Monster hurricanes
A recent report by MSNBC (sorry, only available on IE) cited research that the temperature of world's oceans have risen 1° in the last 50 years. So friggin' what, right? Well, correlate with that 1° double the number of Category 4 and Category 5 hurricanes.
I've never really wanted to live in the South. To me, it's a nice place to visit...yadda yadda. However, I've never really been glad I don't live there. I am now. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to pack my life in a day or less and decide what to bring (what I could stuff in my car, basically). With my four kids, that's not a lot of room for "other stuff." And it is just stuff, I know. But I'm one of those people that can point to anything I see in my apartment and tell you the entire story behind it (I get that from Grandma -- we're knick knack people). I have attachments to objects. Of course, when it comes right down to it, as long as my kids and I are safe, the rest of the stuff in this place don't mean anything at all. But finding shelter in the meantime, rebuilding after the danger passes, finding money to replace those "things," realizing everything is just gone.
My dad told me tonight that the disaster relief people at the ELCA raised over $6.1 million for Hurricane Katrina's relief effort. According to RedCross.org, "As of Monday, September 19, the Red Cross has received nearly $764.7 million, of which approximately 33 percent is in pledges." That organization predicts the total cost of the effort from Katrina will be over $2 billion. But how much will Rita's rebuilding effort cost? How deep are the pockets of Americans? How much more in debt can the American government go? The answer: As much as it damn well takes.
September 11, 2001 was neither the first nor the last time Americans saw each other -- wherever we lived -- as neighbors, as fellow human beings. It's a shame that it takes enormous disasters for us to realize this simple fact, but it's fortunate that something does.
Maybe these hurricanes are Nature's way of punishing us industrial humans for screwing so badly with the Earth. Poseidon does not want the oceans 1° warmer. He will send more hurricanes. I own leather; I eat meat. But I do not condone or support actions like our government's headstrong plan to turn a massive amount of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge into an oil drilling field. The ironic part -- several studies have shown that the oil we glean from this "energy effort" will amount to one year's supply for the grand ol' US of A, but we won't get any of it until 10 years from now. That's 10 years of capsizing fragile ecosystems, endangering and actively making extinct species of animals that do not live anywhere else, screwing with the air and water and flora. I wish I'd have voted twice for Gore...and three times for Kerry.
I've never really wanted to live in the South. To me, it's a nice place to visit...yadda yadda. However, I've never really been glad I don't live there. I am now. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to pack my life in a day or less and decide what to bring (what I could stuff in my car, basically). With my four kids, that's not a lot of room for "other stuff." And it is just stuff, I know. But I'm one of those people that can point to anything I see in my apartment and tell you the entire story behind it (I get that from Grandma -- we're knick knack people). I have attachments to objects. Of course, when it comes right down to it, as long as my kids and I are safe, the rest of the stuff in this place don't mean anything at all. But finding shelter in the meantime, rebuilding after the danger passes, finding money to replace those "things," realizing everything is just gone.
My dad told me tonight that the disaster relief people at the ELCA raised over $6.1 million for Hurricane Katrina's relief effort. According to RedCross.org, "As of Monday, September 19, the Red Cross has received nearly $764.7 million, of which approximately 33 percent is in pledges." That organization predicts the total cost of the effort from Katrina will be over $2 billion. But how much will Rita's rebuilding effort cost? How deep are the pockets of Americans? How much more in debt can the American government go? The answer: As much as it damn well takes.
September 11, 2001 was neither the first nor the last time Americans saw each other -- wherever we lived -- as neighbors, as fellow human beings. It's a shame that it takes enormous disasters for us to realize this simple fact, but it's fortunate that something does.
Maybe these hurricanes are Nature's way of punishing us industrial humans for screwing so badly with the Earth. Poseidon does not want the oceans 1° warmer. He will send more hurricanes. I own leather; I eat meat. But I do not condone or support actions like our government's headstrong plan to turn a massive amount of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge into an oil drilling field. The ironic part -- several studies have shown that the oil we glean from this "energy effort" will amount to one year's supply for the grand ol' US of A, but we won't get any of it until 10 years from now. That's 10 years of capsizing fragile ecosystems, endangering and actively making extinct species of animals that do not live anywhere else, screwing with the air and water and flora. I wish I'd have voted twice for Gore...and three times for Kerry.
posted by Dana Gillin @ 1:12 AM
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