My heart goes out to the people who are dealing with long-term power outages from Hurricane Helene. Multi-days which are likely to extend into weeks and months. Unfortunately we as a society have become very dependent on electricity.
In my book and on this blog, I share various tips for dealing without electricity and other modern conveniences that have come to be considered necessities. Reducing our vulnerability is good for our wallets and our communities.
But, that doesn’t mean it’s easy when people are just hit suddenly by loss of customary amenities. And extended outages. People have meds that need refrigerating; people have essential work equipment they can’t be charged up with a little bitty solar charger etc.
I am very fortunate. The only thing I really need electricity for is charging my phone, which is my main work device.
But, like probably most people in the USA, I have gotten used to being able to have the convenience of electricity.
In one storm a couple years back, we lost power for five days. Overall it was not a big deal for me, I could have gone on indefinitely,but it was a huge big deal for others and I felt bad about that.
For me, I think one of the main challenges of losing power was that I had gotten very used to the convenience of an electric kettle, and needed to relearn how to get good at heating water in the twig stove. Even though it was only for coffee, it was a big deal for me lol I am spoiled.
Also refrigeration. I once did without a refrigerator for three years but that was a voluntary experiment. (Which I have written about here on this blog.) I have done fridgeless experiments of shorter duration as well.
Somehow, though, having a lack of refrigeration imposed, as opposed to being something voluntarily undertaken, made it more of a challenge.
A big part of it was that when I was doing my fridgeless living experiments I didn’t have any housemates who were relying on the fridge and freezer. (I had housemates back then too, always have. But the people sharing my house back then never cooked, always ate takeout etc.)
Photo of my little bag where I keep electric chargers (for Bluetooth headphones, micro projector, mini speaker etc. And for a couple of little battery-powered lamps that hold a charge for a really long time. A friend who did irrigation tech at golf courses gave them to me some year back from their surplus stock).
This past week I embroidered a little lightning bolt on the bag for fun, and to make that unobtrusive little black nylon sack easier to see.
Conveniences are nice; I’m just sad that we have become so vulnerable. It’s just one example, many people in the USA have become dependent on hot showers even in the summer. Probably largely because of the existence of air conditioning, which artificially cools the air inside buildings. Shoot, I’ve even sometimes found myself wanting a hot shower when work or something else has occasioned me to spend extended time in an artificially cooled building!
It also occurs to me that some of the difficulty people have with power outages is simply a kind of emotional overwhelm that sets in. Never underestimate the influence of emotions. Loss of what we have come to consider necessities can just be demoralizing even if we know how to do without. The main antidote that I know for that is community. As with emotional despair in general.
Eating dinner from a cold can of beans alone in the dark is a world apart from sitting together with neighbors. You might still be eating that same cold can of beans but you’ll have company and maybe find it worth lighting a candle. (On that note, I think we all deserve the treat of a candle even if we are eating alone. Thrift stores sell old candles for super cheap. Oil lamps are nice as well.)
If you listen to people’s old-time hurricane stories, a lot of the good ones involve hanging out with neighbors; sharing food and other resources and helping each other deal with the emotional aspects.
One thing I noticed about our 5-day power outage a couple years back is it didn’t necessarily bring those kinds of shared hangouts. Instead it mainly seemed to bring a lot of people individually getting in their cars to drive to Starstrucks to get a coffee. I had visions of my housemates being able to take their melted frozen meat down the block to where someone had a barbecue fired up and might want to share heat in exchange for meat, but that didn’t seem to be going on.
I know I’m always harping on the importance of knowing at least a few neighbors, but I hope many of you will take that simple advice to heart before the next disaster hits your place.
PS. I may be alone in this, but I’m not gonna lie, I loved having the streetlights out for a few days. Those things are oppressive and aggressive, with a merciless white glare. Sometimes mockingbirds stay up all night singing, poor things don’t get any rest. And I can sit on my bench and read a book outside at night, that’s just wrong. I have been talking to my city about introducing more gentle but still effective types of street lighting. There’s a whole movement for environmentally responsible lighting; I’ve talked about it on this blog. Very inspiring examples out there. There are some “Dark Sky communities” where light pollution has been reduced so much that you can look up at night and see the Milky Way.