Originally published June 23 2015
Are you ready for a 10 years with no power grid? Massive solar flare could cause decade-long blackout
by Daniel Barker
(NaturalNews) One morning in September, 1859, British astronomer Richard Carrington sat in his private observatory, drawing pictures of sunspots using a telescope which projected an image of the sun onto a screen.
As he drew and observed, there suddenly appeared a brilliant flash of white light on the surface of the sun. Startled, he ran to find witnesses to what he realized was a very unusual event, but by the time he returned, the massive solar flare that Carrington observed had mostly dissipated.
The next morning, shortly before dawn, skies around the globe lit up with colorful auroras so bright that "newspapers could be read as easily as in daylight," as NASA describes the event.
In those days, of course, there was no electrical "grid" as we now have, but there were telegraph networks in various parts the world.
From the NASA website:
[T]elegraph systems worldwide went haywire. Spark discharges shocked telegraph operators and set the telegraph paper on fire. Even when telegraphers disconnected the batteries powering the lines, aurora-induced electric currents in the wires still allowed messages to be transmitted.
If a solar flare of such magnitude hit the earth now with a gigantic burst of charged particles -- and scientist say it is a matter of "when," not "if" -- our electrical grid would almost certainly be disabled, if not completely destroyed.
The scary truth is that experts believe that it could take years -- possibly up to a decade -- to repair the system.
From a report posted by Bloomberg Business:
A disturbance of the magnitude of the 1859 Carrington Event, which caused the failure of telegraph systems in North America and Europe, could cost $1 trillion to $2 trillion in the first year and take four to 10 years to recover from, according to a National Research Council report.
In February of this year, the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) was launched and soon will be in position to begin observing the sun from its orbit between the earth and the sun. The observatory will be used as part of a system created by the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center to warn "power companies, airlines and other susceptible industries about potentially adverse conditions."
Experts say the observatory will give the grid operators time to shut down the grid to protect it in the case of a massive solar flare. But this warning will come only one hour before the flare hits the earth's magnetic field, so many are skeptical about it making much difference.
The question is: Are you ready if and when the grid goes down? How long could you survive without electricity?
A week?
A month?
A decade...?
The sobering reality is that the majority of the U.S. population is totally unprepared for such a scenario, particularly those living in large cities.
The only protection is to become as self-sufficient as possible, and this is crucial not only because of the threat of solar flares, but also a number of other possible scenarios in which we can no longer depend on the grid.
However, prepping for a grid failure or other disasters is not something one can do overnight. And it's not all about stockpiling water, food, guns and ammo.
It's more about changing one's overall mindset and slowly beginning to become self-reliant in both thoughts and actions. Even those living in urban areas will have a chance at survival if they begin making the necessary changes in thinking and lifestyle.
Stockpiling is certainly an essential survival strategy, but learning how to grow your own food is one of the most valuable skills you can develop. Even if there is no grid failure in the near future, the benefits are well worth the effort.
By growing your own food, not only will you be taking steps towards self-sufficiency, but you'll also save money, and best of all, your health will benefit from eating fresh, organic, nutrient-rich plants.
And a great way to start is by using the Food Rising Grow Box system, developed by our own Mike Adams, the Health Ranger. The system requires no electricity, and the plans are available free of charge. For more information, go to FoodRising.org.
Sources:
http://science.nasa.gov
http://www.bloomberg.com
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