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Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

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Re: Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

#21

Post by ethanbond »

zdragnar wrote: post #20
joemazerino wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A nice cop out. Are you saying those on the reserves are generationally crippled beyond reproach? Are all cultures stuck in wintery conditions facing the same issues and if not, why?

Even though it's not technically wrong, but I also don't see how viewing a people (or worse, viewing yourself) as a perpetual victim is in any way useful. There's no rewriting the past. Saying "I'll never amount to anything because of what happened 50, 100, 200 years ago" denies your agency, and thus a fundamental aspect of your humanity. Some people seem to think that the bigotry of low expectations is "social justi…

No, my argument is that this is ongoing.

The moment something of value is found on native land, even today, it’s taken from them.

Re: Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

#22

Post by xyzelement »

This triggered two thoughts for me.

First, how much of a killer the cold is. We've moved on from "global warming" to "climate change" language but there are a lot of places in the world that would be grateful for a few degree temperature rise (such as Latvia where I am from). Today, cold kills hundreds of thousands of people a year, while "heat deaths" are limited to geriatrics in the "first world."

Second, preparedness. Most urbanites and suburbanites don't think about the weather beyond high energy bills. But it's good to pay attention to the fact that if it's 20 degrees or less out (as it is today in NY) and power or gas goes out, your dwelling is going to get real cold real fast. What's your plan? In our case we have a fireplace which is mainly decorative (it doesn't actually warm the house up beyond the immediate radiant heat) but if shit hits the fan, we got firewood enough to huddle up by this fireplace for a few days. Hopefully will never have to rely on it but you kinda have to plan for some infrastructure failings at inconvenient times.

To connect the thoughts together - here, it's not totally uncommon to lose power. When it happens in the summer, it's inconvenient - you are sweaty and hot. If it happens in the winter, there's real risk of death.

Re: Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

#23

Post by zdragnar »

Retric wrote: post #8
__jambo wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can still use them for insulation.. I doubt polyester or cotton would burn very long.

Don’t need them to burn for very long, cotton should have roughly the same energy density as wood by weight. Burning bags of cold clothes that don’t fit isn’t that bad of an idea. Negative teens is brutal, even a well insulated house loses a lot of heat if you want it comfortable but there’s a big range between uncomfortable and dead. -15f to 30f is the same difference as 30f and 75f.

> same energy density as wood by weight

which means they'll provide a few minutes of heat at best. You'd be better off using them as blankets or letting some water freeze them into scoop shapes and turning them into makeshift shovels.

They also aren't going to burn nearly as cleanly as wood, meaning the burn will be far less efficient.

Depending on the size of area that you're heating, getting from -15 to 30F will take at least a solid hour of burning cleanly.

Re: Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

#24

Post by cr8tivity »

cr8tivity wrote: post #14

There are ways to donate to help them. https://friendsofpineridgereservation.org/an-electric-heater...

Henry Red Cloud helps change this situation through solar installation, forest planting and foamcrete housing. Truly amazing efforts.

https://www.redcloudrenewable.org/

Re: Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

#25

Post by kevingadd »

xyzelement wrote: post #22

This triggered two thoughts for me. First, how much of a killer the cold is. We've moved on from "global warming" to "climate change" language but there are a lot of places in the world that would be grateful for a few degree temperature rise (such as Latvia where I am from). Today, cold kills hundreds of thousands of people a year, while "heat deaths" are limited to geriatrics in the "first world." Second, preparedn…

> "heat deaths" are limited to geriatrics in the "first world."

There are multiple parts of the world approaching the point of "so hot post-climate-change that you can't survive without air conditioning" at this point, it's not a first world problem.

See the map in https://climate.nasa.gov/ask-nasa-climate/3151/too-hot-to-ha... to get a sense of how it's an increasingly global problem.

As a result eventually power loss will be able to kill you in the summer, too, depending on where you live.

Re: Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

#27

Post by kevingadd »

joemazerino wrote: post #13
llamaimperative wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real story of every tragedy that hits a reservation is that they all sit downstream of a horrific, orchestrated genocide campaign intended to destroy these people’s history, culture, and knowledge of self-sufficiency. Put ‘em on the shittiest plots of land you can find, steal their children, ban them from speaking their languages and from passing their knowledge between generations, then we can sit and gawk at th…

A nice cop out. Are you saying those on the reserves are generationally crippled beyond reproach? Are all cultures stuck in wintery conditions facing the same issues and if not, why?

> Are all cultures stuck in wintery conditions facing the same issues and if not, why?

The person you're replying to explained why: We did it to them on purpose to wipe them out.

Re: Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

#28

Post by cloudify »

lumb63 wrote: post #26

I’m astounded by the family who didn’t feed their infant for 4 days because they couldn’t get formula. Isn’t breast feeding preferable to your child starving to death?

I’m likely astounded some people are not aware that not every women can breastfeed their children

Re: Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

#29

Post by hpaavola »

lumb63 wrote: post #26

I’m astounded by the family who didn’t feed their infant for 4 days because they couldn’t get formula. Isn’t breast feeding preferable to your child starving to death?

Milk production might not start at all, it might start but ends unless used.

Re: Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

#30

Post by carbocation »

xyzelement wrote: post #22

This triggered two thoughts for me. First, how much of a killer the cold is. We've moved on from "global warming" to "climate change" language but there are a lot of places in the world that would be grateful for a few degree temperature rise (such as Latvia where I am from). Today, cold kills hundreds of thousands of people a year, while "heat deaths" are limited to geriatrics in the "first world." Second, preparedn…

Minimizing the fact that real humans die from overheating tarnishes an otherwise interesting comment.
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