Rolling Power Outages Could Be Coming
Word is out that parts of the US could have rolling power outages this summer.
Great.
That will be a nice addition to inflation.
And more weirdness after this baby formula shortage.
We've built some of our power supply based on if there's water in rivers we dammed, so drought in the West is part of the trouble.
Drought has been increasing over decades, and will worsen with climate change.
Potential power outages also have to do with supply chain issues, the war's impact on energy sources, and expected heat waves.
Everything is going to keep getting more intense... because you can't have a growing world population living in more high-hazard zones on a finite planet during climate change and think everything's going to stay the same. Or get less intense.
We've been in a political stalemate in this country for about 12 years now... which means we haven't had any big problem-solving laws or initiatives for years. The last really big one was the Affordable Care Act.
Before that, the big major and significant change was in reaction to 9/11. That was in 2001, and the momentum held for about a decade.
We haven't invested in this country and its people and communities in 50 years.
That's because after the Civil Rights movement some people didn't want to share, so politicians just stopped investing in anything.
And then launched a culture war that channeled growing resentment away from that lack of investment INTO anger and blame on anything different from the status quo being the supposedly real problem.
We're not growing and flourishing.
We're stagnating.
Our infrastructure is rickety and weak, and we're not investing in alternative energy. Even now that it's so clearly a matter of national security.
We may have the most badass military on the planet and currently be helping Europe not get taken over by Russia... but you can't only invest in your military and not invest in much else and expect to flourish as a country. Or expect to be competitive.
Especially when the rest of the world invests in WAY more than their military.
So we're not flourishing, and we're not competitive.
The US intelligence community assesses that US innovation has fallen behind the rest of the world in most every area.
Wasn't that like our thing?
Innovation?
So now we're the country with the big badass military but we're having a baby formula shortage, we have to get baby formula from other countries, we are cutting women's rights, we might be cutting other rights, our democracy is seriously threatened by our own people trying to undermine it, we have an inflation problem, and now we're going to have rolling power outages?
Seriously?
Oh I forgot that a couple of people are flourishing, big time. Not an exaggeration. Seriously it's only a couple of people compared to the rest of us. It's the millionaires and billionaires. They are making bank. Big time.
Normally I like to write inspirational stuff here at the end of the post.
Today I'll just say that I do think we can change the direction of this country.
But we need to do different things than what we've been doing. Absolutely.
I've got some ideas about that.
I suspect you do, too.
We're creating a community to help. For real this time, as it's been a long time coming.
More news next week.
Keep the faith. But also keep angry. Keep motivated.
And keep some of the love. We're going to need that. It's what drives what we do and what we bring for those we're fighting for, and for those who come after us.
Onward.
Oh - and put some stuff in place to be ready for the power going out a bit this summer if you can.