Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

argusleader.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 405 posts

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

#171

Post by aaomidi »

throw_nbvc1234 wrote: post #165
nottorp wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were studies 10-20 years ago predicting that global warming will bring with it completely unpredictable weather and harsher extremes in both directions.

Do any governments or institutions have a live(ish) updating model of "what would happen" if trends continue? People reference studies all the time but what's the currently accepted model/outcome in the scientific community? I remember hearing that melting of the ice caps will stop current flows in the ocean and bring about an ice age. Is that actually a thing or just fake news?

One of the things is a weakening jet stream which has caused all the recent havoc on getting cold polar air come inland.

This is why climate change vs global warming. We’re in for a hell of winters in the US as the jet stream weakens.

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

#172

Post by landemva »

pigsty wrote: post #48
zdragnar wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Put someone in a village 100 miles from the nearest town, deny them the basic infrastructure you provide for everyone else, deny them proper education, skimp on government job programs provided to other struggling towns that would eventually lead to wealth flowing in and free enterprise, and let this wealth divide grow for decades and you’ll see you’ve successfully made a hole to trap people in. It’s not bigotry. Eve…

> There’s a wealth and basic life standard gap that is impossible to bootstrap.

USA southern border is over-run with poor people trying to get in. I wonder what is different for these folks?

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

#173

Post by Scoundreller »

starkd wrote: post #148
Scoundreller wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the ultimate combo will be air source heat pumps and pellet stoves. Pellet stoves should keep the insurance companies happy. Semi-renewable fuel. Semi-automated operation with minimal fire risk. Not much more expensive than nat gas, much cheaper than oil and propane, and most importantly: no nat gas network/connection/account/delivery charge.

How are pellets semi-renewable? Pellets are still burned up. Are the ashes re-used?

Of course you re-use the ashes. Great source of potassium for the garden. The modern day fertilizer potassium-source isn’t called “potash” for nothing.

Improves traction on ice, and could melt snow if it’s close enough to freezing.

Could also make soap with it if you wanted to get really creative. Or bricks or mortar (or a concrete supplement).

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

#174

Post by daniel_reetz »

brookst wrote: post #111
jrochkind1 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know the details, but they are very very poor (Pine Ridge is often calculated to have the highest unemployment and lowest per capita income in the entire country; life expectancy is ~50 years), and I'm not sure how forrested the land is, it's mostly grassland/prairie. The OP article suggested that many people ordinarily use propane heat, which normally can be delivered just fine. I don't know enough to say wh…

Thank you for the context. It’s a little cringey to read all of the comparatively wealthy and privileged comments that boil down to “why didn’t they just spend lots of money on equipment and supplies.”

I grew up in North Dakota (where there are a number of reservations) and worked on a project in a First Nations village in Ontario. Comments here exhibit zero awareness of what crushing poverty (and reservation dynamics) can do to people. Or, for that matter, what enormous privilege and lucky circumstances can do to people.

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

#175

Post by xyzelement »

ethanbond wrote: post #114
xyzelement wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly it. Many peoples suffered extremely bad histories (Jews, Armenians, Chinese under Communism etc) and rise to overcome it in modern day. History is not fair but your actions yesterday determine your life today and your actions today determine your future. It is extremely damaging to sustain this culture of of course your life is shit because of what happened hundreds of years ago, nothing you can do

"100 years ago" is a weird way to describe "ongoing harm as recently as... earlier this year." https://www.npr.org/2022/02/18/1081872135/native-americans-p... Or the US government's uranium mining on Navajo land continuing to poison people today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium_mining_and_the_Navajo_...

What does mine placement have to do with a community's ability to store emergency firewood where it's accessible in an emergency?

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

#176

Post by landemva »

spanktheuser wrote: post #81
zdragnar wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The trapped individuals are living are living in a location where these sorts of conditions are extreme. Prior to climate change they may have been unthinkable. People with limited resources don't devote them to mitigating once in a lifetime risks. Their everyday life is constrained: buy a more reliable car vs. save for a child's education. Eat healthier food vs. visit the doctor. These Native Americans live in a vul…

> Prior to climate change

Now climate change in winter makes wheel loaders not function properly and people are too cold?

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

#177

Post by ericd »

mysterydip wrote: post #35
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…

In addition to the above, learn how to start a fire in your fireplace. I had used up my last (easy start) duraflame log a few days ago. "No problem," I thought to myself, "I have this pile of firewood here to use." Fortunately I wasn't under a time crunch to get it started, because I failed on a few attempts, had to forage for some kindling, etc.

This stuff is amazing: https://www.fatwood.com/

Two little sticks of that, and you can mostly skip the super-thin kindling in favor of sticks.

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

#178

Post by mysterydip »

PenguinCoder wrote: post #145
Avicebron wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also proper organization of the wood, I have a wood stove (had one growing up as well) and learning how to build a little pyramid or log cabin like structure around something flammable helps a lot to circulate air allowing the fire to spread to larger pieces of wood. EDIT: old newspaper is good, I often use "junk mail" as long as it doesn't contain any plastic, where I am stores will still send out some paper flyers.

Don't discount using dryer lint and left over cooking grease as a starter. I have a woodstove at the house, and I use both to get it going. Left over bacon grease on a few paper towels with dryer lint around/on top of it, and a few smaller pieces of soft wood like pine. Larger/heaver wood on top and behind it like oak. Make sure to also pre-heat the exhaust vent pipe, get a draft of air going.

Hadn't thought of dryer lint, with three kids I have that in abundance!

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

#179

Post by macinjosh »

smcl wrote: post #36
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…

> We've moved on from "global warming" to "climate change" language Presumably because during winter certain people would point at a freak snowstorm and say "so much for global warming!" to try to minimise it (tbh they still do). Temperature rising has a few more side-effects than just your winter being milder by 1-2C, I think using a different term is entirely appropriate

The same thing happens on the flip side. I have a coworker who genuinely believes every big hurricane is caused by global warming and that if it wasn’t for global warming it would snow more.

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

#180

Post by itsagavin »

Aeolun wrote: post #130
brookst wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for the context. It’s a little cringey to read all of the comparatively wealthy and privileged comments that boil down to “why didn’t they just spend lots of money on equipment and supplies.”

Another question is why they all still live there?

I can answer this as a dude that started off life at 11 homeless and went from there. Live in unquestionable poverty along with your support network of $4000 a year earners? Or take a bus to any random American city and get ready for your how many days can a green recruit last in Nam scenario?
Post reply on HN