Saturated is a good word for our time: drowning in rain, but also in guns, lies, bad news, crazy conspiracy theories, mental illness, drug abuse, and want-a-be fascists... while public discourse is a dessert of humility and kindness not unlike the Mojave. If we can name it, we can change it. What do we need to understand to evolve a better home ) country ) world ) ???
Friends in San Francisco said not to worry because they live up high -cousins in Irvine seem to be OK. I’m trying to imagine what’s happening to the coast highway -how many people will be displaced hurt killed -it’s astounding, and yet we have people in Congress who glory in their denial of science.
California has had many years to improve the retention of flood water and has not yet done enough. In AZ we have retention basins in every open area. Parks, flood plains ect. We hold on to every drop of rain we get. California is losing billions of fresh water to the sea with very little hope for refilling the aquifers under their feet.
Nicely phrased and telling of what it feels like to live here with these storms. They will pass, and California will learn from them. We do that here because we know how to adapt. The landscape requires it.
climate change is real. over 100 inches of snow in the Buffalo area. Sub zero wind chills in northeast. Tornados in the south in January. The west coast is under water.one party in congress doesn't believe in climate change. All they want to do is investigate the truth. Because they do not like the truth.
Most Westernized people think that technology is the answer to the climate crisis. While I don’t discount that technological changes are necessary, I think our problem is more fundamental. We need to wake up to the facts: We are completely dependent on our planet. Without Her our existence is impossible. And we do not hold her in the proper reverence. We behave like crazed and irresponsible teenagers. Time to grow up, apologize to Earth for our reprehensible treatment of Her, and give her the reverence and respect She is due. Without Earth, we are toast…….probably literally.
Thank you, Elliot for this eloquent post and explaining our condition to people in other parts of the Country. The problem we have in Sacramento (where I live) and the valley is our soil. It is clay. Instead of absorbing the water it makes a gooey, slimy surface with the slightest moisture, in the hot dry summer months it bakes to the texture of cement (I once broke a pickax trying to break through the surface to dig a hole.) So, in this kind of weather we get puddles, ponds, lakes and gushing rivers that ruin landscapes drown people in their cars (and it does not help that Sacramento drivers are habitually named the worst in the Country). What we need are thousands of those old fashioned rain barrels that people used to keep to catch the rain for later use. On the other hand, at the retirement apartments where I live, we have a permanent flock of feral Mallard ducks, the ponds are overflowing and the ducks are very, very, happy. (:-)
It’s so scary, disconcerting and uncertain here in California especially now. Thank you for the bit of positive (with facts) I needed the bit of positive without denial. I love your view! Thank you for sharing. My best wishes to my fellow Californian’s! Stay safe!
I wonder what it would take to finally, decisively, convince sufficient conservatives to start taking real action on climate change. Branson, MO, destroyed? A FOX News host drowned in his limo? Mar-A-Lago washed out to sea with The Former Guy and his retinue defiantly partying insude?
San Diego is fortunate so far, but my thoughts are of those throughout our state that a facing unfathomable challenges. Parts of the state that are normally bone dry have water over rooftops and roads have become rivers. And no end in sight. Shasta will be beautiful and the snow pack will help next summer when the Sacramento River is struggling to provide for cities and farms. Praying everyone stays safe.
Hopefully, and with respect to the snow falling in the mountains, it will slowly melt off in the spring and help replenish (somewhat) the depleted reservoirs.
I am in San Francisco and today in the span of 3 hours I saw blue skies , lightening , hail and heard thunder. Saturation is both physical and emotional. Dan thanks for putting it all into words.
Beautiful California, my birth state, my heart breaks for you. I still have Kodachrome slides my father took in the 1950s of gorgeous scenery--Griffith Park, Big Sur, the Central Valley, and so much more--that still inspire and awe. Childhood memories of bougainvillea and palm trees have given way to respect as an adult for many of the innovations that California has given the country, and the world. Climate change is thoroughly testing all of us, but California seems to be taking some especially big hits. I think she will survive, but I am anxious.
Yup, we have a TON of water, yet if we waste it we’ll be back to drought conditions in no time. I’ve lived through many a drought in CA. Where I live we have a reservoir that 2 years ago, I knew would be dry by fall. What I wasn’t counting on was seeing huge crevasses in the ground. Cracking, sinkholes. Then suddenly we had that historic atmospheric river. Up north, they got 20 inches of rain! My sister had lawn furniture swept away in the flooding.
I’ve heard atmospheric river a couple times in the last week or so. At my home, we’ve had more a steady rain than a full force atmospheric river. But locally in my county we’ve had flooding, lots of flooding and last I heard 16 people have died.
I know I asked God for more rain a couple weeks back. I just wasn’t counting on this much this fast!
Saturated is a good word for our time: drowning in rain, but also in guns, lies, bad news, crazy conspiracy theories, mental illness, drug abuse, and want-a-be fascists... while public discourse is a dessert of humility and kindness not unlike the Mojave. If we can name it, we can change it. What do we need to understand to evolve a better home ) country ) world ) ???
Friends in San Francisco said not to worry because they live up high -cousins in Irvine seem to be OK. I’m trying to imagine what’s happening to the coast highway -how many people will be displaced hurt killed -it’s astounding, and yet we have people in Congress who glory in their denial of science.
California has had many years to improve the retention of flood water and has not yet done enough. In AZ we have retention basins in every open area. Parks, flood plains ect. We hold on to every drop of rain we get. California is losing billions of fresh water to the sea with very little hope for refilling the aquifers under their feet.
Nicely phrased and telling of what it feels like to live here with these storms. They will pass, and California will learn from them. We do that here because we know how to adapt. The landscape requires it.
climate change is real. over 100 inches of snow in the Buffalo area. Sub zero wind chills in northeast. Tornados in the south in January. The west coast is under water.one party in congress doesn't believe in climate change. All they want to do is investigate the truth. Because they do not like the truth.
Most Westernized people think that technology is the answer to the climate crisis. While I don’t discount that technological changes are necessary, I think our problem is more fundamental. We need to wake up to the facts: We are completely dependent on our planet. Without Her our existence is impossible. And we do not hold her in the proper reverence. We behave like crazed and irresponsible teenagers. Time to grow up, apologize to Earth for our reprehensible treatment of Her, and give her the reverence and respect She is due. Without Earth, we are toast…….probably literally.
Thank you, Elliot for this eloquent post and explaining our condition to people in other parts of the Country. The problem we have in Sacramento (where I live) and the valley is our soil. It is clay. Instead of absorbing the water it makes a gooey, slimy surface with the slightest moisture, in the hot dry summer months it bakes to the texture of cement (I once broke a pickax trying to break through the surface to dig a hole.) So, in this kind of weather we get puddles, ponds, lakes and gushing rivers that ruin landscapes drown people in their cars (and it does not help that Sacramento drivers are habitually named the worst in the Country). What we need are thousands of those old fashioned rain barrels that people used to keep to catch the rain for later use. On the other hand, at the retirement apartments where I live, we have a permanent flock of feral Mallard ducks, the ponds are overflowing and the ducks are very, very, happy. (:-)
It’s so scary, disconcerting and uncertain here in California especially now. Thank you for the bit of positive (with facts) I needed the bit of positive without denial. I love your view! Thank you for sharing. My best wishes to my fellow Californian’s! Stay safe!
I wonder what it would take to finally, decisively, convince sufficient conservatives to start taking real action on climate change. Branson, MO, destroyed? A FOX News host drowned in his limo? Mar-A-Lago washed out to sea with The Former Guy and his retinue defiantly partying insude?
San Diego is fortunate so far, but my thoughts are of those throughout our state that a facing unfathomable challenges. Parts of the state that are normally bone dry have water over rooftops and roads have become rivers. And no end in sight. Shasta will be beautiful and the snow pack will help next summer when the Sacramento River is struggling to provide for cities and farms. Praying everyone stays safe.
Elliott I write below I’d potentially like to excerpt some of your lines for a digital media short on the Climate crisis. How would I contact you?
The devastation in California is heartbreaking. I hope they will be able to recover and resume some normalcy of life.
Hopefully, and with respect to the snow falling in the mountains, it will slowly melt off in the spring and help replenish (somewhat) the depleted reservoirs.
I am in San Francisco and today in the span of 3 hours I saw blue skies , lightening , hail and heard thunder. Saturation is both physical and emotional. Dan thanks for putting it all into words.
Beautiful California, my birth state, my heart breaks for you. I still have Kodachrome slides my father took in the 1950s of gorgeous scenery--Griffith Park, Big Sur, the Central Valley, and so much more--that still inspire and awe. Childhood memories of bougainvillea and palm trees have given way to respect as an adult for many of the innovations that California has given the country, and the world. Climate change is thoroughly testing all of us, but California seems to be taking some especially big hits. I think she will survive, but I am anxious.
Yup, we have a TON of water, yet if we waste it we’ll be back to drought conditions in no time. I’ve lived through many a drought in CA. Where I live we have a reservoir that 2 years ago, I knew would be dry by fall. What I wasn’t counting on was seeing huge crevasses in the ground. Cracking, sinkholes. Then suddenly we had that historic atmospheric river. Up north, they got 20 inches of rain! My sister had lawn furniture swept away in the flooding.
I’ve heard atmospheric river a couple times in the last week or so. At my home, we’ve had more a steady rain than a full force atmospheric river. But locally in my county we’ve had flooding, lots of flooding and last I heard 16 people have died.
I know I asked God for more rain a couple weeks back. I just wasn’t counting on this much this fast!