Blogger, Artist, Social Media, Web Designer, Photographer- I blog about nouns-people, places and things, even when it's negative I try to put a positive spin on it. @tinawinterlikfb https://tinawinterlik.blogspot.com
That’s what survivors in Texas and New Mexico are saying after devastating floods swept through their towns this month. Entire communities were caught off guard. Lives were lost. Homes destroyed. Roads washed away. And now? Everyone’s pointing fingers.
But here's the raw truth: they didn’t warn people properly because the people who used to do that job—scientists, meteorologists, early warning experts—have been laid off. Fired. Replaced by silence.
🪓 What Trump’s Government Did
In his second term, Donald Trump’s DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) quietly gutted the very agencies that used to protect us from nature’s worst:
NOAA lost hundreds of staff—climate scientists, meteorologists, and weather modelers.
The National Weather Service had fewer people to interpret radar data and issue flood watches.
Critical weather balloon launches and storm surveillance systems were paused or underfunded.
Tsunami, earthquake, and volcano monitoring systems—yes, even those—were neglected in the name of budget cuts.
All this while the climate crisis intensifies, creating storms that move faster, dump more rain, and leave less time to prepare.
📉 Real People, Real Loss
Just weeks ago, a stalled system over Texas and New Mexico triggered flash floods that killed dozens and displaced thousands. People didn’t know it was coming. They didn’t get proper alerts. In some places, cell towers were out, NOAA weather radio was off the air, and there weren’t enough forecasters to issue real-time warnings.
This isn’t just a glitch. It’s policy failure.
👀 Who's Blaming Who?
Local officials blame the feds.
The feds blame local infrastructure.
FEMA says “we’re overwhelmed.”
DOGE says it’s just “trimming the fat.”
But the fat they cut? That was science. Communication. Protection.
Now communities are exposed—and angry.
⚠️ This Isn't Just About Floods
This affects everyone in North America:
Volcanoes like Mount Rainier and Meager need constant monitoring.
Earthquakes in BC, Washington, Oregon? Warnings only work if experts are in place to read the signs.
Tornadoes, drought, wildfires… none of this will get better with fewer eyes on the sky.
💬 What Can We Do?
We must demand the reinstatement of expert teams, restore funding to NOAA, NWS, USGS, and reinvest in climate resilience. And we must call out the politicians who slashed these programs then pretended disasters were “unforeseeable.”
Because they were foreseeable.
Scientists warned us.
We just stopped listening.
Let’s remember: The cost of ignoring science isn’t just political—it’s personal. It’s the house that floods, the warning you never got, the loved one you couldn’t save.
🕊️ Rest in peace to the victims. May this wake-up call not go unheard.
Go have a glimpse at the link and info below, then think about this, A LOT of Good this is going to do me when there are no salmon to eat because they are all polluted.
If legislation is passed, key elements of the new spill regime will come into effect in 2017, https://t.co/Rzm95Qs1rS
https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2016ENV0008-000302?WT.cg_n=Hootsuite Quick Facts:
B.C.’s five conditions were
established in 2012 to outline requirements that must be met for the
Province to support the construction and operation of heavy-oil
pipelines in B.C. The Province’s position has not wavered since then.
The 5 conditions are:
Successful completion of the environmental review process.
World-leading marine oil spill response, prevention and recovery
systems for B.C.’s coastline and ocean to manage and mitigate the risks
and costs of heavy-oil pipelines and shipments.
World-leading practices for land oil spill prevention, response and
recovery systems to manage and mitigate the risks and costs of
heavy-oil pipelines.
Legal requirements regarding Aboriginal and treaty rights are
addressed, and First Nations are provided with the opportunities,
information and resources necessary to participate in and benefit from a
heavy-oil project.
British Columbia receives a fair share of the fiscal and economic
benefits of a proposed heavy-oil project that reflect the level, degree
and nature of the risk borne by the province, the environment and
taxpayers.
A LOT of good this will do me when I can't breathe from the forest fires caused by the climate change from the mining, drilling, destruction of mother earth to steal her life's blood.
A LOT of good this will do any of us and I know this is a scary thought but it is one we MUST CONSIDER.
IMAGINE... 17 OR more tankers, cargo, and what ever types I see sitting in Burrard Inlet on a given day. When an earthquake hits, and for what ever reason there are fires everywhere and KABOOOOM,KABOOOOM, KABOOOOM, one tanker blows and then another and another and there is oil leaking all over the place.
You know what. Sort of like the end of the dinosaurs. At least the end of us. All of Kitsilano, Point Grey, False Creek. So then what.
Canada just says ah well, silly people, SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER and they move to Victoria or up the coast and start a new port.
GIVE ME A BREAK!
This isn't rocket science people. The rules and regulations are all nicey nice but you just stop for a minute and think about FLINT MICHIGAN and how all those beautiful children have been poisoned.
And everyone is asking WHY? HOW? I thought we had rules and regulations to protect us.
Right?
But the truth is when it comes to the people...let's face it the poor people or middle income, no one cares. Because rich people don't have time for poor people. People who are not rich are looked down upon by most of the 1% and haven't a clue to the life you are living. They think they can just move away...and they can. But we can't. And maybe we don't want to.
Update: I just remembered that not only did my grandparents build a home in Vancouver, my dad did too, and then sold it when we moved to Surrey and then Hope. I will try to find out if it still exists. I know my grandma's house is gone.
The Songhees' traditional foods included salmon, shellfish, whale, deer, duck, berries, camas root, and herbs. The Coast Salish traditionally lived in bighouses, which were large rectangular communal houses of cedar planks, adorned with carved and jointed totem posts.[1]
(Just updating here)
My great great grandpa was one of the early Portugese Pioneers and he settled in Nanoose bay and Enos Lake was named after him.
I truly am entitled to live here. I have lived my whole life in BC and I have lived the last 20 years in Vancouver.
If our home, food and water are destroyed....what then.
And the corporations have it made so you will never get justice, because like I said in my other post, once you are on life support, all the money in the world is not going to help you enjoy your life to the fullest before the life support.
So think about this. This has been going on for the last 20 years that I have followed it and long before that and WHAT makes you think it would be any different hear in BC, in our beautiful Vancouver. #WeDisagree
It's a nice show, but the show is much different than the book and there's a 'KEY ' element that people aren't looking at. LOOK LOOK deeply into my eyes when I tell you, there's big money in cleaning up an oil spill. YES! as gross as that sounds watch the Exxon Valdez video below.
So something else I want you to consider.
There 3 things I want you to consider carefully. Here are some links to explain it better. I getting tired.
1) The movie is very different than the book (Inspired by does not mean true)
The movie shows how all of the
participants in the rescue used or tried to use the media for their own
purposes, including Greenpeace, which had to bring in more people to
answer *phones as calls came in from all over the world and the oil man
portrayed in the film by Ted Danson.
* see they didn't have the internet YET!!!
**Remember my other post- about grassroots, power of the people...social
media is the new media..it didn't exist when this whale rescue
happened. We can use it to OUR advantage. So keep that in mind. Because TOGETHER we WILL change the world!http://tinawinterlik.blogspot.ca/2016/03/grassroots-rock-candy-revolution.html
"The film focuses on the challenges of the
arctic conditions and the bigger challenges of finding a way for the
humans to set aside their differences for a common goal. It also
touches on some ot the darker themes Rose addresses more extensively in
his book, as indicated by its original title:
Freeing The Whales: How the Media Created the World’s Greatest Non-Event
"Rose points out that the Soviet ice-cutting ship portrayed in the media
of the time and the movie of today as the whale-saver was actually in
Alaska as a part of the USSR’s whale-slaughter industry, the largest in
the world at the time of the rescue and for many years after. "
"Rose’s
book explores the role of the media in what a cynical character in the
movie calls “cat up a tree” stories. The rescue of the three whales had
enormous public appeal, but all around it were stories the media
overlooked that were more important by any measure. Rose calculated
that the cost of the rescue and media coverage was more than $5.7
million."
3)- (I need to find the link) but the guy that cleaned up the Exxon Valdez oil spill, he got really rich cleaning it because he got chosen for being nice OIL guy in the movie.
"The $500,000 ARCO spent on Operation
Breakout was one of the best investments it ever made. A $20 million
public relations campaign** couldn’t have bought a tenth the goodwill ARCO
earned helping free the three trapped whales. It seemed to be perfect
timing.
ARCO cashed in at a critical juncture in the history of the
slumping Alaskan oil industry. No oil company in Alaska ever received
more favorable press coverage than ARCO did during its two week
investment in Operation Breakout.
Usually the rich whipping boy of the
environmentalists, ARCO now worked side by side with Cindy Lowry and
Greenpeace.
In the game of P.R. Pac-Man, ARCO swallowed any hint of
criticism by pouring tremendous resources into a rescue destined to save
three animals endangered by nature, not man’s insatiable carving for
fossil fuels.
Of course, ARCO’s work on behalf of the three whales stranded in
Barrow did nothing to clean up its share of the more than 11,000 acres
of North Slope Arctic tundra the Environmental Protection Agency said
were ruined by oil drilling."
thoughts of a fire keeper listening to heavy equipment preparing to dam the Peace River
listen to the beat
of their windego drum
pounding iron into the river injecting consumerism into our Mother's blood as if they could ever addict her to her own self-destruction the way they've addicted us
selling us a dam
that no damn world
could ever need
to feed us more electronic distraction
more disconnection
ramming their ego rapist erections
down our throats
selling us money they say
we've gotta have
arbitrary portraits of genocidal heroes
so we can buy factoried souls
reduced to supermarket meat
when we used to have bison here
selling us fear and oranges
off a boatload
from some far off country
when we have the soil
beneath our feet
to feed ourselves
and telling us if we want
our children's bellies to be full
we have to climb up in their beasts
and beat the windego drum
cannibalize our own blood
and the future of generations to come
leave them earthquakes and drought
with the never ending flood
of the greed we're now
addicted to
while our Mother cries out no!
no more
you cannot make her a whore
it isn't about how much
you're willing to offer
in dollars and in cents
the answer is no
this river wants to flow
no more bondage
with your dams
only offering humility, and respect
then she will give
and give and give again
and wrap us in the peace we crave
to hear the drums of our own hearts
to eat the food
we grow ourselves
and to bring the bison home
for our generations yet to come
we say no more
no more dancing to the sound
of the industrial windego drum
and with this sacred fire
like Saaya we'll turn back the beast
and let the river of our ancestors' love
not be stopped here
with the insatiable greed
of our addicted selves
but let it flow
with abundance to our young
they way our Mother
has always nurtured us
Christy Jordan-Fenton
RELATED LINKS
STOP SITE C- David Suzuki & Grand Chief Stewart Phillip
Are you ready if a disaster should strike?
Most of us live in a state of denial. We don't want to think about what could happen. But seeing and hearing people's first hand accounts after Hurricane Katrina and like here in Chile, we know we must get prepared as much as we can.
Sending love and light to the people of Chile. If you were faced with a disaster, could you deal with it. Asking angels to watch over them and help them.
A grounded fishing boat on
Thursday in the Chilean port of Coquimbo, north of Santiago. There were
at least 11 deaths as a result of Wednesday's earthquake.Credit
Martin Bernetti/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
AN EARTHQUAKE WITH A PRELIMINARY MAGNITUDE OF 8.3 OCCURRED
NEAR THE COAST OF CENTRAL CHILE AT 2254 UTC ON WEDNESDAY
SEPTEMBER 16 2015.
* BASED ON ALL DATA AVAILABLE TO THIS CENTER... THE TSUNAMI
THREAT FROM THIS EARTHQUAKE HAS NOW MOSTLY PASSED. ANY
REMAINING THREAT SHOULD BE EVALUATED BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN
IMPACTED AREAS.
TSUNAMI THREAT FORECAST
-----------------------
* THE TSUNAMI THREAT HAS NOW LARGELY PASSED.
**** NOTICE **** NOTICE **** NOTICE **** NOTICE **** NOTICE *****
THIS MESSAGE IS ISSUED FOR INFORMATION ONLY IN SUPPORT OF THE
UNESCO/IOC PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING AND MITIGATION SYSTEM AND IS
MEANT FOR NATIONAL AUTHORITIES IN EACH COUNTRY OF THAT SYSTEM.
NATIONAL AUTHORITIES WILL DETERMINE THE APPROPRIATE LEVEL OF
ALERT FOR EACH COUNTRY AND MAY ISSUE ADDITIONAL OR MORE REFINED
INFORMATION.
**** NOTICE **** NOTICE **** NOTICE **** NOTICE **** NOTICE *****
* TSUNAMI WAVES REACHING 0.3 TO 1 METERS ABOVE THE TIDE LEVEL
ARE POSSIBLE FOR SOME COASTS OF
MEXICO... ECUADOR... PERU... ANTARCTICA... JAPAN... NEW
CALEDONIA... NEW ZEALAND... MARSHALL ISLANDS... FIJI... SAMOA...
AMERICAN SAMOA... COOK ISLANDS... TOKELAU... VANUATU...
KIRIBATI... JOHNSTON ISLAND... PALMYRA ISLAND... HOWLAND AND
BAKER... TONGA... WALLIS AND FUTUNA... PITCAIRN ISLANDS...
NIUE... SOLOMON ISLANDS... RUSSIA... HAWAII... AND NW HAWAIIAN
ISLANDS.
There has been a terrible earthquake in Nepal. My prayers go out for all the people there and all the loved ones worried about them. I pray hard for their safety and that aid can get to them quickly.
Reports coming in say now that the death toll is about 1500 but we will see as this sad day continues.
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake leveled buildings mostly in the historic
section of Kathmandu, including the landmark nine-story Dharahara Tower,
which was reduced to rubble with many people still inside.The tower,
built in 1832, is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the city and
one of the most prominent buildings destroyed by Saturday's earthquake.
As many as 250 people are thought to have been inside when the quake
hit, according to Al Jazeera.
https://news.vice.com/article/videos-show-huge-tremors-and-utter-devastation-after-earthquake-in-nepal?utm_source=vicenewsfb
Hey this is cool program, it helps the seniors keep active and social while helping the deal with the fears from the earthquake and Tsunami http://www.pbs.org/
6.3 quake rocks New Zealand city; at least 65 are dead
Widespread damage seen as Christchurch gets second big hit in 5 months http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41709359/
Sending prayers and an Angel! We are so sorry! We're praying for you!
