Chile and Argentina sure sound like nice places to live. How fragile is our system when Texas has to beg Mexico for power? Simon Black gives some very practical advice. Peak oil is real. Food prices are at all-time highs. Drought and climate change are wreaking havoc. Our energy infrastructure is a mess. We haven’t built a nuclear power plant or an oil refinery since the 1970s. Our population goes up by 2 million per year. Our entire economic system is based upon just in time delivery of food, goods, oil, electricity, and services. One glitch brings the whole system to a grinding halt. Get prepared to be off the grid.
Two ways to survive system collapse
February 3, 2011
La Serena, Chile
The night skies of northern Chile are among the clearest in the world. I’ve been astounded here every evening by the sheer beauty of more stars crowding the darkness than I have ever seen in my life… it’s something that just about every human being can appreciate.
La Serena is a thriving coastal town, a vacation hot-spot in Chile. It’s about an hour’s flight north of Santiago and the gateway to Valle de Elqui, a fertile agricultural region nestled in the mountains where I spent a long weekend.
The weather here is also spectacular with an eternal, spring-like climate… so you can imagine I was feeling more than a bit guilty when I called my parents in Texas to check in on them this morning– Texas is suffering horrendous cold weather right now, like much of the US, and my parents were huddled in bed with the dogs trying to stay warm.
Thing is, authorities have initiated rolling blackouts across the state because demand from so many people heating their homes at the same time has proven to be too much for the system to cope with. So now, community by community, they’re shutting the power down for up to 45 minutes, possibly longer if the weather doesn’t improve.
You know the system is in bad shape when you have to import electricity from Mexico in order to keep the lights on… but that’s exactly what’s happening. Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission is riding in to save the day, transmitting nearly 300 MW across the border so that Texans don’t freeze.
Fortunately my folks are pack rats and have an abundance of blankets, food, and water stashed away… but these events do certainly illustrate how fragile the system is and how dependent most people are on things that they have no control over.
With world food prices surging to the highest level ever recorded, energy demand increasing by the day, and the world population growing by over 70 million each year, I think it’s definitely time to reduce system dependencies. There are essentially two ways to do this.
First is to become a member of the elite… fast. Jerry Jones, the billionaire owner of the serially disappointing Dallas Cowboys football team, was able to get his shiny new stadium exempted from the rolling blackouts because the 2011 Superbowl will be held there this coming weekend.
Simply put, if you’re a member of the elite (like Jones), you have power and influence with the people who control the system. Personally I don’t like this approach because the elite’s benefits are often gained by taking value from others; in this case, Jones’ stadium has power while my parents wait to be bailed out by the Mexicans.
Regardless, I would tell you that it’s a hell of a lot easier breaking in to these circles overseas; in smaller countries, you can gain access to the elite without being a billionaire. I wrote about this extensively last year in our free ‘Network Infiltration Report,’ which outlines some of the tactics that have been successful for me in the past.
More importantly, I think increasing one’s self-reliance is the better answer to reducing dependence on the system– this could mean a lot of things: having a second residence in a more stable place overseas; installing solar paneling; storing extra food and water; diversifying your business infrastructure; planting a garden, etc.
I’ve been very vocal about this lately because I believe that system disruptions, political turmoil, social strife, and economic uncertainty are all interconnected, and increasing one’s self-reliance is critical to cushioning the blow of whatever may come.
Those who remain completely dependent upon the system– the politicians for their economic financial opportunities, the big Ag companies for their food supplies, the bureaucrats in the utility commissions for their water and power– are quite vulnerable.
Worst case– even in the event that some miraculous solution should wipe away all the world’s political corruption, economic insolvencies, and resource shortages (which is entirely possible at some point in the future with more advanced technology), you won’t be any worse off for taking measured steps to become more self-reliant today.
Reverse Engineer says:
So how long after Texas goes into permanent Blackout mode will it take for Chile to go down the same road? Or Doug Casey’s Doomstead Home, Argentina?
Wherever you go, the important thing is good local resources and a low population. Folks like Sovereign Simon and Doug Casey have lots of money to pick and choose where they will go and set up their Doomsteads. Most of you haven’t got so much flexibility. Finding a good spot to ride out the storm here in the FSofA is what most people here have to do now.
RE
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6th February 2011 at 10:31 pm
eugend66 says:
IMO, frozing oil pipes in AK is more of an issue than how one spends it`s wealth.
If the pipes are not frozen but dry, then pastures that still accept USD payments
are heaven on earth.
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6th February 2011 at 8:12 am
MuckAbout says:
The first thing you gotta have is a climate zone that won’t kill you. Everything else can be worked out little by little. The more likely a perturbation of climate is that will kill you (cold, snow, ice or heat, drought), the smaller population the place will sustain.
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6th February 2011 at 4:51 pm
Novista says:
I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
Power on today. Details to follow.
MA… I can tell you a lot about perturbation of climate. And, over the past week, I cant say 1750 is not exactly right in RE’s scenarios. Possibly 1840, take out the innefficiency of goverment ~help~ and we could be looking at 1899.
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6th February 2011 at 5:57 am
Administrator says:
Novista
I was getting a little worried about you man. Please do a whole article on your adventure. I would love to hear about surviving a 180 mph cyclone.
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6th February 2011 at 8:49 am