Yesterday many media outlets were inviting memories of the massive power black-out which affected 50 million people in the US and Canadian northeast, including ten million in Ontario. We were about to move back to Ontario but fortunately the black-out didn't affect Nova Scotia, our home at the time. We began our trek back to this province a couple of days after resumption of power.
One of the first seniors I visited in my new congregation was a real character, a dear old soul who was known for the volume and dramatic vigour of her side of conversations. She told me with great animation about going out to the summer porch that fateful day to retrieve an old lantern, only to stumble backward into her blue box. She claimed she was stuck there for hours until her daughter came to check on her. She was like an upside-down turtle she told me. It was all I could do not to laugh. As unlikely as this sounds, she was tiny, and when she died several years later the daughter assured me it was true.
A family friend was recovering from serious surgery and barely mobile. He had one of those big padded armchairs which lift up with the push of a button. Unfortunately that motor required electricity and he was imprisoned in the chair for several hours until his wife returned home.
Another significant memory was the information released some weeks later about the significant reduction in airborne pollutants and smog as a result of hundreds of factories shutting down. It was very noticeable down wind of the steel-making zone in Pennsylvania. No coal-fired smelters, no pollution. Visibility for pilots increased significantly and air quality improved. Then we got back to "normal."
We know that simply shutting down everything we depend upon for daily living is not a solution, but it is good to be reminded that the atmosphere gets healthier in a hurry when we give it a fighting chance. It speaks to the issues around climate change which become more pronounced each year. As a denomination which encourages creation care I wonder what we should take to heart on this tenth anniversary of the black-out.
What are your memories from ten years ago? What should we learn from that event, if anything?
3 comments:
As a denomination, do we do anything proactive in encouraging governments to adopt solar power and , yes, the dreaded wind turbines (in places that will not do damage to ecosystems or harm humans and sleep time - I know, not a popular option in Prince Edward County right now, for good reason)?
Green energy is a company that installs free solar panels on homes (and on church buildings, too, I bet) and then pays the owner for the rental of that roof space...you earn money for "hosting" solar panels and help the environment too! Seems like a no-brainer to me - unfortunately, my house was not eligible for this plan - not enough straight roof space - but, by gum, Bridge Street Church might be ! :-)
I remember that time in the same way I remember staying in Kingston during the "Great Ice Storm" of 1998: long days spent reading, playing the guitar and noticing (in the absence of electronics) how the days seemed to stretch out.
I've always wondered (naively)if there couldn't be some kind of international industrial agreement where each nation's factories engaged in rolling shutdowns for the sake of the environment. Wonder if that would even put a dent in things.
Anyone see the article in The Economist on China's recent efforts to green itself? There's hope out there ...
I like Ian's idea of rolling shutdowns - it can't hurt!
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