I can still breathe without wearing a spacesuit -- but for how much longer?
Dear Fellow Earthlings,
My cell phone sent out an automatic warning to me yesterday afternoon:
Emergency Alert
High East winds are blowing in smoke from
wildfires in Cascade Mountain Range. Please do
not call 9-1-1 unless you have an emergency
and need immediate assistance.
Fires burning in the Cascade Range, within sight of my eastern deck at Summit House up here on Reltonia, are burning more than they ever have before in recorded history. For that reason the skies above Reltonia look yellowish -- and the noonday sun just barely shows itself through the roiling air.
The strong winds accompanying the spread of the smoke over the entire state of Oregon not only spread the fires, but also knock down trees -- and power lines. So last night Summit House was without electricity. I worried of course about the food items I had stored in my refrigerator/freezer. All told, the power remained out for over 30 hours.
Finally the power is back. The power company workers, overworked and under pressure, finally restored electrical service to me and my neighbors up on Fishback Hill, some 5 kilometers west of Monmouth, Oregon.
I am now considering buying a generator that I can use the next time such an emergency occurs. But what I am thinking about even more is how, with each passing year, Oregon's summers are becoming hotter and drier -- just as the summers in California (the state just south of Oregon) have been doing for the past three decades.
When will the rains come? The weather forecast calls for possible showers next Tuesday. But such a paltry amount of precipitation will do little to ease the fire danger which all of Oregon faces this year. Already, within the past two or three days, thousands of Oregonians have had to evacuate their homes, hundreds of homes have burned to the ground, and at least three people have lost their lives because of the fires (many of which are burning even as I write this blog) all over the state of Oregon.
But the cars keep driving, the planes keep flying, and Earth's human population continues to swell... The insanity of the way we humans concoct "political" means to deal with (or not deal with) the results brought on by our own actions seems only to aggravate the situation.
The solutions? Practice toleration, learn self restraint, stop using fossil fuels, keep family sizes small, study hard, seek harmony with nature, preserve diversity, travel mainly vicariously.
Steve Walker
Earthsaver and Jingles Creator
1. Gasping in surprise? Or gasping just to survive??
2. Red skies are supposed to be reserved for Mars -- or so I thought!
3. Shot taken looking east from Summit House
at about noon on September 9, 2020
© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.