The passing of Ray Bradbury
this past week was a wake up call for me. Firstly, it was a reminder
to re-read two of his notable works, Fahrenheit 451 and the Martian
Chronicles. He wrote other great stuff too, but those stick out. He
was one of an old breed of writer, the kind that wrote every day, with pen
and paper or old fasioned typewriter. He loved science fiction and was
apparently quite a collector of memorabilia, and, to those who had to
clear out his house, excessively.
While the L.A. Times had a nice article on Bradbury, the grocery store
checkout line literary offerings had other headliners. Prince William
and Kate Middleton are still the beautiful royal couple. The Kings are having a great
time with their newly won Stanley Cup, and deservedly so. Aliens do in
fact run Wal-Mart and Jennifer Aniston is breaking up and falling in
love, often on the same front page. Ah, the tabloids.
My attention fell on a publication that was tucked away on the bottom
rack. Its heading was far more eye catching and frightening than the
two-headed Martian claiming to be able to save the banking system.
Global change. According to a really well written piece in the
Economist, global change will mean much more than bumping the SPF up on
your sunscreen. It means the destruction of certain eco-climates and
the critters that live in them. It means that trade and business around
the globe will change. And it means more storms, with more wet and more
dry periods.
In southern California, this is a real problem. After a couple of
winters with some good rains, we have accumulated a lot brush growth in
the hills and canyons. Now this year we have had a fraction of our
normal precipitation, so there is the perfect combination for a hellish
fire season.
People falsely think that since they are far away from these brushy
areas that they have nothing to worry about. But that is the funny
thing about fires -- they don't see street signs or county lines. They
go wherever the wind takes their flying embers and just as readily burn
houses as easily as trees and brush.
Everyone should take some time to evaluate their own surroundings and
make their homes as fire proof as possible. Clear shrubs from around
the house. Trim and haul away old dead limbs from trees, especially
palms and eucalyptus. Old shake shingle roofs are like natural
tinder...get rid of them. Plant vegetation that is fire resistent.
Contact your closest fire station and ask them what is best for your
neighborhood.
The loss of any of one's possessions is heartbreaking, but you can do
something to prevent that. Don't let foolishness take away something
precious. In fact, doing nothing is like tossing a book in the fire
yourself. Paper does burn at 451 degrees, but in house fires where the
temperature far exceeds that, almost everything else is going to burn
too.
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