[image error] Finding respite in a natural shelter.

This last batch of Atlantic hurricanes never reached us and, at this moment, the Atlantic basin is quiet with regard to developing cyclones (other than a couple of disturbances that are already on land and not developing). Since I live fairly near the coast now and work for an organization that helps during emergencies, I’ve anxiously followed this hurricane season (though it’s pretty much year-round now because the oceans are so much hotter). Disaster conditions in the Carolinas tend to ramp up my job duties.

So with a lull in the bad weather, and feeling fit from a routine of work-outs, my wife and I decided to take a hike. Taking advantage of the high pressure installed over us (intended to bounce approaching hurricanes out to sea, which it did for H. Jose and Maria), we hit the trail at Peachtree Rock.

We had hiked Peachtree before, but in late January when the trees were bare. At that time, the denuded trees created an openness on the trail such that it felt more like a park than an expanse of forest. This time, however, the trees were leafed out and it did feel like a forest, making for a better hike. 

Though there was chem-trailing going on, which always mars the outdoors for me, my pent-up need for recreational exertion was such that the time was invigorating. It helped like a tonic, as exercise often does. We explored a bit more on this trip, investigating the interesting geology of the place. It’s an area of hard-rock outcroppings over layers of porous, sandstone sediments that erode, more at their base than the top, to create mesa-like structures. Eventually, their bases erode to the point they become top-heavy and they collapse. The result of such collapses is seen in the tumble of boulders along the northern edge of the preserve.

We climbed among the boulders, until we reached a carved-out spot on high ground. It formed a pretty good shelter and looked out over the expanse of woods containing the hiking trail. The picture accompanying this post was taken from that natural shelter.

The results of rock formations that erosion makes too top-heavy are seen all around the nature preserve that contains the trail. Civilizations are like that. So are economies. Our current ones are not sustainable and the activities of our rulers are mostly directed at keeping their party going. They are doomed to fail and the picture of their final collapse may be seen in the current conditions on Puerto Rico. That island (a US colony where everyone is a US citizen) was completely devastated by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. They are completely dependent on the outside to maintain their “modern lifestyle.” The fragility of that lifestyle is revealed in its destruction. The US government is reluctant to help them, preferring to increase Wall Street’s grip on the island with greater debt (to “rebuild”). 

Richard Heinberg summed up Puerto Rico’s situation and how it presages that of the wider world in an article published on the Global Research website. He also provides a list of sensible steps that could be done to rebuild Puerto Rico to a sustainable economy and society. These same steps could be applied to world civilization and give humanity a chance to survive. It won’t happen, though, as long as the world is ruled by psychopaths via their neoliberal (i.e., fascist) ideology. Disasters such as has occurred in Puerto Rico, will only receive indifference and predatory exploitation from our rulers.

Sitting in a natural shelter overlooking a forest was restorative for me; the kind of thing I return to from time-to-time. It helps maintain personal sanity. Around me though, were beer cans intentionally left in niches among the rocks, providing evidence of those incapable of being touched by beauty. The trick is to live in spite of them, and nestle in what shelters we can find in midst of the onslaught of storms.