Life as a Spectator Sport

I've been rattling away about how to do things without electricity, without ever really talking about why I think we may need to do that.

This isn't about global warming or peak oil. As far as I'm concerned, those are givens. I'm no longer interested in arguing with the deniers. I'm only concerned now with what's on the horizon, not with what caused it. Nor do I think there is any way to avert the crisis. No one is willing to do what is necessary, not the people who want to prop up the existing American lifestyle with ever-increasing "bailouts," and certainly not the people who led us down the garden path to dependency. The only recourse I know of is to hunker down, get prepared and wait out the storm.

Will life actually get so bad that electricity is no longer available? That's harder to predict. There are multiple possibilities. One is that general societal chaos will disrupt power transmission lines, perhaps interfere with coal and oil deliveries to the generating plants, or hinder employees from coming to work. Another possibility is that electricity will become so expensive that few can afford it. Power-generating utilities are not immune to fundamental economic equations: if fewer and fewer people can afford to keep the power on, everyone else has to pay more. The electric grid in any developed country is a complex, multi-layered, inter-dependent entity; injure one element and the others have only two ways to survive--isolate themselves, or shut themselves down. We could see disruptions in the more vulnerable geographical areas while others continued to have service. In any case, whatever the final outcome, I don't believe it's prudent to assume that electricity will always be available.

Therefore, the non-electric home. Some of us (not me, so far) will have limited electric power from solar systems, windmills or hydraulic turbines. Good for them. The rest of us will have to learn how to get along without it, and while I'd like to have a small solar system at some point, my version of "off-grid" has always meant electricity-independent.

There is only one area I know of where having no electricity could be a real problem, and that is refrigeration of perishable food and medications (overlooking for the moment that perishable medications might not be available anyway). There are other methods of refrigeration besides the big metal electric-powered box that most people in the developed world take for granted. I'll get to those in subsequent posts.

The last few winters in the US, especially the northeast, have proven to people that it's possible to live without electricity. Those whose homes and lives were already set up to heat, cook, light and obtain water without electric power obviously had it the easiest. But most of the others, those who didn't have relatives' homes or shelters to retreat to, survived it without much more than unpleasant memories.

So the issue for me is not how to find alternate sources of electricity, but how to best arrange my home and my life so I can function without it. I'll grieve for the loss of my computer (that's what I want the solar power for), but that's about all.

There are some primary human needs that currently depend almost entirely on electricity: cooking, cleaning, laundry, personal hygiene, lighting and climate control. Obviously these aren't the only needs, but the others--acquisition of food and water, medical care, transportation, and so forth--are not directly dependent on electricity for most people. Those in rural areas with an electric well pump would be an exception, but they are still a minority compared to the multitudes on municipal water supplies.

Many people don't use electricity for cooking, other than for small appliances. But they're still dependent on the availability of fuel. So being able to cook food without electricity or alternate fuels is one major need.

Keeping one's home clean will be even more important in an era without easily available antibiotics and medical care. Many people don't know that the incidence of communicable disease began to decrease well before vaccinations were available--it was the emphasis on a clean home and clean body that made the difference.

Laundry and personal hygiene are basically sub-categories of cleaning, but with special needs and issues.

Climate control, especially cooling, is one of the major consumers of electricity in the US. Yet many older homes can function just fine without air conditioning (as they did before it was available), and many others would fare much better with small modifications and increased insulation. The biggest hindrance to living without air conditioning is psychological (yes, newer homes designed for central a/c have lousy air circulation, but the major problem is still the people living in them).

Unless you live in or near the tropics, keeping warm in the winter is a concern. Even so, people can live in a much wider range of temperatures than many of us are accustomed to. Americans traveling to England complain of how cold the houses are, while the British visiting America think ours are stifling. Clearly, perception plays a large part in comfort.

As a child, I lived in a small travel trailer heated only by a kerosene stove. My father didn't feel it was safe to leave it running without supervision, so we had no heat at night during the freezing temperatures of an upstate New York winter. I recall being definitely uncomfortable. But I obviously lived through it.

So although there will certainly be hardship, we can survive a life without the luxuries to which we've become accustomed. Not everyone will make it. The very young and the very old are most vulnerable. People living in cities and suburbs will have a much harder time than those in the country. I don't want to paint too rosy a picture. What I am saying is that with sufficient preparation, good skills and a positive attitude, it's possible to live well without electricity and all the gadgets and goodies that go with it.

More on the subject as I have time.

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RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email to liz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002