The massive wildfire driving the inhabitants of Fort McMurray, Alberta, and surroundings reminded me of the issue of fire protection, both urban and rural.
Here is some permaculture advice on fire protection in rural areas, from Bill Mollison, the Australian permaculture pioneer. If you're new to the miracles of permaculture, I included two short video clips. More below.

Hello, resilient friends, I would like to introduce the earthship home and what you could learn from it for your situation and place. Runaway climate change is here and worsening by the day. The most resilient homes for such a world are the various types of underground homes, full and partial. A fortunate few will be able to build such homes, but most folks could not. But there is much they could do to make their present homes more resilient. Have a look at the earthship home - a hybrid underground design.

Would you like to find ways to make your local community more resilient, more viable, more self-sufficient? Democratic-Socialism emphasizes appropriate technology to develop local communities, especially in rural areas. We'll look briefly at E.F. Schumacher's chapter on Appropriate Technology in Small Is Beautiful. Then we'll look at the example of a small town in Bavaria, called Wilpoldsried, which macgyvered its way out of where corporatist "development" had left it for dead and into a profitable future using Renewable Energies, the very best appropriate technology for small communities. More below.

Hello resilient friends, I would like to introduce to you Low-Tech Magazine: Doubts On Progress and Technology, one of the most resourceful (stuffed with resources, in fact :=) free online magazines out there.
Here is today's email delivery: an intriguing article on the return of DC power and it's potential. An extract and the link below.

Martha published an intriguing essay on how our local Post offices could help lead the way into resiliency for our local communities.
http://caucus99percent.com/content/resilience-let-post-offices-lead-way
She challenged us to a thought experiment on how to make this vision practical. So last night I did a back-of-the-napkin sketch of a plan for making the vision practical. As usual, I babbled on endlessly :=) I post it here as a departure point for a c99 brainstorming session on transforming our Post Offices from the ground up.
See, what little public thinking there is about revitalizing our Post Offices after decades of corporatist kneecapping, is all about the national vision. We all know that top-down revitalization is nevah gonna happen. Unless, unless, we the people begin to transform our local PO branches from the ground up, beginning in our local communities - neighbourhoods, suburbs, villages, rural towns, small towns. So how would we do it? Where would we start? Let me show you below.

Welcome c99 friends, to the new Resilience Group. We're hoping to create a place ("where everybody knows your name" :=) for folks interested in resilience for themselves and for their local community. More below.

This series explores the outlines of democratic socialism...um, snooooooozzzze...too academic, too dry, and relevance, please. "G, your planned series needs a makeover and fast." Well, resilient people are good at troubleshooting, so here goes.

Would you like to find ways to make your local community more resilient, more viable, more self-sufficient? Have you thought about how to develop your local community more organically? Consider banning the corporation within your local jurisdiction. Seriously :=)> More below.