Life without electricity. Would you survive?

oldtimer54

oldtimer54

Well-Known Member
I once read that if a EMP or a solar flare shut down the power grid that 90% of the population would die within the first year.
With the addition of a new son in law and a 5 month old granddaughter and our daughter finally moving onto the farm we have 11 people living on 10 acres in 3 homes all blood relatives. Deep down I do think about scenarios where the electric grid goes down and wonder how we would cope with no power or any of the modern convenience it provides. We do grow veggies and can a great deal. I own guns and a ample supply of ammo for each. There is a nice creek that even in the hottest summer's always flows add to that the 3 acre pond that's fully stocked plus all the wildlife and my years of experience in the water industry . I have the ability to chemically treat even the dirtiest water .
I'd like to think that my family would be in that surviving 10% but who knows.
The only thing I know for sure is I'll be with those I love the most . If that's not enough to motivate you nothing is.
 
cannabineer

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
oldtimer54 said:
I once read that if a EMP or a solar flare shut down the power grid that 90% of the population would die within the first year.
With the addition of a new son in law and a 5 month old granddaughter and our daughter finally moving onto the farm we have 11 people living on 10 acres in 3 homes all blood relatives. Deep down I do think about scenarios where the electric grid goes down and wonder how we would cope with no power or any of the modern convenience it provides. We do grow veggies and can a great deal. I own guns and a ample supply of ammo for each. There is a nice creek that even in the hottest summer's always flows add to that the 3 acre pond that's fully stocked plus all the wildlife and my years of experience in the water industry . I have the ability to chemically treat even the dirtiest water .
I'd like to think that my family would be in that surviving 10% but who knows.
The only thing I know for sure is I'll be with those I love the most . If that's not enough to motivate you nothing is.
Click to expand...
William R. Forstchen wrote a series of novels that center on the national devastation caused by a single EMP device. Scary reading.

S.M. Sterling (Dies the Fire and sequels) writes about an even more comprehensive tech failure. Guns, internal combustion, even steam does not work ...
 
oldtimer54

oldtimer54

Well-Known Member
cannabineer said:
William R. Forstchen wrote a series of novels that center on the national devastation caused by a single EMP device. Scary reading.

S.M. Sterling (Dies the Fire and sequels) writes about an even more comprehensive tech failure. Guns, internal combustion, even steam does not work ...
Click to expand...
I was just listening to am coast to coast and they were talking about forstchen and his books. I was already familiar with him. I've read several of his books. My wife worked for a major electricity supplier in this part of the country for over 40 years. We've had some very interesting conversations on the topic. She was unaware that something like an EMP or a solar flare could shutdown the whole current system. I was completely surprised one day when she told me that she started asking questions on the topic of power grid collapse and was quickly asked to refrain from such topics at work. I simply told her that I thought that was the feeling of probably most of the major electricity suppliers in this country !
 
cannabineer

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
see4 said:
I may have read that wrong, but how would a gun not work after an EMP?
Click to expand...
In Stirling's series, it wasn't EMP, but something that f'd with physics itself at some level. Technically savvy survivors hypothesized Alien Space Bats. The last chemist would light a pile of gunpowder every year to watch it smolder ... in the dying hope that normal would come back.

The premise made for Medieval-style warfare but with a few modern touches, like ferroconcrete and gliders ...
 
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greg nr

greg nr

Well-Known Member
Can I pick the 90% that doesn't make it? ;)

In case you went to a republican school, I'll point out that electricity has only been with us for about 150 years, give or take. We sheeples have been on this planet for millions of years.

And if we suddenly go lights out, well, c'est la vie. We all have to die some time, and if we all go at once, that's too bad.

Nobody guarantees civilization's survival. We have to do it ourselves. Denying science is a pretty good way to go back to the stone age, or oblivion.
 
see4

see4

Well-Known Member
cannabineer said:
In Stirling's series, it wasn't EMP, but something that f'd with physics itself at some level. Technically savvy survivors hypothesized Alien Space Bats. The last chemist would light a pile of gunpowder every yer to watch it smolder ... in the dying hope that normal would come back.

The premise made for Medieval-style warfare but with a few modern touches, like ferroconcrete and gliders ...
Click to expand...
I may have to give that author a look-see. Interesting premise. Asimov meets Boulle.
 
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