Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Lest we repeat history...

The wife of a migrant farmer in California, 1938. She had six children and told photographer Dorothea Lange, "People just can't make it back there [in Texas] with drought, hailstorms, windstorms, duststorms, insects. They'll all be here in another year or two. People exist here and they can't do that there. You can make it here if you sleep late and eat little, but it's pretty tough--there's so many people"


That was then.

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Coming soon to an earth near you...

Global warming

 

Human-caused global warming is fueling longer droughts and extreme weather events that are posing problems to communities around the world. Scientists say Mexico City, a sprawling metropolis of nearly 22 million people and one of the world's biggest cities, may be just months away from "day zero" — when the taps run dry for huge swaths of the city. Experts say this comes as a result of several years of abnormally low rainfall, longer dry periods and high temperatures that have added stress to a water system already straining to cope with increased demand. In the coming weeks, Mexican authorities are expected to introduce significant restrictions on the water pumped from reservoirs ahead of the intense summer months

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As posted on CNN 2.26.24 https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/25/climate/mexico-city-water-crisis-climate-intl/index.html


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I immediately thought of how the migrants wanting to get into Texas across the Mexican border are already being turned away at gunpoint. There's not much hope for them to get to California either, like the woman shown in Dorthea Lange's photo.


Are you starting to get the point?


We're in this together, and it's not going to get better. It's history repeating itself on a global scale. 


Yes it's daunting. But it does need to give everyone everywhere a wake-up call. This time there's no California on the horizon to save us.

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And celebrate a bit today as the birth anniversary of...

"the novelist John Steinbeck, born in Salinas, California (1902). He's best known for his novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939), about the "Dust Bowl" farmers who had to migrate to California after a drought had destroyed their land. To research the book, he bought a an old bakery truck, filled it with blankets, food, and cooking utensils, and joined the migration himself, so that he could meet and talk to people without being conspicuous. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1940 and Steinbeck went on to win the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962."

Thanks Writer's Almanac

14 comments:

  1. The rainwater is so important. Take care, have a great day!

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    Replies
    1. The mismanagement of water is important these days. Used to be available to all.

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  2. ...we have our heads in the sand.

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  3. They were tough times. We've been lucky.

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    Replies
    1. I just hope our grandchildren don't have a similar fate.

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  4. Hi Barbara, None of the statements at the beginning are as simple as they might appear...and how to pay for the needed fixes is a big question. I struggle with someone working at McDonald's making enough money to support a family. Fryer operator was never intended to be a career. Education access is much clearer. The move to pay people with tax money to go to private schools is the reverse of progress for Americans! As for the border it is true that the vast majority of those attempting and succeeding to enter the USA are just seeking a better life for themselves and their families. But, as rich as the US is, we can't continue to support the current flood of illegal immigrants. There has to be an annual limit...and of course better screening and processing. We need to spend more money on homelessness, veterans care, health care and housing for Americans. I'm not an isolationist but we need to take care of America first so we'll be able to assist others around the world that are in need. Just my opinion... Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

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    1. It's always refreshing to read your comments, Dave. Thanks for stopping by. Yes America is in trouble, but I see climate disasters first, while you see economic, I think. They all count.

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  5. I didn't know that Steinbeck had done his research like that....it certainly shows that he did it well

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    1. I hadn't heard about that until today either. It's amazing that Grapes of Wrath has been banned in Florida and other states.

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    2. What is really amazing (there are no coincidences) is that I wrote and posted this blog ahead of today, and then looked at Writer's Almanac to find it was Steinbeck's birthday also, so added the last paragraph.

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  6. That was a powerful book. It is a shame that all the bigots and the powerful and famous might not have understood history.

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    Replies
    1. It's more like they refuse to even believe the facts. Sad situation!

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  7. Climate change is terrifying. The dust bowl migrants were sometimes threatened with violence. As their numbers increased, they weren’t welcome anymore.

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There is today, more than ever, the need for a compassionate regenerative world civilization.