A recurring theme in the news lately is capitalism-aggravated climate disasters that devastate people and regions.
Capitalist governments are unwilling to mitigate climate disasters and unable to respond to the need caused. There is too much. Responders, care workers in general, are underpaid and exhausted and disheartened.
Infrastructure — weakened by years, maybe decades of neglect by capitalist governments — is costly to repair, especially if the goal is to withstand extreme heat and drought and ice storms and hurricanes and tornadoes and floods. But usually the goal is just to get it done as cheaply as possible; someone else can pay when it fails.
It’s hard to feel optimistic against these facts.
I read a lot of science fiction and try to think about what I need to learn to be more useful in community. I’ve come up with skills like learning to grow and prepare and not waste food. Learning to repurpose and repair rather than replace. Learning to resolve interpersonal conflicts. These are not skills this particular society prioritizes, to our detriment.
Recently I read that amateur radio can be useful to help people connect in disaster zones when other channels have failed. I’m drawn to the idea of getting a licence myself, and with it my own call sign (!). Maybe I’ll even learn Morse Code.
That feels like a more hopeful approach to the current dystopia than each individual unit buying their own personal generator. It also feels like a more realistic approach than expecting rescue from governments that repeatedly leave people behind.