Any ideas for local organizations that are taking donations? I looked on the news site for the video and the “How to Help” list didn’t include any. What would be a good search phrase to Google?

i’m not familiar with them in that state, but i’d bet that most of them will be organizing efforts to help the needy. i’m sure there are some progressive congregations that would appreciate your support.

our head office at work is there, and they have water in some streets too, but not as bad as Cedar Rapids yet.

One guy i call all the time there told me yesterday that in 93 they had their “100-year flood” and that that was enough—he’s pissed, and said a lot of people are angry but aren’t really sure who to direct it at (nature, god, the govt, levee ppl, etc).

science.

in a closed system, if you put more energy into it, it doesn’t just ’go away’ with no effects. the earth is a (mostly) closed system. we get the sun’s energy, and then we get the effects of using petrochemicals. the two together are greater than the former alone.

people are just going to have to get over their attachment to notions like “the 100 year storm” and suchlike. someone explained it to me once: what we experience today is the result of what we did years, decades even, ago wrt to energy consumption. we’ve only just begun to see the climate changes that we’ve already guaranteed.

and i’m not picking on you, amberglow. just people who are stuck in the past and refuse to look at the whole picture.

was about actual floodplains.

Not weather patterns, per se.

he said that’s what they all called the 93 floods—even officials.

this from FEMA says this about them==”…The term “100-year flood” is misleading. It is not the flood that will occur once every 100 years. Rather, it is the flood elevation that has a 1- percent chance of being equaled or exceeded each year. Thus, the 100-year flood could occur more than once in a relatively short period of time. The 100 year flood, which is the standard used by most Federal and state agencies, is used by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) as the standard for floodplain management and to determine the need for flood insurance. …” — http://www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/fhm/fq_…

Is not due to waste heat from burning fossil fuels. It’s due to blocking infrared light from reaching space — less cooling. The entire energy consumption of mankind (~10^13 W) is tiny compared to the amount of solar radiation the earth receives (~10^17 W).

Being in Nebraska, they go on about it all the time.

We have a major infrastructure project going in the name of the Holy Floodplain. (it’s really a university beautification project/cleaning up of poor neighborhoods near downtown, but whatevs)

i said “the effects of using petrochemicals,” by which i meant what you wrote. sorry if i was unclear.

and thanks for the correction, amberglow. i didn’t know that was the def of 100year flood. learning is fun!

CNN just said.

a while ago for work—nice town—i had a great night drinking with a fab state senator in one of the gay bars, and loved the state building. It’s still my only experience of the midwest. : >

heh, do you dance? drink? like shoes? i will Take You Places, if so.

it’s funny, i don’t think people know it, but the youngerish queer community here in the midwest is rapidly becoming Hard Core. moreso than their complacent, comfortable peers on the bicostal zones. those folks have already mostly fought and won the important battles. here, it’s just getting hawt. just the other day i met the most adorable, firm bottomed, Militant, youngish lesbo activist who made me wish i were 22 again. sigh. still, i’m so happy to know that things are going to be much better for us here, and soon.

Changing fast.

Not yet the clusterfuck that is Omaha, but we’ll get there.

i said “the effects of using petrochemicals,” by which i meant what you wrote.

If you meant the conventional understanding of global warming, I’d recommend staying away from the thermodynamics jargon, cause you didn’t say what you meant. :-)

I went through a bunch of Cedar Rapids churches that I found in a Google search, but found only one with a Web site that had anything about the flood, and they were looking for funds to help just their congregation (which is fine, but I wanted to donate to a more widespread effort).

Thersites on Eschaton has a post up suggesting Feed the Children (feedthechildren.org), which has a good rep and takes online credit card donations for the Iowa flood victims, so I ended up using that one.