Living in the age of technology, where it seems we have become Alice in a “tech wonderland” where gadgets become smaller and our dependency grows larger, simply not getting service for a few moments makes us want to scream. What if we went a whole day, or *gasp*….years without electronics? Well, with solar storms on the rise, that may become a reality.
In 2003 over 50,000 people in Sweden were left in the dark when a solar storm wreaked havoc. Planes were left flying blind as navigation systems were rendered useless. Imagine leaving whatever items don’t fit into flight standards behind at the airport, only to get in the sky and find that the sun is going to make this trip more of a memorable challenge than airport security. There’s nothing like a few million protons and electrons thrown into your day to create more stress.
If you live close to the poles, you may be able to see the remnants of the solar storm, represented by the beautiful light show known as the Aurora Borealis. Auroras occur when electrically charged particles interact with the earth’s magnetic field creating incredible purple, blue, red and green light displays in the sky.
With 2012 predicted to be the year the sun could potentially take out ALL communication and power grids – sending us all back to a time we actually had to talk to each other instead of email or texting – cities like New York are actually preparing for such a scenario. What would YOU do without your Blackberry or some way to keep track of loved ones? Could this be the impending 2012 doom…the world as we know it transforming into a silenced electronic dead zone?
