I've had a SHTF event each of the last two years with Irene and Sandy. I lost power for over a week each time. Granted it wasn't that long term, but you could get a taste of what it would be like.
Irene happened in August, it was warm outside and it wasn't all that bad. It was kind of fun "living in the 1800's." I could sit out on my back porch and have a cigar and beer.
Sandy was worse it happened in the fall. It was much colder. The temperature was as low as 22 degrees. My fireplace heated the house, and I had lots of oil lamps. But I was stuck inside most of the time. Getting dark early sucked because there wasn't a lot to do in the evening.
The biggest thing I missed was electricity. You would walk into a room an flip the light switch by force of habit. Nothing would happen. You would want to look up something on the computer and you couldn't.
In a long term event like an EMP. I could see how most people would be in big trouble and wouldn't make it. This would also include a lot of preppers.
Quoting: indiandave The problem with the word prepper is that it's become diluted as the term went mainstream. Now someone who has more than two weeks of food in the pantry and batteries for five flashlights is a "prepper" even though if you asked them the name of the four trees on their property, I'll bet they wouldn't know it, much less know the uses for them.
In reality our ancestors were preppers but didn't call themselves preppers. They carefully stored food and knew skills because they fixed things themselves and had gardens. If they had a garden it meant canning and dehydrating food and likely having a root cellar.
You're right that a disaster is an opportunity to test your supplies. I heard "prepper" folks doing crazy things like bring rocket stoves into their homes. I guess they had no idea about the emissions from such devices. It was worrisome because of carbon monoxide. Certain stoves like the Luciastove don't have emissions but few people have them. They're ideal for anyone in a hurricane region that gets cold.
In that link I post in, I showed a similar design called an Everything Nice Stove that you could burn indoors to stay warm that has very low emissions and would keep your family warm and that you can build yourself for less than $20.
You'd still want to vent this. It's way better than a rocket stove concerning emissions but produces similar heat.
I agree many preppers are not truly prepared at all.
