Oct42010
Could Solar Storms in 2012 Cause a Solar EMP?
Guest post by mama4x who blogs at Farming Salt & Light.
Set aside all the 2012 and Mayan calendar hysteria and consider this. According to NASA, 2012 will usher in a period of massive solar activity. It’s possible these coming solar storms will produce the same effects as an EMP caused by a nuclear blast.
image by Rennett Stowe
I type this post on my laptop in an air-conditioned room. I hear the hum of the refrigerator and the low drone of the TV in the other room. As night falls, I’ll turn on the lamp and later, I’ll take a shower, water pulled up the well and heated by electricity. What defines our modern lifestyle as different from other generations? It’s our propensity to be “plugged-in.” We check our electronic bank balance to see how much “money” we have. We listen to the news report to see what the weather will be like. We barely make the journey from the parking lot to the store without overheating due to lack of air conditioning. We tone our bodies (so that they look nice) by running on an electric treadmill as we listen to our iPods and read the feed from CNN. We communicate with people across the nation via email but don’t know our neighbors.
I am a stay-at-home mama who just learned about prepping in February. I used to feel panicky when I read about inflation, food storage, and all the facets of preparing for any scenario. I thought that surely “SHTF” was going to happen any day and my family and I would just be out of luck. Now I understand the necessity of working towards goals as each day allows, prioritizing, and not acting out of fear, but from a position of information.
Now, I don’t purport to know everything there is to know abut astronomy, economics, or the psychology of a collapse, but I’ve been learning a lot. Therefore, when I hear of an event that is certain to occur, based on scientific evidence and recorded historical cycles, I feel that it is crucially important to be prepared for it.
You may have heard of an EMP, or Electro-Magnetic Pulse. Usually it is referring to a nuclear device detonated at varying altitudes by a terrorist, as an attack on our country by doing the most damage for the least effort. An EMP will send a massive surge through the power grid, rendering the grid itself, and all electric appliances attached to the grid (plugged in) useless. In addition, the appliances not technically connected to the grid (such as a car, plane, or any device with a computer chip, such as your iPhone on the kitchen table) will receive such a magnetic pulse that the computer chips will be ruined. Electric well pumps, generators, electronic locks, ATMS, city water, everything — all down. This scenario is terrifying to contemplate. It is usually judged to be just too big a problem to solve nationwide.
image by NASA Goddard Photo & Video
What you may not know is that the Sun’s magnetic energy cycle touches its highest level every 22 years, and the number of sun spots (or flares) reaches its peak every 11 years. These two events will take place together in 2013 to produce huge levels of radiation. Keep in mind that these flares, although massive in amounts of electro-magnetic energy, are harmless to living things such as people, animals, and plants. The cycle’s first small flares will be observed in 2012 and the cycle will continue to grow in strength until 2014.
- Banks will lose all records and will not know what loans they have, nor where to collect them, or have the communication skills to organize the collection of them. (This is a good thing!)
- Electronic bank balances (including 401Ks and stocks) will disappear and people will be left with the money they have on hand, usually paper, essentially worthless.
- Legitimate attempts to go to banks to get the contents of your security boxes will precipitate encounters with those going to merely harvest what they can find. Is your only weapon in a safe with an electronic lock?
- Anyone with preps should lay low while the initial chaos strikes those who realize that they don’t have any supplies (mainly food and water; they won’t realize the extent of their situation at first). Many will take what they can, many will die in the struggle. The ability to hunker down and literally not leave the house for even a few months may mean surviving the destructive start of the collapse.
- As people realize that nothing will be produced any more (such as Tylenol, sheets, string cheese) they will go into scavenge and hoard mode, or conquer and steal mode.
- When the grid goes down, many will be without a source of water. How about you? Not just some stored for a hurricane or snow storm, but some serious water supplies.
- There will be solar flares for the entire cycle- even up to two years- so having key pieces of your SHTF equipment in a homemade Faraday won’t work… unless you keep them under wraps till you are sure the solar cycle is over. Then, of course, you’d make yourself a target by having the only equipment… things to consider.
- Many of the “more extreme” prepper styles (zombie, anarchy, 1800′s lifestyle) will suddenly seem more relevant when you consider the panicked mobs of unprepared, hunger-crazed people there are. Of course, the more industrialized the country, the more the effects of the EMP will be felt. Rural China, outback of Australia, desert of Africa… their day-to-day style of life won’t be torn apart like we will be here and in Europe, where we are so dependent on computers and electricity.
- It sometimes seems to Americans that only the faraway places of earth are where the people die from diarrhea, clan wars, starvation, and are sold into slavery. But if the upcoming solar cycle is literally TEOTWAWKI, these things will be happening in your own county.
image by Image Editor
Does something that seem like such a certainty cause you to tremble in your boots? Think to what made you begin to prep. For me, it was when my husband lost his job and had no unemployment. I thought back to Katrina, and watched Haiti unfold. Then I learned about hyperinflation. Recently my home was flooded by Tropical Storm Hermine. Things happen. We need to assess the realistic threat and the best way to act and not expect that government help will be there when we need it. Here is what I think are bare minimum goals.
- Accumulate a large amount of stored water. Secure a very local water source.
- Accumulate a large amount of properly stored staple foods (wheat, rice, beans, oats, sugar, salt, pasta).
- Accumulate a large pantry of groceries, including spices and fats
- At the very least, if you can’t grow vegetables and collect seeds, buy a variety of sprouting seeds, which can be grown indoors year-round.
- Accumulate any and all medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, medicines, and first aid training and health manuals.
- Acquire, train with and supply at least two kinds of weapons for home defense. Many people find it realistic to buy handguns and rifles in the same caliber to make storing a ton of ammunition easier. I suggest having a dozen or more pepper sprays too.
© 2010, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.
(29) Readers Comments
Leave a Reply
How To Dry Shampoo Your Hair to Save Water
My girls and I have long curly hair that has to be washed everyday. B
Win a Copy of Survival Mom AND a FlashLantern!
Bookperks is running this giveaway on their own. I will ask them for
Win a Copy of Survival Mom AND a FlashLantern!
when is the give away closed? how will we know who won?
The Importance of Patient Advocacy
When we went through my mom's final illness, I so wished I could be wi
Anatomy of The Survival Mom's Pantry
Oh my goodness Soren you are hilarious! I guess we had better stock up
Dagny
The History Channel did a show on solar storms that discussed the 1859 event. Horrifying. If our entire nation's power grid were destroyed, let alone much of the rest of the world's, the horror of the catastrophic results would eclipse anything that has happened before in human history. If its as bad as many predict, it would pull the proverbial rug out from under modern "just-in-time" civilization. The situation would disintegrate very rapidly — especially in cities such as I live in (Washington, D.C.).
The civil unrest would probably be my undoing long before my provisions ran out. Residents of remote small towns that could defend themselves would be in a much better position to survive — provided they could find water and grow food.
Part of the prep for this scenario ought to be repeated, fervent praying that it never occurs.
molly m
It may be of interest for those wanting more information but the National Geographic Channel will be showing a program entitled "The Electrical Armageddon" this Saturday, October 9th at 11 am eastern time. I watched a short clip of the program of the NatGeo's website (TV listings tab). I believe it relates more to an EMP attack but some of the effects from a large solar flare will be similar
mama4x
Molly, glad to know about the upcoming show- one to watch with the doubters! It's a daunting scenario, but the historical solar cycle combined with the 1859 experience seems to say that it will happen. All we can do is pray that we are prepped for the afterlife too, if it comes down to it.
artesian
http://spaceweather.com/glossary/sunspotplotter.h…
The Carrington event – September 1, 1859 occurred at the peak of the sunspot cycle. You have nothing to fear but fear itself. We are in the lowest sunspot cycle of modern time. Why is the National Geographic doing this. I suggest you read "The Mature Mind" by H.A. Overstreet, Copywrite 1949). Overstreet explains, among other things, the role of media in modern society.
Bryan
This is precisely the scenario where the question has to be asked; would you even WANT to survive? It would be like surviving a nuclear war-ok, you and your family are alive, now what? Would you be happy with a hunter gatherer or medieval farmer type existence, constantly having to fend off roving plunderers descended from the worst of the worst in the cities who are now bandits who kill anybody they come across and steal their stuff? There would be few people on the planet who would be unaffected. Human civilization and population would experience a "hard crash", with a billion people dying within 30 days, and 90% or more dead within a year. The remainder would likely go back to hunter gatherer or crude agriculture style living-within a year! The shock would likely kill 100% of people who are able to read this. The survivors already live a primitive existence. I always say that part of prepping to survive should include knowledge of when to call it quits, because some scenarios you simply CAN'T survive.
mama4x
I would want to live, while acknowledging the difficulties and dangers, but the idea of calling it quits is abhorrent. Does that mean group suicide? If we could make it through the first 3 months, it seems ok to assume that the next 3 months would get easier, and then adjustment to the new reality. We can't just curl up and die! Because we aren't anymore used to a high mortality rate doesn't mean that the human race hasn't made it for thousands of years. What seems to us in 2010 to be a crude agriculture lifestyle was just a few hundred years ago, the norm.
TheSurvivalMom
You know, it's easy to say, "I'd rather just die than live through something that horrific," but that doesn't seem to be human nature. Around the world and throughout history we see examples of people who did just about anything they could to stay alive. The book The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley has some very good insights into what it takes to be a survivor.
Dagny
I agree with Bryan. Calling Dr. Kevorkian. It's not that I would not want to live — that is the fiercest human instinct. But what we're talking about here is unprecedented carnage. As someone who mutes the TV during grisly scenes, it's a long, long way from my current existence to the horror of this scenario. It would be decades before the few survivors were even sustaining a "Little House on the Prairie" existence.
The novel "One Second After" is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in this scenario. It was the most disturbing book I've ever read simply because the scenario was so hopeless. Among the most gripping plot points is the fact that medicine would soon disappear. And presumably all those miraculous high-tech life-saving medical devices we presently take for granted would cease to function.
Take away sanitation, food, clean water, medicines and the thin veneer of civilization falls away quickly. Perhaps I should focus more on this solar storm-EMP threat, but for me that would include a merciful way to meet my maker at a time and in a manner of my choosing. I'll rest my hopes on the contention of some "experts" that the EMP scenarios are overblown — the damage would be catastrophic but not total.
Bryan
I know that to most people, the idea of a scenario you wouldn't want to survive is a nonstarter. But I think that people have to realize that some scenarios are so extreme in the carnage they would wreak that you really WOULDN'T want to be among the survivors.
We're not talking an Argentina-style economic collapse here, where there's electricity, albeit for only a few hours a day, and food eventually comes back to the looted stores, and you can buy superior health care with some bribes, and life goes on albeit with a lot more crime and a lot less comfort. We're talking about NOTHING surviving. No electricity, no cars, no food other than that which you grow yourself, and God help you if you don't have a stream or spring on your property.
There simply wouldn't be enough food to go around if modern farming methods were suddenly taken away. I'm sorry, but the equations just don't add up. We simply can't support 7 billion people with primitive farming methods. America can't even hold 50 million with such methods. The likely survivors would be tribes in the Amazon and people like that-they don't have far to fall.
TheSurvivalMom
You're definitely right about our inability to feed 300 million people if we have to go back to primitive farming methods and are unable to import food. I think regardless of one's will to live, that choice might be taken out of your hands in the case of a disaster of this magnitude. I, too, am praying it never happens. An economic collapse would be a walk in the park by comparison.
artesian
Alarming you should mention this when we are in the midst of one of the longest quiet periods of solar activity in modern time. Think a bit. Today we are more than 800 days into the minimum and the sunspot number is 0.
TheSurvivalMom
From the viewpoint of a total novice, I'd say perhaps the sun's energy is building up and at some point will need to be released. I'll have to go back and read some of those NASA articles to see if my analogy is right on or not!
Fran Manns
The solar cycle is probably determined by the position of the centre of gravity of the sun and Jupiter. The present configuration will last until roughly 2030 and the sun will get quieter. That in more alarming to me than your analogies. See Charvatova et al
http://landscheidt.auditblogs.com/2009/01/21/1100…
mama4x
I know that Jupiter is that super-bright "star" in the sky right now… closest it's been to Earth since the '60s. http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/bright-s…
mama4x
I tried to understand the charts in this link, but it was way over my head. Do you have an explanation that you could share with us?
artesian
The two largest bodies in the solar system by a long shot are the Sun and Jupiter. The rest of the planets are too small to have any serious effect on Sunspots. Jupiter orbits the Sun, obviously, as does earth. The orbit is not circular. It is elliptical and it is never exactly the same elliptical path as we speed through space together. There is a theoretical point between the Sun and Jupiter which is the centre of mass of the two bodies. This point or centre of mass moves around as the heavenly bodies orbit. Depending on the position, the point, sort of a hypothetical balance point, may be inside the Sun or outside. For hundreds of earth years, the point, called a barycentre, is inside the Sun and for other lengthy periods it is outside the Sun between the Sun and Jupiter and disturbs the Suns balance. As I told earlier, the point wobbles around depending on the position of the two bodies. This disturbance creates an infinitesimal wobbly Sun. When the barycentre is outside the Sun it disturbs the Sunspot cycle an 11 year cycle is produced. When the barycentre is under the skin of the Sun, the balance of the Sun is less disturbed and the Sunspot cycle is weak or non-existent.
mama4x
I read in early August that the first flares were appearing. I googled "solar flare August 2010" and here is one of many articles: http://www.worldcorrespondents.com/solar-flare-th…
mama4x
Here's a scientific yet (mostly) understandable article detailing the effects a Soviet detonation had on the surrounding technologies in '62. And a lot more. Keep scanning and scrolling downward.
Hacksaw
This may burst some preppers bubbles but there's no way all banks and businesses would be so unprepared that all of their records would vanish in a disaster even as one as extreme as this example. Business continuity planning is huge in the corporate world. The company I work for is nowhere near a big or as rich as any bank but the measures put into place to keep business going in the time of a disaster is staggering. I doubt a bank would permanently lose anything more than a weeks worth of data…likely less. It might take some time for them to get back on their feet depending on their contingency plans and the nature of the disaster but you can be sure that they'll be back and they'll know how much money you owe them.
TheSurvivalMom
It's hard to say just how prepared banks and other large institutions are. Just yesterday I read that some of the super-rich are buying gold by the ton. Clearly they aren't expecting their cash deposits to be safe (although they probably aren't thinking EMP).
artesian
Hedge funds and other financial instruments called ETFs are buying physical gold as a hedge against inflation, As the US recovery strategy is to spend huge sums of money, the money supply increases. The more paper they print, the less it is worth and the more big funds buy gold to protect themselves. This has nothing to do with solar activity or fear of solar flares in the sunspot minimum.
mama4x
In an economic collapse, yes, I fully agree. However, if there were no electronics, all of everyone's energy and attention would focus on survival. No one would even consider looking up some paper files and attempt to go get a mortgage payment in this scenario.
artesian
The US economy depends upon Walmart and cheap Chinese products. Do not force the Chines out of Walmart because both economies would collapse. You do not want that.
How can you still believe in alarming solar flares during the longest sunspot minimum of modern history? we are deep in a sunspot minimum.
Hacksaw
NASA spends a lot of your money on predicting sun spot activity. If you check NASA's information on Sun Spots, yes, we're expected to peak in 2013 and yes we're in a very low activity period right now. Their worst case prediction for number of spots doesn't even come close to most of the actual activity between 1999 and 2002. So far I've been unable to find any scientific proof that solar activity such as sun spots have any correlation with the flare that caused the Carrington Event. There was nothing special about Cycle 10 as far as the number of spots or activity…it just happened to occur in cycle 10. Correct me if I've missed something in my research.
artesian
Nobody knows…
TheSurvivalMom
Thanks for adding a lot to this discussion, artesian. We appreciate all viewpoints around here.
artesian
Thanks for inviting me.
http://www.nationalpost.com/recall+feeds+risk+ave…
I've raised kids in three generations and each is less fearful and healthier. I'm letting go of fear.
Tim Ralston
When it comes to emergency preparedness, most people I talk to think that nothing will ever happen to them- I constantly hear “why should I bother". In today’s world it sounds crazy to talk about storing food. Why bother when restaurants, convenient stores and grocery stores are open 24 hours a day, 7days a week? We have grown up in the age of consumerism and take for granted there will always be food on the shelves. Well, what if there is a national emergency? Or if the unions repeat what happened in France – and stop delivery trucks in protest. What if our government keeps spending and hyper inflation occurs? Just look what happened in Boston! http://survivalist-hub.blogspot.com/. Why not be prepared just in case? It drives me NUTS when people have their heads in the sand!! But I know I am not nuts.
As a father of 3 small children, I have always tried to protect and provide for all their immediate and future necessities. I could not come home and tell my kids there was no food on the shelves. Now, I can sleep in peace having purchased years of emergency food! I love having the peace of mind, the feeling of being empowered– that my family and I are covered with the necessary emergency food, and survival supplies for the next 20 years at TODAY'S prices for what ever comes our way. For more information, go to blog http://survivalist-hub.blogspot.com/.
AmandaK
This is such a good blog. I'm glad I came across it! I've been looking into EMP for a few months now, to get more information and find out ways to be better prepared for when this happens. I've come across great articles like this one and good blogs. There's one radio blog that I actually go and listen to every Wednesday and they always have guests on their show that talk about EMP and different things that have to do with this topic. Next Wednesday the 24th is James Zumwalt that's going to be their guest. He's a retired Marine infantry officer who served in the Vietnam War. You can read more about what he's done and listen in the show, here's the link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/empact-radio/2011/08…