Donna stomped toward her friends at the back-corner table and slammed a copy of the latest Smithsonian magazine down. “Some folks are just whacko,” she groused. A guy gave me this and said, ‘Here, read this; that’s ironing for you!’ So I read it. But it’s got nothing to do with clothing, laundry or ironing – weird!” Donna Gettit grumped.
Ray and Effie flipped through the magazine as Donna pointed out the piece entitled “The Next Big Wave”. They skimmed the article while Donna placed her order.
The story highlighted the violent storms that have ravaged the greater Houston, Texas area. In 1900, the Great Galveston Storm with 16-foot storm surges killed 8,000 people. In 2008, Hurricane Ike - 20 ft. storm surges. 2017 - Some damages from Hurricane Harvey still remain. This summer - Hurricane Beryl left 2.2 million folks without power.
It went on to explain that environmentalists, ship pilots, law makers and petroleum executives are worried that another Category 4 or 5 hurricane in that area would destroy the oil refinery infrastructure that lines Galveston Bay. That would unleash 100 million gallons of oil – a monumental disaster ten times worse than the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. So they’re devising a $34 billion plan in the hopes of preventing such a thing.
“Ha!” Effie exclaimed. “He didn’t say ‘ironing’; he said ‘irony’! It’s ironic because the petroleum industry’s greenhouse gas emissions that warm the atmosphere are a huge cause of the sea level rise and hurricanes that are directly threatening the sources of those greenhouse gasses. So now we’re spending billions of dollars to protect the very thing that’s creating this vicious cycle of destruction. THAT’S irony!”
“I get it,” Donna nodded. “It’s kind of like trying to drain the bathtub while keeping the tap wide open. There’s gotta be a better way.”
“Oh, there is!” Effie Shency and Ray Newables said, practically in unison. “We should be reducing fossil fuel subsides that, according to the International Monetary Fund, have risen globally from $2 trillion to $7 trillion since 2021. Then, of course, we need to support decision-makers who advocate for policies that enhance energy efficiencies and expand clean
energy production.”
Donna smiled. “Then it’s coincidence and not irony that the insulation crew’s coming to my house in an hour. Because I’m just doing my part, here where we’re all forever… Earthbound.”
Ray and Effie flipped through the magazine as Donna pointed out the piece entitled “The Next Big Wave”. They skimmed the article while Donna placed her order.
The story highlighted the violent storms that have ravaged the greater Houston, Texas area. In 1900, the Great Galveston Storm with 16-foot storm surges killed 8,000 people. In 2008, Hurricane Ike - 20 ft. storm surges. 2017 - Some damages from Hurricane Harvey still remain. This summer - Hurricane Beryl left 2.2 million folks without power.
It went on to explain that environmentalists, ship pilots, law makers and petroleum executives are worried that another Category 4 or 5 hurricane in that area would destroy the oil refinery infrastructure that lines Galveston Bay. That would unleash 100 million gallons of oil – a monumental disaster ten times worse than the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. So they’re devising a $34 billion plan in the hopes of preventing such a thing.
“Ha!” Effie exclaimed. “He didn’t say ‘ironing’; he said ‘irony’! It’s ironic because the petroleum industry’s greenhouse gas emissions that warm the atmosphere are a huge cause of the sea level rise and hurricanes that are directly threatening the sources of those greenhouse gasses. So now we’re spending billions of dollars to protect the very thing that’s creating this vicious cycle of destruction. THAT’S irony!”
“I get it,” Donna nodded. “It’s kind of like trying to drain the bathtub while keeping the tap wide open. There’s gotta be a better way.”
“Oh, there is!” Effie Shency and Ray Newables said, practically in unison. “We should be reducing fossil fuel subsides that, according to the International Monetary Fund, have risen globally from $2 trillion to $7 trillion since 2021. Then, of course, we need to support decision-makers who advocate for policies that enhance energy efficiencies and expand clean
energy production.”
Donna smiled. “Then it’s coincidence and not irony that the insulation crew’s coming to my house in an hour. Because I’m just doing my part, here where we’re all forever… Earthbound.”
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