pandemic death by "natural causes."

[lapauvre]

As I sit here in this southeastern area of the USA, without any appreciable rain for days and days--as I watch my plants die and the grass wither--as I contemplate the rather stupid argument over whether or not there is global warming--as I contemplate the reliance on fossil fuels--as I contemplalte the power there is within the global OIL market--as I think of the glimmers of possiblity of the loss of generated POWER and what it would mean, the consequences are staggering.

A few years back, there was a heat wave in Chicago, a heavily populated area, and the weak who could not afford cooling simply died from the heat. Because it was a heavy populated area, the numbers were in the hundreds, and it was newsworthy. And everybody said, "Gee, that's awful." Chicago was not alone.

http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/Update29.htm

But those in outlying districts, not among the concentrated dead, also died.

So my thoughts today are not so much about how much a gallon of gasoline costs to get to and from work, or how I can't take a vacation because fuel is too expensive, but about global warming and lack of power. This is a vision of the possible, maybe the probable.

Global warming, it is said, is a result of the excessive use of power that pollutes. But it is more than that.

http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/eiskappenman.html

A video "Global Dimming" says more.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=39520879762623193

We are given the terror of the lunatic fringe Muslim fiends, the terror of avian flu, SARS, Lymes Disease, West Nile Virus, the terror of suitcase bombs, the terror of pandemic WMD, the terror of having to learn to German, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Arabic--due to (ha ha) occupation by a foreign country,) Athiest's trying to brain wash us, Abortionists on every block, ballistic missles, tuberculosis, aids, homosexuality, and not having enough gas for our vehicles, but---but---think about the loss of electrical power combined with global warming.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/temperature/index.html?query=NEW%20YORK%20CITY%20METROPOLITAN%20AREA&field=geo&match=exact

http://www.city-data.com/forum/nebraska/66914-omaha-lincoln-metro-area-3.html

Just think about it. Power companies, oil importers, oil investors, make money off of this when there is free power given us by nature, if we just were permitted to develop and use it without someone claiming ownership of sun, air and water.

Imagine a planet in the extremes of heat and cold, wet and dry, even if it is partly cyclical.

Think about a heat wave of intensity that lasts for an extended period of time. Think about not having electrical power generated by oil. Think about our lack of investment and concern for alternative sources.

Think about that, combined with a drought, in areas of heavy population.

Think about our electrical grids going down, region by region, or city by city. Imagine a city of 200,000 people, much less a city of 5 million, and what happens if there is not electrical power. Think about too little too late.

Loss of air conditioning would cause thousands of deaths. Loss of refrigeration would cause restaurants and grocery stores to watch food in their freezers and refrigerators rot. Respirators would stop. Kidney pumps would stop. Incubators would cease to heat and aearate. Cash registers would be inoperable.

We speak of politicians with "vision." I don't know what "vision" means to anyone else when the word is used in political campaigns, but no one seems to be able to have the vision to see this coming.

It is as stupid as not seeing far ahead of time what the result of the Iraq invasion would be. If one has no imagination, no ability to foresee needs and probablities, then we can just go on, pretending that there will not be a pandemic of natural deaths to the elderly, the infirm, the premature baby, the kidney dialysis patient, the starving and thirsty (included would be the wealthy with walk in freezers,) the unclean due to lack of water treatment plants, the helpless due to lack of communication, and on and on and on.

Imagine a world wide Hurricane Katrina and see if we don't have something a bit more important to consider than American Idol and Paris Hilton.

Get the picture?

Anybody, anywhere, look to the past, imagine the future, and envision the development of power resources that are renewable and freely given by nature. And resist the temptation of any human being who wants to own nature's gifts and blackmail you for your life by trying to charge you a fee for what nature offers freely.

Fields were watered by renewable energy, horses, rivers and windmills. Grain was ground. Mines were mined. The Romans, who never heard of electricity, managed to have a sewer system. The Egyptians and Aztecs, who never heard of tractors and cranes.managed to create some pretty long lasting structures.

There are other sources of power. Nature has it to offer free of charge. And no one should have the right to charge you for the air you breathe, the water you drink and the ability to live while devoting very little effort to enhance life and freedom from fear by using what nature has to offer as the threat of death.

I have gone on this rampage because I am 72 years old and in the middle of a dry heat wave, and I know, without air conditioning, I, and hundreds of thousands like me would be dead without that luxury. It isn't a matter of coddling myself. I can and do conserve, due to economic necessity (I pay or I die), and I wait until the temperatures are at or near 100 degrees before I will permit myself the luxury. If global warming continues, and we continue to depend on fossil fuels, and not using the gifts that come freely from nature as a source of power, then we can solve the Medicare/Medicaid crises very quickly. The weak will be dead. Social Security will once again have a surplus. And the "owners" of life giving power supplied by fossil fuels will continue to be enriched by the pile of corpses denied the right to life giving natural power sources which are FREE. And those sources should remainn so. We already have the tools to use those free sources, and a one time fee for the construction of natural resources is enough payment for anyone except the derangedly greedy.

Build it, invent it, sell it and let nature be used.

[NMDemDist2]

1. K&N, it's a hell of a world we've left for our kids isn't it?

and I mean that all too literally

:hug:

[opihimoimoi]

2. All too easy to be cynical these days...who will come to our rescue? No One, because no one is

trained to take the helm...instead we rely on old and fkd up ways to get our Leaders...with very poor results I might add.

We need a new way to get our Presidents, etc...based on LOGIC REASON...something missing from them PUBs

[southerncrone]

3. Our hedonistic life styles have caught up with us

Unfortunately, most people in US today have no idea how to "survive". If they can't buy it at a store, then they don't know what to do.

These are the same who use most of our resources. They are "clueless" to what is really involved in fueling their consumption.

The amount of garbage we generate everyday is horrendous. I remember as a kid we would pick up Coke bottles to return to the stores for $. Few states have those policies now. A president w/vision would instigate that across the nation. A form of forced recycling.

Capitalism has come home to roost in the form of extreme waste. The corporate whores have instilled in our society that consumption is GOOD. Look at how obese our nation is, that's just the outward evidence of the inner problem.

The yuppies of my generation accellerated the consumption of everything. Bigger is better was their mantra. They have now raised a new generation of OVER-CONSUMERS. It will take some reality strikes of which you speak to wake these pigs up. (I use pigs in the over consuming vein.) These folks have never "done without" anything. "Doing without" is a good lesson for humans. Let's them know they can survive w/less. I believe that was the original concept of the Christian Lent.

I've said it before & will keep repeating it: "Greed & convenience will be our undoing."

Sorry for the rant, but this is important, people will die because of the greedy!
:rant:

[Delphinus]

4. Outstanding post!

Thank you for all the links - I'm going to check them out now.

Javaman had a post earlier this week, similar to yours, about the in between of peak oil. Yours, and his, will haunt me (in a good way).

[barbtries]

5. thank you

for writing this...a few days ago on DU i clicked on a link that led to this site:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks

i highly recommend checking out the talks here. i have new hope today for the future - i am insisting that my sons watch these talks and put some serious thought into how they want to spend their lives. there is great important work going on right now - work that is focused on sustaining this planet and all of the life upon it. do check it out if you haven't already, it'll do your heart good.

[Nihil]

6. Thank you.

Too late to recommend but in time enough to kick.
Excellent post - thank you.

[Systematic Chaos]

7. Too late to recommend, but thank you for this post.

:kick:

[kestrel91316]

8. Excellent "doomer porn". I spend nights thinking about this

sort of thing.

I am not encouraged about our future, given the current misadministration's lack of basic compassion for fellow humans.....