When was the last time you went camping? Not in a trailer or special set-aside park, but hiking with water, food and sleeping gear on your back? Far away from civilization. No traffic sounds. No city lights. No trash littering the non-existent trail.You find a good spot to camp, kinda close to a stream, flat, at the edge of a grove of trees. You pitch your tent. Form a circle with creek-rock, and start a small safe fire in that circle. Even tho you've brought some food with you, it's for emergencies so you go hunt down your dinner - hmmm, tasty rabbit or fresh fish.
Done eating, done cleaning, you lay down on your bedroll by the fire. Dusk forms into night. It's nearly dark, the firelight now providing the only light as its orange and yellow tongues lick at the night.
Lay back, close your eyes and listen. Slithering off to your left. Chittering of a squirrel to your right. A fish flops in the stream.
Quiet.
Dark.
Now imagine that you're at home and it's that dark and that quiet. An EMP (electromagnetic pulse) hit. Or the H1N1 flu hit the electric company employees so hard that no workers can keep the electricity going, and it's all gone. It can happen.
No street lights. No moon. No car headlights. No planes flying overhead. No nightlights or fans.
Look around your home. How long could you survive without electricity? Will your toilet work? Your stove? If you are a person who turns the TV on as soon as you get home? Are all of your recipes and inventory lists on your computer? Do you have an alternate source of heat? How can you keep your insulin cool, or test your blood sugar? No way to keep milk fresh. No automatically hot water to wash dishes (by hand, of course). Non-electric razor? Baby-bottle warmer?
What if you have to live without electricity for more than a day? A week? A month? Or even a year? If you're a gardener, how would you "put-up" your harvest with no dehydrator or even a canner that will work on a fire? Gas stations won't be able to pump gas so you'd be at home unless you have a good stash of gas or ride your bike or horse. OMG - no cell phone?!
We are a soft, modern people.
Are you prepared?
4 comments:
I would like to say I ready, but I know I'm not. I have SO MUCH to do before I could say that. I know I could survive because we often had multiday blackouts when I was a kid, and I grew up in the mountains learning how to be independent, but I'm still so underprepared.
As a nation, we are so dependent on electricity and an EMP attack or massive solar flare could leave us absolutely reeling. As I've done research into what sort of effect this would have on our nation, here are the frightening realities I have found: http://tinyurl.com/l5rysw
I will miss alot of handy appliances and gadgets, but I won't be left in the dark. I found these really great outdoor solar floodlights meant to be handy porchlights for outbuildings. Got them cheap($35)at SamsClub and i use them in the house by putting the solar panel9x9" in the window and the light mounted on the wall and it lights the whole room. I also have kerosene lanterns for backup.
Thanks, Deep. I was just at Sam's but didn't see them. I'll check online. All good thoughts.... Vikki
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