Preparing For Severe Storms
Hurricane season is around the corner, so let’s start preparing now for powerful storm forces like those we’ve experienced over the past few years. I don’t mean to merely start boarding up the windows – I’m talking about “really understanding” why we are witnessing more storms today so we can truly understand how to make better, future changes.
A Busy Hurricane Season
The National Weather Service is predicting this hurricane season to be a busy one. They are suggesting:
- 16 named storms
- 9 hurricanes
- 5 major hurricanes
- an overall above average storm season
Sound familiar? They said this in 2010, 2011, and in 2012.
What’s Nature Telling Us?
Hurricane Ike leveled the Texas Coast in 2008
Violent storms and shifts in global climate have been on the rise all over the globe. We are witnessing changes that are new to us; we are experiencing climate shifts that we are not prepared for; we are finally grasping the fact that the Earth is much more powerful than human beings. So, what do we do? We admit that as the Earth changes, we have NO CHOICE but to make some very different decisions to change with it.
A Changing Earth
Nature is changing, and things are never going to go back to the way they used to be. We will forever be looped into a victimization-mode, storm season after storm season, if we do not admit that the Earth’s atmosphere, the ocean currents, the wind streams, and the coastlines are changing. Mankind cannot remain static on this very dynamic Earth. We – you – must be willing to make some difficult changes.
Turn And Face The Change
Change is the one thing that most of us do not want to think about. We hope that one storm in our lifetime is all we’ll see. Start shifting your awareness one step at a time, and think about this:
- If you live inner city, prepare for power outages and have extra bottled water, spare food, pet food, and sanitary products on hand to last for a few days without power. Get to know your neighbors, and be willing to group together to weather the storm.
- If you live on the coastline, consider relocating. Sorry, but seriously consider relocating. Global coastlines are becoming more and more unsafe. If enjoying your beachfront home 9 months of the year is worth the risk that it may be damaged 3 months out of the year, then okay – live with that decision, and stop complaining when it actually happens. This is your choice.
- If you live in a rural area, make sure to have generators on hand, some fire wood, and a clean water source. Have a safety program ready for your animals.
- Get involved with your city, county, and state government decision-makers because our tax dollars are being “blown in the wind” by building more zero-lot line housing developments on flood plains, by constructing bigger highway systems and higher bridges, and by concreting over more of the natural land and removing our treed greenbelts. The time is OVER for profiting off our natural landscapes, and the voters must be the ones to turn this ship around.
The “disaster” in a natural disaster comes from the human factor — the more prepared you are, the more educated you are, and the more realistic you are will take the edge off the “disaster.” Nature is going to do what Nature does. Let’s stop playing the victim and start getting on with life on Earth – get prepared, make some real changes, and accept that we all must ride out the storms.
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