PUTNEY — Transition Putney will host an evening with Michael Billingsley, as he discusses how a community should prepares for an extended period of no electricity on Monday, Nov. 14, from 7-9 p.m., at the Putney Library.
Tropical Storm Irene reminded many of us that power outages can happen randomly and without much warning, and sometimes for periods extending beyond a week.
During the current solar maximum of 2010-2014, some of the sun's most destructive coronal mass ejections (CME's) ever known are expected by the astrophysics community, NASA and the National Research Council. What FEMA now calls “100 Year Maximum” CME destructive events can, and most likely will, wipe out most of North America's electrical transmission grid and communications systems for up to 10 years. before partial repair.
The impact of such an event upon our relatively fragile, technological society is difficult to imagine.
One step way to prepare for such an event is to re-skill in advance after the entire community together appraises its housing, heating, food, medical, education, transportation, administrative, waste disposal, clothing and water supply needs together, and comes up with ways to meet basic needs even when the grid is down.
Michael Cerulli Billingsley is a lifelong arts educator, singer, and community resource planner. Along the way, he has become familiar with solar dynamics, visiting NASA's Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and meeting with scientists to help predict and mitigate solar impacts upon us in the next three or four years. He is a Canadian citizen, and lives in Brattleboro.
Come learn about Putney's evolutions as a Transition Town prepares it to look closely at the advantages of also being a “Parallel Town” - one in which a large core of residents have chosen to adopt a second “non-electric” skill, beyond their present occupations, to switch-over-to in the event of a sudden and long-term loss of electrical power.
For more information, visit transition.putney.net for a list of upcoming events, or contact Paul at [email protected] or 802-387-4102.