by Daisy Luther
September 23, 2013
from
TheOrganicPrepper Website
Daisy Luther
is a freelance writer and editor. Her website, The
Organic Prepper, offers information on
healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices,
general wellness and non-tech solutions. |
If you haven’t been in a bubble cut off
from all forms of media lately, it would be impossible to have
missed all of the warnings being issued about the impending loss of
our electrical grid.
This isn’t just coming from so-called “gloom and doom” sites or from
alternative media.
Major
mainstream media sources such as,
-
ABC News
-
the Washington Post
-
the New York Times
-
CBS News,
...have all issued the alerts.
Unfortunately, the hordes seem to be
brushing these warnings off as something that cannot happen, because
the reality is too unpleasant to even contemplate.
Many seem to think that they are far
better to stick their heads in the sand and be assured it can never
happen than to prepare ahead of time.
Who Is Ringing
the Warning Bell?
In case you’ve missed it, here are some of the warnings over the
past few months that most people are ignoring. When Janet
Napolitano stepped down from her role as head of the DHS she
released an open letter to her successor.
One chilling tidbit she passed on was
this.
The outgoing Homeland Security
Secretary has a warning for her successor: A massive and
“serious” cyber attack on the U.S. homeland is coming, and a
natural disaster - the likes of which the nation has never seen
- is also likely on its way.
(source)
Read more on Napolitano’s warning
HERE.
But there’s more. Big Sis isn’t the only
one warning us about the possibility of a grid-down scenario.
Former North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan has
co-authored a book about the topic
with David Hagberg - his novel Gridlock is a fictional
account of a very real threat.
Our power system is very vulnerable.
You could see a shutdown by hackers in cyber terror. You could
see it shutdown for days, weeks or months, crippling this
country and causing enormous havoc.
source
Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) also actively
agrees with the threat assessment. He released a report last May
that said our power infrastructure was “highly vulnerable to attacks
from Iran and North Korea” and as well as to natural threats such as
geomagnetic storms from solar activity.
With one well-placed keystroke,
Americans could be plunged into darkness and chaos through the
damage to our electric grid. Foreign enemies are employing Web
warriors to attack our way of life, and it’s time that our
actions respond to the potential threat.
source
Other people in the know have attempted
to make the public aware of the potential for apocalyptic disaster,
but few seem to be taking them seriously.
We are only one act of madness away
from a social cataclysm unlike anything our country has ever
known.
- Congressman Trent Franks
(R-AZ), Senior Member House Armed Service Committee
EMP is one of the small number of
threats that could hold at risk the continued existence of U.S.
civil society.
- Dr. Robert Hermann,
Commissioner US Congress EMP Commission
Just one violent active region on
the sun can cause continent-wide, perhaps even planetary-scale
impacts to our critical infrastructure.
- John Kappenman, Principal
Investigator US Congress EMP Commission
The Likelihood of a severe
geo-magnetic event capable of crippling our electric grid is
100%.
-Congresswoman Yvette Clarke
(D-NY), Senior Member House Homeland Security Committee
(source)
Former Congressman Roscoe Bartlett
has been preaching the dangers of
EMP, whether deliberate or natural, for many years:
We could have events in the future
where the power grid will go down and it’s not, in any
reasonable time, coming back up. For instance, if when the power
grid went down some of our large transformers were destroyed,
damaged beyond use, we don’t make any of those in this country.
They’re made overseas and you order
one and 18 months to two years later they will deliver it. Our
power grid is very vulnerable. It’s very much on edge. Our
military knows that.
There are a number of events that
could create a situation in the cities where civil unrest would
be a very high probability.
I think that those who can, and
those who understand, need to take advantage of the opportunity
when these winds of strife are not blowing to move their
families out of the city.
(source)
Don’t forget the veiled warnings
implicit in predictive programming entertainment.
One of last year’s
biggest television hits was the show
Revolution, which portrayed
life 15 years after a deliberate takedown of the power grid.
GridEX II
Drill in November
And finally, if all of these warnings aren’t enough to alert your
Spidey senses, here is one that is undeniable.
The United States, Mexico, and Canada intend to participate in a
drill in November that will simulate the takedown of the grid.
An electrical grid joint drill
simulation is being planned in the United States, Canada and
Mexico. Thousands of utility workers, FBI agents, anti-terrorism
experts, governmental agencies, and more than 150 private
businesses are involved in the November
power grid drill.
The downed
power grid simulation will
reportedly focus on both physical and cyber attacks. The
antiquated electrical system in the United States has been one
of the most neglected pieces of integral infrastructure.
The disaster drill is being
described as a crisis practice unlike anything the real power
grid has ever experienced.
The
GridEX II drill Nov. 13-14 will
focus primarily on how governments will react if the electrical
grid fails and, for instance, the food supply chain collapses.
American utility companies are
responsible for running approximately 5,800 power plants and
about 450,000 high-voltage transmission lines, controlled by
various devices which have been put into place over the past
decades.
Some of the utility companies which
oversee the power grid reportedly use “antique computer
protocols” which are “probably” safe from cyber hackers,” The
New York Times reported.
“If an adversary lands a
knockout blow, [experts] fear, it could black out vast areas
of the continent for weeks; interrupt supplies of water,
gasoline, diesel fuel and fresh food; shut down
communications; and create disruptions of a scale that was
only hinted at by Hurricane Sandy and the attacks of Sept.
11,” The Times said.
If the power grid fails, a lack of
electricity and food delivery are only the first wave of
troubles facing the American people. Police could face major
problems with civil unrest.
Of course, there also would not be
any electric heating or cooling, which easily could lead to many
deaths depending on the season.
(source)
The most alarming thing about this drill
is the trend of suspected false flag events in America that have
corresponded with “drills”.
Whether or not this will coincide in a
real takedown of the grid remains to be seen, but one only needs to
think back to events such as,
...to see that there is a possibility
that when “drills” occur, often the players are simply being moved
into place right under the nose of the public.
What Can You
Do to Be Ready?
It doesn’t honestly matter HOW the grid goes down.
Whether it is an enemy attack, as in the
novel
One Second After, a government
false flag in order to institute martial law, or a natural act that
is the result of a solar flare, a long-term grid collapse will
result in an extremely high death toll.
If you are already of the preparedness mindset, you’ll fare better
than the average North American.
However, many people have never
contemplated the following questions:
-
How will you get food if the
grocery stores are closed?
-
How will you cook food if you
are able to acquire it?
-
What will happen to the
perishable food in your refrigerator and freezer?
-
How will you heat and cool your
home if you are in an area subject to extreme temperatures?
-
What will you use for light once
the scented candle that sits on your coffee table is gone?
-
How will you transport yourself
if a) your vehicle doesn’t run because the computers are
fried or b) it runs but you can’t get gas because the pumps
at the station run on electricity?
-
What will you drink and wash
with if the municipal water facilities are no longer
providing water or if the pump on your well runs on
electricity?
Find as many solutions as possible for
the issues you would face if
going for weeks (or longer) without power.
You must stay warm, eat, and drink.
Everything else is a bonus. You can live without the television, the
video game console, the microwave in the kitchen, and the laptop.
Some people like to give arguments as to why they can’t resolve
these issues. They live in an apartment, they rent, they have a
limited budget…the list is as long as indefinite detention. The fact
is, by realizing these things are necessary and refusing to face
them and find solutions for your particular situation, you are
setting your family up to suffer, and possibly even die, when it
could be avoided.
A recent article encouraged readers who were new to prepping to
start out by
getting ready for a two-week power outage.
Apply the following information to create your own preparedness plan
for the grid failure that is sure to come.
Modify the suggestions to adapt them to
your particular home, family, and climate.
Water
Everyone knows that clean drinking water is something you can’t live
without.
In the event of a disaster, the water
may not run from the taps, and if it does, it might not be safe to
drink, depending on the situation. If there is a boil order in
place, remember that if the power is out, boiling your water may not
be as easy as turning on your stove.
Each family should store a two week supply of water. The rule of
thumb for drinking water is 1 gallon per day, per person. Don’t
forget to stock water for your pets, also.
You can create your water supply very inexpensively. Many people use
clean 2 liter soda pop bottles to store tap water. Others purchase
the large 5 gallon jugs of filtered water from the grocery store.
Consider a gravity fed water filtration
device and water purification tablets as well.
Food and a Way
to Prepare It
There are two schools of thought regarding food during a power
outage.
If you opt for a secondary cooking
method, be sure that you have enough fuel for two weeks.
Store foods
that do not require long cooking times - for example, dried beans
would use a great deal of fuel, but canned beans could be warmed up,
or even eaten cold.
Heat
Depending on Your Climate
If your power outage takes place in the winter and you live in a
colder climate, heat is another necessity.
During the first 24 hours after a power
outage, you can stay fairly warm if you block off one room of the
house for everyone to group together in. Keep the door closed and
keep a towel or blanket folded along the bottom of the door to
conserve warmth.
You can safely burn a couple of candles
also, and in the enclosed space, your body heat will keep it
relatively warm. As well, dress in layers and keep everything
covered - wear a hat, gloves (fingerless ones allow you to still
function), and a scarf.
Click
HERE to learn how to stay warm with
less heat.
However, after about 48 hours, that’s not going to be enough in very
cold weather. You will require back-up heat at this point in certain
climates. If you are lucky enough to have a source of heat like a
fireplace or woodstove, you’ll be just fine as long as you have a
supply of wood.
Consider a portable propane heater (and propane) or an oil heater.
You have to be very careful what type of backup heat you plan on
using, as many of them can cause carbon monoxide poisoning if used
in a poorly ventilated area.
Learn more about off-grid heat options
HERE.
Sanitation
Needs
A common cause of illness, and even death, during a down-grid
situation is lack of sanitation.
We’ve discussed the importance of clean
drinking water, but you won’t want to use your drinking water to
keep things clean or to flush the toilet.
For cleaning, reduce your need to wash things. Stock up on paper
plates, paper towels, and disposable cups and flatware. Keep some
disinfecting cleaning wipes and sprays (I don’t recommend using
antibacterial products on a regular basis, however in the event of
an emergency they can help to keep you healthy.)
Use hand sanitizer
after using the bathroom and before handing food or beverages -
there may be a lot more germs afoot in a disaster.
Look at your options for sanitation. Does your toilet still flush
when the electricity is out? Many people discovered the hard way
that the toilets didn’t work when the sewage backed up in the
high-rises in New York City in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. At
our cabin, the toilet won’t flush without power because the pump is
electric.
If you are on a septic system, with no risk of the toilet backing up
into the house, simply store some water for flushing in the
bathroom. (At the first sign of a storm, we always fill the bathtub
for this purpose.) Add the water to the tank so that you can flush.
If this is not an option, another solution is to stock up on
extremely heavy duty garbage bags (like the kind that contractors
use at construction sites) and kitty litter. Place a bag either in
your drained toilet or in a bucket.
Sprinkle some kitty litter in the bottom
of the bag. Each time someone uses the bathroom, add another handful
of litter. Be very careful that the bag doesn’t get too heavy for
you to handle it.
Tie it up very securely and store it
outside until services are restored.
Light
Lighting is absolutely vital, especially if there are children in
the house.
Nothing is more frightening than being completely in the
dark during a stressful situation. Fortunately, it’s one of the
easiest things to plan for, as well as one of the least expensive.
Some lighting solutions are:
Tools and Supplies
Some basic items will make your life much easier during an
emergency. Here are some things that are essential in the event of a
power outage:
-
Lighter/waterproof matches
-
Batteries in various sizes
-
Manual can opener
-
Basic tools: Pliers,
screwdriver, wrench, hammer
-
Duct tape
-
Crazy glue
-
Sewing supplies
-
Bungee cords
If you’d like to expand on the basic
supplies, a more detailed list of tools and hardware can be found
HERE.
First Aid Kit
It’s important to have a basic first aid kit on hand at all times,
but particularly in the event of an emergency.
Your kit should include basic wound care
items like bandages, antibiotic ointments, and sprays. As well, if
you use them, keep on hand a supply of basic over-the-counter
medications, like,
-
pain relief capsules
-
cold medicine
-
cough syrup
-
anti-nausea pills
-
allergy medication
Particularly important if sanitation is
a problem are anti-diarrhea medications.
If you want to put together a more advanced medical kit, you can
find a list HERE.
Special Needs
This is something that will be unique to every family.
Consider the things that are needed on a
daily basis in your household. It might be prescription medications,
diapers, or special foods. If you have pets, you’ll need supplies
for them too.
The best way to figure out what you need
is to jot things down as you use them over the course of a week or
so.
Get Started
Today
You can start right now - this very minute - all you have to do is
grab a pad of paper and a pen.
-
Begin by personalizing the
suggestions above to fit your family’s needs and make a list
of your requirements.
-
Next, do a quick inventory - as
I mentioned above, you may be surprised to see that you
already have quite a few of the supplies that are
recommended.
-
Make a shopping list and acquire
the rest of the items you need. If you can’t afford
everything right now, prioritize the most important things
first.
-
Organize your supplies so that
they are easily accessible when you need them. It’s hard to
find seldom-used items in the dark.
When the lights go out, don’t be
left to the not-so-tender mercies of those who would place
themselves in charge.
Maintain your independence by
strengthening the position of your family. Take steps towards
preparedness and self-sufficiency so that you won’t need the
government’s assistance to weather the storm.
If you must comply to survive, your freedom is just an illusion.
You’ve been 'warned'... - what you do with
the information is up to you.
|