IS IT UNFAIR TO BE SO TOUGH ON OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS? SHOULD WE GO LIGHTLY ON THEM TO SPARE THEIR FEELINGS?
ARE WE EXPECTING TOO MUCH? NO!
THE YEAR 2030. THE FIRST TIME YOU LOOK AT THAT NUMBER, IT SEEMS AMAZINGLY FUTURISTIC. HECK, WE MAY BE LIVING ON MARS BY THEN. TRUTH IS, HERE ON OUR PRESENT HOME PLANET, WE MAY LOSE A LOT OF HUMAN LIFE BEFORE WE EVEN COME CLOSE TO THAT DATE. AND AFTER! WE'RE GOING TO BE IN A LOT OF TROUBLE, YOU SEE. IT'S ONE OF THOSE NASTY SPIN-OFFS OF POLLUTING THE PLANET AND ITS ATMOSPHERE! AT LEAST, SOME MEMBERS OF THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY THINK SO. AT THE MOMENT, I SUSPECT THIS ISN'T SOMETHING OUR COUNCIL WILL LATCH ONTO, TO DEBATE AT THEIR NEXT MEETING. I'M NOT SURE THAT EVEN AFTER READING THIS, THEY'D BE INTERESTED IN DISCUSSING NASTY WEATHER, EVEN IF IT WAS RAINING INDOORS. I SUPPOSE IF I ADD A FOOTNOTE, THAT UNLESS THEY PAY ATTENTION, WE MAY ALSO DIE AS A RESULT…….OF INCLEMENT WEATHER, ……IT MIGHT MAKE A FUTURE AGENDA BEHIND MATTERS OF RE-ZONING, BYLAW CONSIDERATIONS, AND OH YES, STAFFING.
WE MAY DIE, YOU SAY? ARE YOU MAD? SCARED IS MORE LIKE IT! SCARED FOR MY KIDS AND THEIR KIDS! AND APPARENTLY, THERE'S NO HIGH GROUND "HIGH" ENOUGH, TO ESCAPE GLOBAL WARMING RELATED EVENTS. THAT SURE SUCKS. TAKES ALL THE FUN OUT OF FRIDAY NIGHT TELEVISION. MAKES ME A PURVEYOR OF REALLY BAD NEWS. NOPE! THE SCIENTISTS BEAT ME TO IT!
THERE WAS A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT RELEASED SEVERAL WEEKS AGO, THAT PREDICTED THERE WOULD BE IN EXCESS OF FIVE MILLION DEATHS EACH YEAR, BY THE YEAR 2030, THE DIRECT RESULT OF NATURAL DISASTERS OF ONE FORM OR ANOTHER. IMAGINE THAT? FIVE MILLION LOST SOULS AROUND THE GLOBE, IN PART THE RESULT OF INCREASED COLLATERAL DAMAGE OF GLOBAL WARMING. NOW KEEP IN MIND, THAT THIS MEANS A MINIMUM OF FIVE MILLION DEATHS EACH YEAR, WILL BE CAUSED BY THE RIGORS ON THE PLANET OF GLOBAL WARMING. I AM AMONGST THOSE WHO FEEL THIS IS A STAGGERING NUMBER, AND THE RISK OF US BEING IN THAT HUMAN TOLL, WILL CERTAINLY INCREASE AS WEATHER RELATED CALAMITIES BECOME MORE FREQUENT, WIDESPREAD AND VIOLENT.
THIS MEANS, THAT IN FOUR COUNCIL TERMS, EXCLUDING THE BALANCE OF THE PRESENT COUNCIL'S ADMINISTRATION, WE MAY HAVE TO DEAL WITH VIOLENT WEATHER LIKE WE HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE…….INSTEAD OF F-0 TORNADOS, WE MIGHT LAND AN F-2 OR GREATER. NOW IF YOU SAW THE CARNAGE FROM THE F-0 WE HAD, SEVERAL YEARS AGO, YOU CAN IMAGINE HOW MUCH DESTRUCTION WOULD RESULT FROM AN F-4, INCLUDING THE POTENTIAL FOR SUBSTANTIAL LOSS OF LIFE. SO WE'VE GOT ABOUT SIXTEEN YEARS, GIVE OR TAKE A COUPLE, TO TOUGHEN UP TO SOME TRAGIC NEW REALITIES. I DO BELIEVE THE REPORT. I AM NOT A GLOBAL WARMING DENYER. I AM DARN SCARED FOR MY SONS AND THEIR FAMILIES. AND EVEN IF I WAS SKEPTICAL, THE NUMBER OF ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERTS, BEHIND THIS REPORT, WOULD AT LEAST GIVE ME CAUSE TO INITIATE SOME INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCH, ON MY OWN……BEFORE BUILDING A NEW HOME ON HIGHER GROUND. WE ALREADY HAVE LOTS OF EVIDENCE THE CLIMATE IS CHANGING IN THIS PART OF CANADA, AND WHEN MUSKOKA HAS A LONG, LONG DROUGHT, A SUBSTANTIAL RARITY, WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO APPRECIATE THAT ALL ISN'T NORMAL……AND MAY NEVER BE NORMAL AGAIN, AS WE HAVE KNOWN IT, IN OUR LIFETIME. DAMN THING IS, OUTSIDE OF BUILDING BETTER AND MORE SECURE HOUSES, WITH REALLY BIG PANTRIES FOR THE STORAGE OF FOOD AND EMERGENCY SUPPLIES, THERE'S JUST NOT MUCH WE CAN DO TO MITIGATE THE DAMAGE WE HAVE CAUSED OUR PLANET…..AND WHAT REPAYMENT WILL BE DEMANDED IN RETURN. FOREVER.
BEING AN ELECTED OFFICIAL SIXTEEN YEARS FROM NOW! TALK ABOUT A STRESSFUL JOB
So being elected to municipal council is going to mean much greater responsibility in the future. Natural disasters are going to be more intrusive and disruptive on our region. Loss of life, as a result of violent weather, will become a fact of life……a circumstances that we find almost impossible to understand at present. So if councillors think the job is stressful by today's work-load, and critique bombardment, what will the demands on time and dedication to community service be in 2030. Sixteen years isn't a long time to wait. A few terms from now, emergency preparedness is going to jump out of the dust covered manuals, and have to be employed regularly, and councillors are going to be expected to help manage whatever crisis is looming or has just occurred. I'm really not sure there is full appreciation, how important municipal direction will be, seeing as we have not had to deal with this issue, other than contending with recent building fires and the clean-up after the F-0 tornado. Many other municipalities across Ontario, have had to deal with disaster reactions, and some have been more efficient than others. Imagine the communities in Tornado Alley of the United States, and what their leadership faces for most of each year. Now if that was to extend further north, as it may well some day, one would soon appreciate, that future municipal officials are going to be pressed into action, combat style, to create order from chaos. It won't just be a first responders' event. Law and order will stretch beyond the police presence and effort.
We don't have many natural disasters in our locale. So it's likely we're a little rusty. There will be a time, in the near future, when being rusty will cost lives. This isn't fear mongering. It isn't an attempt to discredit the present council, or suggest they wouldn't be ready to take charge of the town, if there was a major calamity. I might suggest, that the present council, isn't the model for the municipal leadership we expect for 2030. Whether this council could rise to the occasion of a town-wide emergency, frankly, I don't know. And some reading this blog, might feel the same. If we have doubts, it's because we have had nothing from this council, that would influence us differently. Our council today is standoffish, comfortably holed-up around a council table at town hall, and quite sure of themselves, that they are doing a good job. Personally, I think they should be open to possibility, listen to their constituents, and admit they are at times, a rather vulnerable group. They never show their collective hand, and they are as protectionist as you can get. They prefer to operate without public scrutiny, and they deal with criticism by refusing to answer questions. They are public when they want publicity. When they're in hot water, publicity is a drain on their patience.
In future elections, we need to appreciate that who we elect to represent our municipality, could well be front and centre, with first responders, in the event of a natural disaster…..or other major emergency situation…..like a jet landing on our main street, or another Hurricane Hazel coming up the pike. We need to know the people we elect, are going to be gung-ho about getting involved, to what ever capacity is deemed necessary, by emergency planning officials. We need councillors with strong constitutions, who are willing to sacrifice for their constituents, and who are unafraid of putting themselves in the way of danger, to protect the public. They need to be able to make critical decisions within minutes, and make calls that save lives. The weight of the community will rest on their shoulders. Mistakes will cost lives. Stress won't enter into it, because there won't be any time to do anything more than the job at hand….and think fast….think smart, as our lives hang in the balance. Do you think I'm kidding. How would we have reacted, especially or mayor and council, if we had faced what Elliot Lake did, earlier this year, with the fatal collapse of a portion of their shopping mall? The same? Better than?
I very much doubt even a single councillor, reading this blog, will agree with me, that a/ there was such a report that identified 2030, and five million lost lives a year; and b/ that they're not prepared to handle a large-scale emergency. This is a council, by the way, that still hasn't offered the public a reason the Opera House (an emergency meeting location by the way, for our two nearby schools etc.) has been closed to the public for more than a week. Are our expectations too high for them? Are they beyond questioning? Is it indifference, arrogance, the corruption of power, that allows them to say, "Let them eat cake," and get away with it? I really don't know. What I do know, is that the constituents of this town need to be able to trust, absolutely, the folks we elect to manage our municipality. It isn't just to decide on bylaws, and minor variances, or to command bylaw officers, to tag more parking violators. We need to know, one hundred percent, that in an emergency, we're not going to run into this problem…..they like to call a communications issue, and then have to read their protocol documents before reacting to an emergency unfolding. Is it callous and uncaring to ask this question? Does it insult our elected officials? The fact we have doubt is troubling by itself. As constituents, we've been insulted a lot recently, by being denied information we have a right to know. We have some fundamental problems, as a constituency, dealing with a council, that while thinking itself clever, at matters of avoidance, has by its action, demonstrated an inability to see its own shortcomings……which is imperative to fix-up as soon as possible……you see, as global crisis doesn't operate on a council schedule.
It may seem that 2030 gives us a lot of wiggle room to solve this global warming dilemma. The damage is done folks. We have, as they say, made our bed. Now we need to think about emergency planning, to the exponent of ten, and just how important it is, to elect representatives, who appreciate what science is telling us…..and that a 16 year warning, gives us time to create a new dynamic for dealing with natural disasters. It is likely, that dealing with natural disasters may be a little more important, than tending the boo-boos of the uptown BIA. Sorry to be so blunt. Someone has to be. Or else!
Thank you for visiting today's blog. Please come back again soon. I enjoy your company!
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