Severing Our Lifeline: The End of Electricity and Technology

I've read through the replies and can't believe some of them. Someone basically said there will not be millions dead because "survival instinct will kick in". That means you will be reduced to your basic cave man attitude, which is "Kill or Starve". And there will be millions just like you. All of the people who have prepared or have the skills to get by, will be constantly threatened by ones who don't. Many of the people in cities will die, because they have no idea how to raise their own food, hunt or how to clean game, even if they could catch it. Many would just as likely take off their foot trying to chop wood. Whose going to suture that? Where will you get antibiotics? The most experience many have with wound dressing doesn't go past a skinned knee, sunburn or bug bite. Hospitals would be swamped, supplies would run out. If the SHTF, millions will die in the U.S. alone. Billions will die all over the world.

Originally posted by DAVID64
I've read through the replies and can't believe some of them. Someone basically said there will not be millions dead because "survival instinct will kick in". That means you will be reduced to your basic cave man attitude, which is "Kill or Starve". And there will be millions just like you. All of the people who have prepared or have the skills to get by, will be constantly threatened by ones who don't. Many of the people in cities will die, because they have no idea how to raise their own food, hunt or how to clean game, even if they could catch it. Many would just as likely take off their foot trying to chop wood. Whose going to suture that? Where will you get antibiotics? The most experience many have with wound dressing doesn't go past a skinned knee, sunburn or bug bite. Hospitals would be swamped, supplies would run out. If the SHTF, millions will die in the U.S. alone. Billions will die all over the world.

In nature only the strong survive....this is the way it is suppose to be.....but be advised, life is terminal from birth

reply to post by SPECULUM


Yeah, I sometimes think the lucky will die quickly. I've never been very lucky, so I've always been prepared.

In 2001 my husband and I moved back to Maine, starting in March of 2002 we built our home and moved in. We had no running water, no lights, no phone and we lived like that for 2 years because we enjoyed it. Finally we sold our home and moved back to North Carolina. However I would give this life up in a minute to live that way again. It can be done. However I grew up in Maine and knew how to do things My husband also was brought up living off grid, so he knew how to do things. We built a home by hand with no electric tools. We also learned how to build a smoker, and how to keep food good all year round. However most folks wouldn't know how to do it even if they tried.

Then we have the lazy folks, that were brought up with a silver spoon in their mouth so they wouldn't know at all how to survive any of that. The strong will survive, but mostly it's those that are strong minded, and can live off grid and know what to do. Those that are all the time 100% use to having things at their finger tips will not survive.

This year we are putting in an outside fire place in case if we ever have to cook outside. We already have plenty of chickens and plenty of home canned goods stock piled so if anything happens I have plenty of food put away.

Originally posted by CirqueDeTruth
reply to post by DrumsRfun

 

I agree with your previous post to mine. I just get upset when people come up and say massive amounts of the population would die off. I just don't believe that. Survival instinct will kick in, and everyone will be falling back on the roots of our existence. Which existed for millennium before electricity and running water! I just, don't think we give ourselves and our intelligence enough credit.

We survived it before, and if you teach your kids right, we will survive it again. It's that simple. Plant a garden this spring. Whether you live in the city or not. And share the excess with your neighbors. The local super market chains will be pissed with everyone, should everyone give it a shot.

It's that simple. To change everything. It's the collective small steps we make, that lead to real change. I have to believe that, for my own children's sake.

Peace,
Cirque

But here's the problem: So many people out there aren't even paying attention of a possible collapse so they're not preparing for anything. And, like the poster mentioned, we're so dependent on technology we haven't taken the time to learn any skills on our own.

Originally posted by AuntC
In 2001 my husband and I moved back to Maine, starting in March of 2002 we built our home and moved in. We had no running water, no lights, no phone and we lived like that for 2 years because we enjoyed it. Finally we sold our home and moved back to North Carolina. However I would give this life up in a minute to live that way again. It can be done. However I grew up in Maine and knew how to do things My husband also was brought up living off grid, so he knew how to do things. We built a home by hand with no electric tools. We also learned how to build a smoker, and how to keep food good all year round. However most folks wouldn't know how to do it even if they tried.

Then we have the lazy folks, that were brought up with a silver spoon in their mouth so they wouldn't know at all how to survive any of that. The strong will survive, but mostly it's those that are strong minded, and can live off grid and know what to do. Those that are all the time 100% use to having things at their finger tips will not survive.

This year we are putting in an outside fire place in case if we ever have to cook outside. We already have plenty of chickens and plenty of home canned goods stock piled so if anything happens I have plenty of food put away.

In a stationary environment with the absolute possibility of marauders during a cataclysm event, and especially with the millions of have-not's that will surely be moving like herds of wild buffalo. Believing you could just settle in and live happily ever after with your skill basics, isn't very realistic in the truest sense, because one must only look to the Viking history to grasp a reality, but then go a little further forwards in time to the American Indians and what the European encroachers did to them, and you then understand that in today's technology you must be technologically prepared to thwart attacks or conceal to the degree that you become an enigma/phantom, erasing every trace of your existence just to be able to maintain a status quo of basic survivability......living anywhere near the north or south east "stationary" only makes you a victim of your unsuspecting ideology, due to the seriousness of the reality.

You must upgrade your techniques on the move and learn to adapt accordingly or you will fail, as will the majority.

"Its Best To Fight Then Run Away,To Live To Fight Another Day"

I know you all are being realistic and are right.

Many would die if a cataclysm rocked our world.

But I was answering with just the thought that the grid goes down and that was it. No other extenuating forces on us, just technology failing.

We act as though we've been surviving off this technology for millennium, when in reality it's only been a century. In reality, we've survived a lot longer in thriving communities, without the power grid. It would click. Oh, wait. My great - great grandmother lived without lights, vehicles, and television. It's not the end of the world. The sun still comes up, the green grass still grows, the deer still frolic in the fields, and oh, yeah - the rivers are still running. I can still create fire and warm my bones, and cook this venison. Oh and Wally the weiner dog over there might taste tasty over the spit to.

Peace,
Cirque

My wife and I spent a year in the Philippines, and not the big island of Luzon. We lived on the southern island of Negros Oriental near the city of Dumaguete. Living over there is a true eye opener. Yes, they have electricity and the internet... sometimes. Blackouts are not only common there, they are expected... and even when the power is on, the voltage fluctuations are just wild. To use any electronic device you don't dare plug it in without a voltage regulator, lest it be fried. (Electricity in the PI is 220v @ 60hz... nominal voltage was actually closer to 180v with swings as high as 300v being the norm) Internet service is even sketchier. For the most part (unless you live in a city) you have 1 option. 3G. That's it. The service company has to come to your house and install a 30 foot antenna mast (which is loads of fun to watch), it is expensive, and barely runs at "dial-up" speeds... when it is working.
Many of our Philippino neighbors only used electricity for basic lighting. No appliances, no TVs, no electric stoves, no electric hot water etc. Many places that offered hot water had small electric heaters plumbed in.

They raise their own livestock (mostly chickens, pigs and goats), they catch their own fish, and grow their own vegetables. Most of the flavors in their cooking comes from what grows wild... lemon grass, wild onions, and other herbs. All of their food is completely prepared by hand; no food processors, blenders, choppers... They cook over small wood fires (the "wealthy" over there may have a propane stove or cook-top) and the food is amazing.

It was an interesting dichotomy. The technology and comforts that we are so accustomed to are present, but in much smaller doses... and they are still comfortable living off of the land.

We definitely learned a lot from our time over there.

I think if people acted responsibly we as a people would be fine. However now days there are fewer producers than users and the "let's loot everything" mentally will take over and violence will bring down the cities. Most of our current comforts come from oil. When the oil runs out, fertilizer runs out, food production drops, and then you will see just who the real producers are.

AS in the OP, if the electricity just vanished, I still believe many people would starve and die. Most people can only store meat in fridges and freezers. When the store bought can food ran out they would be SOL. Figure half the stoves are electric and if a SHTF event happened now, even if they have a garden do they have the supplies and know how to can food they grow. Say you have a gas grill. Do you have much more than the 20 pound cylinder that is hooked up to it? If the power goes out, ATM's do not work, most people would not have a job to go to, it would be a cluster that would leave the first world envying the third.

reply to post by smyleegrl

Now its time to step into the realm of speculation. What would happen if we lost our electricity AND technology for a long time? In other words….we’re back in the stone age. No access to anything that runs on batteries, etc.

Pretty much the premise of the TV show "Revolution" (which comes back on tonight, actually).

I have a similar thread on this, about how this one event or side-effect of a SHTF event, would completely be the one key factor in our downfall.

For the first 3 days, assumptions would be that restoration of power is going to happen. You'd see an uptick in looting crimes the first few evenings, but mostly, not as much chaos. After the third day, things would drastically go down from there. More widespread looting, no info on what's going on. Stores are empty, Gas stations empty, generators run dry, etc. After the first week, it would then really escalate. No doubt the military would be involved and martial law imposed, etc. FEMA camps, rationing stations, etc. However, you'd still have anarchy and chaos in areas the military can't control. After a few weeks, if things aren't restored, then we really see crap hit the fan. Once the military no longer can fuel their vehicles or enforce law, then we see a VERY bloody time, as everyone scraps for remaining resources (including the soldiers, who with no comms and command structure, look out for themselves).

This is where the rise of small, military dictatorships will occur, like highly trained gangs. On this, the TV show has it right I think.

Personally, I think it unlikely it would take so long to get things back to normal, unless the power outage was a result of some other trigger, that caused additional issues, and on a nationwide scale. If just localized, the federal government will be able to rectify within a few weeks.

If the lights went out on a medium to long-term basis....

I think you'd see a spike in the death rate beginning immediately, and peaking after about the 3rd day.

Think about it. Hospitals have backup generators, but some would malfunction or be down for repairs. This means everyone on life support or telemetry would have an elevated risk. Without electricity, the hospital generators (powered by natural gas) would loose pressure after 48 hours or so, and then fall silent.

-In the summertime, small children and the elderly would be at hightened risk of heat-stroke, with no running water or air conditioning.

-without traffic lights and ambulance service, accidental injuries would now be far more fatal.

But the real problems would come the following Autumn. Without electricity, irrigation based farming would have creased. US grain production would plummet. So would slaughterhouse operations and all in-factory food processing.

The USA produces 60% of all internationally traded corn, and 40% of all internationally traded wheat. And the US processes 40% of all soybeans. Asian states actually ship their own soybeans the USA to have them processed, then shipped back home! Without US production, GLOBAL food output would fall by a quarter to a third, causing hundreds of millions worldwide to starve to death.

Likewise, international trade would slide over a cliff. Wall Street, NYMEX, AMEX and the Chicago board of Trade would cease to exist. Intermodal transport could no longer save time (and freight capacity) by ship to long beach, then by rail to houston or new york and then transferring to the atlantic merchant fleet. Without US rail, maritime trade in the western hemisphere would have to squeeze through the panama canal, or round the Horn, an impossible journey for very many freight vessels....

The entire world would slide into an economic depression and quasi-famine of near Biblical proportions.

With the American navy unable to refuel its fleet at home, aggressor states would be free to pursue their international ambitions. What would it be like to live in one of the following places, with America magically out of the equation? Who knows.....

-South Korea
-South Ossetia or any of the Russian "near neighborhood of former influence"
-Chechnya
-Bosnia, or any of the former Yugoslavian republics
-Vietnam, now that oil has been discovered and China needs it...
-Taiwan
-Israel
-ABC (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao; Dutch dependencies claimed by Chavez' Venezuela)

All of those situations might not be as bad as speculated here. But even if only a few of them are the type of trainwreck we can imagine, it could be pretty darn bad.

reply to post by tovenar


You're forgetting the trucks. With the power gone, the fuel pumps quit, keeping many trucks from flowing goods to stores. Also, with the power out, nobody has access to their assets, so can't buy anything, and stores can't sell anything anyhow... People may eek out meals from their cupboards for a couple days or so, but after that...total chaos.

Originally posted by Gazrok
reply to post by tovenar

 

You're forgetting the trucks. With the power gone, the fuel pumps quit, keeping many trucks from flowing goods to stores. Also, with the power out, nobody has access to their assets, so can't buy anything, and stores can't sell anything anyhow... People may eek out meals from their cupboards for a couple days or so, but after that...total chaos.

Quite correct.
All infrastructure would eventually collapse. Natural gas would cease to flow, along with municipal water supplies. The few hand pumps available could be used to take fuel from certain storage tanks, but even that would run out in a short time.
No rapid transit in the urban areas, so lots of pedestrians fighting over the dwindling supply of food and potable water.
It really isn't a pleasant thing to ponder.

Actually I read several months ago a doom article that said the supermarkets would have food but no one but the very rich could pay the price for a loaf of bread. Then recently (depending on where you live) the coal fired power plants are being shut down, thusly doubling the electric bill for many. So as in many things it is the slow creep that gets you in the end like the frog in the pan of water where the heat is slowly turned up.

Originally posted by Gazrok
reply to post by tovenar

 

You're forgetting the trucks. With the power gone, the fuel pumps quit, keeping many trucks from flowing goods to stores. Also, with the power out, nobody has access to their assets, so can't buy anything, and stores can't sell anything anyhow... People may eek out meals from their cupboards for a couple days or so, but after that...total chaos.

Well, I didn't exactly forget them; I omitted them because I was trying to think of the systemic problems, the ones that will take months,years, even decades to fix.

But you are correct: for many who rely on society for their daily bread, the first few days will be "long term."

reply to post by 727Sky


Ferfal's blogspot, of his recollections as Argentina slid over the brink, describes the lights not going out at once, but merely being off for a few more hours every week. Until in most places, they never really came back on.

Originally posted by tovenar
reply to post by 727Sky

 

Ferfal's blogspot, of his recollections as Argentina slid over the brink, describes the lights not going out at once, but merely being off for a few more hours every week. Until in most places, they never really came back on.

Yes I read his book and really had to think I hope that scenario never happens in the states....The red lights and no one stopping for fear of being mugged after darkness was an eye opener for me.

Originally posted by 727Sky
....The red lights and no one stopping for fear of being mugged after darkness was an eye opener for me.

They have that it Houston. police have instructed people who must drive through bad neighborhoods (who work at hospitals) to disregard traffic signals after dark, to avoid car-jackings. They say no cop will stop you. If a cop does pull you over, make sure the car is a marked patrol car before you stop for the "policeman". Best is just to head for the nearest police station and park there.

reply to post by smyleegrl


Odd I should come across this thread; I have been thinking about the same thing lately, Smyleegrl.

I was raised in the country. My mother and father each competed to see who could grow the best garden every year. (They each had their own that they tended.)

We had lots of canned and bagged freezer food at all times. My mother only had to buy the basics at the grocery store; salt, pepper, flour, meal, sugar, etc. We bought our milk and eggs from my grandmother who owned a cow and chickens.
My dad raised a pig every year, or bought a calf to butcher for the freezer, and he also raised chickens for the market. Any time we wanted fried chicken he just stepped out to the chicken house and got one, usually for Sunday lunch/dinner.
We had a small apple orchard, plum tree, pear tree, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, cherries... we had it all. :-)

The point is, I know how to survive living off the land. The problem is, I have no land to live off of now. This worries me!
Yes, we have enough room for a garden in our yard, but the soil is in such poor quality, I don't think it would produce much food worth eating for the time and effort it would take to tend it.
We have put new top soil down, and fertilized it to make it better, but the crops turn out... lacking, to say the least. We have no place to keep a cow, or chickens either.

I have been wondering what we would do if the day comes when we need to put our "skills" of survival to use, with no place to use it? This would be the delima we would face.

But, hey! We still know how to hunt and fish, so we won't starve!

reply to post by smyleegrl

Now its time to step into the realm of speculation. What would happen if we lost our electricity AND technology for a long time? In other words….we’re back in the stone age. No access to anything that runs on batteries, etc.

Not back to the stone age.. just back to the 1800's or there abouts..just before Electricity was discovered... but as I said in a previous thread, our gov would have to enact Martial Law and no other way around it; securing the coninutiy of Gov first, meaning the WH will establish it first and then the states will follow, from there, they will more than likey set up generators in local communities ..

thought about this long and hard back in Y2k.. it's either that or every person for themselves..
ETA: or Local Communities coming together and trusting one another .......