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We had some serious thunderstorm roll through last night, dropping either a
small tornado or some high-speed winds on an area a few miles away from
where I live.
The Don Henley song "Dirty Laundry" always reminds me of the weather reports
on TV. I understand that they feel that they have liability issues if they
don't scream about how serious each and every incident is, and that the one
guy in town who got his roof blown off thinks it IS a severe storm, but I
still think there's a lot of crying wolf going on.
For instance, we used to have two states of weather alert for tornadoes:
Tornado Watch, and Tornado Warning. Watch meant "Conditions are right, we
might get some" and warning meant "Somebody actually saw it on the ground."
Now "tornado warning" means as little as "Some winds are going kind of
around, somewhere, we think, maybe." And they turn on the sirens for a
warning, getting thousands of people to hide in their closets for a couple
of hours while two guys on the news move their hands in circles and babble
excitedly about "circular" and "tornadic" motion.
Sure, the lights went out for a split second because two substations got hit
and a few thousand people lost power. (To be fair, we have a generator, so
we have power when others don't.)
This is actually something I think about quite a bit, losing power. A lot of
people see it as an inconvenience-- you have to go get a flashlight to get
around, if it stays off for a while you lose the food in your fridge, and so
on. But for a number of folks, losing power means losing the machines that
keep them or their loved ones alive and healthy: oxygen concentrators,
CPAPs, antibiotic delivery systems, Bili-lites and blankets (I'm unsure of
the spelling on those; they're the things used to treat babies with
jaundice).
I'm really happy and all for those people who participated in that
awareness-raising event where people were supposed to turn the lights off
for an hour, although I have some doubts about any event that urges people
to turn off the least energy-sucking items in their home for an hour to save
energy, and then sells commemorative t-shirts that take twice as much energy
to produce as my lights use in a day. Minor quibble, that.
What I'd rather see is something like raising money for battery backups for
medical equipment. Or just lists of places to get such a backup! Being
without your equipment isn't necessarily immediately deadly, but it can be
life-threatening, can make you ill, or can slow your recovery. Battery
backups for a CPAP cost about $250-300, which is a lot for someone who
doesn't have insurance to help.
I'd rather see a lot more people who knew about programs like Cool Zone--
it's a maintained list of places people, especially the elderly, can go who
suffer from heat-related illnesses and have no air conditioning at their
homes. I'd rather see more places on Cool Zone besides the libraries and
shopping malls! Something that happens to me if I'm in a very hot place and
finally get to go somewhere cool is that I get very sleepy. Surely it
happens to other people too-- and is that really safe for them to be in a
shopping mall falling asleep? (For those who live in places that don't have
our summer climate, it can be 100-105 during the day and fall to 85 at
night, which is still not comfortable for good sleeping and can leave people
tired.)
Anyways, I am sure there are ways we could better manage our community
electrical usage, while still making sure people don't feel guilty about
using what they really need. Electricity is a utility, not a luxury.
small tornado or some high-speed winds on an area a few miles away from
where I live.
The Don Henley song "Dirty Laundry" always reminds me of the weather reports
on TV. I understand that they feel that they have liability issues if they
don't scream about how serious each and every incident is, and that the one
guy in town who got his roof blown off thinks it IS a severe storm, but I
still think there's a lot of crying wolf going on.
For instance, we used to have two states of weather alert for tornadoes:
Tornado Watch, and Tornado Warning. Watch meant "Conditions are right, we
might get some" and warning meant "Somebody actually saw it on the ground."
Now "tornado warning" means as little as "Some winds are going kind of
around, somewhere, we think, maybe." And they turn on the sirens for a
warning, getting thousands of people to hide in their closets for a couple
of hours while two guys on the news move their hands in circles and babble
excitedly about "circular" and "tornadic" motion.
Sure, the lights went out for a split second because two substations got hit
and a few thousand people lost power. (To be fair, we have a generator, so
we have power when others don't.)
This is actually something I think about quite a bit, losing power. A lot of
people see it as an inconvenience-- you have to go get a flashlight to get
around, if it stays off for a while you lose the food in your fridge, and so
on. But for a number of folks, losing power means losing the machines that
keep them or their loved ones alive and healthy: oxygen concentrators,
CPAPs, antibiotic delivery systems, Bili-lites and blankets (I'm unsure of
the spelling on those; they're the things used to treat babies with
jaundice).
I'm really happy and all for those people who participated in that
awareness-raising event where people were supposed to turn the lights off
for an hour, although I have some doubts about any event that urges people
to turn off the least energy-sucking items in their home for an hour to save
energy, and then sells commemorative t-shirts that take twice as much energy
to produce as my lights use in a day. Minor quibble, that.
What I'd rather see is something like raising money for battery backups for
medical equipment. Or just lists of places to get such a backup! Being
without your equipment isn't necessarily immediately deadly, but it can be
life-threatening, can make you ill, or can slow your recovery. Battery
backups for a CPAP cost about $250-300, which is a lot for someone who
doesn't have insurance to help.
I'd rather see a lot more people who knew about programs like Cool Zone--
it's a maintained list of places people, especially the elderly, can go who
suffer from heat-related illnesses and have no air conditioning at their
homes. I'd rather see more places on Cool Zone besides the libraries and
shopping malls! Something that happens to me if I'm in a very hot place and
finally get to go somewhere cool is that I get very sleepy. Surely it
happens to other people too-- and is that really safe for them to be in a
shopping mall falling asleep? (For those who live in places that don't have
our summer climate, it can be 100-105 during the day and fall to 85 at
night, which is still not comfortable for good sleeping and can leave people
tired.)
Anyways, I am sure there are ways we could better manage our community
electrical usage, while still making sure people don't feel guilty about
using what they really need. Electricity is a utility, not a luxury.
