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If The Grid Fails, Will You Die?
Exclusive: Patrice Lewis examines possible aftermaths of long-term power failure
WND
Every so often WND runs an article about the possible repercussions of a long-term power grid failure due to an EMP or a massive solar flare. The articles usually run along the lines of the inherent vulnerability of our national grid, and what the societal impact would be should the power go down. It’s worth adding that WND is one of the few news organizations which routinely covers this possibility.
These articles are interesting, as much for their content as for the comments that follow. It astounds me – absolutely flabbergasts me – how few people understand what life would be like without electricity. I’m not talking about losing power in your home – we all do, from time to time. I’m talking about losing power on a national scale for the long term.
It seems too many people are flippant or dismissive of the potential hardships. “An electromagnetic pulse is a joke and would be minor at best,” notes one person. “I say that because most people know how to survive without all the modern conveniences.”
Or, “We’d go back to the 1800s. Big deal. People lived just fine in the 1800s.”
I’m not here to argue about the odds of an EMP taking out the grid. I’m not going to discuss the technicalities of Faraday cages or the hardening of electronics. I’m here to state that if you think life in America without electricity will merely revert us to pioneer days, you are dead wrong (no pun intended, I hope). We wouldn’t regress to the 1800s; we would regress to the 1100s or earlier. Life would become a bitter, brutal struggle for survival.
Society thrived in the 1800s for four very simple reasons: 1) a non-electric infrastructure already existed; 2) people had the skills, knowledge and tools to make do; 3) our population levels were far lower, and most people lived rural and raised a significant portion of their own food; and 4) there were relatively few people who didn’t earn their way. To be blunt, if you didn’t work, you seldom ate. Those who couldn’t work (the disabled, the elderly, etc.) were cared for by family members or charitable institutions. There were no other options.
These conditions no longer exist. Homes do not come equipped with outhouses, hand water pumps and a trained horse stabled in the back. Many people don’t have the faintest clue how to cook from scratch, much less grow or raise their own food. Eighty percent of Americans live in cities and are fed by less than 2 percent of the population, which means farmers must mass-produce food for shipments to cities. And there are far too many people on multi-generational entitlement programs who literally know no other lifestyle except an endless cycle of EBT cards and welfare payments.
Additionally, the interconnectivity that exists in today’s society is complex beyond belief. It’s been proven again and again that a single weak link can bring down the whole chain. A trucker’s strike or a massive storm at one end of the country can mean interrupted food deliveries at the other end.
Reposted with permission
I won’t die but many will due to their belief that milk comes from the corner store and not a cow….
Not unless I’m a robot that has to bugged in. People will probably panic and cause event that would lead to death, like hoarding and looting and running around likes its the end of days with their legal to own automatic weapons..
I’ll just sit here and eat my stock pile of canned beans and stay warm by the fire.
Yes, I’ll die. I live in Flori-duh. My air conditioner was out for two measly days last week and nearly croaked then.
Me? No. I know how to live off the land, here in the woods.
I am a disabled veteran. I live in ‘small town USA’. Everything that you can see in a shop window, in a larger city, I can only see on my computer screen.
The same goes for my pharmacy supplies, gladly supplied by the local V.A. medical center. However, when I call in for a refill, I do not get the refill from the local V.A.. Noooo. They are sent to me, via electronic ordering systems, from Chattannooga, TN!!!
I am already convinced that, in an EMP attack, I’m screwed. Preppers advise you to stock up on your medicines. The V.A. does not allow that. That would be suspicious, in nature.
Not only am I disabled, but I wear appliances, that also get sent from TN. I know, I’m screwed.