I’d like to be optimistic and say we’d have about a week before things started getting Mad Max-y out here in the suburbs.
I routinely tell my wife I'm ready to assume the rank of neighborhood warlord if things go tribal.
What If America Went Dark?
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Re: What If America Went Dark?
#12Just a little bit of solar goes a long way to keep the lights on.
Re: What If America Went Dark?
#13Non-paywall link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/magazine/national-blackou...
"Someone unlocked this story for you. Log in to read for free." WTF NYT?
Re: What If America Went Dark?
#14Re: What If America Went Dark?
#15[dead]
Re: What If America Went Dark?
#16[dead]
Re: What If America Went Dark?
#17I am surprised that nothing is mentioned about weather, as people have been moving to cities that are dependent on air conditioning. It estimates that about 1% of the population [of Phoenix], or 13,250 people, would die, and half the city, or 816,570 people, would be put in emergency rooms if power was completely out for two days, then slowly restored throughout the region over the next three. https://cronkitenews.az…
I doubt ER would fit half of the city.
Re: What If America Went Dark?
#18What if pigs fly?
Re: What If America Went Dark?
#19I’d like to be optimistic and say we’d have about a week before things started getting Mad Max-y out here in the suburbs.
Some parts of the country are going to be more resilient than others.
I grew up 45 minutes away from Boston and all of the neighbors had standby generators. Even more have wood stoves. Water is abundant. Actually a lot of the old houses were built pre electrification or shortly after so there’s no limit to how long you could survive without the grid.
Re: What If America Went Dark?
#20I am surprised that nothing is mentioned about weather, as people have been moving to cities that are dependent on air conditioning. It estimates that about 1% of the population [of Phoenix], or 13,250 people, would die, and half the city, or 816,570 people, would be put in emergency rooms if power was completely out for two days, then slowly restored throughout the region over the next three. https://cronkitenews.az…
It blows my mind to hear from friends in my home state of FL (miami), telling me about all the people moving down there and 95 becomming even more gridlocked daily. I left 20+ years ago because the summers were literally dangerous to my health. When the power would go out in the summer we would take showers and lay under fans soaking wet just to keep from suffering.