In light of the recent tornado that swept through N IL, and a few subsequent things since then, I am really questioning in my head whether storm chasing is ethical. Most of the talk I have seen from the various chasers centers around the great video they captured. What made something else painfully obvious by a mistake I made in putting together a video was that this is about money. It is money for them, money for the news shows, fame and notoriety for the person who can get the best shot. Is it ethical to profit off the misery and loss of others?
I see on their pages that they post their analysis of the storm, their chase log, and videos and pictures they got of the tornado. It reminds me how the big game hunters have their picture taken with the endangered animal they just killed. The one thing I am not seeing is the concern for you, the people of Northern Illinois, who were affected by this storm. We are here living it day by day. It is the people of this community and very gracious outside organizations that have come in to really do the dirty work of helping recover. Meanwhile, these chasers are analyzing when the next great disaster is so they can be there, get the money shot and their faces on TV.
I must confess, I have been there. On May 25th, 2008 I was there when an F5 tornado ripped through Parkersburg Iowa. Not long afterwards I was approached by television people who were making a documentary on tornadoes and wanted to use some of my footage from Parkersburg. I agreed and was paid. Frankly, it felt a little uneasy. People had died. A town had been wiped off the face of the map. The survivors lives would be forever changed. Here I was, some outsider who just swooped in, left, and took blood money for others to gawk at, ooh and ahh over the misery on the TV screen.
I was painfully reminded of that with the recent tornado, especially in getting my lesson in storm chase economics for mistakenly putting together a timeline of events. The bottom line is that chasers feel that they are owed the compensation for their time and efforts for documenting the misery and disaster. They feel that they "own" their little slice of the disaster and they compete with each other over who can get the best shot that will pay them the most. I wonder though, can anyone "own" a disaster? Did they create the tornado? Did they cause it to do what it did? No. All they did was follow a computer screen and turn on a camera.
In various video I saw, there were chasers driving in the wrong lanes, running stop signs, passing by blown over homes, glorying in the catch as homes were being destroyed. In only one chaser video did I hear anyone even mention 911. The hard part for me, is that I also have to look in the mirror. I've thought about it, but I guess I have a different perspective now since it hit my area. I know people and of people directly affected. I know now what it is like to have all these outsiders come in for a thrill ride, leave, and profit themselves while we remain and dig out from under the rubble.
Chasers often claim they are helping keep the public safe. I've used that line to justify myself. They claim they give important ground truth to the weather service. They can if they call in. We also have other people for that though. They are called spotters and they work with/for local authority to do the work of spotting severe weather and reporting it so the public remains safe. Our Policemen and Firemen are often out spotting our counties and cities as well. We really don't need outsiders for that.
Chasers often claim that they are doing scientific research. I can't say I've used that, but I did not see one video out there where there was any evidence of scientific research going on. A couple of the videos seemed that they had people they had brought along with them. Whether paid or not, I don't know, but taking people on "tours" has become a popular industry. I think there is a legitimate place for research, but certainly the majority are not out there doing that.
This really leaves on thing left. They are ambulance chasers. They make their money chasing down disaster so the evening news can have their dirty laundry. Their main agenda, promoting themselves. Some seen to want to do this too by running others down. They have their little clicks and the gang will all come down and bully you if you don't do things their way. In the past few days, I have been called names, bullied, and threatened by gangs of chasers. Some of them when I engaged them, did not even know why they were doing so, only that someone had told them bad things about me.
I've been watching these antics grow for a long time. It started when Twister came out and made storm chasing cool. The there was Reed Timmer and the exploits of his TV show that brought on the "extreme" chasers and the taking of unnecessary risks just to get the big money shot. Since then that seems to be the trend. Storm chase teams with fancy names and cars filled with their logos and light bars began popping up all over the place competing with each other for the big money and the fame.
This started catching up in 2012 on the April 14th, 2012 tornado chase. Everyone and their brother was out that day and their were major traffic jams on rural roads, people ignoring police, speeding, parking one the roadways, arguing with officials, people hanging out of vehicles screaming like schoolchildren... it was a horrible mess and an embarrassment.
In 2013 I was down in Lawton OK and the storm chasers were so thick that you could not stop anywhere as the sides of the roads were all filled. Off in the field was a little F0 rotation and it veered right towards that road. Suddenly cars were all trying to pull out in the road and get out of the way. I nearly got hit a couple times. The circulation came over us and moved on. I remember telling a friend that this is exactly how someone was going to get killed in a tornado. Then there was the El Reno disaster later that year. Most people know of the traffic nightmares that occurred there and the deaths of 3 of the biggest names in the field, and a 4th chaser as well.
I look at my page too. I have had a lot of newcomers and many of these based solely on the tornadic event. I don't really want to gain followers from the exploitation of this event. It happened in part because I did show videos taken of the event. The drama that followed was a result of the same. I'm not so sure I like the world that chasing has become. Drama, competition, lies, bullying, profit off misery. My pages goal was to be able to keep friends and family informed about the local weather and related activity. That is the focus I want to maintain.
Now, don't get me wrong, there are some good players out there who chase for the right reasons and do the right things. I am finding they are far and few between. All of this has me at the point of hanging up my car keys. And the question still lingers on my mind.... Is it right to profit off the misery of others?
Showing posts with label disaster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disaster. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Wildfire!
Years ago we used to manage our forests with what is known as clear cutting. Lumber companies would come in and clear out the dead fallen trees and thin out some of the other trees. Environmentalists had a cow about this and thought the best thing to do was to let nature take its course and not to even touch the "pristine wilderness".
Since the time we have stopped clear cutting our forests and responsible managing them, our forest fires have grown larger, spread faster, and cost more to fight. Instead of clearing out possible fuel for these wild fires, it is all just left there to increase the burn.
The massive amounts of extra fuel in dead timber combined with high heat, low humidity, and windy conditions were a disaster waiting to happen. We have seen these happen many years in various parts of the west. We could and should re institute clear cutting in our forests to at least lower the amount of fuel these fires feed on. Interestingly enough, the only place there is still clear cutting is in Harry Reids state of Nevada.
Our prayers go out to those affected by these wild fires both directly and indirectly. Like I said, I am 2000 miles away and can smell it and I got a mild headache and my eyes sting.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
A Practical Parable
Mathew 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Usually when we hear that story, we think of the great spiritual lesson it teaches and how we should build our faith on the rock of Jesus. Now, we have to think of what a parable is. A parable is a story told using real world situations to describe a spiritual truth, so, when Jesus was talking about where to build a house, he was talking real world and literal sense to the people in a way that they could understand it and apply it to the spiritual.
Hence we come to the real topic that I want to talk about today, and that is flooding. Many parts of the uper plains into the great lakes have experienced copious amounts of rain this year. Some places have gotten almost 3 times the amount of rain as they normally get for the month of June. As of this writing there are still a couple days left to go, and both of which feature lots of rain across those same areas.
As a result of all of this rain, flooding has begun occurring. We are getting the flash flooding from the rains flowing down to the rivers, and then we are getting the rivers flooding from all the water flowing into them. These floods are inundating towns across river basins all through the middle part of the country. It is a terrible, costly and growing disaster that is really only in its early stages and a story we will be hearing more and more about as the summer progresses.
Some places are experiencing even worse flooding as a result of man trying to control the flooding. You see, flooding is a normal part of a rivers life. It is designed to do that and it makes the land surrounding the rivers extremely fertile. Because of the great lands, people have moved to these areas.
Because people moved to these areas they began to experience the effects from flooding. Man, of course, being the "wise" creature that he is, devised and developed plans. No, the plans were not to move out of the flood prone areas, but to keep the river from flooding those areas. Man built dams and dikes in an effort to keep the people of the river communities safe from the flood waters.
Initially this seemed to do the trick. Through mans water control efforts, the river was no longer flooding every year and people could live along the river in relative safety... or so they thought. While mans efforts did solve the problem of the annual floods the rivers normally experience, they created a new problem. This was the problem of the major flood.
Every so often, like this year, areas get into a rainy stretch and overwhelm the man made system. Dams fail. Dikes are them over-topped at first, then erode away and collapse. Then, instead of getting a lower flood more often, you get a sudden rush of gigantic volumes of water rushing into the river communities and flood the areas like no one had ever seen before. We began calling them 100 year floods, 500 year floods, all the while never realizing that we were the ones causing it.
Rather than being wise people and building our communities in safer areas away from the flood waters, we were foolish and built right in the sand. Then rather than recognizing our folly, we doubled down and thought we could outdo God and control the raging waters. Well, that turned out to be rather foolish as well. Now the rains have come and the wind is beating on those communities and they are falling. Once again we will be defiant and rather than moving to safer ground, we will spend billions of dollars to put people right back in harms way.
I think we need to follow the wisdom of god and build our communities on the solid ground where the waters won't wash them away, and we won't have to spend billions of dollars every year trying to fight the waters and rebuild the damage. The wisdom of God is not just spiritual, but extremely practical as well. We would be wise to follow it.
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Usually when we hear that story, we think of the great spiritual lesson it teaches and how we should build our faith on the rock of Jesus. Now, we have to think of what a parable is. A parable is a story told using real world situations to describe a spiritual truth, so, when Jesus was talking about where to build a house, he was talking real world and literal sense to the people in a way that they could understand it and apply it to the spiritual.
Hence we come to the real topic that I want to talk about today, and that is flooding. Many parts of the uper plains into the great lakes have experienced copious amounts of rain this year. Some places have gotten almost 3 times the amount of rain as they normally get for the month of June. As of this writing there are still a couple days left to go, and both of which feature lots of rain across those same areas.
As a result of all of this rain, flooding has begun occurring. We are getting the flash flooding from the rains flowing down to the rivers, and then we are getting the rivers flooding from all the water flowing into them. These floods are inundating towns across river basins all through the middle part of the country. It is a terrible, costly and growing disaster that is really only in its early stages and a story we will be hearing more and more about as the summer progresses.
Some places are experiencing even worse flooding as a result of man trying to control the flooding. You see, flooding is a normal part of a rivers life. It is designed to do that and it makes the land surrounding the rivers extremely fertile. Because of the great lands, people have moved to these areas.
Because people moved to these areas they began to experience the effects from flooding. Man, of course, being the "wise" creature that he is, devised and developed plans. No, the plans were not to move out of the flood prone areas, but to keep the river from flooding those areas. Man built dams and dikes in an effort to keep the people of the river communities safe from the flood waters.
Initially this seemed to do the trick. Through mans water control efforts, the river was no longer flooding every year and people could live along the river in relative safety... or so they thought. While mans efforts did solve the problem of the annual floods the rivers normally experience, they created a new problem. This was the problem of the major flood.
Every so often, like this year, areas get into a rainy stretch and overwhelm the man made system. Dams fail. Dikes are them over-topped at first, then erode away and collapse. Then, instead of getting a lower flood more often, you get a sudden rush of gigantic volumes of water rushing into the river communities and flood the areas like no one had ever seen before. We began calling them 100 year floods, 500 year floods, all the while never realizing that we were the ones causing it.
Rather than being wise people and building our communities in safer areas away from the flood waters, we were foolish and built right in the sand. Then rather than recognizing our folly, we doubled down and thought we could outdo God and control the raging waters. Well, that turned out to be rather foolish as well. Now the rains have come and the wind is beating on those communities and they are falling. Once again we will be defiant and rather than moving to safer ground, we will spend billions of dollars to put people right back in harms way.
I think we need to follow the wisdom of god and build our communities on the solid ground where the waters won't wash them away, and we won't have to spend billions of dollars every year trying to fight the waters and rebuild the damage. The wisdom of God is not just spiritual, but extremely practical as well. We would be wise to follow it.
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