Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Newsworthy
I was just reading an article on Yahoo News about how there were some rudimentary disaster-awareness and evacuation plans being cooked up in New Orleans that simply weren't ready in time for Hurricane Katrina. Apparently there was a DVD that had already been minted that was intended as a sort of public service announcement to be distributed through churches in New Orleans, particularly in the poorer neighborhoods. But the undistributed DVDs are sitting in a warehouse in Los Angeles, because the hurricane hit a little too soon.
The message to people was to make an evacuation plan, and not to count too much on government. Various government agencies were working on plans, but hadn't come up with much yet. (I think the first time I heard the phrase, "a day late and a dollar short," I was probably in New Orleans. It fits with the slower, more laconic, half-drunk spirit that one would often see or feel there, blended in with all the other diverse cultural elements.)
But, the article points out, "one-quarter of the city's population... did not own cars or have ready transportation out of town in the event of evacuation orders."
Pop didn't have a car, and wasn't successful in finding a ride out of town. But he did have a bicycle. He was with me when I bought those 3 bicycles that I kept at my place in the French Quarter, and we talked about how we might need them for evacuation someday. I remember thinking that they might actually be better than a car if the roads were clogged and/or there were gasoline shortages. Then, when the hurricane was bearing down on the city, he talked to other French Quarter residents who lamented that they had no way out of town-- while sitting on or standing next to their own bicycles. To them, evacuation automatically meant a car, a bus, a train or a plane. But how did people move themselves around and get out of harm's way when there weren't any cars, buses, trains or planes?
We're such a dependent culture... dependent on government, internal combustion, cars, electricity, telephones, television, bailouts, paychecks, insurance, institutions, entitlements... and other people generally taking care of us and telling us what to do (and, quite often, what to think and who to be). In little more than a century, just a few generations, the higher level of self-sufficiency and thinking for oneself that was a simple necessity of life for our great grandparents and countless generations before has been largely abandoned and forgotten. It seems to me that average Americans, citizens of this supposedly richest, most powerful nation on earth, are in danger of becoming herd animals. Certainly at the political level the herd mentality has largely taken hold, and is being manipulated and subtly encouraged by certain political machines.
It occurs to me that Pop's story of evacuating on a bicycle is a newsworthy item in this context. It's a strange, eccentric, charming, heart-warming, memorable, cute kind of story... if only because so many others just didn't see the alternative. I think, in this context, it might serve as a worthwhile reminder to people in general just to remember that they have options that they might have overlooked. Independent options, lower-tech options, fun options, adventurous options.
So maybe we'll make up a press release, our own PSA, and see if any of the news wires pick it up.
I bought a nice bicycle, one of very light-weight road bikes. I marvel at it sometimes. It's quite advanced even compared to my first 10-speed bike that my stepfather gave me in 1978, and that was a pretty nice bike too. I think, this bicycle may not outperform a car, at least not in the current era when petroleum is still available. But the technology is pretty advanced. If I could take that bike back to the days of the Roman empire, or even to the days of the American founding fathers, it would be an incredible and priceless technological marvel. I try to appreciate it from that perspective, rather than comparing it to the top-speed potential (or the relatively sedentary driving experience) of a gas-guzzling, road-clogging car.
For actual evac, something a little sturdier will probably be better, like a mountain bike with hardier tires. But I have one of those also, from before I got my road bike.
I also have a little stockpile of food and water, and a bit of cash on hand in case the big earthquake hits L.A. and disrupts the supply lines for the city. A quick survey of my friends reveals that almost none of them have even that basic level of preparedness. Los Angeles is probably about as unprepared for The Big One as New Orleans was for Katrina.
Americans have created a system where historic levels of independent thought and action aren't necessities for day-to-day life anymore. But I expect that the larger shifts of time, nature, and resources can and will expose the dangers of neglecting those independent capacities.
The message to people was to make an evacuation plan, and not to count too much on government. Various government agencies were working on plans, but hadn't come up with much yet. (I think the first time I heard the phrase, "a day late and a dollar short," I was probably in New Orleans. It fits with the slower, more laconic, half-drunk spirit that one would often see or feel there, blended in with all the other diverse cultural elements.)
But, the article points out, "one-quarter of the city's population... did not own cars or have ready transportation out of town in the event of evacuation orders."
Pop didn't have a car, and wasn't successful in finding a ride out of town. But he did have a bicycle. He was with me when I bought those 3 bicycles that I kept at my place in the French Quarter, and we talked about how we might need them for evacuation someday. I remember thinking that they might actually be better than a car if the roads were clogged and/or there were gasoline shortages. Then, when the hurricane was bearing down on the city, he talked to other French Quarter residents who lamented that they had no way out of town-- while sitting on or standing next to their own bicycles. To them, evacuation automatically meant a car, a bus, a train or a plane. But how did people move themselves around and get out of harm's way when there weren't any cars, buses, trains or planes?
We're such a dependent culture... dependent on government, internal combustion, cars, electricity, telephones, television, bailouts, paychecks, insurance, institutions, entitlements... and other people generally taking care of us and telling us what to do (and, quite often, what to think and who to be). In little more than a century, just a few generations, the higher level of self-sufficiency and thinking for oneself that was a simple necessity of life for our great grandparents and countless generations before has been largely abandoned and forgotten. It seems to me that average Americans, citizens of this supposedly richest, most powerful nation on earth, are in danger of becoming herd animals. Certainly at the political level the herd mentality has largely taken hold, and is being manipulated and subtly encouraged by certain political machines.
It occurs to me that Pop's story of evacuating on a bicycle is a newsworthy item in this context. It's a strange, eccentric, charming, heart-warming, memorable, cute kind of story... if only because so many others just didn't see the alternative. I think, in this context, it might serve as a worthwhile reminder to people in general just to remember that they have options that they might have overlooked. Independent options, lower-tech options, fun options, adventurous options.
So maybe we'll make up a press release, our own PSA, and see if any of the news wires pick it up.
I bought a nice bicycle, one of very light-weight road bikes. I marvel at it sometimes. It's quite advanced even compared to my first 10-speed bike that my stepfather gave me in 1978, and that was a pretty nice bike too. I think, this bicycle may not outperform a car, at least not in the current era when petroleum is still available. But the technology is pretty advanced. If I could take that bike back to the days of the Roman empire, or even to the days of the American founding fathers, it would be an incredible and priceless technological marvel. I try to appreciate it from that perspective, rather than comparing it to the top-speed potential (or the relatively sedentary driving experience) of a gas-guzzling, road-clogging car.
For actual evac, something a little sturdier will probably be better, like a mountain bike with hardier tires. But I have one of those also, from before I got my road bike.
I also have a little stockpile of food and water, and a bit of cash on hand in case the big earthquake hits L.A. and disrupts the supply lines for the city. A quick survey of my friends reveals that almost none of them have even that basic level of preparedness. Los Angeles is probably about as unprepared for The Big One as New Orleans was for Katrina.
Americans have created a system where historic levels of independent thought and action aren't necessities for day-to-day life anymore. But I expect that the larger shifts of time, nature, and resources can and will expose the dangers of neglecting those independent capacities.
