Tranquility

Tranquility
Sunset in a Senegalese Village

Sunday, April 17, 2011

ClimateChange@HU: Hurricane Warnings are up: Grab Grandma, the babi...

ClimateChange@HU: Hurricane Warnings are up: Grab Grandma, the babi...: "In approximately 45 days the start of the 2011 hurricane season begins. Are you ready?? Should you be ready? Why do you ask? Am I trying..."

Hurricane Warnings are up: Grab Grandma, the babies and call cousin Pookie


In approximately 45 days the start of the 2011 hurricane season begins. Are you ready?? Should you be ready? Why do you ask? Am I trying to scare you. No. I am trying to get you prepared for another busy hurricane season. Is there something going on that has not been reported in the news?? Yes.

We are either
(1) In the midst the third natural cycle of elevated hurricanes, that began in 1995.
(2) In the midst of a long period of elevated hurricane frequency and intensity related to man-made global warming.
(3) We are in the midst of a mixture of the two.

Either way, it does not bode well for folks who life along coastal areas of the US, the Caribbean or Central America. If it is a cycle, it will last for another 20-30 years and lord know how long it will last if it is global warming. Why do you scare us with that mess. Because, hurricanes need warm waters to feed on and the global and regional observations all show that ocean temperatures are steadily warming.

The normal number of named storms is 10-11. Last year we had 19. This year will likely be in the 13-20 range. So you feel comfortable in doing nothing huh? Well remember what happened in New Orleans?? A likely scenario exists for many coastal cities in the US. Which cities??


New Orleans (again)
Houston
Miami
Charleston SC
Wilmington NC
NYC (really?)

So what gives? Well all of these cities have similar patterns to New Orleans:
- Segregated by race
- poverty, disability, low education, low income, low home ownership all mapped on top of race.

So What?
Well when the time for evacuation comes, who will have least access to transportation for evacuation? Who will require more assistance? Who will have the least access to the internet to
plan out an evacuation.

Miami is on par for a disaster similar to Katrina because it has approximately the same level of poverty, access to transportation as New Orleans. It has a large minority population (black, hispanic).

Next on my list is Houston (you have a problem). There are 4-5 million persons in the city. It cannot be evacuated in 72 hours under nearly any scenario. First, if 1 car breaks down or runs out of gas -- massive disruption. We saw this with hurricane Rita. Houston bit the bullet with Hurricane Ike nearly missing them but destroying Galveston Island.

New Orleans believes that they are ready, but remember Katrina was a Category 3 when it hit them. I hope that emergency managers remember that part.

New York - Don't want to think about it. No way to evacuate 10-15 million people.

But the biggest disaster still on the plate is Haiti. Today, nearly 17 months after the Earthquake, more than 1 million people are still living in tents. All that we can do is hope that the new government will rush to find greater shelter for the good but very vulnerable people of Haiti. Then we gotta keep them in our prayers.

So how can we avoid what happened before with Katrina

1.) Get prepared. Keep all of your important documents in a place that you can get to them
-birth certificates
- passports
- bank accounts (check books)
- have cash on hand before the hurricane strikes. Power systems and communication systems are normally down.

2.) Plan out your escape route now. This means, start thinking about where you would evacuate to, and how you would get there.

3.) Make plans for those will will be difficult to evacuate: elderly, children and disabled.

4.) Keep your medicines together. Get extra before the storm hits. Put them in a plastic bag. You may have to get them at a different location. Take medical records for those who need them.

5.) Take you cell phone, but call people if you evacuate. Cell phone service may be lost for strong storms for days or even weeks.

6.) Make sure that your car is in good working order and fill up with gas before you evacuate.

7.) There are evacuation food packages which have 2-3 days of dry and canned food for approximately 20 dollars. Grab these if you can.

8.) Flatten the communication network. Use Facebook, Twitter, SMS to communicate the hurricane threat and evacuation plans to everyone that you know.

Stay tuned. We will be watching.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

The Power of One !!




Last Sunday, I read the story about Mohammed Bouazizi, the courageous young man from Tunisia who was a fruit vendor that started the revolution in North Africa and the Middle East. This is the young man who was humiliated by the police. As the Washington Post reports, " he wept with shame" after being slapped. He asked " Why are you doing this to me?", "I'm am a simple person and I just want to work." Later he doused himself with paint thinner and put himself on fire.

What a way to crush the human spirit through police force. This has happened in history so much. The small person, who is neither seen nor heard. But Gandhi, Mandela, King, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, Bouazizi and so many who have stood in the way of the power -- tell us that all is not in vain.

Mr. Bouazizi's death made people realize how they far they had fallen and been oppressed because of the power system. Soon, the people would rise up against the power structure. Yes many would die but not in vain. Leaderships would collapse in Tunisia and Egypt and threaten other systems. The same thing that happened in India with Gandhi, the United States with King, Parks, Evers and so many others and Mandela in South Africa is inevitable wherever people are not treated with dignity and human respect.

This current movement will move into SubSaharan Africa where people want to be respected like the human family. It has gotten so bad that many will take small boats or walk across the Saharan Desert to find work in Europe. So many must run because of war in DRC, Ivory Coast, Sudan and the poverty is so dehumanizing.

The thing is: No one knows who will begin this movement because of the power of one.

Now, you ask how is all of this related to climate change???????

Well because of our consumptive ways, we are driving a system of inequality around the globe. People are working 100 hours per week to make things for Americans and in the process being exploited. Because of our need for fossil fuel, there are people who work in oil fields and coal mines all around the world and are being exploited. They live and die in the oil fields and coal mines around the world. Companies like Walmart are exploiting in China and at home so that we can buy cheap shirts, pants and socks. So many will die in the textile factories around the world after being exploited for their labor.... all for what????

Our ways here in America are creating new slave markets similar to the days when my ancestors were taken from West Africa. It gives power to those governments who can exploit their populations to become bigger and bigger while making the human spirit smaller and smaller.
Yeah we have nice things.. but at whose expense.

If we don't watch ourselves, we will be like the captains aboard slave ships who laughed, drank rum and thought about payday while men, women and children died below. We will become like those who lost consciousness when killing millions of Jews during WWII. See the human spirit wants to be free, but the flesh binds us to our desires even at the expense of others.

While looking at the ongoing issues overseas, we should ask ourselves did we help to make this? When a new system comes about what will we do to keep it from reverting back to its old form?

The Earth and its changing climate is telling us that we are not in balance. We are going to have to consume less, exploit less and use what we have been given with discernment and understanding. By consuming less, we will remove the power of those who exploit because Americans want it and they will have to depend less on the textile factories, less on the oil fields, less on the coal minds and focus more on the human mind, on education and on equality. We will also reducing the potential warming and damage that our children and grandchildren will have to deal with.