Opinion
I was visiting my favorite Web site Saturday night, www.democracynow.org , and the host, Amy Goodman, was interviewing Naomi Klein, author of “The Shock Doctrine.”
Klein pointed out that a few years ago polls showed that 70 percent of the people believed that global warming was a reality. Recently, that figure has dropped to 50 percent.
I wonder if that is because of the guy in the coffee shop or the doctor’s office – you know the guy – who, after a snow, blurts out “so much for global warming.” It always gets a few laughs. However, global warming causes it to snow more.
Even if there was no global warming, we should all be alarmed by the dwindling sperm count, the large number of toxins that we all have in our bodies, the high number of autistic births, and the fact that we can’t eat the fish in half the rivers and two-thirds of the lakes.
So, what we have is not a science problem, but an emotional problem: the psychological defense mechanism called denial. But, here is the reality: “If you don’t change course, you will end up where you are heading.”
We are heading, according to the geniuses at MIT, to the end of the planet before the end of the century. And, it may be sooner than that due to what is called the “amplifier” effect.
For example, as the frozen tundra melts, the organic material therein will rot and give off even more greenhouse gasses.
There are other folks, including a friend of mine, who recognize that we are rendering the planet uninhabitable, but have put themselves in god’s hands: If the planet expires, the sooner they will enter into a state of rapture and inhabit eternity (which evidently is not polluted yet), basking in the love of their savior.
Frankly, I don’t want to bank my grandchildren’s future on these musings.
It is interesting to me that when we wanted to build the atomic bomb, we formed “The Manhattan Project” and put all the great physicists to work on it.
We don’t even talk about organizing to save the planet. It seems we can organize for destruction of mankind, but not its survival.
Instead of working on these issues, we are busy bloodying working people and unions while the folks in the financial sector who caused the current economic predicament are walking free. (See Matt Taibbi’s article in the Rolling Stone, “Why hasn’t anyone gone to jail?” And “Inside Job,” the documentary narrated by Matt Damon).
Nelson Strasser lives in Kelseyville, Calif.
- Details
- Written by: Nelson Strasser
The emergency response to the Feb. 17 snowstorm in Lake County was not acceptable. In particular, communicating the shutdown of the Lake Transit bus system was a complete failure.
No one expects miracles in dealing with the unpredictable or managing with limited resources. But in this case, a snowstorm of some magnitude was forecast and the telephone system was generally functional.
So I don't think it is unreasonable to ask why no one at the sheriff's department or the county was able to tell someone dependent on the bus system whether buses were running from one side of the lake to the other.
Apparently everyone in authority assumed this was Lake Transit's problem. Unfortunately, when Lake Transit bus routes completely shut down, their power went down also.
Lake Transit left their building in a big hurry for they neither forwarded their phone calls or notified the county during normal business hours, the sheriff's department, office of emergency preparedness or the local media.
We assumed that even if all else failed the transit manager would have posted a shut down notice on the transit Web site. No such luck.
Everyone who should have known about the shut down seemed unconcerned about the fact that disabled people and people with obligations across the Lake were standing in the snow waiting for buses that would never come.
Even the California Highway Patrol, which shut down Highway 53 at Highway 20, did not bother to tell the person answering their phones that they had done so.
Even marginally functioning public safety agencies should have stopped by people waiting in the freezing snow to tell them that the buses weren't running. Ideally they should have given them a ride to a safe destination. None of the police agencies did either.
At one point a professional person acting on my behalf called the county number and indicated that she expected to eventually talk to someone who could answer the question, “Are the Lake Transit buses running?” She was given Mark Wahl's number who really isn't even a county or Lake Transit employee. He didn't know the answer either but found out and called my friend back with the bad news.
This was a low level emergency – the lowest where people could die waiting for government agencies that people depend on. The fact that the main resource to respond to this emergency was the telephone, conveniently located in the lighted and heated offices of government and transit officials, makes the failure of all responsible officials complete.
In a major emergency I can only assume this level of incompetence and indifference would result in substantial and preventable death and suffering.
Clearly, no one party is to blame. The failure was in Lake Transit not notifying government agencies and posting a notice on their Web site from any computer with admin privileges as well as public safety and county officials for not being a little curious about what critical services were still functioning.
Many of our more compromised residents depend on Lake Transit. They deserve more from our officials in life and death situations than indifference bordering on contempt.
Dante DeAmicis lives in Clearlake, Calif.
- Details
- Written by: Dante DeAmicis
How to resolve AdBlock issue?