I know this is serious but since nobody is going to do a damn thing about it, one might as well have fun with it, too. As Brian sang, "always look on the bright side of life". The news you are about to read should be front page news everywhere. There is arguably nothing more important to humanity's survival than the alarming facts presented in this report from NASA, yet most of the world pretends this event never happened in 2012, and they falsely assume it won't happen again. They are wrong. According to shocking new research published by NASA, each decade there is roughly a 12% chance of a near-wipeout of humanity's high-tech civilization. In fact, one such event nearly wiped out technology across the planet during the summer of 2012. more . . .
I found this interesting, in a macabre sort of way: Even if a large percentage of the population wanted to survive following a global electronics wipeout, most people have no real-world skills anymore. They don't know how to farm [I do], how to ranch animals [I do], how to grow a garden [I do] or how to live off the land [I do]. All the skills of the Information Age become instantly useless once a massive solar flare wipes out the electronics. How many people are left who can navigate a street map without using GPS [me]? How many people know how to start a fire in a wood burning stove [me]? How many people purchase books in hard copy format anymore[]? Bring it on. (grrr)
I own a 156 acre farm, which grows grain every year (I rent it out), and we grow a big garden. We pump groundwater for watering, washing, and cooking (not drinking, it's kinda bleh). But, if this kind of event occurred and really had the effects described, we wouldn't make it for long. I have a 300 gallon diesel tank and when that's empty, goodnight to the generator (assuming it has no IC chips and isn't already fried, I'll have to look) and we can no longer pump that groundwater. Then there's the little problem of food storage... Oh, and shelter... I have about a cord of wood now, maybe three more cords in dry wood still standing, and the rest is all live and green. If it's winter when this hits, and the natural gas is cut off at the wellhead, we're gonna freeze in pretty short order. So I don't have many illusions about living off the land, and I'm one who actually owns some.
We have solar cells to serve as backup to electric, and wind generators as well (we are 4500 feet above sea level on top of the mountain). What I don't have is the definitive knowledge as to whether a flare of this magnitude would truly damage things like that, if they are not active and plugged in. Or does it merely affect powered up units?
Maybe you'll get lucky and die when Yellowstone blows up. This does prompt a great deal more respect for the peasants who scrabbled their way through the Dark Ages. And they had the Black Death to deal with.
Lol, maybe. I'm inspired to go out and do some scything tonight, and sing John Barleycorn Must Die. Only weeds, though. : )
Paul Singer: This threat is 'head-and-shoulders' above all others Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer has issued an unusual warning for investors, calling the threat of a widespread blackout from an electromagnetic surge the "most significant danger" in the world. Called an "electromagnetic pulse" or EMP, the events can occur naturally from solar storms or artificially from a high-altitude explosion of nuclear weapons. "While these pages are typically chock full of scary or depressing scenarios, there is one risk that is head-and-shoulders above all the rest in terms of the scope of potential damage adjusted for the likelihood of occurrence," Singer wrote to clients of his $24.8 billion Elliott Management on Monday in a standard investment update letter. "Even horrendous nuclear war, except in its most extreme form, can [be] a relatively localized issue, and the threat from asteroids can (possibly) be mitigated." "(A natural EMP event) today would cause a massive disruption to the electric grid, possibly shutting it down entirely for months or longer, with unimaginable consequences," Singer wrote. "Only two years ago, the sun let loose with a Carrington-magnitude burst, but the position of the earth at the time prevented the burst from hitting it. The chances of additional events of such magnitude may be far greater than most people think." Carrington refers to a solar storm in 1859 that caused telegraph systems to fail around the world. Singer warned that a man-made EMP attack would be even worse. "It would not cause any blast or radiation damage, but such an attack would have consequences even more catastrophic than a severe solar storm. It could not only bring down the grid, but also lay down a very intense, very fast pulse across the continent, damaging or destroying electronic switches, devices, computers and transformers across America," the letter said. A spokesman for Elliott declined further comment. The letter called on leaders to protect the power grid and essential electronic devices. He also said that spare parts should be stockpiled and that government and other groups should prepare an emergency response plan. "Why are we writing about this topic? Because in any analysis of societal risk, EMP stands all by itself. Congressional committees are studying this problem, and federal legislation is laboriously working its way through the process," the letter said. "We think that raising people's consciousness about what should be a bipartisan push to make the country (and the world) safer from this kind of event is a good thing to do." http://www.cnbc.com/id/101875747
So how have the changes in climate affected you? What area of the country are you in (assuming you're US)?
I presently live in Alberta, though I'm a California native and "military brat". I think of Colorado as home. I was sitting in air conditioning when I said I was inspired to do some scything. I forgot, it's 30 C outside (way above normal, by the way), so no frikkin way. When I lived in the north, Alaska and Yukon, the warming was becoming quite noticeable YoY, but that's what they say about the poles, it's more pronounced there. Around here in AB, I haven't lived here long enough to see it myself, but the old coots tell me the planting starts two weeks earlier than it used to, and first frost is later. Before you think, "that's good!", the ground is drying up and irrigation is being halted (through license attrition) so that the cities get the water instead. But the worst thing is the hail. It's becoming so common it's wiping out half the crops, and hail insurance is going up sharply. This year, the hail will fall on a pretty dry crop, (canola, in case you're curious) we have had about an 1/8" in five weeks. Sure seems to be a lot more energy in the atmosphere these days. Hmm, wonder where it's coming from. ; )