In A Grid Down World

“Grid down” is a rational fear. China is perfecting their device to use EMP on Taiwan, and if we interfere most likely on us, or at least the ships we might have in the area. Put that aside for a moment. China has called for the dollar to be replaced by a world currency, again. What with the money the money the U.S. owes them grows by the minute, they are running short of waiting.

Next, the grid is very fragile in the first place. We have three grids that are linked—Eastern, Western and Texas ( that always struck me as strange). We really have no control of the grid. We are sitting ducks just quacking along, willy nilly, in our own little bubble of electricity, power, lights, gas and all that goes with it. Terrorists could inject a virus, in a heartbeat, in this computer driven nightmare waiting to happen.

EMP is a legit fear of downing the grid.

Many millions heat their homes with electricity, not to mention lights. Many oil heaters use an electric switch to turn them on. If an EMP hit, our love affair with computers would be over, bam! Just like that. Most systems in your home would not work. If you have solar you might be able to keep a few things going, like your fridge for a few hours a day. In some cases, those who have gennys will be able to continue running some things, but they use a lot of fuel. How much does the average person have stored? enough to last a week or a month, and then what?

Most do not have a large supply of batteries—how long before those are gone.

In a grid down world we will not be able to buy gas, because those pumps are all electric. Any kind of fuel is very hard to store, for most urban folks.

Always fill your tank when it is at the half way mark. Gas will be huge to have in those urban areas, but impossible to store much. Some in the more rural areas might have an advantage, or not, because the EMP will affect most trucks and cars that have computers. By 1980-81 computers were being installed in many cars and trucks.

Kerosene stores for a very longtime and with frugal use you would be able to cook on camp stoves and have old time lanterns for light. Today they have excellent kerosene heaters that are fairly inexpensive, might be prudent to have a few on hand. In the high desert, where I live, wind generators are a common thing to see. However, after talking with a number of folks about them, I am not to keen on trying them. They have several maintenance problems and tend to break down a lot, but it could be a viable option for some, your call.

If you have a bike, it might work well for personal transportation. If you have a horse, that could work also. I feel transportation could be a major deal. Just going to buy food would be a hardship.

If you have a generator lock it down. The Halcon and I did an interview with a guy who was in a location when a large section of the grid went down, due to ice storms. One of the dirty tricks by bandits was to roll up to house, deep in the night, where they would hear a genny running. They would pull out a gas lawn mower, turn it on, and leave it running next to the genny, while they took off with the genny. No one wake up because they could hear their genny running. Neat trick, eh?

By going low tech depending, on the time of year and where your are located, you could setup several zeer pots. You would need the parts ahead of time though. It would help preserve foods that spoil rapidly without a fridge. Zeer pots are cheap and easy to set up . I gave a class on them at Dirttime 9. You need a very large unglazed clay pot, or flower pot if you will. Cover the bottom with about 2 inches of wet sand. Be sure to plug the hole in the bottom of the pot. The second pot must be able to fit inside the larger pot, and you tuck in wet sand all around the sides, between the two pots. The smaller pot can be glazed, or you use a copper or an aluminum pot as well. Make sure the sand between the pots is all wet down. Cover the top with a wet cloth. Place in the shade where a breeze will hit it. This will keep a lot of foods from spoiling before you can eat it… It works! Those that have a root cellar will be streets ahead of most folks

In a grid down world, it will be calling on you to be your primitive self. A grid down world might last weeks, months or more. Without electricity, it would be a far different world most of us have never known, affecting millions who have to have certain meds to keep alive. I think we take for granted certain services that are almost invisible, like garbage pickup. Since that happy service will be gone, it is amazing how fast a place will fill up with garbage. Your option might be burning the garbage. I would find a few barrels—now—that you can use for burning. You might think about digging a large pit for garbage but in some areas that won't work well. And, even if just a few folks are eating and creating the garbage, it piles up very fast.

In the. GRID DOWN WORLD, being prepared and truly owning the skills is going to be a huge deal. You must think outside of the box, because their won't be a box.

I really hope none of the potential tragedy’s that are looming never happen. Our wonderful way of life could be erased in a minute. If it happens think of as a very long term camping.

By Dude McLean

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