It’s Going Down – February 17, 2021
Massive storms and cold fronts have knocked out power for millions of people across the US and led to the deaths of almost 25 individuals. One of the hardest hit regions has been the state of so-called Texas, where failing electrical infrastructure has resulted in many people being stuck without power for over 24 hours. The collapse of the electrical grid has also caused many people’s pipes to freeze and burst and some water treatment plants have also begun to fail; with city governments issuing “boil water notices” in order to “ensure destruction of any harmful bacteria.”
Poor, working-class and houseless people have been hit the hardest by the storms and local leaders have made it clear just how they feel about their constituents caught between sudden death and ice-cold disaster . . .
To fix and update not only people’s homes but other buildings and infrastructure would be a massive undertaking and an issue that is sure to continue to worsen, as many scientists have pointed out that the current cold-snap is the result of a polar vortex, brought on by rapidly melting polar ice and heating oceans.
This horrific new normal is only made worse by the burgeoning social catastrophe happening all around us. Already, the working poor have been forced to battle a massive pandemic, which has led to the the deaths of almost 500,000 people, while corporate profits have gone through roof and the wealth gap has only continued to widen on both lines of race and class.
