Now that the blackout is fading from immediate memory, it’s a good time to take a step back and evaluate its impact. Judging from stories in the media, most people had a pretty good time during the blackout-firing up the barbeque, hanging out with their neighbours, watching the stars (stars, in downtown Toronto!) and generally enjoying “getting back to nature.” Well, I’m glad you had fun, but I’d hate for anyone to think that living without power for a day constitutes “nature.” There is a reason that human civilization has spent 10,000 years evolving the electric can opener: Nature sucks.
The first thing to realise is how much we need electricity for. Maybe it’s fun to play survival for a night-eat cold food, conserve water and use candles, but in Ontario, citizens are expected to last three days in an emergency before government aid kicks in. By day three that probably means no more water, no more fresh food, few candles or flashlights and some strained tempers. Add to that the fact that new food supplies would likely be slowed (so grocery stores and restaurants would be shut) and that daily temperatures could be in the 30s (or 40s with the humidity). How long would it be before the neighbours you were sharing drinks and laughs with yesterday night become your greedy mortal enemies who won’t share any of their canned food and candles?
Everything in modern society depends heavily on electricity. Even Black Creek Pioneer Village, our local celebration of a simpler time when electricity was a party trick with kites in thunderstorms, was closed for several days during and after the blackout. At U of T, the back-up power station, designed to assure that there is enough power to protect all the expensive scientific experiments and equipment, was off because it needs power to start up.
People who use the blackout as an example of the evils of technology and modern civilization are being naïve. Even campers who spend weeks living in forests take things like flashlights and tablets to make sure they have clean water. Living without the comforts of modern life means spending a lot longer each day on basic survival, and living in peace in such a society would mean imposing a rigid social code of behaviour. Worse is if people fantasize about living in this false utopia (perfected in their imaginations) at the expense of what is going on around them. What is the use of dreaming about growing all your own food if your air conditioner is set on high and your computer, television and stereo are all wasting energy?
The best and most lasting way to prevent blackouts is by conservation. It isn’t realistic (or desirable) to live in a world without electricity, but continuing to over-tax our country’s energy supply will only ultimately lead to completely needless interruptions in electricity for everyone.
