There’s a lesson to be learned in India’s three days of blackouts.
The massive power outage in the heavily populated country led to various blame games and left up to 600 million people with a cruel reminder of just how reliant we are on the power-grid system.
Trains were left stationary on tracks, factories were brought to a standstill and the sweltering heat became all the more sweltering for those with no electricity.
National Geographic covers the possibility that intense solar storms on the sun could impact much on Earth that relies on computerization.
From GPS systems to the power grid, the article (and similar documentaries on PBS and elsewhere) warned that, if Earth experiences what it did during a solar event in the 1800s, we could be sent back to a literal dark age.
And, imagining just how fast that genial neighbour can turn into a raving, violent survivalist is a frightening read.
If nothing else, the blackouts in India, like earthquakes closer to home, should offer all of us a reminder to be prepared for that day when our phones don’t work, our ovens won’t turn on, our furnace won’t fire up and the food in our fridges will start to spoil.
Do you have an emergency kit in your home?
If the power went out right now, do you have enough food and water and supplies to last you a week? A month?
Probably not.
And with the demand for power continuing to grow alongside technology, we’re not likely to be cutting back on electrical use anytime soon despite all the warning to do so.
Which is why we should all use the India blackouts as a reminder to take a few hours to prepare for the worst instead of ignoring it
- Kamloops This Week