Some common misconceptions about people who live off the grid: They are social misanthropes, outback bumpkins, or survivalist nuts. Some may be kinder misconceptions believe they are farmers, hermits, or hippies. They are normal members of our society who have learned how to survive largely independent from government controlled systems. The question comes to how much you value your independence and freedom. If you want to believe that you are free and “on the grid” then I dare you to read on and answer the following, very uncomfortable questions:

• What would you do if the power goes out?
• What would you do if the water stops running?
• What would you do if the grocery were no longer being resupplied with food?

The common answer is: sit and wait. Surely someone in authority will notice and deal with it.

What happens if the situation continues past a day? On the second day, people think about prepping and resolve to make plans next time the power comes on. While this makes them feel like they’re in more control, it’s just an illusion. It does nothing to help with the current crisis. By day 3, food and bottled water is running low and people realize they have to do something, but don’t know what to do. Without power they are cut off from the Internet which has become a primary source of information and people start to panic. On day 3, a few would leave to stay with friends and family in other cities. By day 4 or 5 others will copy cat this behaviour (whether they have connections or not) and you would see a mass exodus. Without food, water and electricity, (and especially without any assurance from authority) any major metropolis would become a ghost town inside 2 weeks. And what would happen if the city we go to has the same problem??? Well we would be so screwed.

We are painfully dependant on society for survival. The vast majority of 7.4 billion humans never learned how to find food without a grocery store, we depend on electricity but know nothing about it except it comes out of a plug and we have to pay a power company for it. We don’t care where our sewage or garbage goes as long as it is “away” from us. We do have fantasies though. We like to think that, in the event of an apocalypse, we would “step up” our game and do “what we have to” to survive a bad situation. Despite the fact that the majority of us haven’t the foggiest notion of what that would be.

This is as unrealistic as throwing someone into the ocean and expecting them to suddenly develop the skills of a marathon swimmer. By the time they realized they realized that they were in serious trouble, they would have already drowned. The closest reference most have to living off the land is playing virtual survival games (like Mine Craft) or going on recreational camping vacations. Just being familiar with wilderness settings does not mean that you have developed the necessary skills for sustained survival. Ask yourself how long realistically survive without supplies? One month, 2 months, 3? If there is any time limit, then you don’t have sustainable survival skills. You are not alone; drop any average city dweller into the middle of the wilderness, without access to food or equipment and they would be dead inside 2 weeks.

Dependency was NOT YOUR FAULT

Becoming dependent on the system was not your choice; nor was it neglect on part of your parents, nor was it something the government did to you. Being city dependent was a trade-off. A very long time ago, we chose an agricultural lifestyle over a nomadic existence. We established permanent dwellings and developed a regular abundant food source through farming. With food and water taken care of we could support larger and more powerful communities, also the bulk of the population did not need to spend time foraging for food, when farmers could provide all the food we needed. This gave us time to learn new things, new skills that would benefit the community through new trades. Soon we had blacksmiths, woodworkers, healers, artists, clergy, and a host of other professions. We developed an exchange system, to earn money for our services and we could then purchase the services of anyone else in the community. This trend continues even in the modern age, with each generation getting more specialized. Urbanization isn’t a bad thing, just a choice that we made a long time ago.

More Specialized, More Fragile

Most of us are deeply invested in our social responsibilities, our professions, and can’t even imagine the possibility that our basic survival needs would ever be denied. We like to believe: “it has never happened, so it never will.” With heads firmly plant in the sand, we never give it another thought, never plan for the future, and live under the trusting assumption that someone will take care of it for us, perhaps the government… Someone…

Fact: A single low yield nuclear weapon detonated in orbit of USA would do little physical damage, however the EMP burst (electro magnetic pulse) would wipe out all unshielded computers throughout North America. Hardened military battle computers, designed with EM shielding would most likely survive, but the vast majority of personal, civic, commercial and banking systems would be fried. Getting these systems back online wouldn’t be a simple matter; as all backups and unsold computers in storage would also be affected. This means new equipment would need to be built and shipped. And placing orders without a functional communications grid (all computer dependant… all fried), that may slow things down a bit. And given that all modern air planes, cars and trucks use computer control modules, all of which would be damaged by the same EMP burst… yea we would be in a bit of a pickle. Our modern infrastructure is too specialized and too dependant on one type of technology. And with too much specialization, we become less adaptable.

Is a catastrophic failure really so far-fetched? Is it so fantastical that we need not even consider a plan of action? What are you basing your absolute faith in the government upon?

Our country has a Medicare system, however it doesn’t provide timely treatment to people who need attention right away. People with serious painful conditions are asked to wait 6-9 months before they can be diagnosed, simply because there aren’t enough resources to deal with the demand. The government is not taking steps to correct this. We still have a massive shortage of nurses and doctors and this situation has been going on for years before the pandemic, the government hasn’t fixed it yet either. In the interior we had a major flood in one of our farming regions. The government did nothing, no aid, no military help, no shelter. Outlying communities pulled together to help out. To this day the government never awarded financial restitution to get those farms back online, nor have they set up flood gates to ensure that they same kind of flood wouldn’t happen again in the future.

Do you really think “they” have your back?

Covid-19 should have been a wake up call. There was no damage done to our societal infrastructure, there was no change in our resources. The only thing that happened was people around the world became aware of a dangerous pathogen, and we chose to self-quarantine on a global scale. Everyone did it… world wide. This minor change in consumer behaviour had massive economic repercussions which we have yet to recover from. Our governments tell us everything is fine, everything is OK. They want you to believe that they have everything under control. But the reality is we live in a fragile glass bubble that cracks with the slightest change.

The painful question is: Can you survive without society? And if you can’t, what are you doing to ensure your own survival?

There is a Solution: learn to live off the grid

There are people, right now, who are off the grid. They have successfully set up their own micro infrastructures and provide for themselves and their families.
There are people, right now, who have purchased undeveloped land for a fraction of what you would pay for in the city and never enslaved themselves to a 30 year mortgage. Over time they established beautiful off the grid homes with all the modern conveniences. Absolutely anyone can learn how, but this can’t be done on the fly. There is a lot of things to consider.