Government's "Space Weather" Page
http://urbansurvival.com/week.htmI'll admit that sometimes we get a little wonky, living as we do usually 10-minutes to 10-years in advance of many secular events, but more than one reader who thought we were a bit "over-the-top" on worries about Sun-based events like EMP and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are having to rethink a bit since the government's own Ready.gov site now featuresa a "Space Weather" Page.
As we have mentioned many times, and now the government site, too, mentions the Carrington event in September of 1859, and (again much as we have speculated on previously) the experts behind Ready.gov list pretty much the same kinds of threats that we see should a modern replay be at hand as Solar Cycle 24 peaks over the next year and a half:
•Loss of water and wastewater distribution systems
•Loss of perishable foods and medications
•Loss of heating/air conditioning and electrical lighting systems
•Loss of computer systems, telephone systems, and communications systems (including disruptions in airline flights, satellite networks and GPS services)
•Loss of public transportation systems
•Loss of fuel distribution systems and fuel pipelines
•Loss of all electrical systems that do not have back-up power
None of which is unmanageable, except for the grid part, since large HV distribution system transformers don't grow on trees, and come to think of it, I don't know if we make many of them here in the former industrial power once called America.
My point for starting off on this sobering note is simple: As one reader said, "It's not a good sign when ready.gov is telling you to prepare for space weather."
We can skip all the Kafka-esque and double-binds that go with being a nutjob when I write about prepping on the one hand, while government's got pages like this up, on the other. I know there's a line between prepping and hoarding, but would someone please point me to the distinction in governese?
I think prepping is when it's well in advance of events and hoarding is in reaction to a specific event, but damned if I can find a CFR or federal policy guidance on that...which leaves an uncomfortably wide range open to interpretation, don'tcha think?
http://www.ready.gov/space-weather