While Lake Tomahawk was drained earlier this month, I saw these ducks trying out the swimming pool. It had not had chemicals added, however, sp it probably didn't have anything to eat either.
The pile of stuff over by the building is from the Hurricane Relief job that the pool offered. People didn't have any running water for over a week, so couldn't even flush. The pool water was made available by the bucket (bring your own, just for flushing). There also were portable showers set up (just a curtain with a shower head over them.) I wasn't in the area when this happened, so I don't know if they even had a way to use clean hot water, but I doubt it. Plastic drinking water bottles were distributed, and sometimes there was hot food available to go, I heard.
I was gratefully staying with my cousin John, in Columbia, South Carolina. I believe he was without electricity for a couple of days at least, but it was back on by the time I arrived on day 4 after Hurricane Helene, Sept. 30. I've written lots about my stay there before (the evacuation HERE, and the peaceful sanctuary Here.)
I did see what was broadcast on TV and Facebook about my home town, and with many others who did not live there, we were amazed to see the destruction. Those who lived in Black Mountain, Swannanoa, and Asheville, had varying degrees of damage, but personally had to deal with no water, and no internet and no electricity for days and weeks. The cell service was repaired pretty quickly by the time I left, if I remember correctly.
I tried to talk to a friend about what she remembers, and later she told me that made her quite anxious. So I guess we all have differing levels of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) having shocks and survivals of different levels.
Another friend says her internet connection wasn't restored for several months, but she had her well water tested and was able to drink from that, once she had electricity to run the pump.
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Last year, voters in Washington state overwhelmingly rejected an attempt to overturn a law designed to raise money and slash pollution.
That law has lots of benefits and has raised more than $2.5 billion to help fund public transit, electric school buses, solar energy, forest-fire prevention and more.
Over the next five to eight years, the law is expected to generate another $9 billion in revenue for projects that cut climate pollution, making possible further cuts in climate emissions. Washington’s goal is to zero out climate pollution by 2050.
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Mission 300, a massive operation to get electricity to 300 million people in Africa, is now officially underway. This plan would cut the number of people in Africa without electricity in half by 2030.
The $40 billion investment would rely heavily on local solar-powered grids. These small-scale solutions will allow rural communities without current connections to centralized electrical grids access to electricity.
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Japan announced new, aggressive goals to cut its emissions through 2040.
The country, which is responsible for almost 3% of the world’s climate pollution, aims to cut those emissions by 60% by 2035, compared to 2013 levels. By 2040, Japan intends to reduce its climate pollution by 73%.
To achieve these goals, Japan is ramping up its renewable and nuclear energy sectors, with a plan to get 50% of the country’s electricity from wind and solar power and another 20% from nuclear energy by 2040.
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When it comes to its water supply, for many years, Arizona has been like the Wild West. It had few rules to govern who can use its limited groundwater or how they can access it.
After years of organizing in rural communities, things are finally starting to change. In the Willcox Basin, near Tucson, where domestic wells have been running dry, the expansion of irrigation has been halted; major water users will now have to conserve, measure and report their use.
A bipartisan groundwater bill is currently in the works that can benefit rural communities with scarce water resources across the state.
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My Family Album
Cousin John F. Rogers
