Living Dangerously In California
By James Donahue
Tourists and folks from all over the State of California still flock to the shores of Santa Cruz County to enjoy the scenery, view the sea life off our coast and lately they come to escape the blistering heat that has been ravaging their towns inland. Consequently the roads in and out of our community are clogged with cars, trucks and campers both coming and going. There are so many visitors crowding the shoreline it sometimes can be difficult for local residents to see through the crowds to enjoy the natural beauty.
Police and military helicopters fly frequently overhead now, keeping a watchful eye on the crowds and especially on surfers daring to test the great waves and defy the deadly undertow along our coast. Too many times we watch as ambulance crews squeeze their way to the shoreline to assist in the recovery of drowning victims that took one chance too many.
This has been our daily life in sunny California since moving here from Michigan just five years ago. Ah yes, we are escaping the onset of winter in the Northern climes, but at what cost? The ground is rumbling under our feet as the coastal fault lines grind and move; there is a general water shortage for lack of enough rainfall and the tender dry forests around us are all ablaze. The smoke hangs heavily making breathing difficult and throwing asthmatics to the ground. People choke on the job as the smoke fills stores and offices.
Thousands of people are being burned out of their homes this fall as the fire season, which never really quits now, gears up under the deadly Santa Ana Winds that roll down from the mountain ranges to the east.
We watched in horror as a fast moving fire swept through and destroyed the town of Paradise, the home of some 27,000 people, just to the north. As I write these words another massive fire is burning the hills and towns just east of Los Angeles to the south. It is still too early to get details of this blaze since it still burns today with zero containment.
While this is going on the newly elected state leadership is struggling to find ways to better contain the fires and declare portions of the state disaster areas. In the wake of all this, our so-called elected leader t-rump, has declared our state as being irresponsible about controlling these terrible fires. He threatens to withhold federal assistance, much as it was for the people of the Carolinas after their homes were ravaged last month by Hurricane Florence, or the island nation of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 1917.
Like the rest of the world, the residents of California are struggling to live with and survive the results of “climate change” brought on by our fast-warming polluted planet. We are doing this because we love this state; we love the people and we love the climate. The benefits still outweigh the horrors of living in the extreme heat, enduing intense winter storms and hurricane force winds and tornadoes now sweeping across the landscape farther inland.
We know that even if the storms, the fires and the earthquakes destroy our homes, we can still survive. The temperate weather is still offering a pleasant climate along the coast. The kindness of the people is fondly remembered by past survivors of misfortune. And moving elsewhere offers horrors of a different kind.
By James Donahue
Tourists and folks from all over the State of California still flock to the shores of Santa Cruz County to enjoy the scenery, view the sea life off our coast and lately they come to escape the blistering heat that has been ravaging their towns inland. Consequently the roads in and out of our community are clogged with cars, trucks and campers both coming and going. There are so many visitors crowding the shoreline it sometimes can be difficult for local residents to see through the crowds to enjoy the natural beauty.
Police and military helicopters fly frequently overhead now, keeping a watchful eye on the crowds and especially on surfers daring to test the great waves and defy the deadly undertow along our coast. Too many times we watch as ambulance crews squeeze their way to the shoreline to assist in the recovery of drowning victims that took one chance too many.
This has been our daily life in sunny California since moving here from Michigan just five years ago. Ah yes, we are escaping the onset of winter in the Northern climes, but at what cost? The ground is rumbling under our feet as the coastal fault lines grind and move; there is a general water shortage for lack of enough rainfall and the tender dry forests around us are all ablaze. The smoke hangs heavily making breathing difficult and throwing asthmatics to the ground. People choke on the job as the smoke fills stores and offices.
Thousands of people are being burned out of their homes this fall as the fire season, which never really quits now, gears up under the deadly Santa Ana Winds that roll down from the mountain ranges to the east.
We watched in horror as a fast moving fire swept through and destroyed the town of Paradise, the home of some 27,000 people, just to the north. As I write these words another massive fire is burning the hills and towns just east of Los Angeles to the south. It is still too early to get details of this blaze since it still burns today with zero containment.
While this is going on the newly elected state leadership is struggling to find ways to better contain the fires and declare portions of the state disaster areas. In the wake of all this, our so-called elected leader t-rump, has declared our state as being irresponsible about controlling these terrible fires. He threatens to withhold federal assistance, much as it was for the people of the Carolinas after their homes were ravaged last month by Hurricane Florence, or the island nation of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 1917.
Like the rest of the world, the residents of California are struggling to live with and survive the results of “climate change” brought on by our fast-warming polluted planet. We are doing this because we love this state; we love the people and we love the climate. The benefits still outweigh the horrors of living in the extreme heat, enduing intense winter storms and hurricane force winds and tornadoes now sweeping across the landscape farther inland.
We know that even if the storms, the fires and the earthquakes destroy our homes, we can still survive. The temperate weather is still offering a pleasant climate along the coast. The kindness of the people is fondly remembered by past survivors of misfortune. And moving elsewhere offers horrors of a different kind.
