Wednesday, August 01, 2018

Angry

It is after 9 p.m., and it is still over 80 degrees in my house, even with our new whole house fan running on high. The fan is working, but it isn't that cool outside tonight, so it can't drop the temperature in the house very quickly. I think our low is going to be over 70 degrees. Also, it was 88 degrees for the high today, so we started from a toasty 85 degrees inside when I got home today.

These temperatures well above average. I couldn't find the average temperatures for my neighborhood, but we can use La Jolla as a similar coastal climate in San Diego, and the average high on August 1 is 75. The average low is 66.

It has been this way for a month. I would guess we've been at least 5 degrees above average for most of July, and occasionally hotter.

Now, this is not really that uncomfortable for me (I still think 82 is a perfectly acceptable indoor temperature), or even objectively all that hot, particularly in comparison to the heat wave that has scorched parts of Europe. But it is really, really unusual for San Diego. We don't have air conditioning in our house in the coastal climate zone because we don't usually need air conditioning.

It is also an ever present reminder of just how much we humans have screwed things up. It is getting hotter, and it is going to continue to get hotter, because we are not doing enough to stop causing climate change.

Which brings me to the subject of my recent blog hiatus. I took a break because I'd sit down to write and nothing really coherent would come out. The break has served its purpose: thanks to a little time away, I think I've figured out the problem. I couldn't write because I was so angry, and I was trying to ignore that and write about something else.

Whether it is because of the heat wave and its daily reminder about climate change and the way it is going to disrupt so many things, or just the constant accumulation of bad news about my country's political situation, I was very, very angry. (And this was before that big NY Times article about how we blew our chance to address climate change in the 80s came out. I haven't read that article yet, because I suspect it would push me back to being unproductively angry.)

I'm less angry now. Not because the problems have lessened - if anything, they've gotten worse. There are now fires burning all over my state, and yes, part of the reason they are so bad and deadly right now is climate change.

But I've remembered that getting so angry that I don't take sensible action is not a useful response. Once I acknowledged the anger, I was able to turn away from it and focus back on taking action. I wrote some more postcards. I realized that I'd forgotten to make political contributions after my last two paychecks. (Give me ideas of good candidates to support in the comments! I hope to catch up on my contributions this weekend.)

I also got to take a nice little getaway to Redondo Beach with Mr. Snarky. I'll probably write about that at some point. However, one of the nice things about that getaway was that during a long walk on the beach, I finally saw how to make the travel-related website I've wanted to make for at least eight years. I'll probably use the Redondo Beach getaway to try out some of my ideas for that site. What I'm saying is, don't hold your breath for a write up about Redondo Beach!

Anyway, I'm back. I'm still angry, but it isn't getting in my way anymore. I don't know if there will be a links post this week, though, because I have plans for Friday afternoon and evening, and I'm not sure I'll get one written. We'll see. Either way, though, I plan to start writing here again, because I have missed blogging. As usual, I've got a bunch of other things going on (a children's book to revise, a novelette to publish, and that travel-related site to set up, and various other smaller things.) I like to have a lot of things going on, but I've learned that the only way that is sustainable while also making a living is to expect slow progress on my projects. That's OK, as long as I plan accordingly. So the blog posts will start coming again, but it will be a trickle, not a flood.

7 comments:

  1. Throwing out a bid for Ohio District 12 - there's a special election for the U.S. House of Representatives on August 7th and Danny O'Connor (D) is giving this traditionally Republican district a run for its money.

    Also, if you don't want to get angry about gerrymandering, I would suggest not looking at Ohio's U.S. House districts ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wrote postcards for him!

      Right now, the state making me most angry with respect to gerrymandering and voter suppression is North Carolina. Maybe I need to look for some good Democrats to support there, too.

      Delete
  2. Stacey Abrams for GA governor!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She's definitely on my list!

      Delete
  3. Socal dendrite11:07 AM

    Welcome back - I missed you! And I am excited to hear about your potential travel website, especially since I'm just up the coast and can visit lots of the same places :)
    I hear you about being angry. There are so many things to be angry about that it is overwhelming. It's hard to pick a "worst" but I think for me it is the changes to policy affecting the environment. Our world is such a wonderful, beautiful place and our stewardship needs to be responsible and value the many intangible resources before it is too late. I worry that the effects of these changes won't be as noticeable as, say, the effects of changes on people's tax bills, until it is far too late.
    Anyway, I'm glad you're back.

    ReplyDelete

Sorry for the CAPTCHA, folks. The spammers were stealing too much of my time.