Suggestion: It is complicated to have an electrician wire your power grid for a generator. You have to be able to switch from one to the other so that both can’t be on at the same time. In Alaska, either fires or storms can cause a power failure. We simple put an electric junction box outside the house, with line to a separate double plug inside. We simply put our generator outside, plug into the house, and then can plug in our heater, refrigerator and several lights. A simple Honda 2200w generator keeps us warm, protects our food, and gives light.
40 years ago, we lived in extremely rural West Virginia, in a mountain valley 30 miles from town, with heavy snow, rocky soil, and floods. The power never ever went out! Electricity was delivered throughout the remote valley by underground cable. It used no trees for wooden poles, started no forest fires, and did not require emergency crews in midwinter. Why can't we have that in Oregon? ... why isn't it required?
Every year my family backpacks on the Timberline Trail around Mount Hood. And I'm always amazed that as a much poorer country in the 1930s we could afford to build trails like that -- yet in the 21st century, as a much richer country, we can't afford to maintain the trails. Same idea.
Several years ago, I believe about 2013, a severe ice storm hit the rural of Minnesota area I grew in. People were without power and broadband for several days. Luckily, Minnesota had (and still has) great leadership and the entire group (Senators Franken and Klobuchar, Governor Dayton and then Rep. Walz, who is now our wonderful governor) went onsite to check on damage and how to provide aid. One thing that resulted was getting better broadband to the area. It used to be very, very spotty. It now is significantly better, thanks in a large part to Senator Klobuchar. She has really pushed to model it after the rural electrification you spoke of. Kudos to you, to President Biden and to my senator, Amy Klobuchar.
I have often wondered why all utility lines are not underground. It makes more sense to me given that people actually die from power lines starting fires, and other hazards from them. I live in Maine and in ice storms outages sometimes last 2 weeks or more. Families lose all the food they have gathered during hunting season and stored in their freezer to sustain them through winter and spring. I know some will think that it being winter the food will stay frozen but it doesn't. It causes more burden on the state budget to assist them, if they even ask for help. Some won't ask and go hungry, even those with children. I think it is past time to look into a better way to secure utility lines.
Happy New Year to you and your family! I'd like to mention Andrea Elliott's "Invisible Child" as another side (urban) of child poverty and the need to do better to prevent it from repeating itself from generation to generation... and, Mr Kristof, you might consider having at least one of these light bulbs that go on when the power fails...I got one recently (power blackouts in CA have become common) and it gave us a few hours of light when the power went out recently.
Mr. Kristof, the point about the underground power lines we enjoyed in rural West Virginia 50 years ago: They were not just better, or because of R.E.A., but were of a different type. There were no power poles in our valley, no overheard wires--
We've had 4000 Oregon families burned out of their homes in the last two years due to fires caused by overhead wires. Your family was without power for six days, mines for 8 days, and while we huddled around our fireplaces, crews were routed out at night to work overtime under terrible conditions. None of that would have happened had there been a requirement to put lines underground.
If it could be done in rural West Viriginia years ago, why can't it be done in Oregon?
Nick, There is a bit of what you have written that touches upon issues similar to the issues involving the rural electrification of America in the 1930s and 1940s. There were forces at work that slowed such efforts. Even to the point of "Spite Lines" being built to nowhere to keep electricity cooperatives from coming into being! Thus preventing citizens from receiving the benefits (including health) of electricity (there is a short document I could provide).
Nobel Prize winner in physics Richard Feynman often stated:
"But what we ought to be able to do seems gigantic compared with our confused accomplishments.”
Consider that a fundamental reason our society puts so much effort into education is to cause in the future far more excellent societal outcomes through the efforts educated people. Yet in so many areas, as you mention, excellence isn't being achieved. You could say "excellence is stuck". But it can be made "unstuck". If you look back into history for key historical recipes. Even rural electrification has "recipes" that could be adapted to the circumstances of today. Even the story of how electricity came into being in the United States is quite useful in understanding how to cause needed excellence when it does not exist to the extent possible. Especially when politicians and business men profit from lower levels of excellence. Excellence didn't exist with electricity for several years. Really smart people even despaired of excellence in electricity and electrical product from ever occurring because there was too much profit to be made selling shoddy products! (Resulting in fires and deaths of the early adopters). And then, excellence came into being! It wasn't a miracle. It was simply a core group of people who got organized as never before in history and caused excellence. They didn't start by enacting legislation, either. First they caused the excellence, then got laws passed! All quite interesting. And relevant to many situations in the world today. But everyone is too busy to look to the past to see where global excellence got caused when it seemed impossible. Far greater excellence is possible today. But is "unseen". And can be seen. But you need to have a mind that isn't "stuck" in "imaginative gridlock" like many politicians in both parties are. Otherwise the world would be far better.
Power outages and rural poverty haunt Lake County, CA, too. We are the poorest county in CA. Underground lines would save us from the eternal fire threats we face annually. Is safety too much to ask of those who govern us?
I live in suburban Connecticut and this has become a regular problem due to more extreme storms from climate change. During the early days of TS Irene, we bought a generator. We've used it many times since.
The highway system and the airline system both receive strong financial support from government, and this support is demanded by the industries that use those systems. If only we could find an industry to demand support for health care or the other things you mentioned in your article! It seems our governments only provide such support when it benefits some industry.
My late wife and I returned to the PNW after retiring from a forty year sojourn raising horses and running on the academic treadmill. We seldom lost power.
We purchased 5 acres in Port Townsend, WA. The power invariably went out about every two weeks at our house located just outside Port Townsend, WA. It could happen on a bright sunny day, a rainy windy day, snowy day. It was random, deeply aggravating and extremely annoying.
Now contrast that our 40 odd years in rural Central New York. We’d have 5’ blizzards. We didn’t lose power and the roads were plowed.
We returned to CNY after fours years of the idiocy, neglect and incompetence of how Washington state ran matters. My wife passed. However, I’m happily re-ensconced in a topos in which the utilities actually work.
…. Plus don’t get me going on the utter lack of honest planning for when an earthquake aka “The Really Big One” is triggered by Cascadia subduction zone when everything west of Interstate 5 is toast.
As part of my preparations for the governor's race, I've been thinking about how we can prepare for the Big One earthquake and reduce the death toll and chaos if and when it does arrive.
Wouldn't passage of the Build Back Better Act, currently in limbo in the Congress, address some of the issues you movingly write about in this illuminating piece from the campaign trail? Where do the Senators from OR, and your Congressperson in Yamhill, stand on this and similar issues? As Governor would you work with representatives of the federal government to bring more programs and services to the state?
Suggestion: It is complicated to have an electrician wire your power grid for a generator. You have to be able to switch from one to the other so that both can’t be on at the same time. In Alaska, either fires or storms can cause a power failure. We simple put an electric junction box outside the house, with line to a separate double plug inside. We simply put our generator outside, plug into the house, and then can plug in our heater, refrigerator and several lights. A simple Honda 2200w generator keeps us warm, protects our food, and gives light.
40 years ago, we lived in extremely rural West Virginia, in a mountain valley 30 miles from town, with heavy snow, rocky soil, and floods. The power never ever went out! Electricity was delivered throughout the remote valley by underground cable. It used no trees for wooden poles, started no forest fires, and did not require emergency crews in midwinter. Why can't we have that in Oregon? ... why isn't it required?
Every year my family backpacks on the Timberline Trail around Mount Hood. And I'm always amazed that as a much poorer country in the 1930s we could afford to build trails like that -- yet in the 21st century, as a much richer country, we can't afford to maintain the trails. Same idea.
Several years ago, I believe about 2013, a severe ice storm hit the rural of Minnesota area I grew in. People were without power and broadband for several days. Luckily, Minnesota had (and still has) great leadership and the entire group (Senators Franken and Klobuchar, Governor Dayton and then Rep. Walz, who is now our wonderful governor) went onsite to check on damage and how to provide aid. One thing that resulted was getting better broadband to the area. It used to be very, very spotty. It now is significantly better, thanks in a large part to Senator Klobuchar. She has really pushed to model it after the rural electrification you spoke of. Kudos to you, to President Biden and to my senator, Amy Klobuchar.
I have often wondered why all utility lines are not underground. It makes more sense to me given that people actually die from power lines starting fires, and other hazards from them. I live in Maine and in ice storms outages sometimes last 2 weeks or more. Families lose all the food they have gathered during hunting season and stored in their freezer to sustain them through winter and spring. I know some will think that it being winter the food will stay frozen but it doesn't. It causes more burden on the state budget to assist them, if they even ask for help. Some won't ask and go hungry, even those with children. I think it is past time to look into a better way to secure utility lines.
Happy New Year to you and your family! I'd like to mention Andrea Elliott's "Invisible Child" as another side (urban) of child poverty and the need to do better to prevent it from repeating itself from generation to generation... and, Mr Kristof, you might consider having at least one of these light bulbs that go on when the power fails...I got one recently (power blackouts in CA have become common) and it gave us a few hours of light when the power went out recently.
Happy New Year! Your farm is beautiful. Very well made points about poverty in the USA.
Mr. Kristof, the point about the underground power lines we enjoyed in rural West Virginia 50 years ago: They were not just better, or because of R.E.A., but were of a different type. There were no power poles in our valley, no overheard wires--
We've had 4000 Oregon families burned out of their homes in the last two years due to fires caused by overhead wires. Your family was without power for six days, mines for 8 days, and while we huddled around our fireplaces, crews were routed out at night to work overtime under terrible conditions. None of that would have happened had there been a requirement to put lines underground.
If it could be done in rural West Viriginia years ago, why can't it be done in Oregon?
Nick, There is a bit of what you have written that touches upon issues similar to the issues involving the rural electrification of America in the 1930s and 1940s. There were forces at work that slowed such efforts. Even to the point of "Spite Lines" being built to nowhere to keep electricity cooperatives from coming into being! Thus preventing citizens from receiving the benefits (including health) of electricity (there is a short document I could provide).
Nobel Prize winner in physics Richard Feynman often stated:
"But what we ought to be able to do seems gigantic compared with our confused accomplishments.”
Consider that a fundamental reason our society puts so much effort into education is to cause in the future far more excellent societal outcomes through the efforts educated people. Yet in so many areas, as you mention, excellence isn't being achieved. You could say "excellence is stuck". But it can be made "unstuck". If you look back into history for key historical recipes. Even rural electrification has "recipes" that could be adapted to the circumstances of today. Even the story of how electricity came into being in the United States is quite useful in understanding how to cause needed excellence when it does not exist to the extent possible. Especially when politicians and business men profit from lower levels of excellence. Excellence didn't exist with electricity for several years. Really smart people even despaired of excellence in electricity and electrical product from ever occurring because there was too much profit to be made selling shoddy products! (Resulting in fires and deaths of the early adopters). And then, excellence came into being! It wasn't a miracle. It was simply a core group of people who got organized as never before in history and caused excellence. They didn't start by enacting legislation, either. First they caused the excellence, then got laws passed! All quite interesting. And relevant to many situations in the world today. But everyone is too busy to look to the past to see where global excellence got caused when it seemed impossible. Far greater excellence is possible today. But is "unseen". And can be seen. But you need to have a mind that isn't "stuck" in "imaginative gridlock" like many politicians in both parties are. Otherwise the world would be far better.
Please take a look at your LinkedIn account.
Power outages and rural poverty haunt Lake County, CA, too. We are the poorest county in CA. Underground lines would save us from the eternal fire threats we face annually. Is safety too much to ask of those who govern us?
I live in suburban Connecticut and this has become a regular problem due to more extreme storms from climate change. During the early days of TS Irene, we bought a generator. We've used it many times since.
The highway system and the airline system both receive strong financial support from government, and this support is demanded by the industries that use those systems. If only we could find an industry to demand support for health care or the other things you mentioned in your article! It seems our governments only provide such support when it benefits some industry.
My late wife and I returned to the PNW after retiring from a forty year sojourn raising horses and running on the academic treadmill. We seldom lost power.
We purchased 5 acres in Port Townsend, WA. The power invariably went out about every two weeks at our house located just outside Port Townsend, WA. It could happen on a bright sunny day, a rainy windy day, snowy day. It was random, deeply aggravating and extremely annoying.
Now contrast that our 40 odd years in rural Central New York. We’d have 5’ blizzards. We didn’t lose power and the roads were plowed.
We returned to CNY after fours years of the idiocy, neglect and incompetence of how Washington state ran matters. My wife passed. However, I’m happily re-ensconced in a topos in which the utilities actually work.
…. Plus don’t get me going on the utter lack of honest planning for when an earthquake aka “The Really Big One” is triggered by Cascadia subduction zone when everything west of Interstate 5 is toast.
As part of my preparations for the governor's race, I've been thinking about how we can prepare for the Big One earthquake and reduce the death toll and chaos if and when it does arrive.
Wouldn't passage of the Build Back Better Act, currently in limbo in the Congress, address some of the issues you movingly write about in this illuminating piece from the campaign trail? Where do the Senators from OR, and your Congressperson in Yamhill, stand on this and similar issues? As Governor would you work with representatives of the federal government to bring more programs and services to the state?
Happy New Year! Great information. Please keep it up.