The Number One Shelter of All Time
More Articles Related to ShelterWe humans have been making shelters for a long time and we tend to think we are pretty good at it. From Diogenes' tub on the streets of Athens to the Taj Mahal in India, the kind of shelter a man or woman builds and lives in tells us much about the individual who who resides there.
With mans superior intellect, our college degrees, and modern construction methods we are at the forefront of shelter design and technology.
Or are we?
Where I live in the northern United States the winters are bitterly cold. Temperatures routinely drop to -20F (-30C) and often lower. 99.9% of homes are built conspicuously above ground with eggshell thin walls (as compared to the size of the structure) made vertical to the earth and fully exposed to the blasts of frigid arctic air that blow down from Canada.
Needless to say, these homes are expensive to heat and maintain. They require hundreds of gallons of fuel oil, bins of coal, cords of wood, or expensive electricity to warm the interior space to livable conditions. In other parts of the world similar homes are built fully exposed to searing heat and sun so that they require heavy duty cooling. Our homes are subject to hurricanes, typhoons, lightening, and a host of other attacks by nature.
This doesn't seem too smart, if you ask me!
But don't take my word for it. Ask a squirrel. I've seen them in the trees laughing at me as I attempt to winterize my home that is so exposed to the elements. Yep, sad to say - but a six-month old squirrel knows more about making a proper shelter than many a man with a PhD in engineering!
For as long as mankind has been making shelters, the animals in nature have been making them longer. Through the eons the squirrels and birds, mice and bears have refined their ability to exploit the renewable materials that nature provides. They create shelters that are vastly superior in weatherproofing, maintenance, and sustainability. Their shelters survive everything that nature can throw at them, are easy to construct and maintain, self cooling, and easily heated just by the warm bodies of the occupants themselves.
The next time you see a squirrel carrying a bunch of sticks or leaves, a bird with a twig in its beak, or a beaver pushing mud up onto its lodge, take a little time to see just what it is up to.
Louisiana
I can be a little dense sometimes I'll admit but I don't understand what "The Number One Shelter of All Time" is. Did I miss something or is there more to this article? I just discovered this site and I really find it interesting and very informative. I will continue to dig around. Thanks for the great work!
Survival Topics - your welcome DM. If you click the link at the bottom of the article you will be lead to a Survival Topic on the Debris Hut.
You are welcome to share this Survival Topic with others. I only request that you use a short blurb (not the entire survival content) and this code to
link to the origional:
Hamburg, germany
Check out cooper peedey, southern australia, not sure if i spelt it right. But it relates to the area and is a way to winterize, summerize and generally stabalise your living environment.
Survival Topics - good find. Cooper Pedy, where they mine opals and live in the caves they escavate.