Ch.32 (cont.)
We had decided to drive around and check
out the storm damage by one of the most massive tornadoes ever to level a half
mile swath through Oklahoma city and parts
of the suburbs of Moore and El Reno off I-35 and I-40 outside the main
part of the city. The devastation was ruthless leaving over twenty two dead
that even now after couple of years after the tornado, one doesn't
have to look far to see lingering effects of that night when the tornado rolled
through.
They had said most of the deaths occurred
as a result of people trying to outrun the storm and flocking to the interstate
causing massive traffic jams as the tornado trapped people inside their cars in
the open with no place to go. Also it is said three storm chasers lost their
life including a father –son team who were trapped in the half mile wide swath
of the f-five tornado as it made a twenty mile path of carnage taking out
hospitals, schools, electric, and numerous houses and businesses as it made a scar one really won’t forget in
the land, and in the minds of those souls fortunate to have lived through it.
And by no means will be this be the end
to the tragedy experienced by this area as they are in the heart of tornado
alley and likely to be nailed with increasing frequency with massive tornadoes
as we go along in life. Finding safe shelter in a moment’s notice will equal
all men as a killer storm of this size cares not what your wealth is, or the
color of your skin, as it lays waste to all it touches in its path of instant
terror. Our climate is changing and we are as a human race responsible to a
large extent for these changes in weather patterns where we begin to have super
storms capable of generating more than enough energy for this type of devastation.
And why you must ask are humans responsible? Simply because we are unlocking those
carbon chains for our so called modern society to exist in pursuit of greed of
a few, from the suffering of others.
We have exploited our natural resources including
carbon chains such as gasoline, and oil, and released this carbon in the form
of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide into the air we breathe and have been
slowly altering our environment over the last 100 years as we slowly increased
our demand for wood and oil products. Striping our lands of vegetation and cutting
our forests to build homes, fence posts, and railroad timbers, and such,
robbing the environment of needed natural air scrubbers such as trees needed to
purify the air and lock up the same carbon we produce and creating a greenhouse
effect, gradually increasing our temperature of our planet.
This in turn as of late has produced several
deadly storms including hurricane Sandy and hurricane Katrina as weather patterns
begin to change after our ice caps begin to melt and change the ocean currents
unleashing more unseasonal storms with higher energy potential to create more
damage as seen in Oklahoma .
Even as we drive through the area Three
years after the deadly storm ravaged this area we can still see traces of how
the storm affected this area. We saw new homes dot the area, built to replace
storm damaged houses as some of the wind strewn trees that did make it through the
massive tornado still show some bent characteristics of heavy wind blowing.
Also vacant lots still exist as some owners refuse to rebuild, instead opted to
declare bankruptcy or sell their lot , and move elsewhere where the chance of
tornadoes of this size would not affect their lives as tragically as this one
did stripping all their possessions away and casting their lives in the wind
carelessly and indiscriminately wrecking what peace and calm they knew that
existed before the f-five came to town.
Many had experienced tornadoes before but
never with this velocity or magnitude to do so much damage. All the tales of
heroism will forever be an afterthought to those who were not so lucky.
Even today as we drove through Moore we
could still see bent street signs left
maybe as a reminder of how powerful and how fragile our lives can be. In a minutes
notice how we must scurry as humans to avoid the wrath of our own hands. Would
we have tornadoes if man didn't exist and the answer is yes they would probably
still exist. But would they have this power , and that answer is probably not.
I can’t see where other animals or any other outside factor would make this
happen except at the hands of man. We simply cannot let nature alone as we
constantly push the limits for the exploitation of greed.
We need to live as one with nature and not
constantly push that envelope. And how do we do that? By responsibly using our natural resources,
which we haven’t done and by returning to using renewable resources based on
the natural features of our planet. The wind outside of Oklahoma City wouldn't
be nearly as fierce had we had a bunch of windmills in the tornado's path. Yes
they might have been destroyed but while they were there they would have been
producing electricity and reducing our carbon use by that much as they were capable.
That is and should be our main focus as we move along as a human race. How we
can reduce our carbon usage. This is what is causing the damage.
Solar should play a large part of our
daily usage of electricity, yet we only use 1 percent of the power potential
solar technology could utilize. We are lost without the sun and with all
expectations it will last for millions of years if we still have a habitable
planet. The problem with solar is that once you invest it is free. Which isn’t
a problem with me but for the money hungry power building egos of modern man
there is no profit in free, and how are you going to control people when you
have nothing left to control them with. Take away the amenities and niceties of
life and you have everyone on an equal basis. Wouldn't that be awful? A perfect
society where everyone has to get along, where on person is no better than
everyone else. Communism I am told is the model for that. I would rather believe
it is Shangri La or Utopia as best I could define. Where we planted trees because
we had nothing else to do but replenish nature to make our lives better and to
create better habitats for wildlife and to think about reducing our population
instead of constantly increasing it.
Nature has a way of equaling all things out.
A massive epidemic of unequaled proportion is one where antibiotics no longer
work to control the rapid spread of disease through our population, and the flu
is an example of this as in the early part of this last century my Grandma
experienced a time when the flu ravaged their neighborhood and took many lives
with it, even more than a tornado.
Grandma
recalled how it was nothing to see a horse drawn hearse stride pass by their
place on the way to a cemetery on a daily and twice daily basis at times. Taking
with them another loved one and this is the same flu we have today. The only
difference is we know how to treat the flu or maybe the strain isn't as
virulent as it was then . But anyway we go as humans when our safety net is
fragile and over population leads to larger exploitation of resources already
strained and creating conditions that lead to more virulent diseases as this will
be our downfall as we affect our environment and our lives with our greed.
Where will it all end? Who knows.
A call from Wynn’s RV assured u the Road Warrior
was ready to go. I told myself I needed to plant another thousand trees for
this trip alone. I like to think of my existence here on earth now in terms of trees.
If I use regular electricity from the
grid then I need to plant an amount of trees equal to resources plundered by
the electric company I use to bring electricity to my house, I have become more
reliant on solar and have considered dropping a generator in the river to
reduce my need for electricity to nearly
nothing. Current generators are a new technology as they act as turbines to
direct the flow of downstream water through the turbine blades generating power
to offset my needs. Small in river models generate enough over time to power
the needs of a small house. I have a small prototype in my garage I have been working
on and plan to add to my dock next year. I still plan on planting trees to
offset other uses of hydrocarbons I use on a daily basis.
I drive a hummer but only when I have to. I
do use my boats, both of them as I want to
and unfortunately an electric boat motor is something I feel may be awhile in
the making. Electric motors would be quiet and provide the thrust needed but
would require too much battery space and this would create too much drag. For now
gasoline seems the best option. Maybe a morph of sailboat and electric will be possible
someday.
And this is what we need in today’s
society not a single train of thought about a subject based on greed but a combined effort
to encompass all technologies of solar, wind , water power and such to make our
society a better place to live . This in turn will help alter our environment and
by reducing our need for natural resources we will once again increase our
chances for human survival. As smart as humans can be, we must realize what we
have is a gift here on earth and we must give back to exist. We must pay it forward
not continually bank for greed .
We pulled into the RV dealership and saw
our Road Warrior and I pulled the Escape in behind it and we all sat silent for
a minute as we digested what we saw and thought about on our little jaunt
through Oklahoma City. A grim reminder of what it could be for all of humanity if
we don’t modify our thinking as humans. The service manager handed me the keys and
Ann wrote him a check and we were soon hooked up and ready to go. And with our
waste water holding tank emptied, our door fixed and the bungee cord laying on our
counter top , we climbed in and headed
for Mt. Rushmore, our next stop .
Soon, we as the tornado did , dropped into
Oklahoma city and left as quick as we could for other parts of the country. Instead
of leaving a path of destruction we left behind a tank full of waste water. The ironies of life,
it still all a bunch of crap at times.
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