A bit more on weather

When writing about weather issues last week, I didn't spend a lot of time on preparedness.

My focus was stressing that things were getting worse and that they were likely to have an impact on more areas because of that. It seemed more important to note that climate change can affect harvests and available food, because we all know what to do in case of a power outage or heavy snow or wind, right?

That doesn't always mean doing it. The extra snowfall was a reminder of it, with stranded motorists and canceled activities.

Meanwhile, the East Coast is unusually warm. This might seem like a nice break for them, but if you change the patterns of plants and animals that rely on temperature cues, you can't always predict all of the results. 

People can say they don't believe in global climate change, or that it may be real but they don't believe man has an impact on it, or that they think it is overblown, but that will not protect them from the effects.

Therefore, as with setting health goals, perhaps it is reasonable to walk through a head-to-toe assessment of where we stand and what we need.

Once again, the individual is important. Our needs vary, but also our resources.

In my household of three, two of us work mostly remotely, making transportation disruption less of an issue. The third does not. They were closed for one day, and open for part of the second day, but she did not go in, with her boss not being too happy about it.

Some situations are more economically precarious, with worse bosses and more need to get in. Are you able to get in? Would you be able to get home?

How often does your tank get close to empty?

We heard of many people stuck on the road for hours as traffic slowed to a crawl. I saw someone remind people of the importance of chains, but if you have chains, can you put them on? If no one else has them, will that matter? Then maybe you need to think about if there is somewhere else you can stay. What if there are pets you don't get home to? Maybe you can prearrange with a neighbor to check on them, but that neighbor needs to have a key and know where the food is.

If you have children at school or daycare, what about getting them?

We know someone who has a job she needs to get to and there is a big hill on the way, but she has a vehicle that can navigate that well. Not everyone can afford that; you have to look for solutions that will work for you.

(If you find you need a new job, this may not be the worst time to look.)

Many of these issues are things that have been written about before, but is there actually a plan in place? Does it need updating?

Once everyone is safely at home, then you need to look at power and heat.

Be careful about complacency. I live in an area where it has been very rare for us to lose power, and that is due to the infrastructure. Things can get worse.

Two of us worked for home, but if the power had gone out we would not have been able to.

Yes, we have flashlights and batteries to be able to see. Yes, we have gas heat, though there are some electrical systems involved in running it.

I would love to get solar panels, but it is not currently possible. If you have them, make sure you have whatever connections or backups you need to keep functioning when the grid goes down.

If we lose power here, I have medication that requires refrigeration that will not have it. We have family members who use breathing machines; sleep will be less restful for them. 

Is that a reason to get a generator? Maybe it should be, but I feel resistance to doing so. Are there other things we can do for our specific needs?

We do have food that doesn't require cooking, but that would get old after a while. Here it is very important to remember that you cannot, say, bring a hibachi indoors and cook on that, as it is a good way of suffocating everyone. Having a carbon monoxide detector that will alert you is not a good reason to risk carbon monoxide poisoning. 

(Also, our detector plugs in, though it has a battery backup.)

Does that mean we want to get a Sterno setup? 

If it was going to be two weeks without power, how would you get through that? Would there be enough food to get through, even if you were sick of everything by the end?

Also, since you would be losing things in the refrigerator and freezer after two weeks without power, do you have the means for cooking the things in there first?

Do you own equipment that you are not really used to using?

Those are the types of questions you want to ask.

Do you have a battery-operated AM radio? Are the batteries still good?

Because your phones will lose their charge. Will there be a way to charge them?

And often, it will not be that bad, but I want to add one other thing.

If maybe it will just be one night, food is easy to resolve by ordering in, but are you risking someone else's life by doing so? Because, sure, if those restaurants are cooking and those drivers are delivering, they probably do need the money, but are you exploiting that need?

A people that will refrain from going some places on Sunday because we don't want even people who don't believe there is anything special about the Sabbath having to work should be able to see that there are times when you can do something but should not.

So many of the problems that we are dealing with now have to do with not caring enough about other people -- not even thinking about their needs and welfare-- that perhaps that is the first thing to address.

Previous posts:

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2009/04/february-2009-preparing-for-winter.html

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2010/10/october-2010-preparing-for-hard-winter.html

Things to watch out for: Weather

I know I said I had three things to write about, but the recent train derailment makes me want to add infrastructure. As infrastructure can interact with all of the other three, that is probably just going to be a fourth week.

I said these were things that can cause problems, but also that they are issues that are easy to overlook. When I say that, it is often because there are conservative trains of thought that tend to deny the importance or even the very existence. That also tends to influence reporting.

If you read this blog, you are probably at least open to stepping out of the traditional conservative mindset, so let's go for it!

Weather is becoming more severe due to climate change. 

To some extent we know that because we see bigger storms more frequently and in expanded seasons. If you don't live on the coast of the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico, or in Tornado Alley, that may not feel like a pressing problem.

While those are the events that make headlines, due to the intense damage they leave, that is not the only potential issue.

I am not the best gardener, but my plans were completely thwarted last year. Unusually heavy rains prevented soil preparation past the time of planting, creating a late start. The year before, much of my vegetation was wiped out by the heat dome.

It is amazing to me to remember how predictable weather used to be. We would alternate yearly between mild and colder winters, with a really cold winter every five years. When snow came, it almost always came in February.

Sometimes there were hotter than usual days in summer, but generally only a few, and fans could get you by. I would hate to be without air conditioning now. 

Remember that local housing is built based on prevailing weather conditions. Here in the Willamette Valley, that meant mainly wooden structures, and they don't tend to have basements because we never used to get tornadoes. The needs are changing, and that does not change the already existing houses.

That may seem to be mainly a matter of personal comfort, but extreme cold and heat can both be fatal.

It makes caring for the un-housed population harder.

More severe windstorms and freezes can also wipe out electricity, which affects the ability to stay warm, and access to food, and communication.

But I'm really writing this about food.

Unreliable weather creates the potential for failed crops. 

That can be true of commercial agriculture, but it can also be true for your home vegetable garden that you use to save money and increase health.

And if your home production involves animals, weather can affect them too.

These are just things to think about. 

If you lose power for two weeks, will you have refrigerated medications that go bad? Is anyone relying on electrical devices? Do you have a landline, or will you be able to charge cell phones?

Will you have heat?

If it becomes so cold that the chickens will freeze, can you bring them in the house and keep the house livable?

Sometimes in looking ahead, you will discover small adjustments that can make big improvements. 

Sometimes you will notice large weaknesses that require deeper thought.

I still maintain that the most valuable gift is inspiration through the Holy Ghost, but having that still requires listening, and being open.

Heart Health

After I had several posts that were pretty positive and faith affirming, I was going to spend three posts going over three somewhat related topics.

They are all factors where there is an increased danger of situations where very traditional preparedness skills and supplies can be helpful, but also where it would be easy for church members to miss the increased threat.

Then there was a horrific domestic violence mass killing in Utah, and I saw a bunch of people resolving to lose 50 pounds for the New Year/New Me, and I felt compelled to respond.

There was one more issue related to past few posts that creates a natural transition to the increased threats, and it is really important, so that's where I hope I can say something useful today.

It is not about literal cardiovascular fitness, because that is a temporary thing. For many of those diseases there are medications or therapies or surgeries, but even if those fail, death and the resurrection will eliminate those issues.

Instead, this is about that symbolic function of the heart, where it loves. If your heart is not full of love -- not just the love of those who are intimately connected with you, or similar to you, or seem attractive -- if you do not have the pure love of Christ and feel that for others, then you cannot be saved in the Kingdom of God.

There is a lot of scriptural evidence for that. The classics are 1 Corinthians 13 and Moroni 10, but it is not limited to them. 

In these last days, when men's hearts shall fail them, what do you think that failure is?

Sure, it is easy to hear that as referring to fear; things are scary and people don't feel like they can handle it. 

It this pandemic that leaves a lot of blood clots in its wake, and sudden organ failure, plus loneliness and isolation -- because even if you are trying it can be hard to balance the physical need of safety with the emotional need of companionship -- that can be another way that hearts can fail.

Scriptural passages can have multiple meanings that are relevant for a number of readers, as well as individual meanings influenced by the Spirit.

(I really like this article, especially the section on Isaiah 52:15, for that: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1990/01/the-bible-only-4263-languages-to-go)

I think it is reasonable to consider the kind of failure it would involve for people who profess to follow Christ to not have charity, and how that would make everything else worse.

A class on Roman history taught of a sickness that was going around at the same time as the missionary efforts of the early Christian church. It was a disease that responded well to human care, and it is thought that those Christians receiving ministry from their fellows and recovering may have helped the new faith increase in popularity.

(This was referred to as the Antonine Plague, and generally thought to have been smallpox, though there are some votes for measles.)

Are we helping to heal each other?

Are we feeding the hungry, or withholding because they will just spend money on drugs? Or maybe they wouldn't but they would get lazy if they get too much help, and besides they must have made bad choices to need help now.

Last week we were running errands, and my sisters noticed a man glaring at our masks. He did not recognize us, but we used to be in the same ward.

Even if we were foolish for wearing the masks, should that create such hostility?

Whom do you love? How do you show that love? Is your heart soft enough for a still, small voice to pierce it?

The reason I think this is a good bridge between what we have been covering and what we will cover is that the fat-shaming that leads people to obsess about weight loss also makes it very easy to judge other fat people, and believe they are not worthy of love or acceptance or health care or comfortable seats or to be seated next to someone who is thin. They find it completely justified because it is for health, only it doesn't work that way.

There are lots of fat people, but their efforts to not be fat can prevent building solidarity. There are not nearly as many transgender people, but they are also heavily targeted.

Transphobes will make all kinds of arguments about basic biology (often missing key points) or how it devalues "real" women. That's a small enough group that it may not affect you or anyone you care about, but there is a problem beyond the abuse for either group.

(JK Rowling hates both.)

Hate spreads. 

You might think that you can love most people, but not these two or that other one, or just this group over here. That might sound logical, but it will spread. No matter how unpopular the group is, or self-loathing, your hate will grow and spread. That is why focusing on a some of the less obvious groups works well, to just get in that foothold. You might be surprised at how quickly it starts to include believing in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories or resenting not being able to say the N-word.

Your better qualities will be diminished as you get angrier and more aggrieved. Your heart hardens.

And that makes everything worse. It makes the world more dangerous for everyone, not just that groups you cling to hating. 

Love can spread too.

Love will refine and elevate. 

It seems totally obvious that a churchgoing person, Latter-Day Saint or otherwise, would know right off that carrying around that judgmental anger is wrong, and the target "deserving" it is not really an excuse, but there it goes, again and again.

The scriptures remain quite clear. 

There is also a promise there, an exhortation to "pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love." (Moroni 7:48) 

Perhaps charity does not come naturally to you, but it can be obtained.

Consider it essential.

The Weight

This post is sort of a culmination of the last two posts, but I have been tiptoeing around this part.

I mentioned last week that it should be clear that there were lots of different possible health goals. What I hope was also clear was that there are reasons to be optimistic. For as many potential issues as there are, there are also many potential solutions.

I never mentioned weight loss, which may make it obvious going back that weight loss is the common goal that has been bugging me.

I held off on mentioning it directly, knowing that criticizing weight loss goals will make some people feel very defensive. 

It will also be easy to discount what I say. After all, I am fat; perhaps criticizing weight loss goals is merely self-serving. 

(Though I can also imagine a thin person criticizing weight loss goal, and a fat person replying that it is easy for them to say; they're not the ones walking down the street and being mooed at.)

What I say, I say as someone who has not only read a lot but lived a lot. I speak from knowledge and experience, with love and with honesty.

Trying to lose weight is based on worldly standards. It is most likely to harm you, physically and mentally. Also, giving up on weight loss is not neglecting your health.

We have built up in our minds that weight loss is the answer to everything. That is destructive to health. Patients have been ordered to lose weight, when the weight was a tumor assumed to be fat. Sometimes the difference was discovered too late.

Patients who have been in need of medication or surgery for various, non-weight related reasons have been put off, and people with severe, life-threatening eating disorders have been complimented for their figures.

No, those examples are probably not you, but here is something that is: over 90% of diets fail.

The studies give numbers anywhere from 91% to 99%, but generally there is not significant weight loss. When there is, 80% of people fail to keep it off for more than a year.

Usually it comes back with some extra. If you are told that the most important thing you can do for your health and acceptance by society, and for your attractiveness and worthiness, is something at which you will not only fail but end up in a worse state after trying... that is just a cruelty.

We do all the time.

The new strategy is to call things lifestyle changes instead of diets. That does nothing for their success rate.

One of the things that supports the cruelties of capitalism is this idea that the down side is not really for us. I have heard it expressed as us being a country of temporarily embarrassed millionaires, a paraphrase of a quote from Steinbeck. The point is that the problems of the exploited are separate from you; you are going to get out of that soon. If other people can't, well you are smarter or stronger or more determined... you are not like everyone else.

I think we have similar issues with fat-shaming. Those people really are lazy and slothful and eating too much, but I am going to conquer it this time. There is always something available for a new "this time".

In junior high I tried a 1000 calorie a day diet that came from the doctor's office. It was for my mother, not for me, but still, it seemed reasonable. There was Slim-fast, Nutri-system, 8 minute abs, 30 minutes for slimming your stomach, a blood type diet, the fat-burning furnace... I am sure I do not remember them all. The ones I remember are embarrassing enough in terms of my gullibility, but if being fat is such a horrible thing, why wouldn't I jump at the chance to not be fat?

Except that I only got fatter.

"Weight loss" is so poorly defined anyway. I once lost thirty pounds in a few days due to extreme dehydration; I was not healthier. (That was not intentional, I was really sick.)

I also once gained forty pounds of water weight in a month due to a bad reaction to a new medication. That was not healthy, but it took me longer than it should have to figure out what was going on with the medication because I was so mortified, and trying so hard to figure out what I was doing wrong with my eating.

Focusing on fat made it harder for me to appreciate the health I did have, and to maintain it. Attempting to lose fat was not good for my health.

Please check out this article:

https://closeronline.co.uk/celebrity/news/exercise-weight-loss-contributed-carrie-fisher-death/ 

There is information on how weight fluctuations can be harmful, but also notice the reluctance to really admit that dieting is wrong or that it can be healthier to maintain a heavier weight (there is science backing that up), or even the acceptance on Carrie Fisher's part that she should have to go through the training and dieting again.

Please understand what I am not saying.

I am not saying that I don't get the pressure. I totally do.

I am not saying that there might not be ways in which you should change your activities or eating; that is a definite possibility.

I am not saying that all body mass is genetic either. We should think about class correlations as well, but there is another memory that sticks with me. I was listening to a talk in church, about something that would hold you back in some way. I don't remember exactly what it was, but I remember thinking that I still was able to do it, and the voice coming to me "And it only took you 200 extra pounds."

I do not deny that some of my bulk is related to issues with my father and never feeling loved and accepted, and then exacerbated by focusing on losing weight as the key to that love and acceptance, so pursuing weight loss and finding it offset by weight gain every time.

Yes, that probably accounts for part of my size, but the healing and growth that I have made since then do not mean that I can just take it off now. I need to work on being healthy with the body I have.

I did not come to that right away. I remember at one point realizing that I needed to be able to accept being fat before I could lose weight. Even then, I still thought it was a means to an end; some day I was still going to lose weight and that would fix everything.

There was a way in which that helped me. Because I believed that the weight loss would come, and then everything would be better, it made it possible to survive the things that were bad. However, it also kept me from fully engaging with the things that were good, and the love that was there.

Important things were lost.

When I say that I am more relaxed now, and learning what matters and what doesn't, it's mainly about getting over the need to lose weight to have my life be worth anything. It has also involved letting go of the idea that getting married and having kids would make me feel worthwhile, but that was also tied into the weight.

For your own sake, I encourage you to get off that merry-go-round. Don't expect it of others. Don't expect it of yourself.

Don't set yourself up for failure by focusing on that one thing that is almost impossible.

Even if you did succeed, as unlikely as it is, the self-loathing would still be there.

Related posts:

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2023/01/mighty-in-prayer.html

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2023/01/setting-health-goals.html