“Apple plans to donate to fire relief efforts in Northern and Southern California, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced on Twitter,” Juli Clover reports for MacRumors.
“It continues to be fire season in California, and right now, the dry, windy weather has led to three major fires in the state. The Camp Fire, north of Sacramento, has burned upwards of 70,000 acres, with residents of Chico and Paradise being evacuated. Many homes have been destroyed in Paradise, California,” Clover reports. “In Southern California, the Hill Fire and Woolsey Fire are raging in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The Woolsey Fire is approaching Malibu, a well-known area of Los Angeles, and residents are being evacuated. Upwards of 75,000 homes in Ventura and Los Angeles counties have already been evacuated and some structures have reportedly been destroyed.”
Praying for the safety of our neighbors, loved ones and all those affected by the rapidly spreading fires in California. We’re grateful to the firefighters and first responders working to keep everyone safe. Apple is donating to relief efforts for Northern & Southern California. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, November 9, 2018
Praying for the safety of our neighbors, loved ones and all those affected by the rapidly spreading fires in California. We’re grateful to the firefighters and first responders working to keep everyone safe. Apple is donating to relief efforts for Northern & Southern California.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) November 9, 2018
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: The American Red Cross is providing shelter and aid for fire victims in Northern California. Those who want to help the organization can make $10 donations to the Red Cross by texting REDCROSS to 90999 or by visiting its website, redcross.org.
Fantastic Apple, a responsible and charitable corporate citizen is always welcome on the planet. Thanks to MDN as well for putting a Red Cross link.
I am one who moved to California from New Mexico two years ago, thinking my life would improve. And it has, in a number of ways. My social life is much more amenable. Admittedly, I now pay higher property taxes, but it was still worth it to get away from the southwest scorpions, both arachnoid and human.
But California has been on fire every year, and it seems to be getting worse and worse. Some blame environmentalist tree-huggers. Some blame the logging industry, or the Department of Forestry. Some of my relatives in Redding blamed God for the Carr Fire. Myself, I think the blame game is ridiculous.
When “natural” disasters occur so frequently and regularly kill people, ruin property, and drain state treasuries, it seems prudent to convene a serious government commission. I’d urge President Trump to do so, in light of recent hurricane disasters and the Yellowstone conflagration. Cooler heads absolutely must prevail, because Mother Nature doesn’t take rainchecks or issue excuses.
As Michael Lewis (Moneyball) said in a recent book, The Fifth Risk, national government funds the prediction science that saves lives by evacuating us ahead of time. I hope they’re still doing that. The historical records show that only with lots of government data gathering and smart data modeling have we ever had a chance to survive natural disasters. It’s in the book, and it isn’t fake news.
“When “natural” disasters occur so frequently and regularly kill people, ruin property, and drain state treasuries, it seems prudent to convene a serious government commission. I’d urge President Trump to do so, in light of recent hurricane disasters and the Yellowstone conflagration. Cooler heads absolutely must prevail, because Mother Nature doesn’t take rainchecks or issue excuses.”
For that to happen, you would first need a president who does not blame hapless victims for their own misfortune in a situation beyond their control, who recognises that climate change both man made and natural – needs skilled management and funding to mitigate threats caused by systemic failure at national level and a recognition that ‘bipartisan’ is not just a word but a duty of good governance.
Instead, you have a president who denies man-made climate change, refuses to recognise that climate change trends (whatever the cause) need to be planned for and acted on before predictable climate events unfold, blames firefighters and poor forestry management for a situation that is a federal responsibility whilst starving said federal authorities of sufficient funding not withstanding the fact that these are urban interface wild fires in an area of scrubland and chaparral and most definitely not forested – at least it wasn’t when I lived in Malibu a few years ago.
That’s the true measure of the desert_of_denial™️ mismanagement pervading current White House thinking.
I think we both understand the seriousness of these issues and that they can only be solved through actions taken by the government supported by the people.
I can’t give up so easily as to say that we must replace the politicians currently in charge. Yes, their views are outrageously at odds with the panoply of truth playing our before our very eyes. But which is more effective — changing our leadership, which amounts to a massive amount of electioneering, or challenging them to do right?
The midterm elections have sent a message that combines these two approaches. I hope that the message gets through, and that the phenomenon of crazed partisanship subsides, and allows our representatives to return to their senses. Maybe this country has never had the political civility it wanted, but it needs some of that now to make America Great Again.