Nature Fights Back
Nature likes to kick ass.
And I love it when nature does so, it’s funny to me. This sadistic streak is present when I watch those silly police chase video shows, or those most amazing video shows. There’s nothing more satisfying then to see an “extreme” skier break some bones when they go down a ridiculous pass.
Or the story of a cyclist who made a homemade jump, failed to meet it and then crashed, only to get back up again to do a second attempt and have an even worse crash. That story ended with him being rushed to a hospital and for the record he was in the middle of nowhere.
Now what does that have to do with nature, you’re asking? Well it’s a part of the human condition to be stupid and hold all things in contempt. Take for example these wildfires;
“BOISE, Idaho - Wildfires in several western states have stirred embers of the “Sagebrush Rebellion,” as ranchers and politicians have criticized federal agencies, the courts and environmentalists over policies they say are contributing to the fires.
In July 2006, then-Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., told federal firefighters they’d done a “piss-poor job” on an eastern Montana blaze. He called Boise a ridiculous site from which to coordinate national firefighting strategy at the National Interagency Fire Center.
This year, Nevada’s Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons and U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., claimed environmental groups and federal bureaucracy have contributed to fires, including one at Lake Tahoe that burned more than 250 homes.”
You know what that makes me think to myself? Too damn bad for those 250 homes. If you live in an area prone to these sort of conditions, you will get burned. No pun intended.
Now I’m not interested in discussing the whole political debate between the ranchers and the environmentalists…Okay I’ll talk about it just a little.
The basic gist of it is, the ranchers want to have more public land used for their purposes to help combat the chance of wildfires. Of course the environmentalists oppose this for their own reasons and I don’t care about either side. And what’s really funny is the Idaho governor is a man named Otter.
“When a July 16 lightning storm rolled through Idaho and Nevada’s remote border country, locals with bulldozers stood ready to help build fire lines — only to be told by Bureau of Land Management officials to stay put.”
Why you may ask? Well here’s the answer.
“The initial flames were 13 feet high and moving at 8 1/2 mph — faster than the 2 to 3 miles of fire line that can be constructed by a bulldozer in an hour. “ Or so says some gentleman from the BLM, a man named Barry Rose.
“For lack of a decision going forward, we lost 700,000 acres,” Otter said. That was the governor’s response.
Something he doesn’t realize is, is that no acres were lost. A wildfire is a natural process and it helps to stimulate re-growth. Were there crops on those lands? Any sort of goods that held a monetary value? If not, then STFU Mr governor. The fact that some idiot has decided to place a house down in the area to live is irrelevant.
It’s this kind of thinking which annoys the s**t out of me. Man encroaching on nature or putting down roots in an area which is volatile and then bemoaning about the impending disaster.
I assume everyone knows what “Tornado Alley” is?
That’s a term used to describe an unofficial stretch of land within the united states which is frequently beset with tornadoes during the proper time of year. Yeah, I know it seems harsh to pick on a group of people always having to deal with such devastation. And in their defence when the pioneers settled they didn’t have Doppler radar to inform them of the local weather patterns.
But COME ON people!! We all know it’s dangerous to live there. We all know that during the tornado season bad things happen. Hey here’s a crazy idea, move! Pack up your lovely little towns and move to a safer location so then you don’t lose your family or your property and cause a drain on the government when they need to provide you financial assistance.
It’s the same thing as California. Earthquakes are a fact of life over there and yet people seem shocked when they happen. The humanity of it all! “Here I am, minding my own business, living on an active fault line in a building that is not Earthquake-proof and I’ve lost my entire family when a 8.0 hit us.” How can you be shocked when it happens? How can you blame anyone but yourself for living in an area which is disaster-prone?
But we can fix it! Oh yes, indeed, we can fix it!
My solution is inspired by Lex Luthor, of all people. I say we move all cities west of the fault line on a parallel trajectory, putting down roots in the desert. (You can also maybe clean up some of those towns a little in the process) Then set off a series of charges which will effectively break off that coast and form a new one which should be more stable.
Great for everyone huh? Those who love the prestige of living on the West Coast will remain so. The fault line I imagine will be more stable. And insurance companies can breath a sigh of relief knowing their crooked ass moral centers won’t have to pay out to anyone. That’s implausible and silly you say. Well it won’t hurt to try will it!? If you pull it off you won’t have to worry about Earthquakes again.
I have no sympathy for anyone who lives in a disaster zone and then becomes caught in said disaster. None at all. The people of Pompeii paid for their mistake with their lives and they had no advance warning, they had no advance fancy technology to tell them settling at the base of a volcano was not a smart thing to do. So I cut them some slack. But in this day and age there is no reason for staying put at the base of Dante’s Peak when we have plenty of good land elsewhere.
Not long ago I drove down to Texas from Vancouver, B.C. to visit my (now wife) girlfriend and we noticed on the drive back how much empty land there is out there. There’s plenty of space out there for people to resettle their roots. So don’t give me that excuse.
Why? Why live in an area which cause so much grief year after year? When you can settle in a better area, a safer area and not have to worry about losing your life or the life of your family to forces you cannot control.
And despite what the politicians in Washington think, We will never control nature.
I bid adieu,
your Origami reporter,
L.Manly
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