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Where did you come up with that half-baked assessment? I can pretty much guess I suppose.
Here's an accurate description of their platform if inclined to not drink the Kool-Aid...
The National Green Party platform calls for the following:
"Enact an emergency Green New Deal to turn the tide on climate change, revive the economy and make wars for oil obsolete. Initiate a WWII-scale national mobilization to halt climate change, the greatest threat to humanity in our history. Create 20 million jobs by transitioning to 100% clean renewable energy by 2030, and investing in public transit, sustainable (regenerative) agriculture, conservation and restoration of critical infrastructure, including ecosystems.
Implement a Just Transition that empowers those communities and workers most impacted by climate change and the transition to a green economy. Ensure that any worker displaced by the shift away from fossil fuels will receive full income and benefits as they transition to alternative work.
Enact energy democracy based on public, community and worker ownership of our energy system. Treat energy as a human right.
Redirect research funds from fossil fuels into renewable energy and conservation. Build a nationwide smart electricity grid that can pool and store power from a diversity of renewable sources, giving the nation clean, democratically-controlled, energy.
End destructive energy extraction and associated infrastructure: fracking, tar sands, offshore drilling, oil trains, mountaintop removal, natural gas pipelines, and uranium mines. Halt any investment in fossil fuel infrastructure, including natural gas, and phase out all fossil fuel power plants. Phase out nuclear power and end nuclear subsidies. End all subsidies for fossil fuels and impose a greenhouse gas fee/tax to charge polluters for the damage they have created.”
Yep, just as I figured - watermelons.
Green on the outside, red on the inside. If you like socialism so well, take your next vacation in Venezuela. Should really shed some light on the situation.
Just read up on Cascadia Rising. I wish the powers that be had done something like this before Hurricane Katrina. Katrina was a mess. Getting out of town was a nightmare. People who depended on public transportation were stranded. At least Red Cross now puts out information. Better late than never. Now if everyone would just read it!
At least one of them will be working! Also, I don't live so far out of town that I couldn't get to a store within a day's travel. Ditto for medical care. I am too old, and have too many physical problems, to live out in the boonies.
They still don't have a clue. In Katrina, not only did people depending on public transportation stranded, after the city was deluged, there were pictures of parking lots with hundreds of buses sitting in water up to their seats.
I wonder how many offices in city or county government have a notebook, easily accessible in their desk or bookcase, telling what they are to do in the case of a catastrophic emergency. I suspect that if anybody does, it is hopelessly out of date.
There was a TV series around 2006 that I use (first 8 or 9 episodes only) as a intro training tool. Nuclear weapon goes off close enough you can see the mushroom on the horizon, the lights go out (maybe), phone service is out, and people wander about in disbelief. Now: is the average government employee going to know what they need to do in the next hour? My guess is the average will be as useful as **** on a boar. (any of us from the midwest knows what the software censored For those on the coast, just think screen door on a submarine.)
I remember one public service announcement that told us that if the phone system was out, keep in touch with your loved ones through the Internet. Seriously.
They still don't have a clue. In Katrina, not only did people depending on public transportation stranded, after the city was deluged, there were pictures of parking lots with hundreds of buses sitting in water up to their seats.
I wonder how many offices in city or county government have a notebook, easily accessible in their desk or bookcase, telling what they are to do in the case of a catastrophic emergency. I suspect that if anybody does, it is hopelessly out of date.
There was a TV series around 2006 that I use (first 8 or 9 episodes only) as a intro training tool. Nuclear weapon goes off close enough you can see the mushroom on the horizon, the lights go out (maybe), phone service is out, and people wander about in disbelief. Now: is the average government employee going to know what they need to do in the next hour? My guess is the average will be as useful as **** on a boar. (any of us from the midwest knows what the software censored For those on the coast, just think screen door on a submarine.)
I remember one public service announcement that told us that if the phone system was out, keep in touch with your loved ones through the Internet. Seriously.
I can't speak for other areas, but this area is brilliant on disaster response. Not only are there written protocols, but drills and pre-weather-event coordinating meetings on at least a monthly basis. The big lesson learned over the years of tornado events was to have a centralized command center where the heads of various groups are all in the same room, determine the course of action, and those in the field get coordinated instructions that maximize resources and effectiveness. There are no "loose cannon" independent groups or agencies allowed to disrupt the response.
Church, Red Cross, and other groups are allowed in to assist (often as part of the coordinated response) once rescue and recovery are complete and the obvious dangers such as open gas lines and live power lines on the ground resolved. The securing of the area devastated by a tornado or hurricane is a matter of safety, protection from looters and lookie-loos, and civil liability.
I've experienced hurricanes first-hand and up close, Including Andrew and Wilma. Response to Andrew in particular was a cluster-f***. Before the national guard was called in the looters were having a "steal one, get one free" bonanza, and armed citizens were only able to partially protect small enclaves - exhausting themselves with staying up 24-7 when they could have been making basic repairs.
The reality of America fits no individual's ideals. An independent church group immediately entering a tornado or hurricane aftermath is a bunch of untrained and often young people with good intent but little knowledge. An EMS that allowed them in without question, only to have a few teens die in a gas explosion, electrocution, or exposure to hazardous chemicals would be civilly and personally liable, and rightly so.
People who want to be part of search teams for missing kids are often volunteers. People who want to be involved in first response are often members of volunteer fire departments and the like, where basic training vets them in safety procedures.
A loose cannon is a loose cannon. To think otherwise is hopelessly naive. To think that giving a pass to any bloke who comes up to a checkpoint and says "I'm here to help" is hopelessly naive. In one tornado that hit in Huntsville, even a couple of the first responders were arrested for pocketing jewelry that had been lying on the ground near a destroyed jewelry store.
Church, Red Cross, and other groups are allowed in to assist (often as part of the coordinated response) once rescue and recovery are complete and the obvious dangers such as open gas lines and live power lines on the ground resolved. The securing of the area devastated by a tornado or hurricane is a matter of safety, protection from looters and lookie-loos, and civil liability.
I've experienced hurricanes first-hand and up close, Including Andrew and Wilma. Response to Andrew in particular was a cluster-f***. Before the national guard was called in the looters were having a "steal one, get one free" bonanza, and armed citizens were only able to partially protect small enclaves - exhausting themselves with staying up 24-7 when they could have been making basic repairs.
The reality of America fits no individual's ideals. An independent church group immediately entering a tornado or hurricane aftermath is a bunch of untrained and often young people with good intent but little knowledge. An EMS that allowed them in without question, only to have a few teens die in a gas explosion, electrocution, or exposure to hazardous chemicals would be civilly and personally liable, and rightly so.
People who want to be part of search teams for missing kids are often volunteers. People who want to be involved in first response are often members of volunteer fire departments and the like, where basic training vets them in safety procedures.
A loose cannon is a loose cannon. To think otherwise is hopelessly naive. To think that giving a pass to any bloke who comes up to a checkpoint and says "I'm here to help" is hopelessly naive. In one tornado that hit in Huntsville, even a couple of the first responders were arrested for pocketing jewelry that had been lying on the ground near a destroyed jewelry store.
Americans stealing and looting? Say it ain't so!
Looters are always an issue, but with the exception of gun confiscation from legal owners during Katrina, looting usually isn't done by the responders, organized or not. The looters aren't there to help anyone but themselves.
You've just made the argument for peppers and their belief that having firearms to protect yourself in an emergency is completely necessary.
This is moving away from the original theme of this thread which is traveling after a disaster.
In my area, in the winter we have Arctic cold and heavy snow every winter. (Which is why I started a thread on winter travel). In the spring, aside from spring blizzards we get flooding as the snow leaves, and in summer we get huge wildfires since we can no longer manage our forests.
Each scenario has it's own logistic problems for moving as an individual or evacuating towns.
Unless you have big plows or blowers, you're reduced to snowmobiles, sno-cats, or personal conveyance like snowshoes, cross country skis or if someone has them, horses, sleighs r dog teams. Not the best for moving numbers of people. With snow, if there's shelter, you can wait it out if you have food, water and heat. There have been several times here where the National Guard has been activated to take food into remote areas by helicopter and for medical evacuations.
People here are mostly used to this so we have extra food and fuel, generators, and usually a supplemental heat source. Wood stoves being most common.
Floods here are vicious affairs because we're a mountainous region so normally its a whitewater cataract nearly impossible to cross if the road goes out. Boats work in slack water areas, but again, we have to resort to choppers in severe cases.
For fires, you make sure you have several ways to escape, so at least 2 roads. You keep your stuff packed and watch the reports when there's a fire in your area. If a fire crowns, it can cut you off in just a few minutes. Prairie fires with wind can travel 60 miles an hour, you have to be ready to move at the drop of a hat. Again, choppers may be an option, but smoke can make it impossible to fly so you have to be prepared and able to self evacuate.
Notice the common denominator here is the helicopter. Without those, our disasters would make national news more often. Those of us that live in these conditions know what's coming every year, so we take precautions. In other words, we prep.
This means that communities may not have structure in place due to lack of resources to effect an organized official response, but prepared individuals can reduce the need for those services by not needing them when they can take care of themselves.
In a situation where choppers weren't available, self rescue, individual mobility and forward thinking individuals with their own supplies would be the only survivors. Official disaster services can be great, but I've been on too many major fires where the leadership are a bunch of useless glory hounds trying to get their face on TV instead of doing the job. Ultimately, its the individuals responsibility to protect themselves.
That's why I maintain several sites with provisions and plans for getting between them. I have 4x4 trucks, small backpack rafts, horses and dogs and snowshoes. I always have a bugout bag packed to go, and copies of my important papers at each site. I have alternate routes planned for vehicle, animal and foot travel depending on what's available.
It may take some time, but I could get to a safe place if I had to.
That also holds for long term if there was a breakdown where normal transportation isn't available.
"You've just made the argument for peppers and their belief that having firearms to protect yourself in an emergency is completely necessary."
D*mn straight. I'll go further to say that a long rifle or shotgun has a stronger visual impact and deterrent value than personal firearm, and is less likely to actually have to be fired, and it pays to team up with neighbors. If and when police have set up checkpoints, that entire need for weaponry drops to near zero.
Thanks for bringing it back on-topic. We just had flooding here that would have been disastrous pre-TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority). The Elk River watershed got nailed by a series of storms with over 14" of rain at my gauge over the space of four days. The primary state road south of me was only passable via kayak. The next alternate route was about two more days of rain from being overtopped. There were families that had built on dead-end roads that were completely cut-off for a few days, having to rely on volunteers to bring in what food and supplies they needed.
Ice storms can close down roads for a few days, but other than that or a flood where Noah is knocking on your door, disasters in the area are localized and not terrible disruptive outside of that immediate area. I've been snowed-in during blizzards in Vermont where the temps dropped to -15 during the day with no power, and felt minimal real threat or even any desire to wander around.
The takeaway from my various experiences is that traveling after a disaster is best avoided except in the case of medical emergency that can't be handled at home. The rule of thumb for Florida was to have three days of supplies in prep for a hurricane. After Wilma, we just stayed holed up for a couple of weeks, happy as clams to avoid the stress, flat tires, and shortages of fuel. Those who decided that they HAD to travel had a far worse experience.
There are levels of prep. One of the most effective is physically moving to an area with fewer potentials for disasters and a resilient and resourceful infrastructure. Trying to bug-out of some areas just doesn't work well. South Florida was one of those.
You and I are in agreement. There were a couple incidents during Katrina that left me uneasy about Federales (them trying to tell the Cajun Navy where they couldn't go), but that was a different problem than the one you are talking about.
I remember one public service announcement that told us that if the phone system was out, keep in touch with your loved ones through the Internet. Seriously.
The Internet was designed to survive a total nuclear war. Your device may be worthless, but the net will probably still be there. Satellite internet will probably be most reliable, because the birds are too far out to be affected by nukes and the ground station will be a single point of repair.
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For those on the coast, just think screen door on a submarine.)
