Would you be prepared to survive a nation-wide blackout?
National Geographic Channel asked this question on October 27
th, 2013 in its made-for-tv movie event,
American Blackout. This mini-series explores the imagined situation of a national power failure caused by a cyber attack. American Blackout is told in “real-time,” over a period of ten days and is based on fictional accounts that American citizens video recorded on cameras and cell phones.
This series may make you think about what you would do in a similar situation and if you are prepared. National Geographic anticipates that while watching this show, “You’ll learn what it means to be absolutely powerless. Gritty, visceral and totally immersive, see what it might take to survive from day one, and who would be left standing when the lights come back on.”
In anticipation for this new series, you can visit the American Blackout Channel, where you’ll Replace video clips from the show, and a list of blackout survival tips. The site also includes articles on the history of blackouts around the world and advice from preparedness experts on what items and skills you need to have to survive emergency situations.
Check out this interactive experience that gives you facts about the real-life blackouts as you journey through a “10-day blackout period.” With each fact, the site will ask you questions to personalize your experience like, “do you keep your gas tank at least half full, or re-fuel only when the tank is empty?” They will then give you facts on why it’s important to keep your fuel tank half full at all times.
To Replace out more about when American Blackout will air in your city, visit
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/american-blackout/.
And while you’re waiting for the show to re-air, read up on how to have light during an emergency. Check out our Insight article:
“
Light During an Emergency”
And check out the latest solar power products from
Goal Zero to be sure you’ve got power if a blackout hits your town.
3 comments
Jerry
American blackout should be shown again. This information is to valuable to be shown only once. It should be accessible in an on demand format to be viewed anytime.
Nora Marginean
Thank you for categorizing in one neat package for those of us that have to skip some meals to purchase what we need. Great service to humanity.
Lauralee Hensley
Thought this was a really good show. However if transformers at substations blew out, it would last much longer than two weeks. Do you know that we can only replace about 20 percent of the large transformers and batteries in power station substations if they all went kaboom? Then most of these products are not even made in the USA, I believe most are currently made in Australia. Then to get some of the biggest ones, there could be up to a three year wait time. Even Australia doesn’t keep a big inventory just sitting there waiting to be shipped. Then after they are shipped by boat, they are huge and would need powered cranes to remove them from the ships. Then you’d need locomotives or large trucks to get them from point A to point B, then again cranes or something else to get them into the largest substations. You’d have to make sure all the transformers from an electric power plant (coal or other ran plant) to the substations were not blown out. If even one were blown out from point A to point B you could have problems in the delivery of the electricity to the point you wanted. I think everyone should try to own the largest solar generator they can, or gas powered one and have as much gas on hand for emergencies as possible. Plus know how to cool off in the summer without electricity and how to stay warm in the winter without electricity. People need to learn some of the things their forefathers knew on how to survive, yet few do. With only about 1 percent of Americans prepped (3 million estimated preppers in a USA population of about 300 million) there are big problems ahead.