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MechEngDropout
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 Posted: 04/17/05 - 01:11 Post subject: If you had no electricity
... for a long time, several months, perhaps a year, would you be able to handle it? I ask this question because of the long emergency thread in on-topic. Suppose that a replacement for oil is not found and the production of electricity can meet only 40% of demand... what then? What do you think the effect would be on society?
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Kimba90
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Posted: 04/17/05 - 07:26 Post subject:
Us whiny spoiled Americans could not handle it. What, no AC/TV/internet/hair dryer/ gasp wash clothes by hand?
In our other house up north, we had the gas generator to run the sump pump when the power went out. The generator was purely (and small) for the sump pump.
My FIL had a much bigger generator, he needed to run both his sump pump AND the TV.
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JACKED UP
PRESIDENT
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Joined: 06 Jun 2003
Posts: 21238
Location: www.johnnydu.com
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Posted: 04/17/05 - 08:12 Post subject:
sorry, my brain doesn't function on weekends. 
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gretriever
Hipster Doofus
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Location: A moving target in a firing range.
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Posted: 04/17/05 - 08:27 Post subject: Re: If you had no electricity
| MechEngDropout wrote: | | ... for a long time, several months, perhaps a year, would you be able to handle it? |
Are you contemplating building your own cabin in the Idaho wilderness?
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TOsteve
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Posted: 04/17/05 - 08:33 Post subject: Re: If you had no electricity
| MechEngDropout wrote: | | ... for a long time, several months, perhaps a year, would you be able to handle it? I ask this question because of the long emergency thread in on-topic. Suppose that a replacement for oil is not found and the production of electricity can meet only 40% of demand... what then? What do you think the effect would be on society? |
Social fabric, as we know it in the industrialized world, would be torn to shreds. We wouldn't be worried about hairdryers and MTV, we would be worried about how to feed our children and how to protect our families from the violence that had started to break out around us.
Besides, how would I recharge my Garmin? 
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Kimba90
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Posted: 04/17/05 - 09:04 Post subject: Re: If you had no electricity
| TOsteve wrote: |
Besides, how would I recharge my Garmin? |
Oh crap, I DID forget the most important part! 
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RangerG
Bounty Hunter
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Joined: 13 Mar 2003
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Posted: 04/17/05 - 09:05 Post subject:
One of the things I have noted in the survival schools I have attended, is that people in general are much more resourceful than they give themselves credit for. Instinct is a powerful motivator and innovator. Look anywhere a disaster has occurred here in the U.S. People find a way to survive and in the midst of the horror, lend a hand to others.
Were such a situation to occur, there would be benefits as well, such as families pulling together, spending time together with out the distraction of TV and video games. People would be forced to work in industry or services close enough to walk or ride a bike to, or start their own cottage industry.
As a person, you either look for the opportunity in such a situation, or you fall victim to your own sense of self worth.
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copteacher
Adjunct
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Joined: 08 Jun 2002
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Location: Teaching in the Halls of Justice
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Posted: 04/17/05 - 09:17 Post subject:
I agree with G. Do not discount people. Although it would be a tough adjustment, we are resourceful and would endure.
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rolling rock
The Pinball
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Posted: 04/17/05 - 10:44 Post subject:
i "endured" 9 days without electricity in raleigh nc -- most of the city, in pockets, was out due to hurricane fran. my house, by some miracle, received power around third day and we were the only house in the neighborhood with power. people were frothing at the mouth by the end of that nine day"trial". i was on my knees in gratitude that we had power although i felt guilty everyone else was out, and we were running lines to our house whenever and where ever we could..i definitely saw a different side of humanity during that time; i can't really explain it.
forget the TV and hair dryers, i didn't even miss the lights, i simply could not make the adjustment to living without refrigeration; it was really tough with two little kids. that ice cooler act got "old" after about 24 hours.  i suppose you do what you must, but i really shudder to think about living that way for an extended time period, and again, it wasn't the lack of luxury so much as it was just that feeling of threat or danger i guess...vulnerability, i can't explain it but to say it was completely and totally disquieting and discomforting.
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MechEngDropout
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Posted: 04/17/05 - 11:44 Post subject: Re: If you had no electricity
| gretriever wrote: | | Are you contemplating building your own cabin in the Idaho wilderness? |
You jest, but it is sounding pretty good these days.
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Noley
AZhat
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Posted: 04/17/05 - 12:34 Post subject:
To be totally honest...No I WOULD NOT!
I would not be able to give up my current life with luxuries included for no electricity, no running water (we'd all smell and my hair would look like crap), no AC (my god I'd definitly die of the heat here for sure), no TV (I'd go insane for my children would all kill each other out of entertainment)...etc...
I've thought about this before, when watching shows where people are taken back in time and give up modern day lifestyles. It's not for me and hopefully I won't see the day where I have to give it up. I'm selfish and not turning the page back.
I do recycle though. I do make sure I adjust my AC/Heat when I go off to work. I do not run every single light in the house anymore. However, I would not survive nor want to go back.
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Kimba90
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Posted: 04/17/05 - 12:48 Post subject:
This is interesting. This kind of reminds me of the preparation people made for the Y2K hype.. Some folks were overprepared, and alot of people made rather silly preparations, like buying the gas generator. Where were they going to get their 5 gallon can of gas refilled at?
I live out in the country. We have a spring where our water comes from. If the power would go, my pump would not work any longer, but I could still get water. We have a septic tank, but would not be able to flush with out the water. That's easy enough, build an outhouse..
Refrigeration would be tough, but that's where we could build a springhouse next to the spring. The water is ice cold.
We have Amish neighbors and their life style is not something I would want to imitate. But then, at least our immediate neighbors, Sept 11 did not affect them, nor did Y2K. Their lives went on, in the same manner that it's been for the last 100 years or so.
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TimRuns
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Location: Coquitlam, British Columbia
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Posted: 04/17/05 - 13:26 Post subject:
I think most of us who are so accustomed to live with electrical technology will not be used to it at first..however give it time and people will adapt...humans are extremely adaptable beings. Our ancestors lived reasonably well without electricity so why shouldn't we?
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Noley
AZhat
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Posted: 04/17/05 - 13:43 Post subject:
| TimRuns wrote: | I think most of us who are so accustomed to live with electrical technology will not be used to it at first..however give it time and people will adapt...humans are extremely adaptable beings. Our ancestors lived reasonably well without electricity so why shouldn't we?
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I guess because right now we don't have to. Sounds like a stupid statement of me to make, but I don't have to give it up right now. I'm sure we could adapt, but I'd be walking an awful long way to get to/from my job each day...
I'm just sayin...
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jrjo
Gone Fishin
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Posted: 04/17/05 - 14:31 Post subject:
Frequently, jrjo-family vacations are "camping". Yes, electricity free even. And yes, I could live without electricity if it were necessary. In fact, part of me would somewhat welcome the challenge. 
The impossible part though would be my job. Computerized accounting software easily makes bookkeeping one-tenth the work of going back to green-bar paper. No way I could keep the ledgers manually myself of what I do now with a computer. They'd have to hire a whole bunch of beancounters to get the work done.
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