Learning to live without power
While your Oct. 17 editorial “We could all have been better prepared for shutoffs” was a good look back at the blackout, I believe that it was a valuable experience.
Many people struggled with the event and I feel we need to address these hardships. However, it brought us back to the reality that people can enjoy dark skies, no TV, no unwanted calls on a land line phone, a little quieter environment even with some generators running and the opportunity to play hooky from our sometimes too busy lifestyles.
Learning from this event should trigger awareness of ways to benefit from the experience. One such lesson is that light pollution is ruining our star gazing, affecting birds and astronomers and is easily avoidable, as is much of our over-dependence on electricity.
— Wendy White, Glenhaven
Petition against PG&E shutoff
I recently started a petition on Change.org against the forced power shutoffs by PG&E. I felt the need to do something, after I experienced firsthand the destructive and debilitating effects that the shutoff had on myself and my community.
I witnessed people fighting in our local Walmart parking lot over the last bag of ice. Parents were left wondering how they were going to feed their children, without refrigeration or means to cook. Seniors and the more vulnerable of our community were left in the dark, no edible food, heat, communication( for those with landline phones ) and no means to get to a safe place because everything within a 60-plus mile radius was closed. Gas, food, medicine and supplies were non existent during the shutoff.
I realized the citizens of not only my community, but of all of California were reduced to living as homeless in a Third World Country, without adequate food, heat, access to supplies, because of the unnecessary power shutoff.
Wildfires experts and even the US Dept. of Interior have proved and stated that,” 90% of wildfires are caused by people and 10% by nature.” Not power, like PG&E would want us to believe. PG&E has created this farce to distract from the fact that they are incompetent to make their power grids safe.
Other states power systems exist without having to shut their customers power off every time the wind blows. I feel California citizens deserve the same right.
I have emailed a copy of petition against PG&E to Gov. Newsom, California State Representatives and the California Public Utilities Commission. This has become a public health and welfare crisis for many citizens in California. Not to mention a financial hardship for low income families and businesses.
Our community does not deserve to live in fear of the next PG&E power shutoff. Please sign my petition today: “Stop the Forced Power Shutoffs by PG&E” at change.org, or email the CPUC at news@cpuc.ca.gov and voice your concerns.
— Judy Nylander, Clearlake Oaks
