HURRICANE !

Our staff’s hearts go out to those devastated by hurricane Helene and we send our prayers to those in the path of Milton. These are devastating storms so hopefully those who could get out did, and those who are closing down the hatches and bracing for the storm will be OK. We’ve always emphasized disaster preparedness here at D-J so are confident our clients are as well prepared to ride things out as humanly possible. But these storms carry so much energy that the unexpected will happen which has been and will be devastating. It might be heartbreaking to lose things, but things are replaceable — YOU are not. So surviving the storms is the number one priority. Property is a small thing–YOU are not.

And if there’s one thing this has taught is that folks need to rely on each other. Local and state governments can help, but there is not anyone from FEMA likely to bail you out. Most folks are on their own; the Federal bureaucracy just isn’t capable of dealing with a disaster on wide proportions; for years deciding instead to spend these resources towards pet projects, reports no one will ever read, onerous rules, buying votes from illegals, and feathering their own nest with platitudes. Rightly, the rescue role has fallen to state and local entities as well as the numerous formal and informal charities of man taking care of man and for this we are very grateful. The voluntary help as well as organized charities like the Red Cross and Churches is usually the backbone of responding to any major disaster. So if you’d like to help we’d suggest that’s where you direct your efforts — either directly pitching in or donating supplies or money to a trustworthy voluntary entity.

Frankly though, we’re getting a bit weary over the news media constantly blaming everything on ‘climate change.’ The climate changes and always will–has done so since the earth cooled. Mankind contributes virtually nothing to this; any inputs from CO2 and other ‘greenhouse gasses’ fall into undetectable noise on the ‘climate change’ scale. The climate changes; always has and always will. And it’s a true fools errand to think that by doubling the price of hydrocarbons or bridling coal use we can stop or decrease the severity of hurricanes. The only thing we can do is DEAL with them as they come. And that’s where resources need to be devoted. We need MORE energy; not less to make this happen.

What HAS changed ? Information and perception. Weather patterns, tornadoes, and hurricanes/typhoons have occurred throughout history. Recorded history is VERY short; perhaps a few hundred years. Moreover, the time period of having realtime widely available internet information is only a few decades old. This is insignificant in climatological terms; it’s such a short time period. What’s different now is we’re bombarded with information about hurricanes to the Nth detail (but still can’t predict where they are going to really go until they are very close). With scientific detail of where they are, how they are moving at that time (and only that time), pressures, winds, etc. And see the real-time effects of what they’re doing when they make landfall as well as the immense devastation in their path. 50 years ago, we’d receive SOME of this information but very little. Mostly from one of 3 TV channels or pictures (often black and white) in a newspaper. Now we see everything. So it’s an INFORMATION thing; not a scientific thing.

The belief that we can somehow bridle hydrocarbon usage and prevent this is insane. Even IF it had some trivial effect, it’s unlikely nations like China or India would abide by any mitigation measures; instead using propaganda and rhetoric of how they’re investing in ‘renewables’ (all energy is renewable and all not). We’re going to get the weather and climate nature dishes out–anything truly worthwhile will be in our development of ALL resources (including liberal hydrocarbon usage) to DEAL with whatever nature dishes out. Things that might be productive are infrastructure to mitigate damage, supplies to help those who are hard hit (instead of sending these resources or cash to foreign lands), and building to be able to withstand as best possible winds and waves–including how we cut back trees and alter other natural features to make construction weather/hurricane resistant.

Other things that have changed are where and how man has built homes. Our population has expanded dramatically and much of that expansion has been in nice places; notably those next to the beach or water. The hurricanes and weather were always there; it’s just now that we’ve built massive amounts of homes where they might hit. Effectively moving humans into where when a natural disaster might occur they are now in its path. Without any thought or preparedness to a meaningful escape plan for the huge population boom to be able to efficiently egress or shelter when something hits. The ‘Climate Change’ hoax being used to somehow scapegoat US living a developed lifestyle causes these things to happen–and somehow WE are to blame (and if we simply give MORE resources taken from taxes or the threat of force and law to be pissed away by a governmental agency these events might not happen anymore which is crazy). It’s guilt propaganda.

So who to listen to ? The person who proposes workable solutions to DEAL with whatever Mother Nature throws at us. Someone who builds REAL infrastructure to best deal with evacuations, winds, and waves as possible. Someone who develops backup energy sources to put in place when nature comes at us with all her fury. Someone who has crisis cleanup and assistance teams. And an entity that devotes more resources towards home disasters than sends to Lebanon or Ukraine–coming up with a REAL ‘rainy day’ fund to assist those hit by disasters (rather than of foreign aid or aid to illegals).

So we will hope for the best and wish our breathern in the path of these storms well and assist wherever we can. You all are in our thoughts and prayers. Please take good care of yourself and each other.