Thursday, September 29, 2005

Nature can be a pain.

The 6 am morning sky is littered with stars - lots of them. As I head out from Tim's house into my car, I run my eyes from one star to another pinpointing constellations that I know and constellations that look familiar. Big dipper, little dipper...that's about it, but I was never much of a astronomer. I head down Foothill back to my house ten miles under the speed limit because 45 miles an hour feels fast to me when I just woken up...like speed-walking to your friend's apartment right after having a couple beers.

By the time I arrived home, had taken a shower, and had gotten my things ready for class, the sky was illuminated by the sun's rising. There are no more stars, but now there is a deathly brown smoke trail coming from the East. The fires from Simi Valley are still blazing from yesterday's heat. The smoke cakes the lower sky with a cloud of filthy smoke and ash, and it looks like some kind of ancient battle was just fought all night. I drove to school in this atmosphere and mindset, and I couldn't figure out if it was a good thing or not.

The Simi Valley fires is just a reminder of what Southern California gets around this time every year. It is a twisted and humorous thing when I think how natural disasters are always covered one step too late. We evacuate in preparation for Rita only when Katrina came and made us realize how much damage hurricanes can do. Typhoon warnings are covered after news of the disasters in Southeast Asia are reported. Possible landslide occurrences are given after La Conchita is under a giant pile of mud. Is it just me, or are we only obsessed with being ready for certain disasters when the damage is already done?

Maybe I'm wrong, so comments are more than welcome to correct my cynical and bitter stance.

By the end of the day, the brown layer of smoke seeped into the rest of the sky, and Ventura county looks much like Downtown LA on a midsummer's day. The air joins in with the sky and leaves the evening in a muggy lukewarm heat. Sleeping tonight will be more of a task or chore now rather than a natural cycle.

Gross.

6 comments:

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Anonymous said...

California's legislation is screwed up. If the state congress had any wisdom, they would have slash and burn, controlled fires in parks and reservations where dead, dry brush has accumulated.

Instead they wait for it to turn into a disaster, because they're more afraid of firefighters & lumberjacks ruining nature than of the consequences if we don't prevent dry brush from gathering.

Dave1974 said...

What's happenin' in SoCal, man?
This is 2 year's in a row now with these wildfires.

Luke said...

danny boy is right. maybe. but we'd have to be pretty intelligent to do strategic cutting back/burning so as not to make dust bowl style places. I'm sure there's someone intelligent out there who could manage it. Probably charges to much though.

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