A Solar Flare that Resets The World

I am a huge fan of post apocalyptic fiction that deals with the end of the world as we know it or at least a global reset.  There are lots of stories out there that talk about and EMP strike that fries our electronics and takes down the power grid.  The hitch in these stories is that someone has to detonate this for it to happen and who is dumb enough to try that?  The EMP is localized to the area of the blast so it would involve the country but not much more than that.  I huge inconvenience to be sure but not too long after that we would be right back where we were before.

The big brother of the EMP is the Solar Flare or CME.  A CME large enough to cause major damage to us hasn't happened since the 1859 Carrington Event.  The thing about these events is that they last for a long time which as the world turns exposes the entire planet to its effects.  This would be catastrophic to the world but I have though of one better.  Imagine this; the solar flare has an awful side effect that causes magnetism to stop.  Imagine all your pictures falling off your refrigerator at the same time.  But beyond that try to think about all the things that wouldn't work anymore. Now I heard something once that said a solar flare could reverse the poles of the planet and maybe this ties into that but if you want a one way ticket back to the medieval period then this is it.

For those of you who don't know how this would effect us here is a brief list:

1. No more power grid.  Most power plants run with turbines that are just big versions of the alternator in your car.
2. No more vehicles.  All vehicles require spark which is generated in a coil which at is core is magnets
3. transformers and electronics rely on magnets to work
4. refrigeration, mostly, uses electrical motors in the compressor which work because of magnets.
5. gas pumps and wells. done!
6. Speakers wouldn't work
7. Computers, no more

The good news is that solar panels would still give us electricity but the charge controllers wouldn't work anymore.  We could charge batteries and use simple circuits for lights and cooking.  

I'm curious about what else you think would be effected.  Try to wrap you head around this for a bit.  

Integrity

When I was in high school I had a naval instructor for junior rotc that made us tell him the definition of integrity at least weekly after someone demonstrated a violation to his code.  It stuck hard in my head and I have made it stick in the heads of my children.

With integrity you can't allow yourself to take the easy path all the time. You are forced to see what your values are and make a choice.  You will be letting yourself down before you let anyone else down if you don't do what you know is right.

The decisions can be simple like; Should I workout today or not? or Should I eat that piece of cake?.
The decisions might be more lasting like deciding to cheat on your spouse or steal something you didn't pay for.

The first part of this is defining what is right and wrong.  You have to find the answer to that for yourself based on your own personal values.  As a word of warning, don't rely on popular culture to define this for you.  Our popular culture is shaped by companies and corporations that are trying to sell product and stay profitable.  They want you to believe that what they are selling you is good for you and actually going to make you popular.

Sometimes it is helpful to see the decision in the hands of someone you respect.  You've seen the bumper stickers, WWJD.  What would Jesus do? This is the concept even if you aren't a Christian you can still use this example.  Knowing Jesus was supposed to be God among and did not sin, then picture the decision you are about to make and imagine what He would do.

Make good decisions today.

Dreams of teotwawki

The last few days I have been toying with the idea of going in a different direction.  Rather than focusing on creating courses to help people get better prepared for life in an unknown future I was going to focus my efforts on fitness coaching.  Last night I had some crazy dreams where I was stranded hundreds of miles from home when the country was attacked by multiple nuclear bombs.  I wasn't worried about radiation so they must have been EMP attacks.  I woke up five minutes before my alarm at 4:40 am.

I could still smell the grass on the side of the road where I was walking to find a way to get back home. I cleared my head and headed down stairs to start my day.  As I was making the coffee this feeling of dread came over me as I realized how hard something like that will be to live through.

In the dream I remember smiling as I was walking because I think deep down inside I knew it was coming.  That was when I tried to calculate how long it was going to take for me to get home.  Crap!

I really don't know what the future is going to bring.  I don't know if growth is going to continue and we will somehow figure it out as we go.  I don't know if there will be an "event" that causes a sudden stop and set back.  It might just be many small things that happen together that causes major change in our way of living.  We enter a recession that turns into a full depression and possible complete economic collapse.  This brings aid from around the world that has to stop with all the violence at the distribution sites.  Eventually small communities would band together for mutual assistance but would have to produce their own food while providing adequate protection to keep it from being stolen while praying for help to come before a large enough group of evil does.

I don't think that there will be a quick turn around to any of these situations.  There never is for anything massive in scale.  Growth in the future is contingent on many resources staying unchanged or growing to meet the needs of a growing population.  The food we have comes from so far away brought to us with fuel that comes from the ground in politically challenged area paid for with money that we just print at will as we need it based on "our good name".  Poke any of those dominoes and the whole thing comes down.

If the economy collapses the value of the dollar will never have the same value again with nothing to back it.  If the fuel gets disrupted so goes the dollar.  If something happens with the food supply (like the power grid going down and having no refrigeration) we will starve before help comes in most places.

Any of these will challenge the salt of those who try to survive it.  They will need lots of salt because there is no reason to believe that there will be anyone coming to save the day.  We may be on our own for years unless we relocate to a place where resources are being brought in.  I'm not sure how that plays out in the end but I don't think that is a sustainable concept.

If we are going to make it on our own we are going to need a specific skill set to survive.  That is what my programs have always been about.  Planning a way to deal with threats, navigating around in troubled times, communicating with others, feeding yourself and your family, having clean, safe water to drink, being able to defend yourself and do medical treatment if need be and understanding the importance of a team and how to build it.

I may focus on fitness and nutrition a little more than before but I can't put this on hold.  I need it. You need it.  I will continue to write posts as often as I can about these topics and issues that I can pull together into more courses in the future.  My question to you is; what do you think is coming?