55 years of photos. 45 years of paintings. 30 years of digital art. 25 years of 1st gen camera video interviews. 3 finished/3 unfinished documentaries. 10 years music compositions created with unique computer hardware/software setup.
Story of two artists who lost it all...
In Paradise
Why rebuild in areas so vulnerable to seasonable fires and periodic total disasters either man instigated or weather related? Mother Nature is sending a message that is best heeded! It's like building on coastal land masses. Climate change is real. Loss is inevitable.
5
This is so tragic and heartbreaking.
May everyone affected find the hope and strength to rebuild their lives as soon as possible in a place that feels safe. I cannot imagine what the residents have to go through after losing everything but their lives.
1
Interesting that at the end, I am offered the chance to see ways I can help. I guess the best way to help would be to find someone interested in moving back to this burned-out town, grabbing them by the ears, and screaming into their face, "live somewhere else". Rebuilding this place will result in it burning down again, there isn't any real way around it. The climate keeps getting hotter and drier, places hit by wildfires now will be hit by worse ones later.
So, I won't be giving any money to this doomed effort. Instead I'll send money to various wildlife aiding organizations, and Planned Parenthood. Animals need help more than we do, and the best thing people can do is avoid increasing humanity's numbers.
9
Your Photo-Stories are very helpful. Thank you.
4
I would not live there even if they paid me. California grew too fast. Groundwater is depleting. Unless the drought ends (and it does not like it will), these fires will repeat again and again AND again.
8
"We call 'em 'climate refugees," those burned out, priced out, fed up folks from California," said an Oregon realtor. And now, they are being welcomed in Southern Oregon's greener triangle of Medford, Bend and Klamath Falls.
(Ashland's on the fence, BTW, a blue dot in a sea of pink and red.)
6
"As investigators seek to determine the cause of the deadliest wildfire in California history, the culprit that fire officials have linked to more than a dozen fires that ravaged large swaths of Northern California last year is again in the hot seat.
" The suspect is not some deranged serial arsonist — it’s California’s largest public utility: Pacific Gas & Electric, or PG&E.
"https://www.hbsslaw.com/blog/hagens-berman-blog/whistleblower/whistleblower-news-pgande-user-data-southwest-key
9
It's interesting that the homes are burned up and the surrounding trees are not. I wonder if the homes still had wood shingle roofs or something that made them especially flammable.
The trees did burn. Look how brown they are. The reason why some buildings are still standing is a combination of luck and buffer space (e.g., parking lots, stone walls, etc. creating a distance between the fire and the building).
5
This is Trump country. It isn't clear you can tell them anything.
8
You mean the "deplorables?" Those expendables who didn't go to "our colleges," the not-like-us folks we fly over?
Remember the 2016 election, and how well Sec. Clinton's strategy worked to ignore and shame a significant portion of the population? Too many questions, Keith? The fact that I am still asking these, just ahead of 2020, is very telling.
4
Re Keith Dow
I live in a state that would be described a Trump Country but the county is Blue and I am an independent Progressive.
My point is that there are lots of Conservatives in Manhattan and Beverly Hills and plenty of Liberals or Progressives in places like Alabama, Utah or Texas.
Let us not dismiss our fellow Americans by geography. This town will be profoundly changed by the fire. Paradise is not that far from the Oroville Dam that almost failed from too much water not that long ago and the town has now been burned to the ground in the grip of a severe drought.
There are going to be many hard lessons learned before all is over in dealing with climate change and some of them are going to be learned by people who think they are doing all the right things. A couple living in an outsized mansion driving a huge SUV that style themselves as liberals and environmentalists may find themselves just as ashamed.
3
"The fact that I am still asking these, just ahead of 2020, is very telling."
The fact that there was a big blue wave tells even more. The Senate, The House and the Presidency will be blue in 2020.
"You mean the "deplorables?" "
Hillary was referring to the "... racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic – Islamophobic – you name it." I guess they are okay by you.
"Those expendables who didn't go to "our colleges," the not-like-us folks we fly over?"
If you look at government funding, Red States get more money than they give and Blues States give more money than they get. It would be good if Trump supporters weren't welfare queens. As for college, I remember some college super-brain that landed in Israel and said "We just came from the Middle East."
"Remember the 2016 election, and how well Sec. Clinton's strategy worked to ignore and shame a significant portion of the population?"
The Republican party is dying. It is a mercy killing.
"Too many questions, Keith?" No, just wait and time will provide the solution.
2
Before anyone builds anything they need to do what is necessary to widen roads for evacuation. Pass an ordinance requiring power lines to be buried underground- it costs more up front, but is more reliable and less likely to start a fire. Ban replanting of trees that burn hotter - some non-native varieties introduced act as accelerants to fire. Mandate the FireWise program of defensible space and make it subject to annual inspections.
And no more wooden roofs or siding. In almost 2019 there are better options like cement board for siding.
There is a way to live with nature, but it must take nature into account.
23
It sounds easier just not to be born. Takes care of all of life’s many straits that way too.
1