Preparing for troubled times ahead - Advice on what is needed.....

[Toddy]

Buy British

Our three pillars of sustainability | Our approach

British Sugar works to make positive changes in economic, social and environmental sustainability through our knowledge and resources.

www.britishsugar.co.uk

It's both grown and processed in the UK.

The brand name is Silver Spoon

Home | Silver Spoon | Spoonfuls of Joy

Silver Spoon is inspiring Britain to create more moments of baking joy. From a dollop of icing on your fairy cakes, lighter-than-air golden sponges and the fluffiest buttercream to top your celebration showstopper - this is your perfect baking partnership.

www.silverspoon.co.uk

 

[rarms]

Buy British

Our three pillars of sustainability | Our approach

British Sugar works to make positive changes in economic, social and environmental sustainability through our knowledge and resources.

www.britishsugar.co.uk

It's both grown and processed in the UK.

The brand name is Silver Spoon

Home | Silver Spoon | Spoonfuls of Joy

Silver Spoon is inspiring Britain to create more moments of baking joy. From a dollop of icing on your fairy cakes, lighter-than-air golden sponges and the fluffiest buttercream to top your celebration showstopper - this is your perfect baking partnership.

www.silverspoon.co.uk

Be full of nasty pesticides this year though

 

[Toddy]

Hmmm. No.
British sugar, sucrose, is safe to eat.

I know the issues about the insecticides, but the processing doesn't leave the sugar full of toxins.


Pesticide use is a contentious subject, and I do 'grow weeds because I'm feeding bees', etc.,

"The British Beet Research Organisation said: “All sugar beet growers must adhere to the robust stewardship programme that has been agreed by the Health and Safety Executive.”

It said flowering crops which would attract pollinators could not be grown in fields treated with the pesticide for 32 months after application."

But they lost a quarter of the crop to a disease spread by aphids, so something needs to be done.

Emergency pesticide authorisation to protect sugar beet crops

Predicted virus incidence rate passes required threshold as set out in independent scientific modelling

www.gov.uk

It wasn't only the UK that granted exemptions either, twelve other UK countries did so too.

So, there's an issue, one they're trying to deal with without destroying everything in sight, but it's not confined to beet sugar.
Sugar cane growing has horrendous issues with pollution, and that's before we add up the transport mileage to get it to our island.

Eating with a Conscience

Choosing organic food to protect health and the...

www.beyondpesticides.org

Sugar is an incredibly useful stuff. I am aware of the issues around it, and it's calorific impact on diet, but I do still use it.
For preference though, I go out of my way to buy British.

M

 

[Bearmont]

I have been able to heal some very stubborn diabetic ulcers in my family by applying honey, the stuff is magic. That would be good to stock up on, too. I heard sugar was used for wound treatment in ancient times too. Never tried that.

You can do pickles even without vinegar, just by doing a lactoferment with salt water. Another good way to cut down on refrigeration.

 

[TeeDee]

Mostly about grid resilience.

The comments below are somewhat interesting

 

[bearbait]

The comments are salutary. Thanks for posting.

 

[C_Claycomb]

As an engineer in the business of electrical motors and generators I have been sceptical about the grand promises of a full switch to renewable power and widespread electrification of transport. I found it somewhat depressing watching this as it gives substance and numbers to the general feel of disbelief I already carried. I did like that the speaker was not one of the usual YouTube prophets of click bait disaster and was giving the talk for investor.

 

[Toddy]

I think that as technology improves, we need less to do as much, and if we start being critical about what we use, then we can reduce how much we use.

On t'other hand, it escapes me why an island like ours, with the coastline we have, and as regular as clockwork tides coming in and out, that we cannot harvest enough tidal energy to make it worth the effort of installation and maintenance.

I remember a report from the late seventies which suggested that the tidal energy of the Thames could be harvested to provide enough power to desalinate enough seawater to provide pure water for the entire city of London.

Sometimes I think we don't think 'outside the box' enough.
Power has many uses.

 

[slowworm]

As an engineer in the business of electrical motors and generators I have been sceptical about the grand promises of a full switch to renewable power and widespread electrification of transport. I found it somewhat depressing watching this as it gives substance and numbers to the general feel of disbelief I already carried. I did like that the speaker was not one of the usual YouTube prophets of click bait disaster and was giving the talk for investor.

Any chance of a short summary?

 

[Wander]

Sorry, but I've never been convinced that electricity is the answer.
For me, it's not about generating electricity, it's about the storage.
Current battery technology is woeful. More time and resources need to be given to that aspect of electrical power. Sustainable energy is about preserving resources, so we can't keep using rare earth metals for storing electricity. It's in the name - RARE earth metals.
No, sorry, electricity isn't the answer.
And no, neither is the internal combustion energy. We most certainly can't keep using that either.
But electricity isn't the answer, not without a major paradigm shift in storage of that power. And that is not happening and doesn't look to happen in any reasonable time frame.

Having said all that, I have no idea what the answer is. But, hey, I wouldn't - I have no background whatsoever in that field. But it's not electrical power.

 

[The Frightful]

As an engineer in the business of electrical motors and generators I have been sceptical about the grand promises of a full switch to renewable power and widespread electrification of transport. I found it somewhat depressing watching this as it gives substance and numbers to the general feel of disbelief I already carried. I did like that the speaker was not one of the usual YouTube prophets of click bait disaster and was giving the talk for investor.

Thanks for this. Unfortunately there is no financial benefit in saving the planet. If our natural lifespan was 1000 yrs not around 80, there may be an incentive. Its all about greed for more wealth and power by people who have more than enough already. Basically, most of us are the latter day equivalents of surfs, being financially abused by nothing more than bully boys. Of course its natural to want to better yourself, its the way we've evolved. Now It's totally broken, BS and smoke n mirrors everywhere, it's not until you get older that the penny drops that all you actually NEED is shelter, food, water and warmth. There's pockets in a shroud. Apologies, rant over

 

[C_Claycomb]

Any chance of a short summary?

There are not enough minerals, mining or refining resources to support the aspiration of transitioning to a renewable electric powered economy. Technology isn't going to provide enough answers, fast enough, to even approach the targets for electrification set by Western governments.

Electric cars "save carbon" compared to IC engines only after driving at least 60,000 miles, maybe more than 100,000 for the newer EVs with bigger batteries.

Worth watching. Lots of info packed into a short time.

 

[slowworm]

Worth watching. Lots of info packed into a short time.

Thanks, doesn't sound too dissimilar to my current view. I'm more for reducing usage rather than finding something else we can rely on until it's proven to do huge amounts of damage.

I don't always have access to a decent link to watch videos so tend to like a summary.

 

[Woody girl]

We are increasingly relying on electricity in everything. We dodged a humungous cme the other week ,even though it was facing away from the earth ,we still felt its effects. Had it been facing earth ,we would not be posting anything on this forum as everything would have been fried!
It's a matter of time before another Carrington event happens, and when it does chaos will be the result. Back in the 1800's when that happened , the only real electrical usage was the telegraph system. Now nothing would work, your cars, banks, GPS, trains atm's ,computers, phones, water pumping stations, hospitals, etc would all be out of action. I do wonder how many nuclear power plants would go bang too!
We have become far too reliant on electric and with it being pushed as the solution to all our woes , ...Well, who puts all their eggs in one basket?
I'm making sure I can survive off grid as much as possible, local water sources mapped, at least two filter systems and spare filters. Life could get interesting. But simple easy preparation isn't hard. It just means working out how you will survive for many months if not a year or too untill everything is mended. No computers, no supermarkets, no factories, no vehicles, no safe pumped water, No banks , no petrol stations, ..the list is endless.
Back in the 60s and 70's if we had a major power outage , my grandfather's shop stayed open with a few oil lamps for light, and a hand operated till, and everyone had cash, no cards to swipe in those days! Nowadays everything closes as the swishy doors don't work and nor do the cards or tills. Makes you think when you look back as I can do to pre digital days.
I do hope that we manage to keep dodging the cme's, but if we are unlucky enough to catch a blow from one of these natural events. It will be modern life changing. Oh, what fun it will be.!!!

 

[sidpost]

We aren't living in the stone age or the 1950's either. Most modern electronics have protection for EMP'ish things. Sure a comet or solar flare will cause some temporary problems occasionally too. Heck, bad weather takes my Internet and Cellphone away until it clears frequently.

Unless we take a Dinosaur killing celestial objects as a direct impact on Earth, I generally think most of these scenarios are overblown.

In real terms in my personal opinion, I am more apt to be drastically affected by war and nuclear detonations than I am a planet killing asteroid, meteor, or comet.

 

[Bearmont]

Modern electronics are no different from old electronics, just miniaturized, more complex and more failure-prone. Transistors are still transistors. A solar flare will absolutely destroy our digital infrastructure.

What modern power supplies have is various voltage and surge protections, which is there to account for instability from the grid and protects against failure of the unit. Nothing, unless we're talking hardened military equipment, is actually specifically shielded against EMP.

 

[Broch]

Modern electronics are no different from old electronics, just miniaturized, more complex and more failure-prone. Transistors are still transistors. A solar flare will absolutely destroy our digital infrastructure.

What modern power supplies have is various voltage and surge protections, which is there to account for instability from the grid and protects against failure of the unit. Nothing, unless we're talking hardened military equipment, is actually specifically shielded against EMP.

Not strictly true. In this day of all sorts of EMF interference etc. for safety reasons, a lot of modern 'control' electronics has to be tested to levels of immunity - the automotive standards for example are not a lot different to military for most emissions. Medical electronics also has to have high immunity and a lot of domestic electronics wouldn't survive everyday usage unless it was robust.

I'm not saying that a powerful CME (coronal mass ejection) wouldn't cause any problems but, a bit like the year 2000 event, I suspect it's exaggerated.

 

[The Frightful]

We are increasingly relying on electricity in everything. We dodged a humungous cme the other week ,even though it was facing away from the earth ,we still felt its effects. Had it been facing earth ,we would not be posting anything on this forum as everything would have been fried!
It's a matter of time before another Carrington event happens, and when it does chaos will be the result. Back in the 1800's when that happened , the only real electrical usage was the telegraph system. Now nothing would work, your cars, banks, GPS, trains atm's ,computers, phones, water pumping stations, hospitals, etc would all be out of action. I do wonder how many nuclear power plants would go bang too!
We have become far too reliant on electric and with it being pushed as the solution to all our woes , ...Well, who puts all their eggs in one basket?
I'm making sure I can survive off grid as much as possible, local water sources mapped, at least two filter systems and spare filters. Life could get interesting. But simple easy preparation isn't hard. It just means working out how you will survive for many months if not a year or too untill everything is mended. No computers, no supermarkets, no factories, no vehicles, no safe pumped water, No banks , no petrol stations, ..the list is endless.
Back in the 60s and 70's if we had a major power outage , my grandfather's shop stayed open with a few oil lamps for light, and a hand operated till, and everyone had cash, no cards to swipe in those days! Nowadays everything closes as the swishy doors don't work and nor do the cards or tills. Makes you think when you look back as I can do to pre digital days.
I do hope that we manage to keep dodging the cme's, but if we are unlucky enough to catch a blow from one of these natural events. It will be modern life changing. Oh, what fun it will be.!!!

I was totally unaware of the last major event so thank you. I have been saying for years now that any invading forces would only have to hit the grid and absolute chaos would be achieved in less than 48hrs, completely forgot about solar flares, doh !

 

[sidpost]

Modern electronics are no different from old electronics, just miniaturized, more complex and more failure-prone. Transistors are still transistors. A solar flare will absolutely destroy our digital infrastructure.

What modern power supplies have is various voltage and surge protections, which is there to account for instability from the grid and protects against failure of the unit. Nothing, unless we're talking hardened military equipment, is actually specifically shielded against EMP.

There is a drastic difference if you are talking about quality electronics from well-respected brands.

Cheap stuff from third world countries might not hold up but, just look at the abuse cellphones and smart watches tackle on a routine basis today versus the past.

If my electronics have the modern ratings for weather resistance, I'm not losing any sleep over worrying about a solar flare event hurting them.

The worst I expect is not a whole lot different than what I experience with DirectTV during bad weather. I lose the signal for ~15 minutes and things return to normal.

Personally, I fear a planet-killing asteroid hitting us more than some Y2K type scenario with a solar flare. Would some stuff fail? Sure and some will fail without a solar flare! Gloom and doom scenarios from solar flares just seem over the top today with most modern electronics.

Aircraft are much more susceptible to solar radiation or flares and, they aren't falling out of the sky. Sure, the radios might fade for a few minutes but, the airplane is at no risk of falling out of the sky.

Don't believe what you see in the movies! They aren't accurate documentaries!

And no, you don't need military-grade EMP-specific ratings for your electronics to survive such calamities from space or bad neighbors.

 

[1 pot hunter]

I think that as technology improves, we need less to do as much, and if we start being critical about what we use, then we can reduce how much we use.

On t'other hand, it escapes me why an island like ours, with the coastline we have, and as regular as clockwork tides coming in and out, that we cannot harvest enough tidal energy to make it worth the effort of installation and maintenance.

I remember a report from the late seventies which suggested that the tidal energy of the Thames could be harvested to provide enough power to desalinate enough seawater to provide pure water for the entire city of London.

Sometimes I think we don't think 'outside the box' enough.
Power has many uses.

We can harvest enough tidal energy but the goverment n energy companies prefer to rip everyone off with energy bills it will never change