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surveys / blackout
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Blackout 2003
In the hours after the power went out on August 14th, city parks were aglow with candles
as groups of friends gathered to ward off the darkness, neighborhood
barbecues were fired up to accommodate freezers full of thawing
meat and folks generally found ways to make the best of the
situation. What did you do to take advantage of the hours after
the lights went out? What was the greatest concern or benefit
to your community? What do you think needs to change so that
a large scale black-out doesn't happen again?
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COMMENTS |
Robin Johnston
Submitted:
Thursday, September 04, 2003
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My husband and I live in the country so we didn't
have the chance to see the community's response
but we certainly heard about the great deeds that
took place. We did speak to our neighbours who
offered us water if we needed some(they had
bought a generator in the aftermath of the ice
storm). After our concern for water was appeased
(we have a well), we BBQ'd some hot dogs, cranked
up the radio in the truck so we could hear the
news while sitting on our front porch, and I spun
some wool on my spinning wheel. When it was too
dark to see, we went to bed; a nice early night. My greatest concern was for farmers (and their
animals) and for city people who didn't have
access to water. We later heard of the elderly
who would run into problems with their oxygen
tanks. The greatest benefit was to have people pull
together. Neighbours talked to each other, for
the first time, perhaps; kids learned how to make
do without electricity; people forgot themselves
and thought and did for others; everyone learned
to appreciate the life we live and how easily it
can all change. The experience brought home our own need to
provide for ourselves in such a way as to
minimize the losses we would experience if there
were another extended interruption of power. Many
of these things mean returning to ways of the
past: canning vegetables from the garden instead
of freezing; installing a manual water pump in
the barn; installing solar panels complete with
storage battery for absolute essentials; ensuring
non-electic communication such as a battery
operated radio and an old rotary dial telephone.
But these are the details for our particular life. Conservation of power is the key for all
communities. I hope that this blackout made
everyone much more aware of ways they can save
electricity. I have seen signs of this and I am
impressed. |
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Anne Marie Ratych
Submitted:
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
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My husband and I went for a long walk along Bloor after barbequing supper. It was amazing to
see how many people were walking along Bloor since the buses were jammed. We then had a
game of Trivia Pursuit Jr with the kids by flashlight and later we got out the telescope to try to
see Mars but only managed to see the moon's craters instead (not a powerful enough
telescope). The kids were amazed to see the what the craters actually looked like. We had a
great time without any electricity. |
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Pat Tuckey
Submitted:
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
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I'm sure that many people are just concerned
about their immediate world when something like
this happens, but I would like the prov and local
govt's to take a very close look at the verbal
diahreah that came out while the black out was
on. For instance, our mayor here in London, Anne
Marie Decicco, suggested along with the "person"
from London Hydro, that we get back to basics and
wash our laundry by hand and hang it outside.
The Mayor suggested that those who don't have
closelines (because of local by-laws) hang their
laundry on their fences and lawn furniture - GET
A GRIP ANNE MARIE.
If I as a resident, have to do this, then here is
my suggestion for a "state of emergency":
Take all the supermarkets in London and tell them
that only 1/2 can open - move the staff from the
other ones (because the same amount of people
will be shopping), and have them work at the
stores that are open.
Take all the Tim Horton's, McDonalds, Burger
King, Wendys, etc, and have 1/2 of them close.
Close 1/2 the banks, and close 1/2 of the gas
stations. I'm sure that there would be such a
backlash, that we couldn't handle the complaints.
However, I could do my laundry and dry my
clothes - oh, by the way, I have a gas dryer, gas
stove, and gas water heater, so I did not feel
guilty about having my air on (I have severe
allergies and I breathe easier with the air
conditioned. I don't need the cool, but I do
need to have the air cleaned. So we set our temp
at 75 degrees. And I think that's fair. I also
think we need to ask people on a regular basis to
do their laundry in the evenings only in the
summer time to leave it off the peak times.
There are lots of suggestions out there, we just
need to tell ourselves that we can conserve.
One other thing. We have a hot tub, which we
turned the heater off by setting the temp down to
80 degrees. The outside air is warmer than that,
so we only used a little hydro twice a day to
filter the water. We didn't turn the jets on
when we got in, we just sat in still water.
I know what we did conserved our use, but I'm
sure we didn't use overall, as much as the homes
who have all electrical appliances. I hope the
gas companies and other alternative ways, get in
on this bandwagon and get people away from hydro
appliances. Both my children have hydro stoves
and were unable to use theirs in the blackout.
But I could use my gas stove.
Amazing how we have raised people to think there
is only hydro as a choice. Lets start making
smarter choices.
Maybe some of these practices should become law
between June and August just so we cut down on
the chances of another blackout.
I think the weather channel should have, through
June, July, and August, a little square at one
corner of the screen that tells us how much hydro
is available in the province and how much we have
used - then people could check that and see if
they should start cutting back as the 2 figures
get closer together. I'm sure that information
is just as important to the general public as the
weather is.
Hope some of these suggestions are logical. And,
sorry if there are any spelling errors - no spell
check on the internet. |
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Carolyn Recker
Submitted:
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
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I was preparing for vacation. No way to wash the
laundry, get gas, or groceries. In the country
we have no water when power goes out. The
traffic lights in heavy traffic in Windsor, Ont
was a nightmare! This sure made me see how
dependent we are on electricity. My camping
skills helped me to survive. Just went to bed
when it is too dark to do anything else. My
sister who owns a resort in Kearney, ONT fired up
a large BBQ to feed all their customers until
their generator was functional. Guess everyone
just pulled together! |
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Ann Brightman
Submitted:
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
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After my initial annoyance at the inconvenience -
my computer going down, having to eat a cold
supper, trying to find enough batteries to power
my portable CD player - I decided the only thing
we could was make the best of the situation,
since we had no idea at the time when the power
would come back on. Our only real worry was for
the food we had stored in our chest freezer. The weather was lovely, so we spent the evening
outdoors. I remember thinking, as I stood in our
wild meadow, that despite the upheaval,
uncertainty and inconvenience the blackout was
causing us humans, at least the natural
environment was getting a bit of a break from
industrial pollution, air traffic, light
pollution, etc., even if only on one part of the
continent. I was also struck by how dependent we've become
on electricity - and how vulnerable we are when
it fails. No gas at the pumps, no money at the
bank machines, businesses grinding to a halt
because they can't function without their
computers and machinery. As a home-based
freelance writer and editor, my whole livelihood
depends on the power supply. How would we manage
if it stayed out for two weeks or two months,
rather than two days? People survived without
electricity for centuries, yet now, when it fails
for any length of time, we have to declare
a "state of emergency." Makes you think. |
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Mr. Marc Mullo
Submitted:
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
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Hello! Thankfully, since I live in Northwestern
Ontario, I was NOT affected by this massive
blackout! However, this NEVER should have
happened! Due to the fact that our weather
patterns are now constantly changing, and,
companies continue to produce large amounts of
pollution, heat waves are far too common, thus,
the massive use of air conditioners, fans, etc.,
are using up all this power! It is up to ALL of
us to prevent these dilemmas from happening! |
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