Friday 108°. Saturday a cool 101°. Sunday (today) back up to the temperature of hell, aka 104°. Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same. Finally on Tuesday a mere 90°. Which sounds…blissful? This many people aren’t even supposed to live in Los Angeles. It’s all because William Mulholland figured out a way to bring water from the Owens Valley and now 4 million souls are cooling themselves with ginormous A/C systems and also since it’s too hot out to do anything after, say, 7 am, those very same 4 million people are sitting inside entertaining themselves with any number of electricity sapping devices. Most definitely employing more than of them one at a time.
And that is why, as I type this, I’m sitting in a hotel where they have working air conditioning. My very own hardworking AC was doing just fine. Until the grid gave up the ghost sometime around 2 pm yesterday. The temp downstairs in my house was in the high 80s. But the temp upstairs where the people (and dogs) sleep? Well, that was definitely edging towards 100°. Absolutely unsleepable. LADWP said they estimated the work would be done around 1:30 am and the power would be restored. I figured I could rough it for a night and sleep on the couch. That way the doggo could sleep on the cool concrete floor. You know, just until 1:30 am. Yeah, no. It’s still not back on, roughly 30 hours later. And I know, I know lots of people have it way worse than this. The people on the coast of North Carolina whose homes were just washed out to sea earlier this summer. That’s way worse. The 11,000 people in San Bernardino 60 miles to the East of LA who have been evacuated because 17,000 acres of fires are 0% contained 3 plus days after it started. That’s also way worse.
Speaking of the Line Fire in San Bernardino, this is what my world looked like at 6:40 this morning. The sun really was that color. The sky truly felt like the gateway to the underworld. You couldn’t smell the smoke yet. But surely it’s only a matter of time.
I swear I have a point. And the point is this. Something has got to give. We can’t keep ignoring it. Whether it’s hurricanes or tornadoes or wild fires or those houses that drifted off to sea, it was not always like this. Heck, even ten years ago it was not like this. The temperatures are more extreme. The storms are hotter, colder, wilder. The damage is more severe. And yet the response seems more tepid. Even though it’s right there in our faces.
I hate to complain if I don’t have solutions. And I don’t have them. But I do want to hear them from people way smarter than I am who do. I’m ready for something radical. I know the obvious ones—no red meat (or no meat at all), electric cars (but I really don’t know how that’s going to work considering the grid can’t handle what we’ve currently got), etc., etc. I only etc, etc. here because there’s only so much obvious shit we can all repeat to each other until we all start to think the other guy is crying wolf. In the 70s during the energy crisis (yes, that’s what it was called), there were gas lines and Jimmy Carter got on TV to tell everyone to turn off the lights when they left the room. I’m pretty sure everyone did it. Were people just more obedient then? Or is mine just a kid’s memory of this? I don’t know. But it felt like people were “doing their part”.
Today we’re all just out there trying to get rich without doing any actual work. You know, “influencing”. That’s a different rant for a different day, though.
Here. Enjoy a pic of Cy enjoying the exact spot where the AC hits the hotel floor just right.
The part about no meat.
"and Jimmy Carter got on TV to tell everyone to turn off the lights when they left the room. I’m pretty sure everyone did it. Were people just more obedient then? " Yes, yes, 1000 times yes.
The world is ending and no one cares. I don't understand. And I haven't for awhile.