On the California Sierra Nevada snow situation, a major snow removal contractor pleaded today with second homeowners to not come, given they can no longer blow snow high enough to clear 30-40-foot snowbanks along driveways & guarantee home access.
This is exactly the kind of "long emergency" with which humans cope poorly, as opposed to a hurricane, where bad things happen, and then end. Risk is piling on risk in mountain communities, and at this point many should be cordoned off or evacuated.
@paul Exploit a resource or situation until the profit is exhausted, then move on. E.g. (unrelated to snow) https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/03/03/alaskas-fisheries-collapsing-peltola-industry-blame-00066843
@paul @tedherman It's the slow-rolling that's lulling everyone. We're so used to expecting that the worst thing that will happen is that we wake up one day to find the beach has come to us and we are completely inured to the drought-wildfire-rain-snow-avalanche-wildfire-drought cycle.
@anand @tedherman Yes, spot on, hence the idea of the "long emergency". Humans are just completely unprepared for these, for a host of reasons, not least of which is what sociologist Diane Vaughan called the "normalization of deviance", where, if it doesn't kill us, we call the abnormal normal, and motor on obliviously, until our risks catch up.
@tedherman
Oh, absolutely. In this case, however, it is even more insidious, given that we have systems within systems, tight coupling, minimal slack, and a slow rolling emergency.