Too much thinking

I think too much.
Therefore,
I am too much.

What Hath God -- er, Humankind -- Wrought?

To paraphrase the often-used text from the Book of Numbers* ( you know, from the 'Holy Bible'), we have gotten ourselves into a predicament and I hope people can see it for what it is.

We have screwed up our planet in a lot of ways. Little by little we are paying the price. Let me explain.

We have had a little bit of rain here in Sonoma County. Actually a lot. One wonders if the rain will ever stop. We have an atmospheric river running through us.

Today is Sunday and I took a drive down the Russian River to spend some money in the hard-hit communities along that beautiful river course. I was not prepared for what I saw. Everywhere I looked for miles and miles I saw homes ruined, businesses destroyed. I saw tons and tons and tons of human possessions, ruined and soggy and melting in the rain. Piled up for the debris removal teams that are scheduled to come through the area shortly.

RIP VW

A month ago these items were family possessions. Memorabilia. Functional tools for use and creating good lives for their owners. Now ruined. Moldy. Soggy. Of no material value.

Hundreds of buildings with high water marks above my head, seemingly disintegrating into the mud. All in various stages of response, ranging from no action taken to reconstruction begun. In all cases the disintegration process is well underway thanks to the natural systems that wish so much to recover these material things and return them to the soil from whence they came.

As I slowly drove my Volkswagen van through these neighborhoods, I couldn't help but tear up, especially when I came across a ruined classic VW transporter truck, on it's back, covered as if in death. My stomach ached. I saw scores of people like me slowly, quietly, moving around, taking this thing up, setting that thing down. I'm sure they are wondering how they will ever get through this. This is not what they planned to do with their lives in their fifties and sixties and beyond.

Resort hotels in Guerneville

I asked one recovering homeowner how long had it been since they had a flood like this. He said it's been 30 years or more. That makes sense. What I was seeing in the piles in front of people's homes and businesses looked to be about 30 years worth of life's possessions.

So why? Who is to blame? I have a couple of thoughts:

First, when people locate in a flood plain or a flood prone area, they need to expect these sorts of cyclical events.The trade-off is that when it's not flooded this is a beautiful area, with a beautiful river coursing through it. Towering redwood trees. Green ferns and moss. The smell of wood fires emanating from the chimneys. Life is good. But it comes with a price. That price is being exacted now.

Second, I'm no scientist, nor am I an engineer. But I can tell you that we have screwed our environment up pretty badly, and what we're seeing with these rain events and flood events is a direct consequence of that. The mere fact that we have so much rain in such odd cycles has to do with the 'climate weirdness' that we are enduring, the result of a hundred years or more of fossil fuel consumption, beef consumption, cows farting methane gas, etc. We have built communities upstream from the lower Russian River willy nilly, without regard to the natural hydrologic systems. We have hardscaped the ground. We have created parking lots, paved our roads, built our structures with roofs and downspouts that funnel the rain water to the creeks. Water is no longer allowed to percolate into the soil as it was intended. What we are seeing has a lot to do with 'sheet runoff' of rainwater during these atmospheric events. We have ourselves to blame as a society for ignoring the natural systems that have governed our ecosystems for eons.

So it with a pit in my stomach and some moist eyes, I will order my lunch and coffee at some flood-damaged businesses in Guerneville. I will express my sympathy to those affected. But a part of me withholds sympathy, because we have fucked ourselves.

----------------

* "What hath God wrought" is a phrase from the Book of Numbers(Numbers 23:23), and may refer to:

"What hath God wrought", the official first Morse code message transmitted in the U.S. on May 24, 1844 to officially open the Baltimore-Washington telegraph line. (Wikipedia)

sNOw Machines

White blanket beckons
Frozen air smells brisk and sweet
Ruined by machines

A Vision for Post-Fire Rebuilding

October 11, 2017

As I write this, Sonoma County is entering into day 3 of what must be described as a horrific fire storm. Wind-driven flames are racing through neighborhoods, destroying thousands of structures including homes and businesses. We are in a living hell right now.

I am moved to think about how firestorms like this come about (this is not the first I assure you, and it won't be the last.) Having lived through the Cedar Fire in San Diego County in 2003, and many others including the 1964 Hanly fire right here in Santa Rosa -- I have learned that electricity and wind do not mix. Nearly all catastrophic fires (I know, I know, the Cedar Fire was sparked by a lost hunter who started a 'signal fire' in Cedar Creek) are started when high velocity winds tangle with high voltage power lines, causing electrical arcs and igniting vegetation.

(photo: Downed power pole on Parker Hill Road, Fountaingrove neighborhood, Santa Rosa.  Mercury News)

In fact, one of the first 911 calls to come in related to the Sunday October 8 high-wind event, was for a tree on fire caused by a power line, just two blocks from my home in downtown Santa Rosa's Junior College Neighborhood. Many, many more reports of electrical line fires soon followed, leaving us with the nightmare we are currently experiencing.

What to do? What to do?

As our severely wounded community rebuilds, it's time we re-think a number of things. First on the list should be the centralized power and gas grid model that was adopted in the 19th century. Centralized electricity generation requires substantial transmission and distribution networks. These power lines are highly vulnerable to compromise by natural events and human actions. Natural gas needs to be transmitted through high-pressure pipes, which can and do rupture. Have you noticed all of the broken gas lines that are burning in the videos of the now-destroyed neighborhoods that are a fixture on the news media?

The energy solutions are simple in concept, but complex in bureaucracy and cost:

1) Place all distribution power lines UNDERGROUND where they will be unaffected by wind

2) ELIMINATE all centralized energy production facilities such as coal, oil, hydro and nuclear power plants, and their associated transmission lines

3) Yes, ELIMINATE all utility scale wind and solar facilities in remote locations, typically public lands and former agricultural lands, and their associated transmission lines. This is a ‘vision’, after all!

4) FUEL SWITCH our heating, cooling and transportation systems from fossil fuel (natural gas, gasoline, diesel) to electricity

5) PRODUCE all of our electricity from LOCAL, DISTRIBUTED solar on parking lots, rooftops, railroad corridors -- produce the energy local to where it is used. No transmission lines needed

6) CONSERVE electricity through behavior modification, and technology such as the 'internet of things'

7) STORE our locally produced energy using battery storage, centrifugal, gravitational, and other means

Let’s also talk about community design, and how and where we build our communities to be fire-safe. But that is a topic for another blog.

Let's begin again. Here comes the sun.

Geoffrey Smith

A Vision for Post-Fire Rebuilding

October 10, 2017

As I write this, Sonoma County is entering into day 3 of what must be described as a horrific fire storm. Wind-driven flames are racing through neighborhoods, destroying thousands of structures including homes and businesses. We are in a living hell right now.

I am moved to think about how firestorms like this come about (this is not the first I assure you, and it won't be the last.) Having lived through the Cedar Fire in San Diego County in 2003, and many others including the 1964 Hanley fire right here in Santa Rosa -- I have learned that electricity and wind do not mix. Nearly all catastrophic fires (I know, I know, the Cedar Fire was sparked by a lost hunter who started a 'signal fire' in Cedar Creek) are started when high velocity winds tangle with high voltage power lines, causing electrical arcs and igniting vegetation.

(photo: Downed power pole on Parker Hill Road, Fountaingrove neighborhood, Santa Rosa.  Mercury News)

In fact, one of the first 911 calls to come in related to the Sunday October 8 high-wind event, was for a tree on fire caused by a power line, just two blocks from my home in downtown Santa Rosa's Junior College Neighborhood. Many, many more reports of electrical line fires soon followed, leaving us with the nightmare we are currently experiencing.

What to do? What to do?

As our severely wounded community rebuilds, it's time we re-think a number of things. First on the list should be the centralized power and gas grid model that was adopted in the 19th century. Centralized electricity generation requires substantial transmission and distribution networks. These power lines are highly vulnerable to compromise by natural events and human actions. Natural gas needs to be transmitted through high-pressure pipes, which can and do rupture. Have you noticed all of the broken gas lines that are burning in the videos of the now-destroyed neighborhoods that are a fixture on the news media?

The energy solutions are simple in concept, but complex in bureaucracy and cost. Here's a short list to get us started:

1) Place all distribution power lines UNDERGROUND where they will be unaffected by wind

2) ELIMINATE all centralized energy production facilities such as coal, oil, hydro and nuclear power plants, and their associated transmission lines

3) Yes, ELIMINATE all utility scale wind and solar facilities in remote locations, typically public lands and former agricultural lands, and their associated transmission lines. This is a ‘vision’, after all!

4) FUEL SWITCH our heating, cooling and transportation systems from fossil fuel (natural gas, gasoline, diesel) to electricity

5) PRODUCE all of our electricity from LOCAL, DISTRIBUTED solar on parking lots, rooftops, railroad corridors -- produce the energy local to where it is used. No transmission lines needed

6) CONSERVE electricity through behavior modification, and technology such as the 'internet of things'

7) STORE our locally produced energy using battery storage, centrifugal, gravitational, and other means

Let’s also talk about community design, and how and where we build our communities to be fire-safe. But that is a topic for another blog.

Let's begin again. Here comes the sun.

Geoffrey Smith

Swiss Alps as not Wilderness

A week into our Swiss bicycle adventure, we arrived in the foothills of the Alps.

Our first night in view of the Swiss alps, camping at Thun, we settled in for an exquisite sunset.  Illuminated in the 'alpen glow', the massive massifs gleamed in their whiteness, with shades of pinks and yellows and other colors that only Camille can see.

Then bling, BLING!  On went the lights.  First one summit.  Then another.  And a third.  Each light denoting a structure, a tower, a hut, a restaurant -- perched atop a singularly majestic peak.

So much for wilderness!  In the Swiss version, mountains are subdued for the benefit of the people who pay to ride cogs and trams to the top.

Not wild.  Comfortably remote maybe.

Wilderness4All: London Calling

Wilderness4All: London Calling