This reminds me of the “penny auctions” of the Great Depression.
I’m reblogging this again, because I forgot to mention;
My family has lived in Iowa for, oh, a hundred and twenty years? Maybe a hundred and thirty.
My grandpa and grandma and great grandpa and grandma were part of the penny auctions and bullying bankers and mortgage holders into behaving.
Grandpa was 6′ 3″. Great grandpa was an inch shorter. Both were big old farm boys, who could heft an eighty pound hay bale in each hand and toss them up on the hay wagon.
Grandma told me a few times about how they went around with some of their buddies to ‘explain things’ to mortgage holders during the Depression, and how the farmers would all get together for coffee and settle among everyone in the township how no one was going to bid on the Miller auction but the Millers, and oh, if everyone could chip in fifty cents or so to loan the Millers to buy their land and equipment back at the auction, that’d be the Right Thing To Do.
This is still a point of pride for many farming families around here, decades later.
This! This is why I start cursing like a sailor the minute someone brings up aaaallll the things we the people can do to stop climate change.
Spoiler: it’s nothing. Oh, sure, you can recycle your trash, but that doesn’t mean much when it all ends up getting burned anyway because our economy doesn’t have anywhere near the capacity to deal with the sheer mass of trash, and no interest in doing so. Like, “sure, our company could switch to environmentally friendly packaging, but that’d mean we’d have to change things and it might cost us a whole cent more per article and that’s just not viable you know, so sorry.”
Or, yes, you can absolutely bike to work instead of driving, but your CO2 emissions are nothing against what big companies blow into the atmosphere every second. Nothing.
Or, yes, you can absolutely grow bee-friendly plants in your yard, but that won’t save them.
By all means, be environmentally conscious! In fact, I strongly encourage you to be! But let’s be real here, our individual footprints on this planet aren’t what’s killing it. Big Industry is.
Same with food/water waste!! It annoys me so much when commercials and gov’t campaigns emphasize individual waste when corporations are doing the OVERWHELMING majority of the wasting.
“The Earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses.”
—
Utah Phillips
Although, keep up the good work on the individual level. Don’t let companies be your inspiration.
This is from the forecast discussion of Major Hurricane Florence from this afternoon. As a meteorologist, when I saw this, my heart sank. They don’t use wording like this for every storm.
Florence is going to be a devastating. There will be huge amounts of flooding, both from inland rain and from costal storm surge. Winds are going to be some of the strongest you can get from a hurricane. People within the path of this storm could lose everything.
If you know anyone who lives on the North or South Carolina coast, tell them that if there’s an evacuation ordered, they need to get the hell out. Do not take chances with this one.
Reblogging again to add a list of things/essentials from a friend who lives on the NC coast and has weathered hurricanes and other bad weather:
– toiletries (paper towels, toilet paper, baby wipes for “bathing” in case power & water go out)
– water, 1 gallon per person for at least 7 days (err on the side of caution if possible); more if you have animals!!
– non perishable food items, if you get canned food make sure you have a can OPENER
– pet food & supplies, if you’re really worried about flooding it may be beneficial to get life vests for your pets, also find a way to put identification information on them!
– batteries
– flashlights
– battery packs for cell phones charged up in case of loss of power
– filled cars with gas & filled gas can(s)
– get all essentials like passports, important docs, and cherished items together & ready to go
– just in case, determine a way to get onto your roof safely
– fill bathtubs with water so if water isn’t available you can refill the toilets to keep flushing and keep waste to a minimum
– if you have dogs look up how to make a makeshift potty, you can use a hard baby pool and some sod potentially
– check your prescriptions and get them refilled now if necessary
– if you’re taking insulin and lose power, fill a separate cooler for your insulin than the one you would use for food. Insulin > food
If your place begins to flood get the hell OUT of the water!!! There is no telling if you have a live electrical charge in there!
Do not cross any water you cannot see the bottom of the ground in. I’m serious.
bongdanceking 