Surviving Without Electricity

Most people today have never been without electricity for an extended period, but for some others, they have learned to survive off the grid. The probability of a major disruption of electricity is increasing each day. There are many reasons for the grid to go down, including weather related incidents, polar shift, magnetic shift, galaxy interference, cyber warfare, sun flares, Coronal Mass Ejection, EMP from nuclear bombs and from space, breakdown of the components of the grid and from sabotage.

If you are away from home and the power goes out, you may be delayed getting back home safely and in a timely manner. You have heard for years and years and still years about the sky is falling, shortages, wars, famines and attacks are coming but when these happen, it may be too late to prepare. Many times, the media forecasts the weather days before the event actually happening. If you are away from home and you are not prepared, you could die.

The Northern States have cold, snowy and icy conditions and the people in these states have emergency supplies in their cars because if you go off the road in a major snow storm, it may be 3 months till the snow melts to be found. Blankets, food, water, matches and candles might be able to save your life. If you lose the power and electricity in your car, the door locks may not work, your windows might not operate, your lights won't work and your phone signal might not be in an area of reception.

Losing electricity in a car might mean the difference between life and death, but losing electricity in a city, county or nation would create major disasters, situations and chaos. A down grid situation could mean major criminal activity, looting, stealing and abuse. Police, EMS, Fire Department and emergency services will be strained without electricity and if an EMP was the cause, it could have caused massive shorting out of any electronic device. This would involve planes, trains, tractor-trailers, cars, trucks, water filtration, pumps, sewage systems and communications. Transportation could stop, along with banking, electronic banking, stores and transfer of food, goods and medicine.

In 1859, the sun released an enormous burst of energy, called a solar flare, that headed straight for earth hitting it directly. The particles of plasma and highly charged energy hit the earth with force and created a geomagnetic storm of record history. At this time, there were no electronics, no microprocessors, no computers, no cell phones, no TV's, no satellites, limited heat and air conditioning, no radios and no technology that had transistors or components. There were crude devices, called telegraphs that used electricity with magnets that clicked to communicate through the wires that were strung from place to place. The storm knocked out the telegraphs, burned wires, fried coil winding, burned flammable materials near the telegraphs and shocked telegraph operators.

If a solar storm or CME of the Carrington Event scale would happen today, it would most likely destroy the electronic grid, burn out electrical motors, destroy communication, stop transportation, fry electronic components and disrupt all social, governmental action and lifestyle. The electrical transmission lines and railroad tracks would act like antennas, collecting and concentrating the energy which would be directed to a focal point. The receiving point would be an enormous amount of energy, which would actually burn any computers, transistors and coils.

The weather has become very uncertain, unpredictable and very destructive. The weather forecasters try to predict the outcome of systems, but the dynamics have changed from previous systems. The models that the forecasters use come from previous storms and each change in our environment actually changes the prediction forecasts of the storms. Each forest fire, jet stream, volcano, earthquake, forest that is cleared to expose the bare soil, frequencies in the atmosphere, particles of dust and many other elements have direct effects on the patterns. There are countries that are experimenting with magnetism, frequencies and weather manipulation which also create bizarre and unknown weather patterns. Extreme cold and excessive heat also have direct repercussion as to how the weather might react.

To be fully prepared to experience all weather patterns, a person would almost have to live their lives underground. In all parts of the country, there are various weather patterns, including scorching heat, relentless tropical rain, below sub zero cold, hurricanes and tornadoes which cause mud slides, floods, forest fires, etc.

As with any weather system, power and electrical outages can be disrupted anywhere in the world. If your life depends on electricity, you need some type of backup, preparation and skills for living. First, you need to understand that you are vulnerable, that your life could be in danger and you want to be prepared for outages. Trees covered with freezing rain and snow can easily break electrical lines and poles and hurricanes and tornadoes can also break and topple trees to disrupt electrical service.

The mindset, preparation and knowledge are three things that you should have to get though difficult situations with little or no resistance. Just knowing that crises, difficulties and problems can result in your life can be a life changer. Having a mind-set that opens your eyes to believe that something could happen and being able to prepare for unknown circumstances and crises will enable you to be ready for events that are out of the norm when they take place.

Some of the events that will happen are just the normal life events but there will be happenings in your life that will disrupt your life, work, family and mentality. People are so complacent in their lives and the humdrum of life that each day has become a routine occurrence. Almost everyone uses electricity and has become very dependent on it to the point of not being able to live without it.

If the electricity stops, like the electrical grid collapsing, there would be about 90 percent of the population dead in about three months. That being said, they would not die because of not having electricity, but because of the complications relating to not having electricity. In the big cities, there is usually only a three day supply of food at any given time. The drinking water is pumped to the individual homes by electric pumps and sewage is treated with electrical aerators.Food is delivered by trucks using fuel that is pumped with electrical pumps. Lights, alarms, check-out systems and ATM'S are operated by electricity and communication is powered by electricity. Almost all of the infrastructure that keep cities, counties, states and government afloat are kept running by electricity. Without fuel we have no food. Without clean drinking water we get diseases. Without stores we have no place to replenish food stocks and without a structured government the criminals and gangs go berserk.

Here are some suggestions that might bring you through an extended electricity outage. Surviving three days with food and water on hand won't be hard, but for an extended length of time, everything will become critical and life threatening. If the electricity outage is caused by an automobile accident and the outage is only a couple of days, no problem. If there is a storm that knocks out the power for a couple of days, it might be inconvenience. When the electricity is out for weeks on end, there will be massive confusion, looting of stores, break-ins and criminal activity. Depending on the elements, heat and cooling will be needed. If in a house, some gas logs can still operate and give off a great deal of heat. A generator can be used to keep the refrigerator and freezer working. If you are in an apartment, keeping warm or cool can be difficult because you are not in command of your resources, but having blankets and extra clothes would be on the must have lists. Other commodities that you should and might want to consider are toilet paper, medical items, pet supplies, spices and two-way radios.

Each person should have at least a three day supply of food, water, clothes and essentials in what is called a 3 day bag. If you decide that you need to go somewhere else for safety, the timing will be critical and may be dangerous. Ice or snow storms, freezing temperatures, trees and lines crossing the roads may prevent you from reaching your intended destination safely. And all police or other officials may be too busy to help.

In your three day supply of food, keep in mind that you will need to have at least one gallon of water per person per day to survive. If you have a "LIFE-STRAW", which is a device that will filter water, it will make it safe enough to drink. In this way, you would not have to carry all that water, which weighs more than eight pounds per gallon. Store some kind of energy bars, candy bars, nuts, dried fruit, freeze dried meat and nutritious easy to eat foods. Also include matches, candles, extra clothing, extra socks, T-handle plastic bags, large trash bags, note pad and pencils. Try to include a radio that has a weather channel.

If you decide to get out of town, waiting until everything has fallen apart will have major risks involved. If there has been an attack like the grid down or cyber attack, the risks will be very dangerous. In the first week of power down, people will almost celebrate by using what is in their refrigerators, the second week, the food in the freezer will be used. After this, the situation will get critical and very dangerous. People will start running out of food, start stealing supplies, mugging, trespassing, and breaking into food reserves to feed their families. After the third week, people will be starving and if not prepared for the outage, will start killing animals for food. Also, during the third week and after, people will start eating people. Yes, cannibalism will take place. The animal instinct to keep their families and themselves alive will kick in and this is when people will become like wild animals of the jungle where anything goes.

Being without electricity for a short time is somewhat an inconvenience, but when the electricity becomes an extended event, the situation becomes critical, dangerous and deadly. Plain and simple, the people have become too accustomed to the luxury of what we have. We have instant food, instant clean drinking water, instant TV, instant transportation, instant communication and what we call a great quality of life.

As humans in the United States, this generation has not experienced war on our land, invasion from other countries, massive volcanoes pouring lava over the land and spewing ash over the cities, smothering life or horrific earthquakes shaking and destroying buildings. This generation has not experienced a comet hitting the land mass or the ocean creating chaos and devastation. Any of these events could cause large scale electrical outages which would wreck the economies, infrastructures and societies.

Points: Open Your Eyes and realize that losing your electricity can happen. Prepare for what could happen even if it does not. Learn what to do, learn escape routes, gain skills, obtain knowledge and practice what you learn. Study History, for history repeats itself... Get to know your neighbors and neighborhood. Know, study and learn!