In the grand scheme of things, our family has been very lucky.
But I read the paper and hear the stories: no power, no heat, no plumbing, no food, no water, no communication lines.
It has happened before, elsewhere, notably New Orleans after Katrina as well as Houston after Rita. But now it is happening in one of the most densely-populated regions of the country: NJ, NYC, the suburbs. It has affected millions.
And it will happen again.
So, how do we prepare? Most of us don't have enough room to plant gardens to sustain us, "volunteer" trees for possible firewood (or the tools to cut one down), space for a self-composting outhouse as Heather Bruggeman and Karen L R mention, the ability to dig a well for water. We can't prepare to live off the grid. We are the grid.
If I wanted to live on the land, I'd be there already. I like semi-urban living.
Except when it breaks.
Even if we have generators, we need gasoline. And we've seen how quickly and easily that supply can be interrupted. Even if we store a year's worth of meals, a la the Mormons, we can't actually cook them on our outdoor grills without fuel. And if we don't have that supply of meals, what food will we eat? The prep-for-three-days is woefully inadequate. And what about water?
I don't have any answers. I'm not sure anyone really does. But I know I'll be thinking on it before next year.
And maybe buying a generator anyway.
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