a state road map in your Bug Out Bag, then you should reconsider and take the three types of maps that should be in your survival gear:

Always take lots of water along, and never depend on being able to find it! But it’s a really good idea to know where to look for water in the event of an emergency. Here are some desert water tips from survival expert Peter Kummerfeldt

In priority order, after shelter and the need to defend your body temperature, preventing dehydration is the survivor’s next most important necessity.